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Old 09-25-2005, 12:48 PM   #1
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Default There is no such thing as supernatural

If in the year 2,000 B.C. a jet plane had flown over a crowd of people, most people would have considered the event to be supernatural, but the event would have been quite natural to the people who built the jet plane. Similarly, if a being created the universe, that event would have been quite natural to him. If the universe was created by a being, the event might have been in complete accord with all of the laws of physics, assuming that all of the laws of physics are not known at this time. In addition, the event might have been the result of the conversion of energy into matter, not the creation of universe out of nothing.

Why should anyone limit creative power to the God of the Bible? Given enough time, who knows what humans might eventually accomplish, or what advanced aliens might have already accomplished? How can we tell the difference between a God and an advanced alien?
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Old 09-25-2005, 02:57 PM   #2
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Clarke's third law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Corollaries:

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.

Application to science fiction: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a completely ad-hoc plot device.

Maybe a Bible-based version is required?
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Old 09-25-2005, 03:46 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic
If in the year 2,000 B.C. a jet plane had flown over a crowd of people, most people would have considered the event to be supernatural, but the event would have been quite natural to the people who built the jet plane. Similarly, if a being created the universe, that event would have been quite natural to him. If the universe was created by a being, the event might have been in complete accord with all of the laws of physics, assuming that all of the laws of physics are not known at this time. In addition, the event might have been the result of the conversion of energy into matter, not the creation of universe out of nothing.

Why should anyone limit creative power to the God of the Bible? Given enough time, who knows what humans might eventually accomplish, or what advanced aliens might have already accomplished? How can we tell the difference between a God and an advanced alien?

Exactly. there is no such thing as "supernatural". There is "out of the ordinary"
but not supernatural. Everything is natural.
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