Wrested Scriptures (Part 12 of 0)

Wrested Scriptures – Part twelve

The first printing of the book Wrested Scriptures is sold out and an order has been placed with the printer for more If you have not yet ordered your copy we recommend that you do so right away The soft covers are $3 00 each and the hard covers are $4 00 Please send your orders without delay to Wrested Scriptures,% The Tidings, Box 1066, Pasa dena, Calif 91102

Here is another sample of the type of useful information that you will find in your copy of Wrested Scriptures

Miracles And The Uniformity Of Nature

Problem Many today reject the Biblical accounts of miracles because men of science, having examined nature with great care, have discovered that it has certain laws which it obeys It is reasoned that if miracles were to be permitted, this regularity would not be observed, and one could never tell what would happen the next day

Solution

  1. It is not a question of nature obeying laws but of behaving (from the human point of view) in a predictable and reducible way The fact that uniformity is observed in the large is not a reasonable objection against there having been deviations from it on certain exceptional occasions
  2. The concept of order, regularity, and in general uniformity of the natural order is a Biblical concept God promises the regularity of seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night Gen 8 22) Jeremiah affirms that the sun, moon and stars fulfill their function because they move according to the ordinances which God controls (Jer 31 35, 36) The regularity of night and day is called a covenant of God which cannot be broken (Jer 33 20) See also Job 38 8 11, Psa 104 8,9, Prov 8 29
  3. Men have discovered that in most of their researches it is possible to discover nature doing precisely the same things in precisely the same circumstances But it cannot be assumed from this that all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation (2 Pet 3 4, R S V ) That is, one cannot logically extrapolate to say that there is an inviolable set of laws, which it is impossible for events to transgress There is not the omnibus of knowledge required to justify such a statement Scientific law is a systematized approach to the complex interrelations of the universe It is not a handbook to tell us what cannot hap pen The relativity of scientific law is illustrated in the revision of Newtonian laws which was required by Einstein’s theory of relativity’
  4. Belief in the uniformity of nature” is in itself an act of faith and not of logic It requires the projection back wards of the regularity observed in the present as well as predicting future events on the basis of the past Although many regularities in nature are observed these observations only cover a minute fraction of the events that actually go on and have gone on The observations are therefore, of no use unless one believes in the uniformity of nature—le , that nature behaves in the same way when it is not being observed
  5. Biblical claims of miracles cannot, therefore, be dismissed a prior (beforehand) as violations of “The law of uniformity of nature” Uniformity of nature is a belief, not a scientific law

Gen 1 16 “And God made two great lights “

Problem: In an effort to show the mythical character of the first eleven chapters of Genesis, clergymen of the United and Anglican Churches cite this passage They point out that on the first day, God made light (Gen 1 3-5), but God did not make the sun and moon until the fourth day (Gen 1 16-9) Therefore, it is argued, the days in Genesis 1 cannot be understood as literal days

Solution

  1. 1 The Hebrew word asah I translated made’ can be rendered “appoint” or “ordain” It is translated this way in Psa 104 19—”He appointed the moon for seasons” On the basis of this translation, God did not literally make the sun and moon on the fourth day These were formed in the “beginning” (an unspecified period of time in the past—Gen 1 1)
  2. 2 The sun, moon and stars were ‘appointed” on the fourth day to give light upon the earth It is likely that prior to the fourth day light was diffused on the earth Light could be distinguished from darkness but not until the fourth day did the atmosphere become sufficiently clear for the appearance of the heavenly bodies