© Copyright 2013 PJ Stassen
All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved
He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts – for support rather than illumination.
-
Andrew Lang,
1844-1912.
I am not, by nature or by habit, a gambler. In fact, I detest gambling. I’ve seen
too many lives ruined by that obnoxious industry to ever pursue that line of
work as a career. But now and then a friend, an acquaintance or a family member may
phone and say: “Guess what …I won at the
races today!” Never mind his losses every other gambling-day … he won at the races that day! So I rejoice with him, and sigh for being
such a ‘rational idiot’ who does not believe in gambling. Admittedly, even a broken clock is right at
least twice a day.
Mathematicians, people who (among
others) study such complex subjects as Statistics and Probability Theory, will, for instance, tell you that the chances of winning a certain ‘prize’ or ‘jackpot’ is, say '14
billion to one'. They calculate the odds
against the lucky thing happening to you with engineering precision … yet (lucky)
people sometimes win millions of dollars all over the world all the time. How
does it happen?
The point I want to make is that Nature
sometimes surprises (or shocks) us by doing exactly the opposite thing of the familiar, logical thing. Truth truly is often much stranger than fiction. Statistically and mathematically speaking,
Jesus Of Nazareth should never have been born, never have walked on the Sea of
Galilee, never have risen from the grave … yet He did! Theologians will tell you that the Messianic
prophecies (spanning many centuries) foretelling His coming run like a golden
thread through all the books of the Old Testament … for instance, just read Psalms 22,
Psalms 109 or Isaiah 53. Here was a
divine 'maverick' Who did not take the proverbial ‘No’ for an answer, a rugged individualist Who came to do the will of His Father and in the process broke just about every
rule ever established by the so-called 'law of averages'.
But do the laws of Nature really forbid
miraculous things to happen? Do mathematics
and the law of averages (‘statistics’) really prohibit ‘wonderworks’ in a
reasonable, rational Universe? Bear in
mind that God has designed and established the laws of Nature for very good reasons. For instance, how would we as Christians have
recognised a miracle without the ‘norm’ of the laws of Nature? A miracle is a deviation from the Natural
norm, so how would we have recognised a miracle, i.e. a deviation from the
Natural norm, without a Natural norm to measure it against, or compare it with?
The laws of Nature assist us thus in recognising a miracle when it happens; because it is so rare and so unique, it stands out.
Another positive fact about the laws of Nature
is that the very fact there are such things as the ‘laws of Nature’ demands the
existence of an Intelligent Designer or Creator … so-called brainless ‘Evolution’
would never have been able to invent and design the complex laws of Nature. Had it been able to do so it would have been a gross anomaly
of science because the evolutionists insist that ‘Evolution’ happened randomly
by sheer biological accident and without the aid of any Creative Intelligence or
any Supreme Being at all.
So, because there are such things as the ‘laws of Nature’ the challenge to elicit a ‘miracle’ is already 50% solved for the simple reason that, as I have just explained, there is a God. The question thus is not whether miracles happen or not; the fact is that they have happened, they still do happen and will do so again in future. The real question is the other 50% of the problem … i.e. what we must do to qualify for a miracle. Miracles commonly do not necessarily come in recognisable lucky dips or gift parcels. A miracle may be happening to me right now yet I may not be able recognise it ... I may lack the appropriate skill or experience to recognise it.
So, because there are such things as the ‘laws of Nature’ the challenge to elicit a ‘miracle’ is already 50% solved for the simple reason that, as I have just explained, there is a God. The question thus is not whether miracles happen or not; the fact is that they have happened, they still do happen and will do so again in future. The real question is the other 50% of the problem … i.e. what we must do to qualify for a miracle. Miracles commonly do not necessarily come in recognisable lucky dips or gift parcels. A miracle may be happening to me right now yet I may not be able recognise it ... I may lack the appropriate skill or experience to recognise it.
I believe that miracles happen almost everyday,
but we are to dumb to see it. Just the fact of a derelict drunk being
transformed into a Bible-reading saint is a miracle that cannot be calculated
in any monetary terms by no Wall Street analyst today, no matter how astute. Statistically
the Biblical Flood in the days of Noah should not have happened, but it did. Statistically the virgin-birth, resurrection
and ascension of Jesus Christ should not have happened, but it did. Statistically the Second Coming of Jesus
Christ to this planet ought not to happen, but it will.
This song is about the miracle-worker of
Galilee … Jesus of Nazareth, and I quote from three verses only:
The Stranger Of Galilee
(Mrs.
C.H. Morris/© Copyright
1935, renewal. The Standard Publishing Co., owner.)
In
fancy I stood by the shore, one day,
Of
the beautiful murm’ring sea;
I
saw the great crowds as they thronged the way,
Of
the Stranger of Galilee;
I
saw how the man who was blind from birth,
In
a moment was made to see;
The
lame was made whole by the matchless skill
Of
the Stranger from Galilee.
His
look of compassion, His words of love,
They
shall never forgotten be,
When
sin-sick and helpless He saw me there,
This
Stranger of Galilee;
He
show’d me His hand and His riven side,
And
whispered “It was for thee!”
My
burden fell off at the pierc-ed feet
Of the Stranger of Galilee.
Come ye, who are driven, and tempest-tossed,
And His gracious salvation see;
He’ll quiet life’s storms with His “Peace, be still!”
This Stranger of Galilee.
He bids me to go and the story tell
What He ever to you will be,
If only you let Him with you abide,
This Stranger of Galilee.
CHORUS
And I felt I could love Him forever,
So gracious and tender was He!
I claimed Him that day as my Savior,
This Stranger of Galilee.
Piet Stassen
eLiterature/eLiteratuur:
- Scribd Publishing Site: www.scribd.com/PietStassen (ENGLISH & AFRIKAANS)
- eBook: 'Evolution: The Science That Evolved Into A Fairy Tale' (ENGLISH)
- eBook: 'Bertrand Russell Revisited: Rebuttal Of Bertrand Russell's 'Why I Am Not A Christian''(ENGLISH)
- eBook: 'Meditations & Contemplations: A Reader For Both Atheists And Creationists' (ENGLISH)
- eBook: 'Conservation, Rhino Poaching And Hypocrisy' (ENGLISH)
- eBook: 'Why Darwinism ('Evolution') Does Not Make Sense' (ENGLISH)
- eBook: 'Names And Titles Of Jesus Of Nazareth (ENGLISH)'
- eBoek: 'Darwin Of Christus: Suid-Afrikaners By 'n Kruispad!' [AFRIKAANS].
- eBoek: 'Bevryding Van Die Anti-Evangelie Van Ateisme-Evolusionisme' [AFRIKAANS].
- eBoek: 'Name & Titels Van Jesus Christus' [AFRIKAANS].
- eTracts, Christian (Free, Downloadable): Free, downloadable Christian eTracts for free distribution (ENGLISH)
- eTraktate, Christelik (Gratis, Aflaaibaar): Gratis, aflaaibabre Christelike Traktate vir gratis verspreiding (AFRIKAANS)
Bibliography
1. Hymnary.Org. 'Mrs. C.H. Morris'. Accessed At <http://www.hymnary.org/person/Morris_CHMrs> [online] 2013.
2. Smith, Alfred B. (1971) Favorites Vol.1. ‘The Stranger Of Galilee’. Singspiration® Inc. Zondervan Corporation. Grand Rapids, Michigan.
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