Five men roll a massive stone to seal Jesus’ Tomb – AD – The Bible Continues
This question is from someone who clearly does not understand the limits of science or the scientific method. So let me start with a comparison to demonstrate why science can neither prove nor disprove miracles. Asking if science has proved miracles are not real is like asking if your bathroom scale has showed how much your pet [cat, dog, whatever – insert here] loves you. It should be readily apparent why your bathroom scale, which measures physical weight, cannot measure a non-physical quantity like love, particularly in a creature that is not even human. So there is no way for it to determine if your pet is even capable of “love.” Careful – behavior is not love. Even if your pet exhibits certain behaviors, that is not proof of love, and, even if it were, it (love) is still not a quantity that your scale could measure.
To be clear, and at the risk of being pedantic, your bathroom scale measures items in the physical realm, namely the force of gravity acting on a mass placed upon it. Your scale gives a reading of the force acting on the scale due to the force of gravity. Love is, of course, not a physical object or quantity. Therefore your scale cannot give a reading for it regardless of what creature it might exist in, or what behaviors that creature is exhibiting.
The Scientific Method
A similar limitation applies to science with regards to miracles. Science uses the scientific method to gain knowledge. As this graphic from my article, Evolution: Not Science, Pseudoscience illustrates, the scientific method requires that observations be made. From the data of those observations testable hypotheses are derived. If neither observations nor hypotheses can be made, the item is not withing the realm of science.
This limitation of science is apparent in the following quote from astrophysicist Alex Filippenko from an episode of “The Universe”:
“Ultimately the point is, if there is no way to scientifically test a hypothesis through experiments and observations it’s not truly a scientific hypothesis. And so, since the question of the ultimate origin
and the ultimate creator is fundamentally an untestable question, it’s really not part of science.”[1]
Rudolfo Llinas, professor of neuroscience and chairman of the Department of Physiology and Neuroscience at the NYU School of Medicine[2], makes the same point below about the inability of science to test that which cannot be observed. Clearly science is unable to do anything with miracles, whether it be to confirm or disprove them, since the scientific method cannot be applied to the miracle itself. Yet miracles can still be recognized by their effect.
Recognizing Miracles
Jesus describes how you can recognize a miracle:
“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
(John 3:8)
Jesus gives very practical advice here on how to recognize a miracle. People “born of the Spirit” are people who have been born again (John 3.3) of God. Being born again is of course a miracle God performs that saves people. This spiritual birth cannot directly be observed. But, as you can perceive the wind from the effects of its blowing, you can recognize people who have been born again by their behavior, which conforms itself to be obedient to God as John points out multiple times in his first epistle (1 Jn 1.7, 2.2-6, 3.2).
This method of recognizing a miracle from its effects is of course useful for other miracles. The entire Christian faith is based on the fact of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The resurrection itself was not witnessed, but its effects—an empty tomb, and a living Jesus viewed by not only the apostles (1 Cor 15.5), but hundreds of people (1 Cor 15.6) after his death by crucifixion—is why Christianity exists today.
So science has no power to disprove miracles. But one thing modern technology, the product of science, can do is make it much easier to find reports of miracles. For instance there are reports of cancers mysteriously disappearing like this account.
Right here and now we use technology born of science to share the recognizable effects of the resurrection of Jesus. One of the best ways to understand the miracle of the resurrection is to ask a simple question: Who moved the stone?
Jesus was buried in a tomb whose entrance was covered by a massive stone that required a number of men to move it. (To get an idea of the size of the massive stone, see the picture above.) If Jesus were dead, who moved the stone in front of the tomb, which was guarded by a number of soldiers?
- Not the dead man in the tomb.
- Not the Jews. They wanted Jesus dead. (Matt 27.22-23)
- Not the Romans. The Roman governor Pilate authorized the execution and was looking forward to the peace his death would bring. (Jn 19.16)
- Not the disciples. They were hiding behind closed doors for fear of the Jews. (John 20.19)
- Not the guards. It was death for the guards to loose the person they were charged with guarding. (Acts 12.19)
Yet the massive stone was rolled back allowing the world to see the tomb was empty. But how? Below are scenes from AD – The Bible Continues which both demonstrates the problem, and the solution.
First the problem:
After the resurrection and the tomb is empty, Caiaphas the high priest, to whom the guards reported (Matt 28.11) in an effort to find out how the guards allowed the tomb to be emptied, questions the soldiers guarding the tomb, and asked how many were there to move the stone? He is appalled at the answer, which is physically impossible. (Reference the picture above.)
Next, the solution:
The Bible reveals how the stone was actually moved (Matt 28.2). An angel from God moved it so it could be plainly seen that the tomb was empty. Below is a dramatization from AD the Bible Continues.
So, in short, science has no power to disprove miracles. What it can do however, is verify the results of miracles and thus confirm the miracle itself. It can also eliminate physical causes leaving a miracle as the best answer to the question. The question in this case being, who moved the stone?
Duane Caldwell | January 17, 2025 | Printer Friendly Version
Follow @rational_faith_
Notes:
1. Alex Filippenko ref. from The Universe ep. “God and The Universe”, History documentary 2011.
Back
2. Rudolfo Llinas ref. from Closer To Truth ep. “Can God and Science Mix”, Kuhn Foundation documentary, 2016
Back
Image:
Five men roll a massive stone to seal Jesus’ Tomb – AD – The Bible Continues Ep 1. “The Tomb is Open”, 2015
