Many seem to assume that God doesn't control every detail in the universe, but he allows natural laws to control most of it. How does one know when one is observing natural laws in action or God's hand?
How can I observe this difference when I see an event occuring (hurricane, tornado, radiant light)? What makes it stand out as God's doing?
Believers only please, I can assume the alternate response. Thanks!
2007-01-01 09:47:07 · 17 answers · asked by One & only bob 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Thats easy. when the house was supposed to have collapsed and kill everyone in it and they all walk out, God did it!
2007-01-01 09:49:17 · answer #1 · answered by ConstElation 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The world at this present time is under the influence of Satan. God is not intervening at this time to make Satans world more pleasant. That would not serve God's purpose.
At 2 Corintians 4:4 Satan is called "the god of this system of things"
At 1 John 5: 19 we are told: "the whole world is lying in the [power of the] wicked one."
Ephesians 2:2 speaks of the Satan this way: "in which YOU at one time walked according to the system of things of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit that now operates in the sons of disobedience."
So what I am getting at is that you can bet if there is a disaster of nature it has a lot more to do with the ruler of this system of things than it does with God.
As for radiant light...right now we have the Bible, the Word of God, and faith( "Faith is the assured expectation of things hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities though not beheld." Hebrews 11:1)
The Bible says this about Satan: "And no wonder, for Satan himself keeps transforming himself into an angel of light."
2 Corinthians 11:14)
So any sign or portent, is outside of the Word of God, and the source should be seriously questioned. Satan is a deciever and
a trickster.
2007-01-01 18:18:19 · answer #2 · answered by wannaknow 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
heres the thing, God will act through very subtle tweaks and timing of natural events, when possible.
like crossing the red sea with moses, with science they've found some areas that if there was a sustained wind from a CERTAIN angle, during a CERTAIN season, and all these variables were just perfect, then through entirely "natural" means, a path could be made.
I think one way to put it is that it would be considered "god's doing" when a very unlikely convergence of circumstances happen to occur at JUST the right time to be signifigantly advantageous.
for many people when you stack one extremely unlikely event, after another. ... after another, after another, after another, and then this whole pile of individually profoundly unlikely circumstances, results in a beneficial (or negative, if its especially localized) outcome (as a collective result) then it just makes more sense to call it a work of God.
I mean imagine you had 5-10 occurances happen to you, in sucession, each of which was a billion to one chance of that one step happening at all. ... but all of them happening one after the other. sure "theoretically" that could happen in an un-controlled circumstance. but at some point the odds of it being "god" are higher than that of it happening randomly.
2007-01-01 17:57:57 · answer #3 · answered by RW 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
God doesn't randomly use natural forces. Since all of God's activities are perfect and just (Deuteronomy 32:4) to determine whether a catastrophe is an act of God, you need only consider a few things. 1) It would always be in harmony with his purposes; 2) He ALWAYS gives advanced warning before acting; and 3) He ALWAYS gives instructions to obedient ones for survival.
An example is the flood of Noah's day. The earth was filled with violence and God had determined to rid the earth of those causing the violence. Since Noah was an outstanding example of integrity to God, he advised Noah of what he was going to do, gave him the commission to warn everyone in the earth of what he was about to do, and gave Noah instructions on survival.
When God takes action, you'll definitely KNOW that it was his doing and not just a natural disaster.
2007-01-01 17:59:02 · answer #4 · answered by Kelly L 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
God's acts ARE works of nature. He made the rules, and for him to break them would prove that He is not a God to be worshiped. There are natural explanations for the Great Flood, the parting of the Red Sea, and many other things in the Bible. God makes sure to follow the rules we do, even though He is above us. There are things that are miraculous, but I'm confident (it sounds like I'm going to put God in the gap) that we will find scientific explanations for the majority of those things. One of the reasons we were made is to explore the universe. Maybe He left us all these wonderful events to give us something to strive for?
2007-01-01 17:57:57 · answer #5 · answered by -M- 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
We don't always know. There is actually a lot we don't know. The only way we know is if it would be impossible (i.e. a miracle) No one knows if certain disasters or other events in nature are an act of God or not. We have faith and we trust God and know that He knows and does what's best, but we really don't have all the answers
2007-01-01 17:56:24 · answer #6 · answered by Lady of the Garden 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Nature and God cannot be separated. The natural laws which work to facilitate a storm, etc. are consistent (measurable by science over time) because according to the bible, God is the same today, tomorrow and yesterday.
So God creates the storms, etc. and they are measurable by science because He operates the same way all the time, giving definition to "natural laws."
2007-01-01 17:54:54 · answer #7 · answered by LadyB!™ 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Natural laws are the principals of God (the rules). Miracles, are the 'exceptions to the rule' ordered by God. Can I explain why every 'principal' of God when it happens? No.
Can miracles come thru prayer? Yes.
Do they (miracles) always occur just because someone that claims to be a 'Christian' prays to the contrary? No.
2007-01-01 18:02:25 · answer #8 · answered by jefferyspringer57@sbcglobal.net 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I don't think you always can. I was just reading the account of Job. God allowed Satan to destroy everything he had, by 2 human agents (the Sabeans and the Chaldeans) and by 2 apparently natural agents (a whirlwind and the "fire of God"). Jesus once spoke to a storm and told it to (literally) "Be muzzled". God sent a storm when Jonah was fleeing from Him. Another time Paul advised against going to sea, his advice was ignored, and those who ignored him suffered the loss of their ship, though they themselves were saved. I think it takes spiritual discernment to know how to recognize what is behind apparently natural events.
2007-01-01 17:56:01 · answer #9 · answered by wefmeister 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
In an act of God there is a warning so his people can be protected and there is no way out for those who are not his people. for example Noah and the flood or the last plague on Egypt.
2007-01-01 17:55:37 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
i don't think a person can unless a prophets has predicted i before it has happened. otherwise there is a lot of confusion as to wether events happen because of God (people blame God for a lot of things) or wether or not they come from the devil.
sometimes people say all good things come from God and all bad things that happen to us from the devil. using that thinking i won't what the sodomites thought in regards to who was doing that to them.
2007-01-01 17:51:03 · answer #11 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋