(December 27, 2012 at 1:41 pm)Undeceived Wrote: The key here is the nonmaterial does not, by scientific standards, affect the material in a repeatable way. The moment we see it is repeatable (as are all things tested by the scientific method), we call it 'natural' whether it is or not-- we call them "natural laws": we observe them but do not understand why they are what they are. The cause may be nonmaterial at its origins, but science would never pronounce it so. For example, scientists are still looking for the smallest particle that determines attraction, weight, and every other law applied to matter. If naturalists ever got to that point, they would stop looking for a smaller particle and just assume that one as their premise going forward. Never mind why the particle is a law in itself, and how it came to be a law in itself, science is concerned only with natural phenomena. When it comes to the brink of the supernatural, when a nonmaterial cause is even hinted at, science stops and simply accepts what is before it. You know this is true. Is it fair?
So, basically, your god is not able to repeat his miracles?
As for your understanding of the scientific method - you are way off base. Something doesn't necessarily have to be repeatable to be within the purview of science. On the contrary, we've found that once we understand it, it becomes repeatable. As for natural laws, the entire field of science is devoted not just to figuring out what they are but why they are as they are. And finally, science doesn't stop at the first hint of supernatural - it plows on to discover it is, in fact part of the natural.
