(September 7, 2016 at 4:10 pm)Huggy74 Wrote:(September 7, 2016 at 11:58 am)Whateverist Wrote: Just going to bump this Huggy because I'd really like to know if you think of the 'supernatural' as something forever unexplainable by natural means or if you think of it as something which so far is with out natural explanation. My impression is that many theists think of it in the first way, as though God just operates through pure intentional magic for which His will is both the way and the means. That is what I don't buy. If there were gods I would assume they are savvy to some know how that escapes us. Your thoughts?
I'm not ignoring you, I'm just not at home and may not be for a couple of days.
However the short answer to your question is the supernatural is that which defy natural laws.
An example of that would be Jesus walking on water. How will one ever explain that according to the laws of physics?
If you're away from your computer, it'll keep until you're back. Your example is of an action which flys in the face of what we do know about physics. Ordinarily, no one of ordinary size is able to walk on water in its liquid state. So in this example, what counts as supernatural would be an action that goes against natural law.
But what I was really asking was whether supernatural actions were ones which utilized an advanced knowledge of natural law to do what we with our inferior understanding could not do -or- are they ones which represent a action caused by pure, divine intention which uses no mechanism other that God's will. I guess it isn't reasonable to expect you to know how the Christian creator god does what He does. However, if it turns out that God is working with an advanced understanding of natural law to pull off his parlor tricks (aka miracles), then I would say 'the supernatural' isn't a needed category. Also, God could then just be a member of an advanced race of aliens much smarter than ourselves.
