Today we are going to scientifically evaluate the miracles of Jesus and discuss how the Savior may have worked His miracles. We evaluate His miracles of making of wine and food, healing, walking on water, raising the dead to life, and resurrection. How might He have accomplished those miracles?
Email – ScottRFrazer@gmail.com
Website – ScottRFrazer.com
S2E15 – The Science of Jesus’s Miracles
This is the podcast Science and Scriptures, Season 2, Episode 15, or “The Science of Jesus’s Miracles”
Hello everyone. This is Scott Frazer, of the podcast Science and Scriptures.
I don’t know how you picture the afterlife in your mind, but my guess is that, before we are allowed to progress and assist in building worlds, we will be required to go to some form of what I will call “Afterlife College”. The Lord can’t just hand over the His power to us if we don’t know how to use it. Over the years of my science career and church attendance, I have thought many times about how miracles are a fascinating interface between science and religion. Though this podcast episode may mean that I will be giving up my advantage in Afterlife College from having done this pre-class homework, I wanted to share my thoughts and get your feedback. I would like to give you a preview of one class I imagine will be offered - The Science of Jesus’s Miracles 101.
First, we must define our terms. A miracle is the label that we give to something that we don’t understand yet.A magician’s trick looks like a miracle – until he shows you how it is done. Electricity was a miracle – until Thomas Edison explained to the world how it works. We can still be impressed and delighted by electricity, all the while realizing that it is not magic. Twice in the scriptures, we see a series of significant miracles – once by Moses and once by Jesus Christ. Both times, God needed to make it clear to the world that these two servants – one a prophet and one His Son – were His verified representatives. Miracles tend to work for that sort of thing. John the Baptist sent two men to ask Jesus if He was the Messiah for which the Jews had been waiting. As His answer, Jesus let them watch as He healed the sick, cast out evil spirits, and gave sight to the blind. Then He told the two men to return to John and tell him what they had seen.
Today we are going to evaluate the miracles of Jesus and glean what we can about how the Savior probably goes about calling up a miracle. I say “probably” because I am speculating quite a bit. But what I will tell you is reasonable, I think. Let’s start Jesus’s first miracle - turning water into wine. To break it down in simplest terms, Jesus had several waterpots full of water. He needed to add alcohol and an assortment of flavors to make that water into a fine wine.
To explain the logic of my first conclusion on how this was done, I need to take a small step back. We believe in the church that the creation of the universe was NOT created out of nothing (or, in Latin, ex nihilo). In a nutshell, the Big Bang of 14 billion years ago emitted enough energy that (following Einstein’s E=mc2 equation), most of that energy turned into matter. Not surprisingly, most all of that transformed matter was Hydrogen – the simplest and smallest element of matter. Now, to turn that hydrogen into the heavier elements (including carbon) there had to be fusion of billions of nuclei. Fusion requires very high pressures and very high temperatures – which can only be found in the interiors of suns. That is how the universe formed carbon, iron, silica and all the other elements needed to form a planet. The point of recounting the creation of the universe is to emphasize that forming the nuclei of elements is very difficult, requiring the energy found in the center of suns.
So, my conclusion is that in making wine out of water, Jesus Christ did not create the nuclei of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and other elements in organic molecules into existence from surrounding protons and neutrons. Such nuclear reactions would have required a huge outlay of energy, which seems rather excessive to me.
So, where could Jesus have found the carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and other organic elements to make the alcohol and flavorings he needed to add to the water? Out of the air. Yes, I mean literally out of the air! Our atmosphere includes carbon dioxide, oxygen, nitrogen, and water vapor (though in the case of making water into wine, the water was already provided).The scripture relating the water-into-wine miracle in John 2 never says that Jesus added anything at all to the waterpots. He wouldn’t have had to.
To make alcohol, Jesus would have had to combine the carbons (and perhaps the oxygen) from carbon dioxide, and add a couple of reduction reactions to incorporate hydrogen into the molecules. To make the much longer carbon chains of flavorings that exist in a good wine would have been more complex. The only way to carry out those reactions would be to command the elements themselves (those being carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen) to react and form very specific new molecules. We believe that God has power over the elements, and this seems to me to be the easiest process.
One alternate theory is that Jesus “transported” the wine from another dimension. But in that case, why would He have had the waterpots filled to the brim with water? He just would have had to “transport” the water out of the waterpots to make room for the wine.
I like this theory so much that I am also going to use it to explain Jesus’s miracles when He fed the 5,000 and again when He fed the 4,000. Using the bread and fishes that He already had as His templates, Jesus could have commanded the elements in the air to form both bread (which is mostly starch) and fish (which is mostly protein).
Healing the Sick
The miracles of healing the sick were just as technically demanding as causing transformed matter (wine, bread, and fish) to appear. The Savior would have had to accomplish two things in healing someone. First, He would have to kill the disease and, then, get the body to heal itself of its damage.
Let’s take healing leprosy as an example. Leprosy is caused by an infection by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae. It causes skin lesions and nerve damage. To heal a leper, the Savior would have had to command the bacteria to die. Only then would He have commanded the patient’s body to heal itself. You see, the human body does know how to heal itself. The body of every leper that Jesus healed was trying to fight off the infection. Their bodies, however, were losing the battle. After the infection was eradicated, for the person to appear healed, skin lesions would have to close, and nerves would have to repair themselves.Normally, this is a slow process.Nerve tissue is especially slow to grow back, usually taking months or even years. So, the Savior would have had to command the patient’s body to repair itself within a couple of minutes at most. After all, the sick would have had to appear healed immediately for the miracle to be recognized as a miracle.
A person can be lame for a number of reasons. One reason can be nerve damage. Whatever the reason, a lame person’s muscles will atrophy significantly since they are not being used. Consequently, for the Savior to heal a lame person, the patient’s body would possibly have had to regrow nerves, strengthen bone, repair tendons, and build enough muscle mass to support the person to stand and walk. Again, the body knows how to do all of that. But this regenerative process would have to go into hyperdrive to accomplish the tasks in a few minutes. Cells would have to grow and divide at record rates.
If you think about it, casting out evil spirits would actually be a similar process. A devil or evil spirit could be compared to a bacterial infection. The Savior would have to cast out the demon to get rid of that infection. As an aside, maybe that is why the scriptures often discuss the two healing processes as much the same. For example, as Jesus sends off His apostles on short missions in Luke 9, we read,
“Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.”
In the days of Jesus, it wasn’t always easy to differentiate between the two. Anyway, the evil spirit would have to be cast out first. Depending on the type of possession, restorative processes would have been needed.Again, repair of brain tissue and recovery from the trauma of the experience would have been expected to take a great deal of time. A combination of biological and spiritual soothing was probably required.
The Woman who Touched Jesus’s Robe
In regard to insight as to how Jesus accomplished healing miracles, Luke 8 a fascinating indicator. We read,
“And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched. And Jesus said, “Who touched me?” When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And Jesus said, “Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.”
And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. And he said unto her, “Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.”
From the use of the word “stanched”, the woman probably had some type of hemophilia as her blood issue.This healing would require platelets and clotting factors be added to her blood. For the fix to be permanent, the woman’s bone marrow would have to have been reminded how to do its job of creating new platelets.
This miracle is unique because we see two processes involved in effecting it. First, it is apparent that the woman had much faith in Jesus and His power. All she wanted to do was touch the hem of his robe and she believe she would be cured.Jesus declared to this woman that her faith had made her whole. But her healing was beyond the simple power of faith. Jesus had also contributed to the healing miracle. He said, “…for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me”.The word “Virtue” here is a vague descriptor. Maybe Jesus used the word so as not to confuse Peter. However, I have virtue – and I can’t heal people with a touch. Perhaps the phrase “healing power” would better describe what Jesus felt go out of Him.
As indicated, to accomplish a healing, Jesus would have had to transmit power from Himself into the patient’s body so the cells could accomplish the healing tasks I mentioned earlier – but at a rate hundreds of times their normal rate. Normally, Jesus initiated this transfer of power. With the woman, He did not initiate the transfer – but it happened anyway. Apparently, the success of this woman in getting healed by touching the hem of Jesus’ robe got around. In the last verse of Matthew 14, we read,
“And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole.”
A television show “The Chosen” aired on BYU-TV is an excellent production about the life of Jesus Christ. In one episode, there is a scene where Jesus returns to camp in the late evening. He had been healing people all day – and He was visibly exhausted. It was a good scene. If something “came out” of Jesus with every healing, then spending all day making miracles would have been quite tiring. Somehow, Jesus was a conduit of healing power.
Causing the deaf to hear and the blind to see would involve much the same healing processes. Nerve cells in eyes and ears would have had to repair themselves. Again, I want to emphasize that healing is a joint effort between the faith and the power of Jesus Christ. Both appear needed. If faith of the people being healed wasn’t there, Jesus would not try to heal. If you remember in Mark 6, Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth for a visit. But it appears that, since He grew up there, no one had faith in him.
“And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.” And he marvelled because of their unbelief.”
Raising the Dead
There are three incidents in the New Testament that I want to highlight as miracles of Jesus raising the dead. The first was the only son of a widow who lived in Nain. As Jesus and His followers approached the city gate, a funeral procession came by.
“Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak.”
Luke is fairly specific about the fact that the Savior “touched the bier” (which is a frame on which a corpse or coffin is carried), so he might have seen that touch as relevant to the healing. In any case, the young man’s body would have had to mend whatever caused him to die.However, his recovery was immediate.Countless young men have died since Jesus lived, many of whom were surrounded by people who had faith they would recover. Again, faith is necessary for miracles, but faith is not generally enough. The extra power that Jesus bore was needed.
Then there was the case of the young daughter of Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue. He asked Jesus to come to his home and heal his twelve-year-old daughter, though it had been reported the young girl was dead.Jesus did go to her house and announced, “Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth.”
From the evidence, it appears the young girl was probably in a deep coma, barely breathing and with a light heartbeat. She would have appeared dead. But I am going to accept the Savior’s diagnosis in this case. Once again, Luke specifically mentions that the Savior took the girl’s hand. In fact, in many of the Lord’s healings, He initiates a physical contact. It may help in the transfer of power to the patient – and may be one of the reasons behind laying hands on the heads of people to give blessings. In any case the young girl’s “spirit came again”. I think this phrase indicates she regained consciousness, not that her spirit had left her body and then came back.
The other raising from the dead was Lazarus of course. We find this account in John 11, and it starts with the same confusion between sleep and death. After delaying two days after He was told that Lazarus was sick, Jesus informs His apostles they needed to travel to Bethany.
“Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.”
The Jews were hunting Jesus by this time, and it was a dangerous visit. The apostles were not enthusiastic about it. By the time that Jesus and his disciples arrived, Lazarus had been in the tomb for four (4) days. His body would have been physically a mess. Rigor mortis would have set in, and the blood congealed.From outside the tomb, Jesus offers a short prayer and commands Lazarus to come forth.
“And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.”
The Lord’s command included a mandate in the physical world that Lazarus’s body be fixed and an order to the spiritual world that Lazarus’s spirit reanimate that body. In coming out of the tomb, Lazarus was “bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin”.He probably looked like a mummy coming out of the grave, which must have startled more than a few people.
Lazarus had not been resurrected of course. The Savior would be the first resurrection. Lazarus’s spirit had an out-of-body experience for four (4) days.It was never reported whether Lazarus’s spirit went to the Spirit World or hung out around his tomb for 4 days.In any case, when the Savior commanded, Lazarus reanimated his mortal body. I’m sure it was a unique experience for the man.
One last note about the medical miracles that Jesus accomplished. There were only a very few healings recorded in the Old Testament. Elisha told the Syrian commander Naaman to dip himself in the River Jordan seven times to be healed of his leprosy. Elijah healed the son of a woman who was boarding him (1 Kings 17); Elisha also revived a young man thought dead (2 Kings 4). By contrast, Jesus healed hundreds of people. Such healing was unprecedented. Jesus had three years to announce himself as the Son of God. Healing people was the best way to get people’s attention, show His love for us, and prove He was who He said He was.
Lastly, after Peter became the prophet, he also healed people. The only detailed account of Peter’s healings is in Acts chapter 3, where Peter heals a lame man at the gate of the temple. Please note in this scripture that Peter initiates physical contact with the man.
“Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.”
Luke mentions the physical remedy that Peter had commanded to occur. Speaking of the lame man, we read, “immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength”.
Walking on Water
After Jesus fed the 5000, He told His disciples to get in their boat and head back out into the Sea of Galilee. The Savior wanted to tarry and pray long into the night. During the fourth watch of the night (which is from 3 AM to 6 AM!) the disciples looked up to see Jesus walking across the water toward them. On a side note, I don’t think the Lord was actually walking on the surface of the water. The wind had come up and the water surface would have been rolling, making walking or even standing on it very difficult. Jesus had the power to levitate. After His resurrection, the Savior is “carried up into heaven”, departing from His apostles. So the Lord had a force that could hold Him suspended in the air, which I think He probably used over the waters of the Sea of Galilee.
The wind of a tornado can lift a man off the ground. No, I don’t believe Jesus was being kept aloft on wind – but there was some force holding him up. I can only speculate on what that force was. It is either a physical force beyond our technology – like anti-gravity – or a spiritual force outside of our physical world. I look forward to learning more about this miracle – and really look forward to trying it out.
By the way, we see the combination of the power of Faith and Jesus’ power when Peter tries to walk on the water too. At first, Peter was successful - but then started sinking. The Savior had to walk over and take Peter’s hand, adding His power to Peter’s flagging faith.
The Resurrection
Lastly, we come to the resurrection, which is a unique miracle indeed. The fact that Jesus’s spirit came from the Spirit World to return to the Physical world is not that surprising. The Son of God had the authority to return from the dead. No, the impressive part of the miracle was that Jesus returned to a resurrected body. That had certainly never been done before.
The Old Testament is pretty silent in regard to the Resurrection.The prophet Daniel had mentioned it rather in passing in Daniel 12
“And many of them that asleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”
Isaiah mentions resurrection, but his meaning is rather fuzzy, because that is how Isaiah wrote.
In any case, due to His role as the Savior and Mediator, Jesus Christ was given the privilege of being the first person resurrected. We know very little about a Resurrected body. From what Jesus did when he appeared to His followers in Jerusalem and the Americas, we know that a resurrected body can eat (though we don’t know if it HAS to eat), bear scars of the earthly body, weep, and appear suddenly inside locked rooms. On a side note, the resurrected angel Moroni managed this last miracle as well when he appeared to Joseph Smith.
Afterlife College
Before closing, let’s get back to my suggestion of Afterlife College. I am not being facetious in suggesting such a place exists.You see, I don’t believe in Harry Potter type magic where you learn to flip your wand correctly to conjure magic.I do believe that to accomplish a miracle, you have to understand, to some point at least, what you are commanding to occur. When Jesus Christ healed all those people, I don’t think He closed His eyes and thought, “Be Healed!”. Who, in that scenario, diagnoses the patient, decides on the needed medical treatment, and then instructs the cells of the body to make needed repairs? Some of that process must be spiritual – the Holy Spirit, if you will, probably does some of it. But I think the person commanding the miracle needs to have some knowledge of what needs to be done to bring it to pass.
Closing your eyes and wishing for a miracle is too much like Micky Mouse as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice in the Disney movie Fantasia. It’s too much like any of dozens of other fantasy movies where the hero gets a magic ring and can all of a sudden move mountains. It can’t be that easy. For miracle workers to be responsible with their power, they must understand what they are actually doing with that power.
In conclusion, I believe there will be an Afterlife College. If you want to create a world, you will need to learn chemistry, physics, and geology, among other things. If you want to put plant life onto that world, you must learn botany.If you want to help put animal life on that planet, you will need to learn some microbiology and zoology. I don’t know what other occupations exist in the afterlife that require the application of power. However, I believe you will have to attend some classes on the subjects before you get that bestowal of power.
I hope I have not reduced your enthusiasm to make it to the afterlife. Obviously, acceptance into Afterlife College will only be granted to those who have shown they are worthy, righteous, and trustworthy. Personally, I believe that Afterlife College will require Celestial Kingdom status to even be admitted. I hope you are as excited as I am to learn the mysteries of the Universe and to eventually have the power to change it for the better.
So, that is all I have for you today. As always, thanks for listening to my podcast. If you enjoyed today’s topic, or if someone you know enjoys discussions of miracles, please consider sharing this episode with them.This is Scott Frazer from the podcast Science and Scriptures. Take care and have a good week.