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Originally Posted by davem

But according to Christianity God does intervene. Miracles happen. The problem is that God will intervene quite eagerly sometimes & simply refuses to do so at others. If God never intervened it would not be a problem, but because He does intervene we have a right to ask why He doesn't bother in so many cases.

That's one of my issues with the paranormal, God and all things supernatural. If you cannot predict with even a little certainty what could happen, then how can you determine anything? For example, if one were to pray for a certain event, and if the event happens, then one would say that the prayer was answered. If, however, the event happened awry, then either the prayer did not work, was not received or the event was determined not to be God's will and so the prayer was heard and answered but in the negative. It's not easy to test the divine, but it's easy to say that the test was passed after the fact when any answer will do.

Frank Herbert (of Dune fame and my other favorite author) collaborated on a series of books, the first being The Jesus Incident. Not his best work, but one thing within I found interesting. A woman, traveling through time with the assistance of God, is an eyewitness to the Crucifixion of the Christ. Jesus, of course, is aware that she's not as she appears to be. Afterwards, safe back in her own time, she finally comes to the realization of why Jesus was hung on the tree (besides for the Redemption of Humankind). The crowd was hoping to get God to tip His hand. Even if this meant their immediate destruction, for a moment they would know.

Originally Posted by Frank Herbert

Religion begins where men seek to influence a god. The biblical scapegoat and Christian Redeemer are cast from the same ancient mould--the human subservient to an unpredictable universe (or unpredictable king) and seeking to rid himself of the guilt which brings down the wrath of the all-powerful.
--Raja Flattery, The Book of Ship

I thought that interesting.

But Genesis states the Universe was created in six days approximately 6,000 years ago while science tells us it was about 15,000, 000,000 years ago. Science tells us life evolved & that humans & modern apes share a common ancestor. It also tells us that people can't walk on water & that dead bodies cannot come back to life. Its not 'scientific' to accept science until it conflicts with some aspect of your belief & then say ' well, that's a miracle.' Science attempts to explain the Universe without recourse to miracles.

That's one of the problems with the religious science, as embodied in Intelligent Design. In ID, you have point A (i.e. Genesis) and point B and must to connect the two. In non-ID, you have point B and you attempt to work back to some point A. Are scientists free from already having a point A in mind which they desperately try to get to? I'll admit that that happens as well, but in that case one can argue with the person, whereas one cannot ask God for His notes etc.

Can't tell you the number of times I wanted to throw my TV out the window while watching some religious science (hmm, it'd be fair to note that this throwing behaviour is triggered by other topics as well ). Watched one show where a "scientist" showed how the decay rate of uranium changed just after the flood. Also have read that the spead of light has slowed, and that light from distant galaxies was given a head start so that we could see the light that has traveled millions of light years to get here. All that and more to connect A to B.

Would have loved to have the chutzpah, on one of my exams, to set up the problem to a certain point, then state that there was some divine intervention, and just provide the answer.