Gregor,
Cool. Now I'd like to drag this one small step further since we have established a possibility. I've already stated that scientific proof is outside the realm of possiblity, and kid-A has confirmed that statement, so for purposes of discussion and thoughts exercises "possibilities" are unfortunately the limit of our possible exploration.
I wish to address one point you raised, namely "non-believer in anything supernatural."
I submit that if it exists, it is not supernatural. This is true of anything. Not just God. Only that which is beyond nature is supernatural. On this point, I imagine we are also in agreement. For instance, lthough I have never observed wind, I have observed and personally experienced enough of its effects that I am convinced of its existence. The fact that wind is invisible does not render wind supernatural. I have never seen gravity either, but ... well you get the idea. That which exists is not supernatural. So, I agree with you, I am a non-believer in anything supernatural.
If you showed someone today a televised performance of "Hound Dog" by Elvis from the Ed Sullivan show, would they think it was supernatural that they could watch something that happened many years ago? Would they believe it was miraculous that a dead person could speak, and dance, and sing, and entertain us long after their death?
What if you showed it to scientists who lived in, oh...let's not go too far back...say 1832? Would it be miraculous to them? Supernatural? Every single particle of matter required for television reception and transmission existed on earth in 1832, why would they be amazed? You would likely be burned at the stake as a witch in certain places, but that is another discussion entirely.
How about a cell phone with a camera? If you showed that device, working, operable, to scientists in the 1890s-1920s it would be a miracle.
How would they describe what they witnessed to their friends? "No. That's what I'm telling you. I saw no power source, no cords or wires of any kinds. He had a PICTURE, in FULL COLOR of his friend printed somehow onto the inside of this thing, but the picture could CHANGE without removing it first. There were little lighted buttons all over it, and when he pressed one of them we HEARD his friend's voice. At first we though it might be a miniature recording device of some sort, like a drum scroll secreted inside that tiny device, but he invited us to test that it actually was his friend. He could not possibly have planned for us to ask his friend to state the first 8 prime numbers, followed by a horrible rendition of our National Anthem. It was REAL I tell you! I have no idea how it was done...but I held the device myself!"
Now, how would scientists in the year 200 BC react? Do you get my point? That is what a miracle is, the observation or experience of something which cannot be explained and often cannot even be fully comprehended. Any explanation of what is observed is garbled by the inability to articulate that for which there is no speech part. Linguistic shortcomings get in the way. If you don't believe me, try explaining to someone how to load and run a piece of software onto a PC without using a single term that came into existence post-1930.
But, if you're talking about the possibility that somewhere out there in the great unknown there is an intelligent, all powerful force/being that is (here I'm not too clear) guiding things?
How powerful would intelligent beings have to be before any humans that encountered them would regard them as all-powerful? I mean, the Borg on Star Trek Generations/Voyager were pretty crafty but they weren't "all-powerful." They did have all the technology from dozens of populated worlds at their disposal, and for all that I believe they were portrayed as rather inept in exploiting that advantage.
Humans are pretty pathetic, physically, when it comes right down to it. We have a vast capacity for imagining technology beyond our current capacity to innovate. We can imagine a "replicator" of a sort that orders raw matter into usable products for consumption. But we have a real problem taking our imagination one step further, and imagining life and technologies that exist outside our plane of existence which can nonetheless influence our plane of existence.
Such aren't supernatural, if they exist. But how powerful would they have to be for us to perceive them as "all-powerful?" Certainly, how powerful for someone living 2,000 years ago to consider them as such? You would be considered all-powerful to someone living in the Congo in 1650 AD. They would be in awe of your "miracles" even as Native Americans were in awe of things such as compasses (the needle moved by itself!), matches, muskets, horses, iron, mirrors, combs, etc.
My main contention is that there is more in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy. We keep finding out the truth of that, and we keep forgetting it.
Respectfully,
AuldSoul
