Supernatural evidence

[AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is (I think) the fifth installment in the series originally published several years ago, during my tenure as the Atlanta Creationism Examiner. Minor editing and re-formatting  to accommodate the differences between the old and new platform have been done on every article, but the original content has otherwise remained unchanged. ]

Supernatural evidence

We have examined the few real “facts” of evolution. Then we reviewed the conjecture about evolution expressed in the theories of Charles Darwin.

Then I suggested an alternative to Darwin’s theory of natural selection (evolution theory) which I have called Iterative Creation (IC).

And of course, we talked about DNA as a unique and dynamically generated source code for the creation of a new living organism.

The remaining question left unasked thus far: is evolution theory clearly superior to IC?  Are the theories equally unprovable, or does IC actually hold some advantage over evolution theory?

The only way evolution theory can be considered superior to IC is by resorting to scientism. By asserting that evidence somehow “belongs” to science would imply IC can’t use the same evidence, presumably because a different standard for scientific method is applied to each theory. At the heart of any scientific argument against any form of creation lies the postulate that a supernatural God is simply impossible to believe.

This is a very important point.

God is derisively referred to “an invisible man in the sky” by my atheist friends, as a legend or fairy tale. Tales of NDEs and other supernatural accounts are all lumped together and collectively treated like hearsay anecdotes told by Aunt Martha, flatly dismissed as impossible. Ghost stories and psychic predictions are all believed myths and frauds. No exceptions. Interestingly, scientists claim to be able to “predict” the past by examining old bones and guessing they’ll find something in the fossil record to support their prediction.

On the other hand, when someone otherwise believed rational declares to have experienced the inexplicable, their story is discarded as unreliable or unscientific. Keep in mind, the only proof for evolution is allegedly found by super scientist-detectives that don’t trust their own eyes, but trust the sheer genius of their own intellect to devise some clever explanation for what they cannot see and cannot be observed because it allegedly happens over such a long period of time. Think more “Sherlock Holmes” than “Dick Tracy.”

Yet their evidence is not as convincing as some would lead us to believe. Furthermore, no two tales of supernatural experience are created equal.

Some are purely anecdote in nature. For that very reason, the three examples I shall present for the reader’s consideration will not include my personal anecdotes of ghost experiences.  While many of these personal experiences were witnessed by at least one other person (who now holds a PhD), there are even better examples to share.

Nevertheless, there IS evidence of allegedly supernatural phenomena that CAN be investigated according to the scientific method.

The first example of compelling evidence of supernatural activity was first told in my article recounting the apparently miraculous tilma of Juan Diego.

The following information about the tilma should be easily verified or investigated:

• Two fibers from the image were examined by the director of the Chemistry department at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Heidelberg.  He concluded “no coloring agent of any kind [existed] in the fibers.”
• Scientists using a microscope examined the image and declared no visible brush strokes were present.
• Using an ophthalmoscope, Dr. Rafael Lavoignet examined the eyes in the image and announced in the cornea, a human figure could be seen that had been imposed with the correct optical imagery produced by a “normal” eye.  The date the image was created has been established as 1531.  The nature of corneal eye reflections were not scientifically verified until 300 years passed.  The image Dr. Lavoignet found has been identified as Juan Diego.
• In 1962, an optometrist and his wife magnified a photograph of the image 25 times and announced they had discovered two more faces reflected in Mary’s eyes: those of Bishop Ramirez and translator Juan Gonzalez, also identified from period portrait paintings of the men.
• Professor Philip Callahan examined the image using infrared technology in 1979.  The professor, an expert in the field of infrared radiation and an accomplished painter, wrote about the image on the tilma, “it’s color rendering and the preservation of its brightness over the centuries are inexplicable.  There is no sizing and no protective over-varnish present on the image.  Without sizing the tilma should have rotted centuries ago, and without protective varnishing the picture should have been ruined long ago by prolonged exposure to candle smoke and other pollutants.  Under high magnification, the image shows no detectable sign of fading or cracking—an inexplicable occurrence after 470 years of existence.”
• The normal life span of such a garment is twenty years.  We should be able to observe its decay unless clever replication is periodically performed and substitution done in continuous practice over 500 years.
• Must Dr. Lavoignet, Professor Callahan and the other medical professionals involved be wearing their white lab coats before their results pass scrutiny by the scientific community?

These men put their personal reputations on the line by making declarations that logically make no sense. Quite frankly, their claims defy all scientific explanation. What makes evidence scientific?  Are not opinions obtained from multiple independent medical professionals worth anything?

For our second example, let’s revisit my recent post about Astral travel.

If the facts are accurate and true as reported, then this information demands some form of scientific rebuttal or explanation.

To categorically reject this information as false without an investigation implies serious charges that call into question the integrity of law enforcement officials who were directly involved in a murder investigation, without evidence or justification other than personal bias.

A brief summary of the facts about the psychic who allegedly stopped a serial killer were:

• She gave law enforcement an accurate and detailed physical description of the killer.
• Correctly identified the killer’s means of entry into the Phillipe house – the chair on the A/C unit.
• Correctly provided the name of the killer’s girlfriend and her place of work.
• Correctly predicted the killer’s gambling problems contributed to motive.
• She incredibly predicted somehow of the exact wording of the “River Rat” description the old woman would give after his next future attack.

If the information in the program was not true, then it would mean:

• Police Chief Bill Landry participated in a hoax in a case involving a serial killer.
• (Psychic Rose) Kopp was actually an accomplice of the killer.
• The victim who wrote “River Rat” on the notepad must have collaborated with her assailant and Kopp.
• Kopp must have visited Louisiana in the past in spite of no evidence to indicate she’d ever been there.

Granted, the source of this information was a television program called Psychic Investigators, shown on the Biography Channel. The police chief was not providing sworn testimony in a court of law.

On the other hand, the facts of the case should be easily verifiable through additional research, court transcripts, interviews and sworn affidavits. If the psychic involved could somehow be proved a fraud, perhaps a convicted serial killer might gain his release from Death Row.

For my third and final example of supernatural evidence, let’s reconsider my favorite NDE account, the one of Pam Reynolds. It occurred while she had full medical instrumentation monitoring her vital signs while every drop of blood was drained from her head, with absolutely no detectible neurological activity. Yet she overheard a conversation between her doctors and accurately conveyed what had been said while they were slicing open her leg to tap her femoral artery in order to drain all the blood from her body.

Her neurosurgeon Dr. Spetzler said, “I don’t have an explanation for what happened [to Pam].  I don’t know how it’s possible to happen considering the physiological condition the patient is in.  At the same time, I’ve seen so many things I can’t explain that I can’t be so arrogant as to be able to say there’s no way it could happen.”

These are the words of Pam’s attending physician during surgery.  He does not appear to consider the possibility that Pam’s story was untrue or a hallucination. Dr. Spetzler only asserts that he cannot explain what happened during her surgery. Because Pam seemed absolutely thrilled by her experience, it seems hard to believe Dr. Spetzler feared a suit for medical malpractice with the claim the surgery had been performed while she suffered anesthesia awareness.

By no means are these three the only examples of supernatural accounts with compelling documentation and evidence to support their veracity.  They are three examples that should be easily verified or debunked with further investigation. Evidence of another realm of supernatural knowledge and activity clearly exists.

It’s not incumbent upon me to prove these accounts are true.  I already believe in a supernatural God. It is my contention that each of them must be false to support any contention that a supernatural God is impossible to believe. That hardly seems fair — my work is done, but the those in disbelief of the supernatural still have theirs cut out for them. But Death is unfair, or very fair, depending on your perspective.  Whoever said life had to be fair?

You don’t have to believe any of these stories are true. However, to successfully remain an atheist, you must believe all of them are not, and cannot, be true.