Does the bible teach that all natural phenomena come from God?

xdisciplex,

bmerr here. I think one would be caught in the evolutionary trap to assume that ancient man was "primitive". Think about it: Adam came straight from the Hand of God. I don't think God created an idiot caveman who dragged Eve around by the hair.

Certainly there have been periods of time in the earth's history when men were ignorant, and came up with fanciful explanations for the natural phenomena they observed. But I suspect there have been civilizations and technologies in the past that would make our modern convieniences look "primitive".

And the fat that things like lightning have been found to be just part of the natural cycles of the earth does not disprove God. Quite the contrary, they prove His existence. Who started everything, after all?

The ignorance of man does not nullify the existence of God.

In Christ,

bmerr

 

Hopefully most Christians continue to think that natural phenomena are ultimately from God, since God is the author and sustainer of nature! Sure, we've discovered much about the natural processes God set in place that was not known in earlier days, but this would only remove God from the picture if one believed that nature exists independent of God.

Asking whether something (rain, lightning, etc.) happens because of a natural process or God is kind of like asking whether a computer program runs because of its programming or its programmers. Both are true on different levels.

 

The natural processes and matter that produce hurricanes, earthquakes, etc. are made and sustained by God. Whether God "steers" these processes in any particular situation is beyond our ability to know, barring revelation.

Just because God sustains gravity doesn't mean he's out to get you when you drop something on your toe. Just because God sustains processes that produce hurricanes and earthquakes doesn't mean that every natural disaster is a judgement of God. If it wasn't for the orderly workings of nature, we wouldn't be able to use science to explore God's creation.

 

Hmmm - Mercury made a good point. too bad he is evolutionist "anyway"

 

When you turn on the water in the sink does God go to your sink and "make the vortex" or did he make the laws of physics - laws of nature that DETERMINE the vortex! Ahh - He IS the God of nature - that makes things WORK!

And He MAKES what He says He makes!

both of those truths must be kept in mind for this subject.

 

Didn't Job lose much of what he had in a whirlwind after Satan got permission from God to take those things?

 

If scientists create life from life, that doesn't prove anything. If they were able to create life from nothing, that would be something.

 

"When you turn on the water in the sink does God go to your sink and "make the vortex" or did he make the laws of physics - laws of nature that DETERMINE the vortex! Ahh - He IS the God of nature - that makes things WORK!"

There are no laws of physics. They are only observations about how God happens to be running things right now. It would be against God's nature to create a universe that is self perpetating because God's nature requires him to micro manage every quark, right? <G>

 

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. (Nahum 1:3)

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. (Colossians 1:16-17)

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. (Hebrews 11:3)

 

Atheists "need" to find out that "There is no God" -- Psalms makes that point clearly.

One way they do it is by trying to "blame the Bible" for any error they see in mankind, INCLUDING the crusades, the flat-earth RCC of the dark ages, etc.

But FIRST you have to swallow the line that the RCC is the BEST and most accurate interpreter of scripture. Most Christians here would not do that - so the Atheist does not get very far.

Einstein argues that relative motion means that you can select a reference point and get the "same effect" by viewing all other objects with respect to any given reference point. He is right. The bible authors selected the reference point for the observer as the one that we are currently standing on.

That is not particularly surprising. Why should God direct that a lesson in astrophysics or cosmology is a prerequisite to getting simple truths conveyed? Simply select the point of reference for the observer as being "earth" and keep it "simple"!

Two planes are converging on a single point at 500 MPH each. What is the velocity of the first plane from the reference of an observer in the second plane? From the reference point of an observer on the ground? From the reference point of an observer on the moon?