Search for Causes

[Lek]

When you try to determine the cause for anything is one of your considerations that it was caused by supernatural means?

I like to think I keep an open mind. But, the problem with considering the supernatural as a cause, is that no one can tell me what a supernatural thing actually is, and why it is disqualified from the category of ‘natural’. As far as I can tell, the best description of the supernatural we currently have is, “some event that occurred in the natural world that we don’t have an explanation for yet.” How am I supposed to evaluate whether it’s likely or not that the cause of some phenomenon was supernatural when I don’t even know what it is, or what evidence of it would look like? If the only evidence for a supernatural cause is the lack of a natural explanation...well...that’s no evidence at all. It’s just an argument from ignorance fallacy. Lek, if you can’t test for the supernatural, why would you even consider it a possibility?

Would you agree that if there is a supreme supernatural being, who acts according to whatever laws it wishes, that it could communicate knowledge of itself directly to a human being? Also, that it could do this using a method that is not understandable to us? If this is possible, it could spread to billions and billions of people in all times and places. Since this knowledge cannot be discovered strictly by human means, those who received this knowledge would accept it with certainty, while those who haven't would be highly skeptical. This would explain why so many believe with certainty while others reject it.

Is the only true knowledge we can obtain that which is obtained through observable natural means or can there be other ways to obtain true knowledge? If not, then why?