Miracles are a Glaring Problem for Evolution, and Here’s Why

BA - thank you for that excellent research, as always. Silver Asiatic

God holds the Universe in existence in an orderly, consistent way. The divine consistency gives rise to the laws of physics. He intended for us to observe and to learn to rely upon this consistent behavior of the natural order. One of the reasons for that is so He could make clear when it was Him that was intervening in human history. If, instead of nature being ordered and consistent, there were no laws of physics, if there was nothing we could count on, anything and everything would be a possibility. If chaos was the norm, we wouldn't be able to recognize God's intervention in the course of events as His and His alone. A genuine miracle is supposed to be an extreme violation of the normal order, informing us that God is at work. Talk is cheap. Christ knew that. That is why He worked many miracles, which included raising the dead, restoring the sight of one blind from birth, and healing those with many other afflictions. He expected the miraculous nature of these works to make it evident that it was God Himself doing these things:

Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. -- Mt 11:21 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does himself, and he will show him even greater things than these, works that will astonish you. -- Jn 5:20 But my testimony is greater than John's: the works my Father has given me to carry out, these same works of mine testify that the Father has sent me. -- Jn 5:36 Jesus replied: 'I have told you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father's name are my witness. -- Jn 10:25 If I had not performed such works among them as no one else has ever done, they would be blameless; but as it is, they have seen all this, and still they hate both me and my Father. -- Jn 15:24

Christ also understood our capacity to reject even the most overwhelming evidence that God must be at work. He reveals this in His story about Lazarus and the rich man:

"Ah no, father Abraham," said the rich man "but if someone comes to them from the dead, they will repent." Then Abraham said to him, "If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead." -- Lk 16:30-31

The hardhearted refused to believe in Jesus even after He rose from the dead. That stubborn disbelief reminds me of those who refuse to accept the miracles testified to by the discoveries of modern science. There was one chance in 10^10^123 that the Big Bang would mindlessly and accidentally produce a Universe in which life was a possibility. (Roger Penrose, The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe, 2005) 10^123 is a huge number, but 10 raised to the power of 10^123 results in a number so large that it becomes a virtual certainty that the launching of the Universe was a miracle of God performed by Him with the intention of the Universe supporting life. Then there is the miracle of life itself. Modern science has discovered that it is digital-information-based nanotechnology the functional complexity of which is light years beyond anything modern science knows how to build from scratch. Abiogenesis, in so far as it is the attempt to explain how such ultra-sophisticated, self-replicating nanotechnology might have come about mindlessly and accidentally, is the alchemy of our times. Believe in Him because of His works:

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me; or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves. -- Jn 14:10-11

Of course there are miracles. They do not violate the laws of physics as much as explain why the One Who authored those laws upholds them so consistently: So we can be sure it is Him Who is interacting with us when we observe events taking place that are not in accord with them. What could be more intriguing than the Author of the Universe and the life within it, the Mind that is the primary reality, becoming one of us and walking among us in order to explain to us the meaning of our existence? One day modern man will rediscover just what it is that the Christians are saying happened and, looking at it afresh, will be intrigued. The secular world thinks it already knows all about what it in fact has not yet begun to consider. harry

Many more lines of evidence establishing the Shroud's antiquity are here

THE SHROUD AS AN ANCIENT TEXTILE - Evidence of Authenticity http://www.newgeology.us/presentation24.html Markwardt: Full Length History of the Shroud - video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIEcpDh_Cx0 List of Evidences of the Turin Shroud - 2010 http://www.acheiropoietos.info/proceedings/FantiListWeb.pdf

As well, besides the enigmatic photographic negative information being found on the shroud by Pia, it is now found that 3-dimensional holographic information is also encoded on the shroud:

Shroud Of Turin - Photographic Negative - 3D Quantum Hologram - The Lamb - video https://vimeo.com/122495080

There are also very interesting gravity and quantum 'anomalies' on the shroud:

THE EVENT HORIZON (Space-Time Singularity) OF THE SHROUD OF TURIN. - Isabel Piczek - Particle Physicist Excerpt: We have stated before that the images on the Shroud firmly indicate the total absence of Gravity. Yet they also firmly indicate the presence of the Event Horizon. These two seemingly contradict each other and they necessitate the past presence of something more powerful than Gravity that had the capacity to solve the above paradox. http://shroud3d.com/findings/isabel-piczek-image-formation Particle Radiation from the Body - M. Antonacci, A. C. Lind - July 2012 Excerpt: The Shroud’s frontal and dorsal body images are encoded with the same amount of intensity, independent of any pressure or weight from the body. The bottom part of the cloth (containing the dorsal image) would have born all the weight of the man’s supine body, yet the dorsal image is not encoded with a greater amount of intensity than the frontal image. Radiation coming from the body would not only explain this feature, but also the left/right and light/dark reversals found on the cloth’s frontal and dorsal body images. http://www.academicjournals.org/sre/PDF/pdf2012/30JulSpeIss/Antonacci.pdf Scientific hypotheses on the origin of the body image of the Shroud - 2010 Excerpt: for example, if we consider the density of radiation that we used to color a single square centimeter of linen, to reproduce the entire image of the Shroud with a single flash of light would require fourteen thousand lasers firing simultaneously each on a different area of linen. In other words, it would take a laser light source the size of an entire building. http://www.30giorni.it/articoli_id_22597_l3.htm

Verse and Music:

John 20:3-8 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. Natalie Grant - Alive (Resurrection music video) Lyric “Death has lost and Love has won!” http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=KPYWPGNX

bornagain77

Silver Asiatic, while the tunic may be interesting and may even offer supportive evidence for the Shroud, I personally find the Shroud of Turin itself to be far more important than any other piece of evidence as to establishing the fact that Christ defeated death and that God resurrected Him from the grave. The Shroud of Turin is simply priceless, i.e. beyond compare, in its value for providing evidence validating the resurrection of Christ. The most widely used method, by atheists, to try to refute the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin were/are the carbon dating tests done in the late 1980's. Yet those carbon dating tests were overturned by none other than Raymond Rogers himself, the lead chemist for the STURP team, in 2005:

Shroud of Turin - Carbon 14 Test Proven False – - Joseph G. Marino and M. Sue Benford - video (with Raymond Rogers, lead chemist from the STURP project) https://vimeo.com/126080645 Why The Carbon 14 Samples Are Invalid, Raymond Rogers per: Thermochimica Acta (Volume 425 pages 189-194, Los Alamos National Laboratory, University of California) Excerpt: Preliminary estimates of the kinetics constants for the loss of vanillin from lignin indicate a much older age for the cloth than the radiocarbon analyses. The radiocarbon sampling area is uniquely coated with a yellow–brown plant gum containing dye lakes. Pyrolysis-mass-spectrometry results from the sample area coupled with microscopic and microchemical observations prove that the radiocarbon sample was not part of the original cloth of the Shroud of Turin. The radiocarbon date was thus not valid for determining the true age of the shroud. The fact that vanillin can not be detected in the lignin on shroud fibers, Dead Sea scrolls linen, and other very old linens indicates that the shroud is quite old. A determination of the kinetics of vanillin loss suggests that the shroud is between 1300- and 3000-years old. Even allowing for errors in the measurements and assumptions about storage conditions, the cloth is unlikely to be as young as 840 years. http://www.ntskeptics.org/issues/shroud/shroudold.htm

Rogers passed away shortly after publishing that paper, but his work was ultimately further verified by scientists from the Los Alamos National Laboratory:

Shroud Of Turin Carbon Dating Overturned - Robert Villarreal - Press Release video http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=DPPWDPNX

Advances in non-destructive dating techniques have allowed an even more precise dating test to be done for the age of the Shroud

Turin Shroud 'is not a medieval forgery' - 28 Mar 2013 Excerpt: Experiments conducted by scientists at the University of Padua in northern Italy have dated the shroud to ancient times, a few centuries before and after the life of Christ.,,, The analysis is published in a new book, "Il Mistero della Sindone" or The Mystery of the Shroud, by Giulio Fanti, a professor of mechanical and thermal measurement at Padua University,,, Scientists, including Prof Fanti, used infra-red light and spectroscopy – the measurement of radiation intensity through wavelengths – to analyse fibres from the shroud,,, The tests dated the age of the shroud to between 300 BC and 400AD.,,, Scientists have never been able to explain how the image of a man's body, complete with nail wounds to his wrists and feet, pinpricks from thorns around his forehead and a spear wound to his chest, could have formed on the cloth. Mr Fanti said the imprint was caused by a blast of “exceptional radiation”, although he stopped short of describing it as a miracle. He said his tests backed up earlier results which claimed to have found on the shroud traces of dust and pollen which could only have come from the Holy Land.,,, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/9958678/Turin-Shroud-is-not-a-medieval-forgery.html

The following article found that the colouring on the shroud was 'far beyond the capability of medieval forgers'

Scientists say Turin Shroud is supernatural - December 2011 Excerpt: After years of work trying to replicate the colouring on the shroud, a similar image has been created by the scientists. However, they only managed the effect by scorching equivalent linen material with high-intensity ultra violet lasers, undermining the arguments of other research, they say, which claims the Turin Shroud is a medieval hoax. Such technology, say researchers from the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (Enea), was far beyond the capability of medieval forgers, whom most experts have credited with making the famous relic. "The results show that a short and intense burst of UV directional radiation can colour a linen cloth so as to reproduce many of the peculiar characteristics of the body image on the Shroud of Turin," they said. And in case there was any doubt about the preternatural degree of energy needed to make such distinct marks, the Enea report spells it out: "This degree of power cannot be reproduced by any normal UV source built to date." http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-say-turin-shroud-is-supernatural-6279512.html

As well, a interesting weaving pattern found on the back of the Shroud during its restoration is very rare, with the only known match to the weaving pattern being on a 2000 year old Masada Cloth from Israel.

Shroud Of Turin - Sewn From Two Pieces - 2000 Years Old (Matches Masada Cloth) – video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uST6qt9pfoo The Shroud of Turin - Evidence it is authentic Excerpt: In June 2002, the Shroud was sent to a team of experts for restoration. One of them was Swiss textile historian Mechthild Flury-Lemberg. She was surprised to find a peculiar stitching pattern in the seam of one long side of the Shroud, where a three-inch wide strip of the same original fabric was sewn onto a larger segment. The stitching pattern, which she says was the work of a professional, is quite similar to the hem of a cloth found in the tombs of the Jewish fortress of Masada. The Masada cloth dates to between 40 BC and 73 AD. This kind of stitch has never been found in Medieval Europe. http://www.newgeology.us/presentation24.html

bornagain77

The whole of the Christian faith and, indeed, Scripture seems to be based on the voluntarist school of thought that posits the primacy of the will over the intellect and emotion as the ultimate touchstone of reality. Your misfortune, Cornelius, as far as atheists are concerned, is your lack of a true religious instinct, which would bend your will towards denying the divine, and apotheosizing the secular. That has to be pretty close to the ultimate, unforgivable sin, terminally shutting yourself off from basking in the numinous radiance of untruth; instead of just following your nose, allowing the unreconstructed, empirical evidence to misguide you at every turn. Not good enough. Fail! Their misfortune, on the other hand, is that God made the world to correspond with the truths He taught us, and which we wish, hope, believe and know to be true; and the lineaments of which we see confirmed in our daily lives once we commit ourselves to them. Of course, severe trials and tribulations can tempt us to disaffection, but there surely comes a time in most Christians' lives when we really know it's true, and under the blackjack, so to speak, can only say with Peter, 'Lord, to whom else shall we go?' Axel

An outstanding article that gets to the crux of the problem, Dr. Hunter. OldArmy94

Semi-OT question for BA77 ... Have you seen this evidence regarding the Shroud and the Holy Tunic of Christ? I just discovered this recently:

In 1998 scientists at the Optics Institute in Orsay decided to compare the bloodstain patterns on the Tunic of Argenteuil and on the Turin Shroud They created realistic and rotational computerized geometric models of what the tunic would look like if worn by a man of the same physical stature and morphology as the man depicted on the shroud. The result was absolutely bewildering: it turned out that the bloodstains on the tunic were aligned exactly with the imprinted wounds visible on the shroud. Overlaying both images drove the scientists to the conclusion that both clothes were stained by the same bleeding man. http://shroudstory.com/2013/11/06/of-similarities-the-tunic-of-argenteuil-and-the-shroud-of-turin/

Silver Asiatic

I would say, despite the shunning of the miraculous as 'unscientific' by the 'enlightened' thinkers of the 17th century, that science, especially in regards to fine-tuning and quantum mechanics, has brought the miraculous back full force into our collective thinking. Eric Metaxas recently stated this in regards to the fine-tuning of the universe for life:

“Reason and science compels us to see what previous generations could not: that our existence is an outrageous and astonishing miracle, one so startlingly and perhaps so disturbingly miraculous that it makes any miracle like the parting of the Red Sea pale in such insignificance that it almost becomes unworthy of our consideration, as though it were something done easily by a child, half-asleep. It is something to which the most truly human response is some combination of terror and wonder, of ancient awe, and childhood joy.” Eric Metaxas – Miracles – pages 55-56

In regards to quantum mechanics, Scott Aaronson stated:

Lecture 11: Decoherence and Hidden Variables - Scott Aaronson - MIT associate Professor Excerpt: "Look, we all have fun ridiculing the creationists who think the world sprang into existence on October 23, 4004 BC at 9AM (presumably Babylonian time), with the fossils already in the ground, light from distant stars heading toward us, etc. But if we accept the usual picture of quantum mechanics, then in a certain sense the situation is far worse: the world (as you experience it) might as well not have existed 10^-43 seconds ago!" http://www.scottaaronson.com/democritus/lec11.html

As far as what our experiments in quantum mechanics are telling us, Professor Aaronson was not being overly dramatic in the least. In fact, this following experiment came out just a few weeks ago confirming exactly what Professor Aaronson said:

Reality doesn’t exist until we measure it, (Delayed Choice) quantum experiment confirms - Mind = blown. - FIONA MACDONALD - 1 JUN 2015 Excerpt: "It proves that measurement is everything. At the quantum level, reality does not exist if you are not looking at it," lead researcher and physicist Andrew Truscott said in a press release. http://www.sciencealert.com/reality-doesn-t-exist-until-we-measure-it-quantum-experiment-confirms

Ironically, since materialists/atheists hold that only natural causes exist, to the point of denying the reality of agent causality, then something as simple as raising your hand in a room full of academics becomes a demonstration of the 'miraculous'. Dr. Craig Hazen, in the following video at the 12:26 minute mark, relates how he performed, for an audience full of ‘academics’, a ‘miracle’ simply by raising his hand,,

The Intersection of Science and Religion – Craig Hazen, PhD – video http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=xVByFjV0qlE#t=746s

What should be needless to say, if 'science' has gotten to the point where simply raising your hand is enough to refute your 'scientific' worldview, then something is terribly amiss in your scientific worldview. Of course, for most people with common sense, that life itself is a miracle is a given, but the question about the miraculous that most people with common sense have is "do miracles happen to us personally?" In other words, "Does God touch individual lives?" And the answer to that question is Yes! I know of two well respected books in this area that have been written fairly recently. One book I've already mentioned and is called 'Miracles' by Eric Metaxas:

Eric Metaxas – Miracles - video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtsHFc2fHOI order the book http://ericmetaxas.com/books/

Another book, a more 'scholarly' book on the subject, is Craig Keener's book by the same name, "Miracles":

Dr. Craig Keener, author of “Miracles" discusses in this web series some of the trustworthy accounts of people being raised from the dead and people being healed of sicknesses from around the world. – video playlist http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE6sDPPQ7WA&list=PLC900F8EEB62AE426&feature=plcp&context=C43901d1FDvjVQa1PpcFPmClYI6nDQbdabTL_qw7jCisfOqOmxOyU=

Of related interest to miracles, in this recent Veritas Forum video a 'scientist' gives testimony of a fairly profound miracle happening in his life:

Miracles: Can a Scientist Believe in Miracles? - video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9G8o7JXlbE at the 24:00 minute mark of the preceding video the speaker, i.e. a 'scientist', gives testimony of his son being miraculously healed of an incurable disease

Verse:

John 21:25 Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

bornagain77

Using advanced material characterization approaches, we find that these putative biological structures can be well preserved over geological timescales, and their preservation is more common than previously thought.

... and we previously thought that it was not remotely possible that organic structures could be preserved for 75 million years. But now we know that's just the way it is. Silver Asiatic

Speaking of miracles: http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150609/ncomms8352/full/ncomms8352.html Oh yeah, Irondidit. Dr JDD