Why is God only called when we cannot explain something?

[BelindaP]

Me too. It makes the rest of us Christians look foolish.

 

[BelindaP]

I think that somebody actually did that calculation. He came up with a number of thousands of planets that could support intelligent life.

 

[ebia]

You all are getting confused on one important aspect. Newton did not say that only God knew the answer, and that he himself was just unable to find it. Newton claimed that God physically restarted and reset the planets in their orbits every so often. This would be direct intervention, equivalent to Zeus being the one who throws the lightning bolts. Understanding that, how would you explain it?

I'm just guessing here, but Newton was not exactly known for his humility (dispite the quote generally dragged out of context to make it look like he was). Having put that much effort into trying to make his maths work, and failed, he probably couldn't bring himself to admit that it was a failure on his part - easier to say "the maths cannot work - God must be interfering".

 

[Rafael]

You all are getting confused on one important aspect. Newton did not say that only God knew the answer, and that he himself was just unable to find it. Newton claimed that God physically restarted and reset the planets in their orbits every so often. This would be direct intervention, equivalent to Zeus being the one who throws the lightning bolts. Understanding that, how would you explain it?

Actually, there is a place in the Bible that God stopped the day, increasing the daylight hours, so that a battle could be finished against Israel's enemies. Newton, as a believer, may have also allowed that God could have power over the dimension of time, making it relative to His will instead of ours very easily - speaking as a scientist and as a Christian. I'm sure he didn't have a need to hide his Christianity from anyone or suffer the prejudice Christian scientists face to day from secular humanism. Many, not all, universities today are run by the secular humanist crowd and the are very prejudice against the Christian when it comes to publishng scientific journals - especially those concerning intelligent design.
Regardless of any mistakes he may have made, he is known as one of the greatest scientists that ever lived and paved the way for others in Physics. The point is that it doesn't matter. All people should not be lumped together in their belief just so they can have prejudice and shadows cast at them as a whole. God calls the individual into personal revealation and knowledge of Himself before the eventual union of all believers as His family in His Kingdom.