Scientist on Miracles

Physicians attending the joint annual meeting of the British and Canadian Medical Associations in Toronto last week hardly expected to hear a lecture on miracles, and certainly not one from a fellow scientist. But Dr. John R. Brobeck, 41, professor of physiology at the University of Pennsylvania, surprised a group of them at a breakfast session with a discussion of the subject that turned out to be the sensation of the convention.

"Many scientists have become a lot less positive about the prerogatives of science and the scientific method," said Dr. Brobeck (who classifies himself as an "evangelical Protestant like Billy Graham"). "More and more we hear talk about the limitations of science. But science is not the only way to get information. Many fields of human experience are not susceptible to scientific analysis.

"Modern science no longer speaks about laws. What used to be called a law now is spoken of as a high probability because science cannot predict what an individual molecule in a given population is likely to do . . .. What were called laws now are being stated in terms of statistics . . ."

Through the Garage Door. "I have been told that one may illustrate the changing concepts of the nature of matter by imagining that on some given morning I may drive my car out of my garage without opening the doors, without damaging either the car or the garage, because matter is largely space which is always shifting, and all these areas of space may coincide," he continued. "But there is no way of telling when this might come to pass, so I open the doors. A scientist is no longer able to say honestly something is impossible. He can only say it is improbable. But he may be able to say something is impossible to explain in terms of our present knowledge. Science cannot say that all properties of matter and all forms of energy are now known.

"What do we need to add to miracles to translate them into something possible to account for? Nothing we can do can make a miracle a probable event, but it may be possible to add some information to it to make it possible. One thing that needs to be added is a source of energy unknown to us in our biological and physiological sciences. In our Scriptures this source of energy is identified as the power of God."

Changing Point. "The Christian," said Dr. Brobeck, "thinks of miracles as something improbable, and so does the scientist. Both Christian and scientist also agree that it is impossible to explain miracles in terms of our present understanding. This doesn't mean miracles are impossible, and the Christian accepts them by faith . . . The attitude to science of the scientist who is not a Christian is rapidly approaching that of the scientist who is a Christian."

To reporters who wanted to hear more, Dr. Brobeck added: "Most scientists don't accept miracles because they are not Christians. But the thoughtful scientist would not say that miracles are impossible, only improbable. Most scientists are not Christians, but not because they're scientists. Most businessmen or most reporters are not Christians either; in fact, most people are not Christians."

New Birth. "One of the essences of science is reproducibility. If I can't observe the miracles of 2,000 years ago and reproduce them, as a scientist, I can't believe them possible. But as a Christian, a miracle has happened to me which makes me accept these miracles. This miracle is the new birth, which every one of us who is a Christian has experienced. It is the application of God's power which brings about this change which is a miracle. It cannot be accomplished by any biological or psychological force. It creates within us the will to believe.

"Our experience is like that of the early Christians, as recorded in the Book of Acts . . . The change is psychological, but it involves a force which most scientists do not recognize."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.