natural vs. supernatural

[Happy Hearts Club]

Hi Ted,

You're saying that you feel God is at His most glorious when He's suspending the laws of nature? I suspect many would agree with you, though it isn't the view I take.

Man oh man. One would think God to be at His most glorious as He sits on the throne of heaven, and what would naturalism have to say about that hmm? Creation is simply a small extension of His glory, of which transcends all that is humanly perceivable and of the natural order. Best believe He is at His most glorious upon suspending the laws of nature, WOW. Countless accounts throughout scripture only underline this fact, from the splitting of the red sea to the resurrection of Jesus Christ

 

[Mallon]

Best believe He is at His most glorious upon suspending the laws of nature, WOW.

Why?

I guess where I struggle is this: If we believe that nothing exists apart from God, then God's is no more active when sustaining His natural laws than when He is suspending them. So why do you feel that God is more worthy of praise in one instance over another?

You cite a few instances where God apparently suspended the laws of nature in order to achieve a glorious purpose. But I wonder if you're not conflating purpose with mechanism. In the case of the parting of the Red Sea, is He to be praised simply because He performed a miracle? Or is He to be praised because He saved His people from the advancing Egyptian army? If God did use natural means to part the Red Sea (what those could be, I don't know), would His actions less worthy of praise? Were His people not still rescued?

 

[granpa]

the glory (praiseworthiness) of God is that he is 'all' loving, 'all' rational (logos), and 'all' living.

His ability to 'suspend the laws of physics' is secondary.

would you worship the devil if he could suspend the laws of physics?

 

[Mallon]

Bumping this up again because I added significantly to my last reply.

 

[crawfish]

Man oh man. One would think God to be at His most glorious as He sits on the throne of heaven, and what would naturalism have to say about that hmm? Creation is simply a small extension of His glory, of which transcends all that is humanly perceivable and of the natural order. Best believe He is at His most glorious upon suspending the laws of nature, WOW. Countless accounts throughout scripture only underline this fact, from the splitting of the red sea to the resurrection of Jesus Christ

You believe in the "Incredible Shrinking God". Every time we find a new natural explanation for something, God's role in the universe is diminished. That is not my view, however: God is equally glorified through the natural and the supernatural. Each is simply the method that God chooses at any given time to do His will.

Think about this example: you decide to paint a picture. First, you draw the picture in pencil, defining the "rules" by which you will paint that picture. However, you are not limited by those lines with actually painting; you can paint inside the lines, over the lines or ignore them altogether. "Natural law" is simply the lines God has penciled into His creation; how He interacts with it is completely up to him, but no matter what He is responsible for the end result.