The clash between tectonic plates would cause massive earthquakes around the world, followed by tsunamis of greater intensity and altitude than those likely to occur during the Noah flood. Once the rotation resumes, the same effect would occur, but this time in the opposite direction. God`s miracle certainly violated natural laws because it completely abolished the principle of preserving the angular momentum of rotating bodies—a fundamental law. Moreover, the kinetic energy of a rotating body like Earth could not simply disappear. Where did he go? It should not be forgotten that the Earth`s atmosphere also has momentum, and if the rotation suddenly stops, winds of hundreds of kilometers per hour around the globe would wreak havoc. This miracle would affect every atom on the planet. Therefore, treating the universe as an open system renders Hume`s theory of injury useless, because it makes divine action possible and even welcome. A good way to understand the differences between a closed system and an open system is to use an analogy with computer software. Software can be divided into two categories: proprietary and open-source. Proprietary software is one that, once programming is complete, is “sealed” by the owners and sold to their customers. This is done to prevent unauthorized manipulation of program codes.
A customer who buys proprietary software can only do what the program was designed for. Ellen G. White also criticized those who advocate a deterministic view of the universe in which “nature acts independently of God and has within itself its own limits and forces to work with. The natural is attributed to ordinary causes that have nothing to do with the power of God. It is believed that matter is placed in certain relationships and acts from fixed laws in which God Himself cannot intervene; that nature is endowed with certain qualities and subject to the laws, and then left to itself to obey those laws and do the work originally commanded. 16 Most early English scholars believed in biblical miracles. These scientists included Isaac Newton and the early Newtonians. Modern science originally developed in contexts that confirmed that a superintelligent God had created the universe and therefore it had to make sense. Newton popularized the idea of natural law—and saw it as a design argument for the existence of God. The miracle of the adequacy of the language of mathematics to formulate the laws of physics is a wonderful gift that we neither understand nor deserve.
We should be grateful to him for this and hope that it will remain valid in future research and that it will extend to broad branches of learning, much to our delight, but perhaps to our astonishment. [8] “That there is indeed a limit to science is most likely due to the existence of questions that science cannot answer and that no conceivable advance of science would allow it to answer. So we don`t need to turn to science, but to metaphysics, imaginative literature, or religion to find answers to questions that have to do with the first and the last. John and Ruth might then ask: If I emphasize the integrity of God`s regular actions to preserve the universe and even to create us, why should miracles happen? Can they perform today? Instead of answering this theological question directly, I would like to use a musical analogy borrowed from Colin Humphreys. Suppose you observe a pianist playing a classical piece. You will find that there are some notes he plays and others he never plays. The choice of notes is limited because the music is played in a certain key. But then he sometimes breaks this rule and plays an unusual note.
Musicians call these coincidences, and a composer can insert them wherever he wants (although, if there are too many, the music would sound strange). As Humphreys says: But when it comes to natural laws established by the same lawgiver, it seems that many have no difficulty in claiming that God violated, interfered, penetrated, or broke the laws of nature when He parted the Red Sea, multiplied bread, brought the dead back to life, or healed the blind. For them, violating a single law of nature in order to heal or bring salvation may not seem too problematic. If the Bible is right, it leaves an intriguing possibility. Perhaps it is not the miracle, but our world – with all its death, decadence and sickness – that is strange and unnatural. Perhaps a miracle is not a violation of the laws of nature, but a sublime act in which the Creator restores the original order of His creation for a brief and glorious moment. Most early modern scholars worked from a Christian worldview.