On the Supernatural: Resisting Two Errors

What do you think of when you hear the word “supernatural”? For many, I suspect it’s a novel, movie, or TV series—or more than one. In the West, we have for a long time now associated “supernatural” with terms like unexplained, unusual, and paranormal.

These terms reflect our modern biases toward empirical and materialist ways of looking at the world. Naturalism and materialism tend to be our default, so we see phenomena that aren’t explainable in purely naturalistic terms as exceptional. The modern Western mind values science over stories. Measurable, examinable, understandable things are most real.

At the same time, there is an older bias, an older worldview that never really dies. It’s the polar opposite. Empirical data and verifiable, natural processes are suspect. Mysterious, otherworldly, often secretive causes behind events are the default. Lore is valued over science.

Many believe the West is well into its post-modern phase now and decreasingly committed to certainty and facts, whether empirical, intuitive, or supernatural.

I tend to think we are seeing a convergence of two threads of belief: post-modern West and old-school superstition. The post-modern thread is the intellectual shift toward seeing truth as a slipperier concept than ever before. The other thread is pre-modern. A whole lot of people never bought into science and empirical truth in the first place.

If I’m right—and I’m sure the theory isn’t original to me—the convergence means we’re going to see more and more openness to the non-material and mysterious—and with it, more interest in what we have often called “occult.”

In this series, I’ve been interested in revisiting biblical foundations as context for resisting both of these threads (and some others, for good measure). A biblical view of reality firmly rejects the notion that we can only know what we observe empirically or that reality is only physical and material.

But a biblical view of reality also rejects obscurantism (in the sense of opposing study and learning). As Christians, if we are allowing Scripture to fully mold our thinking, we know God made an orderly, observable, “studiable” world. Empirical truth is a real thing, and science is, at its core, a God-honoring activity.

Biblical anthropology helps us resist the errors of our times also. Scripture reveals that humans are both vulnerable to deception and prone to deceive. We are talebearers. Until we change families (Gal 4.5-6) we are children of our “father the devil” who is “the father of lies” (John 8.44).

So, it’s fair to say that science isn’t ultimately authoritative. Neither are folklore and intuition, which I’m shorthanding loosely here as “superstition.”

In my previous post in the series, I addressed the question, “What is the supernatural?” Scripture gives us a different way of, literally, seeing it. There is the seen and unseen, not really the natural and supernatural.

Here I want to build on that a bit by addressing a second question.

Where is the supernatural?

We encounter the invisible, non-material parts of reality in two places, so to speak.

1. In everything, everywhere, all the time

In the Bible, we discover what I think humans generally already know, deep down: that the invisible, non-material parts of reality are absolutely real. Maybe we also know that they are present in all the visible things every moment. Romans 1.20 certainly fits that idea.

Whether we already know these truths intuitively or not, Scripture directly reveals them.

One of the most beautiful and powerful examples is Colossians 1.17, here with context and added emphasis:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶ For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. ¹⁷ And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Col 1.15–17)

What we learn here is that the invisible reality present in everything is personal. It is Christ Himself, making all the physics and chemistry work.

I enjoy how Geisler, et al., put it, alluding to Aristotle’s types of causation (emphasis original):

In fact all things were created by Him (di’ autou, instrumental Cause) and for Him (eis auton, final Cause), and in Him (en autō) they hold together (He is the constituting or conserving Cause). Christ is not only the One through whom all things came to be, but also the One by whom they continue to exist.¹

Another writer summed it up well, this way (emphasis original):

He is the sustainer of the universe and the unifying principle of its life. Apart from his continuous sustaining activity (note the perfect tense συνέστηκεν) all would disintegrate.²

To our senses, a rock seems like an independent, unchanging, unified thing. It’s why we have the term “monolithic.” But we know from study that a rock is a continuous series of events—its constituent molecules and atoms constantly moving and changing.

If we reflect on it, we correctly feel that there is more going on than a rock sitting there.

From Scripture, we know not only that there is an invisible, non-material (spiritual) reality present, but that in some way, the invisible, non-material reality is a being, specifically the second person of the Trinity.

Doubtless, it can’t be said more beautifully or potently than this:

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, ⁴ having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. (Heb 1.3–4)

Nor can science, great gift though it is, give us this:

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? ⁸ If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! ⁹ If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, ¹⁰ even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. ¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” ¹² even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. (Ps 139.7–12)

So, where is the supernatural? It is everywhere, in everything, all the time. It is not unusual or exceptional. Though the aorata (“invisible,” Col 1.16) is usually not observable in terms of the five senses, it is not “paranormal,” as in, along side of normal. Normal fully includes it. Normal is made of it.

2. In the occult

What about “occult,” then? What about ghosts, witches, magic, and fortune tellers? What about secret rituals and associated objects and practices?

The Bible is clear that there have been individuals who in some way tap into the invisible aspects of reality to make things happen or gain information. The biblical cases include some with real abilities (e.g., the girl in Acts 16.16), some who were frauds (e.g. the sons of Sceva, Acts 19.14-16; Bar-Jesus, Acts 13.6; the false prophets of Deut 18.22), and some who were probably a mix of both (e.g., Balaam, Num 22.5-24.25).

Deuteronomy 18.10-11 lists various kinds persons believed to be tapping into supernatural power. We are not told directly that these individuals really accomplished what they set out to accomplish. But neither are we given any reason to believe they were all phonies.

Still, in Scripture, evil rituals and tainted places and objects are almost always associated with idolatry (e.g., Jer 32.35, 44.25), and idolatry is associated with demons (1 Cor 10.19-20, Is 19.3).

The term “occult” is—like the term “supernatural”—not found in the Bible. What we do find there is that rebellion against God has expressions in both the seen world and the unseen world.

In any case, as Merriam Webster shows, the term “occult” is used in a wide variety of ways among English speakers in our day. If we want to avoid confusion—and resist both modernism and superstition—we need to think in biblical categories. And if we want to be understood, we’ll have to explain what we mean when talk about “occult.”

In this series one question remains: How should we react to the supernatural? How do we respond to the various ways people think of it and interact with it in our world today? I hope to explore that in a future post.