God does not arbitrarily manipulate the laws of physics and perform miracles.

"However, I may ask, at which point does the supernatural forces interact in the known universe without being confused with the fundamental forces of nature." Miracles may be distinguished in that they are done intelligently (God is intelligent) for an intelligent purpose. They are clearly supernatural. And in the case of Divine miracles they will be for the promotion of good; e.g. healing, helping, etc., although it could be argued that evil supernatural forces (such as Satan) may also involve themselves in our world. My example about the broken bone healing I see as a miracle. In my opinion, that was impossible. But even if that particular incident was possible, there are others that can certainly be said to be impossible, such as an amputee's missing limb growing back or lame men walking. 1) Jesus lived 2) Jesus was crucified 3) Jesus died 4) Jesus' disciples claimed he rose again 5) Even when Jesus' disciples were killed for their belief, they refused to deny they were speaking the truth about what they had seen. 6) No one ever saw Jesus' dead body again. 7) Despite persecution, christianity grew rapidly and even the emperor became a Christian in the end "May I see a source of information, that when traced back to it's original source, does not rely upon the authority of the dogmatic claims of the bible?" Yes you may. Josephus, the Jewish (non-Christian) historian recorded all these facts, as did other historians of the time .http://en.wikipedia.org... (6) is a fact of omission, in that if Jesus' body HAD been discovered, the Jewish leaders would surely have paraded his body around to subdue the wave of Christianity that was spreading through Judea and the Roman Empire, and as a result Josephus and other historians would have recorded that fact too and Christianity would likely have died out. Christianity's rapid growth in the face of persecution is historically confirmed by even today's historians, as are actually all 6 points. Christians were persecuted. http://en.wikipedia.org... And many did die for their faith. Why would Christians, especially the first ones who claimed to have seen the resurrection, die for a belief they had just made up? After all, according to the Bible these first Christians weren't very brave. Peter denied Christ before the crucifixion, so what made him so brave AFTER the crucifixion? The logical answer would be that the disciples believed what they said happened, namely that Christ did rise from the dead. I don't know where YOU went to school, but the crusades did not happen until the Middle Ages, or 1095 BC to be precise, about a millenium after the start of the Christian faith. http://www.history.com... There was plenty of persecution between the start of Christianity (with Jesus' death) and 330 AD when the Edict of Milan made Christianity popular and safe. Pure imagination? Tales of supernatural beings are universal, ranging from African demons to Chinese spirits to Arabian djinn. Witch doctors still exist in many primitive cultures and are revered by the local population for being able to interact with spirits. The widespread presence of these beliefs is testament to the fact that there is a spirit world which man can attempt to interact with. Pro complains that if miracles do happen, then they are arbitrary because we do not know why God does some miracles and doesn't do others. However, just because there is no way for us to know God's reasoning in every case does not mean that God has no reasons for what he does. It just means that His ways are higher than our understanding. I didn't say Satan became a snake. I said that "snake" was a name for Satan. Satan is called "dragon" elsewhere in the Bible, which does not mean that he became a mythical dragon. The Bible talking of a "star" is not reflective of God's ignorance. It is reflective of God working through man and to man. The Bible could not have said "asteroid" for that was not a word at the time for them. When John wrote "star," he was communicating a concept that was most clearly represented by that word. Clear enough? My Bible refers to all "flesh" dying on the earth: animals, birds, etc.. Plants are not mentioned. Noah and co. are obviously excluded. Pro's very quote betrays him. "And in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in dry land, died." Noah and family were not on dry land; they were in a boat. Plants cannot (at least from Noah's perspective) be said to breathe, at least not in the same way that we do. So Pro's argument from the Bible fails. OK, there are some old trees out there. However, first, Carbon Dating is not always accurate. To date accurately using carbon, we need to be able to have a good idea of how much carbon was in the atmosphere at the time dated. If the flood took place, then the amount of carbon in the atmosphere might quite possibly be quite different from the amount present now. As a result, our estimates could easily be off thousands of years. Second, we do not have a solid date for the flood. As a result, I do not find apparently ancient trees troubling to the theory of the flood. To summarize: The Bible is highly accurate and the events depicted in the gospels are historically confirmed. Why believe the writers depicted everything accurately except the miracles and the resurrection? The disciples died for beliefs that Pro thinks they made up. In the end, the truth is that if God exists, miracles are possible. God could alter the laws of physics if He wanted to (as Pro seems to prefer putting it that way) or He could simply exert His own supernatural force. He could also work through angels operating from another dimension. This should be obvious. So, the extent to which my arguments make sense will probably depend on the extent to which you think a belief in God is reasonable. The evidence I have shown does indicate that the resurrection in the Bible did happen historically, which would mean God does exist and that miracles are possible. I am glad this debate is over. Thanks, Pro.