The quote below is one of my favorite parts of a long (over 8,000 word) transcription of a lecture given by Professor Colin Humphreys delivered on 2nd March 2004 in the Winstanley Lecture Theatre in Trinity College, Cambridge. Professor Humphreys has been a Professor of Materials Science in Cambridge since 1990. The lecture is called “Can Scientists Believe in Miracles?” and I think he talks about his subject in ways that would interest scientists and theologians alike.
Overriding natural laws not only give scientists a problem but also theologians, and the reason for this is that the picture of God given in the Bible is of a consistent God. There are many biblical passages where the consistency of God comes through strongly. So theologically, if God created the Universe and is constantly upholding it, and if God is a consistent God, then would he override the laws he has established? Let me give you a musical analogy which may be helpful. Imagine you are standing behind a pianist who is playing without music and you are watching the pianist’s fingers. Every time the pianist goes to play the note “F” he plays “F sharp”. You can deduce from this the key signature of the music. The key signature is the rule the composer establishes for playing that piece of music. If you keep watching you may observe that, on occasion, when the pianist should play “F sharp” he plays “F”, or he may play black notes when you expect him to play white ones. These are what musicians call “accidentals” which the composer has deliberately put in the music. The composer, of course, is free to put accidentals in the music – he is the composer – and although he’s set up a key signature which signifies the way the music should normally be played, he is free to say that it should be played differently on occasions. If he is a great composer, the accidentals will never be used capriciously, they will always make better music. It is the accidentals which contribute to making the piece of music great. The analogy with how God operates is clear. God created and upholds the universe but, like the great composer, he is free to override his own rules. However, if he is a consistent God, it must make more sense than less for him to override his rules. It is interesting to see how the Bible portrays the Resurrection. Peter speaking on the day of Pentecost, exactly seven weeks after the Resurrection, says, “God raised him [Jesus] from the dead because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him” (Acts 2:24 ). Peter is saying that if Jesus really was the Son of God, then the Resurrection was inevitable and not incredible. It was more consistent for the Resurrection to occur than for Jesus to remain dead, if Jesus really was the Son of God
If you missed the link before the quote, here it is again: “Can Scientists Believe in Miracles?”.
I also found a page with links to the lecture in PDF and mp3 formats and to a transcript of a discussion group that met after the lecture.
What a cool, cool analogy. Thanks for sharing. I hope now that crazy July is over, we’ll see more posts from you! Love you.
Great lecture by Colin Humphreys. I think we tend to think God used to be very active thousands of years ago but is now silent. Unfortunately I fear we are too often just numb and blind to God’s movements today.