Can you prove all Biblical miracles with science?

I am by nature very sceptical. If you tell me something is true and that you “read it on Facebook”, I will usually try and prove you wrong. Share me a warning about a scam, I will often find the snopes.com link that shows it was not true. With my kids, they, on occasions, seem to believe anything they see on the computer . One child even told me the Tyne Bridge had fallen down and it was true “cos someone had posted it on Facebook”. Needless to say a quick check of the Tyne Bridge webcam was enough to prove them wrong!

Being a sceptic is a good thing when it comes to our faith too. History is littered with charlatans who have preyed on the faithful and duped them into following their corrupt ways. So I am always intrigued to see how people respond to the big miracles of the Bible.

Today we read Exodus 14 and it tells the story of the parting of the Red Sea:

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Exodus 14:21-22

Down the ages this, and another big miracles in the Bible, have become the subject of intense speculation about what “natural” event may have been used to explain this. The people behind these theories are in two very different camps – the atheists who want to prove that there is no God and so all miracles are easily explained by natural phenomena and Christians who seem intent on proving that God used natural phenomena to do his will. And these groups seem to get all the air time and column inches in the media.

You will have seen stories like Scientists Explain Red Sea Parting and Other Miracles, stating that scientists have discovered how God did it. They usually revolve around a loose interpretation of the bible and application of science. You then get the Christians answering back with their own theories of how God used natural phenomena. My sceptical side kicks in and I wonder if both groups are actually a little bit bonkers and wonder who funds all this research in the first place.

I start from a much simpler scientific position. Is it possible that there is a God outside of the natural forces of the universe who has the power to create the first spark of creation and to intervene in our universe? If the answer to that is no, then you are well down the road to being agnostic or even an atheist. If the answer is yes, then everything else becomes a matter of what you choose to believe or have faith in. If God created the spark of the Big Bang that led to all creation, then parting the Red Sea would be a trivial act. In fact all biblical miracles would be seen as trivial in comparison to the act of creating the universe as we currently understand it.

So I have come to the conclusion there is little point in analysing stories like today’s to understand how it was possible. That misses the whole point of why it is in the bible at all. Much more interesting is to analyse “why” a story or an event has been included in the biblical narrative. Then we can begin to understand the mind of God as the story unfolds.

So for me today’s story is simple – God saves us. When we are in jeopardy – God can save us. He saved the Hebrew people from the Egyptian army and he can save us too. This is the point of the story. Whether the wind blew at 67mph and piled the water up, or God said “Let it be so” is to miss the point of why the story of the Jewish people is still at the heart of our Christian faith today.