Miracles & "Scientism"
One
of the toxic and false ideas of our age might be called scientism, the idea
that science is the only path to truth.
One
online definition of “science” is, “the systematic study of the structure and
behavior of the physical and natural world through observation, experimentation,
and the testing of theories against the evidence obtained.” The earlier,
classic definition of “science” was “knowledge of any kind,” meaning, of
course, human knowledge.
Is
human knowledge the only path to truth? To knowing “what is”? (The best definition
of “truth.”) Is, “systematic study of the structure and behavior of the
physical and natural world,” the only path to truth? Even if we don’t
understand everything about a cell, an atom, and how the universe works today,
might we someday expect human science to figure it all out?
No.
Why
does the world exist? Why do I exist? What am I here for? Am I only tissue?
Then why and how do I have consciousness, even self-consciousness?
And
no matter how far back we go, whether we believe “evolution,” the “big bang” or
some other theory, we still ask: but what was there before? What caused the
first atom, the first particle, my consciousness?
It
is obvious and self-evident that there must be a Creator, This is self-evident,
even to human reason.
It’s
also self-evident to human reason that we are finite and limited. There’s far
more than we can ever understand and know.
Miracles
also evidence this. This -- both the Creator and our limitation on knowledge.
Miracles
are when the One who designed and created the “structure and behavior of the
physical and natural world” chooses to dispense with them. They are divine
interruptions. The greater force of God supplementing the usual behavior of
nature.
The
man with stage four cancer is suddenly cancer-free (Bakersfield). The woman
born blind who has no cornea, yet one day starts seeing clearly (still with no
cornea; San Diego). The man who was once a Thalidomide baby, born with his hand
near his shoulder, watches it grow out over 30 minutes as a group of Believers
pray steadily for his healing until the arm is normal (Seattle). These are real
and true events. Beyond nature, beyond science. Miracles.
The
Christianity the Apostles taught has always been very comfortable with
miracles. Christianity is founded on miracles. God miraculously entered the
world by taking on the form of humanity – flesh and blood, human body and human
soul. Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ.
When
Jesus was executed and died, He miraculously rose from the dead. He was not
resuscitated. No “near death” experience. He did die. His miraculous,
resurrected body was in a whole new dimension. It was outside the “structure
and behavior of the physical and natural world.” He could eat food, but not
have to. He could appear and disappear. He could walk through locked doors.
When
Jesus said, “This is My Body. This is My Blood,” and commanded his Apostles and
their successors, “Do this in memory of Me,” another miracle occurred. His Word
was effective. The unleavened bread and the wine became Jesus’ Body and Blood,
His human soul and His Divinity. By the offering of Himself the night before He
died, Jesus’ execution the next day was an offered sacrifice constituting and
effecting the New Covenant in His life’s Blood.
Want to see a miracle? It occurs at every Mass when the priest obeys the Lord’s command, “Do this in memory of Me.”
Dibby Allan Green