Some of my thoughts lately.
If nature is governed by laws 3 questions arise:
1. What is the origin of the laws?
2. Are there any exceptions to the laws, ie., miracles?
3. Is there only one set of possible laws?
Many scientists, philosophers, and theologians have tried to answer these questions. Kepler, Newton, Galileo, and Descartes-- and their answer to the first question was traditionally God as the embodiment of the laws of nature. Unless one endows God with some other attributes such as being the God of the Old Testament employing God as a response merely substitutes one mystery for another. So if we involve God with the first question as answer we see the real crunch comes with the second question: Are there miracles, exceptions to the laws?
Opinions about the second question have been sharply divided. Plato and Aristotle the two most influential ancient Greek writers held there can be no exceptions to the laws. But if one takes the biblical view then God not only created the laws but can be appealed to by prayer to make exceptions-- to heal the terminally ill, to bring premature ends to drought, to keep NASCAR drivers and other athletes safe, hell even to bring back wrestling as an Olympic sport. In opposition to Descartes's view almost all Christian thinkers maintain God must be able to suspend the laws to accomplish miracles. Even Newton the smartest man that ever lived believed in miracles of a sort. He thought that the orbit of the planets would be unstable because of the gravitational attraction of one planet would cause disturbances to the orbits that would grow over time and they would either fly of into space or be flung into the sun. So God must reset the orbits ever so often. However as I have been reading Pierr...
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...ney is economics.
The third question addresses the issue of whether laws determine both the universe and human behavior are unique. If your answer to the first question is God created the laws then this question is did God have any latitude in choosing them? Both Aristotle and Plato believed like Descartes and later Einstein that the principles of nature exist out of "necessity" because they are the only rules that make logical sense. Due to his belief in the origin in the laws of nature in logic Aristotle felt one could derive those laws without paying attention to how they behaved. That is why they are wrong. It was only until much later that Galileo challenged the authority of Aristotle and the Bible and said nature did what it actually did not what pure reason said it ought to.
Just a couple of reasons why Heaven is a fairytale for those afraid of the dark!!!!!