Advent and Miracles

The December 2012 issue of First Things magazine includes an article by Stephen Barr about randomness and whether the existence of randomness is somehow an argument against creation of the universe by God. He makes a good argument that it is not an evidence against a creator God, and along the way there are some brief comments about miracles as events that 'contravene' the normal laws of nature.  His article is a very good one in regard to the meaning of 'randomness', but I agree more with C.S. Lewis on the matter of miracles.

To 'contravene' a law of nature would mean to violate it or contradict it or oppose it. Lewis argues, though, that the miracles of the Bible do not so much violate nature as they add to it. For instance, there are 2 Old Testament instances of things that involve the sun, one where the shadow moves backwards as a sign to Hezekiah (Isaiah 38:8) and one where the day was extended for battle for Joshua (Joshua 10:13). Now to do this in contradiction to nature would involve something like reversing the earth's rotation (for the shadow) or slowing it down dramatically if not stopping it (for the extended day). Both of those would cause very severe consequences besides what is mentioned in the Bible, things like enormous tidal waves wreaking enormous destruction around the world. To prevent all of those effects would require a great many other miracles as well, miracles arguably greater than the one getting talked about in the text. There does not seem to be archaeological evidence of those 'side effects', though, and it would seem rather ham-handed of God to cause that kind of destruction in order to create a local event in Israel. But what if God added to nature instead of contradicting natural laws? What if He added light from another source to extend the day for Joshua? What if he added light from a different source and different geometry to change the shadow? Neither would involve global side effects and neither would contradict the natural course of the earth. The Bible says quite a bit about 'uncreated light' (as it is referred to in 'Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring' by J.S. Bach) emanating from God after all.

I don't know what mechanism God used for those miracles, but it does seem to me that there could be mechanisms available to God that do not necessarily go against His own laws in nature, the laws of nature that He created. One can make similar arguments for the miracles of turning water to wine, healing the sick, and so on. It could well be that our current world includes only some of the possible 'laws of nature', more of which could be normal in the world the come, the world we call 'heaven'.  Miracles could be simply a glimpse of what will one day be 'normal'.

As we enter the Advent season I am reminded of the great miracle of Christ's birth, God taking on flesh to be born of a woman. God did not contradict the course of a normal pregnancy and normal birth; He did not create His Son out of the ocean waves like the pagan myths whose so-called miracles clearly contradict nature. He did not eliminate the need for a family for this Child to grow up in, a mom and a dad for guidance, a childhood to 'grow in favor with both God and man'. Instead He added a miraculous conception that did not contradict nature but added something new to it. He also added angels to announce it to those who had 'eyes to see and ears to hear', and magi to bring special provision for an otherwise poor family. 'Blessed are the poor'. That poor family, the family of Joseph and Mary, was blessed indeed! And blessed are we when we pause to contemplate these things in this miraculous season!