Grumpy wrote:Materialism is science applied to the natural world. Nothing in this Universe has ever been found that requires a supernatural explanation.
The remotest isolated tribes of people seek god(s) without ever being taught to do so from outside sources. Without ever being taught origins or religion, I asked my mother at 4 years of age, "How did we get here?" She misconstrued my question as one of sexual reproduction, so deferred her answer to a later date. I intuitively knew that there had to be a cause for my existence and the cause had to be much greater than myself. People world-wide must have come to the same conclusion, which explains man's search for a "creator". Many religions were created during the course of this search, but again, one intuitively knows that if he created his own religion or god(s), then more than likely this cannot be the creator since he (or it) is a subset of something limited (i.e. "the mind of the enquirer"). For this reason, more discerning individuals look for a source that existed before Joseph Smith, Mohammed, Buddha, or even Jesus 2000 years ago. Jesus spoke often of his "heavenly Father".
If I were to abide by your "natural cause" explanation, then I would never be satisfied that a final and satisfactory answer was reached because the nagging question would always arise, "What caused that cause?" In other words, there would never be a finality or "first cause". From this, many have come to the same realization as Isaac Newton, that the answer does not lie in the "natural" realm.
Many married men have frustrated their wives in trying to articulate answers to problems by explaining everything "logically". Can emotions be explained using natural particle physics? Is love and hate explained by chemicals? Why are many women dubious of this approach? Again, saying that everything can be explained by natural means has a less than perfect record of holding marriages together.
Psychology is a science that often pushes beyond your imposed barrier of natural.
Witches and clairvoyants who engage in the occult do not limit themselves to the natural. When I was about 12 years old, my neighbor friend engaged with me to play with his Ouija board. (I highly advise against such practices.) The board spelled out the name of my future wife, Lena. I remember not liking the sound of it because it reminded me of my fathers Aunt Lela who was old, overweight, and unattractive. It wasnt until afterwards, when I was married at age 44, that I realized my Russian wifes name, Lena, was spelled earlier on the Ouija board.
People often have dreams in which prior knowledge of people, faces, places, or events was unknown. Explaining such phenomena within the natural realm fails.
Friedrich Kekul, principal founder of the theory of chemical structure, discovered the ring shape of the benzene molecule after having a dream of a snake seizing its own tail.
The Bible describes in
Corinthians 12 a certain gift of the Holy Spirit called speaking in tongues. Many have experienced this ability to speak (or pray) in an unknown language without prior knowledge of that language.
Conclusion
Grumpys statement,
Nothing in this Universe has ever been found that requires a supernatural explanation. is limited to his personal experiences and finite knowledge. It does not explain experiences outside of his knowledge.
John 8:58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
