THE Miraculous Event
Robert A. Herrmann
If you have read my testimony, I must stress that it does not truly indicate how very difficult it was for me
to accept God although I did so in the appropriate Scriptural manner. I
was an individual among many, many others who had successfully argued
against an active supernatural God, against intelligent design, against
all the many things I was now trying to accept. I doubt seriously that if
I had not had an actual physical manifestation of God's love on April 7,
1977 that I would have taken the path towards further understanding. In
the beginning, it was a very difficult path for me to follow and I was
spiritually attacked over and over again for almost six years prior to the
event I now describe. What I am about to describe in detail indicates, to me, that God presents evidence in a
special manner that is often only relevant to an individual's own personal
circumstances, training and modes of observation.
Relative to the creationary science that I practice, at no time do I
intend to take the credit for the results produced by the G-model, D-world
model, GGU-model and the MA-model. To be a mathematician, you
must know what you are capable of solving. You should not attack a problem
unless you know you have, at the least, the ability to solve it. The actual knowledge needed, usually, can be acquired. You need
to know the workings of your own mind, so to speak. If you check all of my
writings prior to the formulation of these models, you will find
absolutely no such exceptional creativity. I was not capable, in my isolation,
to formulate
the procedures needed without some sort of aid. The circumstances were highly
unusual. I was placed in the right place, at the right time, with the
right training. Yet, I could not have produced these results without
direct spiritual help - help that led me along the correct path of
discovery and still does. I give God all the credit for this work since
only through His guidance, and the many "small," if there is such a thing,
miraculous mental events that He accorded me could the results associated with these models have been
obtained.
In 1980, not having any knowledge of the actual beliefs of any of the
organizations that claim to deal with creationary science, I joined
the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA). On 23 August 1981, I
presented my first theological paper on the G-model findings at the ASA
Annual summer meeting at Eastern College St. David PA. This paper
"Mathematical Philosophy - 1981 Status Report" discussed various results
relative to a second paper that was under preparation on the rationality of the
Scriptures and other concepts. As a part of this presentation, it was indicated
how these new modeling procedures had predicted the downfall of certain
political systems and, in particular, the USSR. There was no reaction
whatsoever from any other members of the ASA. Indeed, I do not recall any
individual discussing with me any of my conclusions or methods.
In 1981, I submitted a formal paper to the Journal of the ASA. At that time, the ASA did not appear to me to follow a strong
theistic evolutionary policy. The paper "The reasonableness of
metaphysical evidence" was published in their journal (34(1)(1982):12-23).
The paper discussed the rational predictions made by the G-model and, in
particular, how scientific logic (predicate logic) via a mathematical
model can be used to justify the rationality of certain Christian doctrine
and Divine attributes. It showed that a philosophic dialect logic is not
the basic logic being displayed by the Scriptures. I was very disappointed
with the reaction from the journal readers to what I, at the least,
considered to be a remarkable finding. Indeed, only 12 inquiries
for additional information were received.
Then on 21 Jan. 1983, I presented a talk at a winter meeting of the ASA
in Washington DC entitled, "The miraculous model." I discussed how the
MA-model gives a slight indication, using Scripturally described
linguistic concepts, as to how God might, through Divine intervention,
produce what would be termed as miraculous events. It was strongly stressed
during this presentation
that although the MA-model contains additional information as to processes
that God might use for these purposes, the model also shows that there are
thousands of questions one might ask relative to these processes, questions
that have answers, yet these answers cannot be presented by means of any
description using any form of humanly comprehensible language. With
respect to creationary science, our knowledge was partial and we are,
indeed, "seeing through a glass darkly." The ASA newsletter did discuss this presentation and noted that it was the first time that miraculous
events, as far as they were concerned, were discussed in a scientific
manner. Once again, however, there was no further reaction from ASA
members.
On the back of every issue of the Journal of the ASA, you will find
Hebrews 1:3 quoted. So, I decided to write yet another paper entitled "The
Word" explaining in more detail how these previous findings had been
established and how they satisfy this quotation. But, I was unable to find
any "Journal of the ASA" articles that were relative to actual literal Divine
creation as it is predicted by the MA-model. Until I could find another
appropriate publication source, my public activities in creationary
science were at an end. One organization did come to my attention at this time, the Creation Research Society (CRS), and its journal the Creation Research Society Quarterly (CRSQ). Although I was warned that the CRS was somewhat unusual in their creationary science notions, there was no difficulty in accepting the CRS "statement of belief." Near the end of April 1983, I decided to submit this particular article to the CRSQ for consideration. By the end of June 1983, I had not as yet received any positive comments from the editor.
The following occurred parallel to the above theological activities. In
1980, I was challenged by another professor at the Naval Academy to use
the new discipline of Nonstandard Analysis and find actual fixed
procedures that would allow for rigorous infinitesimal modeling for
natural-system behavior. Such procedures were discovered and published in
1981. This solved a long-standing problem in mathematical modeling called
the Euler-D'Alembert controversy. (These
procedures were replaced with but two procedures in 1989.) I, therefore,
became a very strict observer of natural-system behavior and split my secular
research between abstract mathematics and mathematical modeling. The
problem was that in June 1983, I came to a "crossroads" in my scientific
activities. The reaction to my secular scientific work was most
encouraging, the reaction to my creationary science work most
discouraging. Further, I was encountering great political pressure to
abandon my creationary science work, since most of my colleagues
considered it as nonsense, and to concentrate only upon secular science,
secular mathematical modeling and the like.
It is now the morning of 30 June 1983. It was a very calm and warm
morning. I was sitting in a rocking chair with my back to the porch door.
The sliding glass door was opened, but the screen door was closed. Two of
my children were in their rooms and their mother was at work. What was I
thinking about as I rocked back-and-forth? I was seeking answers to
questions relative to the correctness of the very significant Christian doctrine that I had deduced by means of these mathematical models, questions as to the correctness of the
methods used to model mathematically the scriptures, and many more related
concerns. These questions, I determined, must somehow or other be answered by God.
Further, I had received almost no reaction to my creationary science
findings, had no idea when any of my new findings would be published and had
been advised to concentrate upon secular science only. If my questions
were to be answered, how was God going to do this? One of the questions
was relative to the fact that I was not yet "born again," as some term it. I was not
indwelt with His spirit nor baptized in accordance with Scriptural directives. If no
answers were forthcoming, I would need to conclude that the work was,
indeed, useless, that the Bible was not to be taken as literal and that I
should give up all this "nonsense." I had absolutely no idea of how God would come to my aid. To say the least, I was most
depressed. I said, "God, please help me."
Suddenly, I heard the screen door behind me open half the way.
Naturally, I immediately arose and turned to confront any individual who must be about to enter, but I saw no one there. Then the
door continued moving uniformly and slowly until it was fully opened. As discussed
below, this "door opening" event was indeed miraculous and answered
immediately one of my questions. I was very startled, but all I did at that moment was to say, out loud, the following highly
"scholarly" utterance, "Hey!, He really did it." After Scriptural
analysis, this one event answered all the questions I had asked. Oh! by
the way, there was another witness to this event. My, then eight year old,
daughter heard all of these events from her room.
My knowledge as to how God intervenes and alters natural-system
behavior does not come from any philosophic or theological speculations.
It comes from actual personal experience. The MA-model, very partially,
explains this door event and shows very vaguely that there are created
processes that God uses to achieve such a result, but these processes do
not exist within the natural-world and it is not possible for us to know
any further details, at this time. Please note that absolutely no other
observed macroscopic natural events took place immediately before, during
or immediately after this "door" event. It was an absolutely singular event. It
is clear that numerous so-called natural laws were violated, but the
created ultranatural laws were not so violated. Further note that this was
an inanimate object miraculous intervention.
Yes, I have witnessed, and have been associated with many other events
that due to the circumstances - the situations - the needs, etc. could be
classified as miraculous. Such events that deal with "healings" and other
personal circumstances can almost always be "explained" in some, often
weak, form of naturalistic terms. Indeed, this was a strong point of my
prior life when I attacked the concepts and "stories" in the Bible. But,
the one just described is the most startling, the must unexpected event involving an inanimate object that I have ever observed.
In reality, what this door event displays
more than anything else is the inexplicable power of Divine intervention.
Consider that throughout all of the vastness of our universe, God "reached
down" and performed this one single act - an act that answered every
question - without apparently disturbing any other macroscopic
natural-system at the very moment that such an act was needed. He did it
in such a manner that I was able to recognize the source immediately.
There have been those who have argued, as usually, that all of this
occurred naturally. All such arguments are vacuous. Unless you were there
at that moment in time, you have no basis for such an argument.
This event answered the most important of my theological questions. However, I do not intend to discuss here all of the many, many questions that
this one Divine act answered. My only additional concern is the relation of this event to creationary science. I became a member of CRS due to
this event, the MA-model's relation to my "U-cosmology" article, and due to
the actual published and literal Bible interpretation championed, in 1983,
by the CRS. After I received a letter from the Director of the
ASA, Robert L. Herrmann (no direct relation) in 1984, that the ASA
would not support any literal interpretation of the scriptures but rather
accept theistic evolution as a workable thesis, I removed myself from
their influence and rejected their philosophy of science. However, I will not only
reject but will now actively fight against any individual or
organization no matter who they are, no matter what credentials they
present, if they present a creationary model that contradicts this
experience, a model that diminishes the supernatural power of Divine
creation, a model that makes false claims as to the degree of human
comprehension of such events, or does not explicitly follow Scriptural
directives. As long as I can continue to do so, I will expose the
boasters, the proud, the high-minded, indeed, those having a form of
godliness, but denying the power thereof. One can ask many questions relative to this described event. But, most are probably not answerable with a humanly comprehensible language while we remain in this "natural state."
Now my personal message to any individual who does not truly believe in the God as described in the Bible. Remember that prior to April 7, 1977, I was one of you. As you have been, I was presented with all the evidence that God will present, in today's world, as to His existence. I did not accept the evidence and found numerous arguments why such evidence did not relate to the God of the Scriptures or, indeed, any god. My absolute experience is as follows: On that April day, I discovered reading Matthew, that it is fact that Jesus is God. Only after, and I repeat after, I accepted this fact did I receive any direct and personal evidence that God exists. All the miraculous events that have occurred to me were after
I totally believed in His existence. All the miraculous events that I have witnessed and understood as miraculous were always in concert with individuals who also believed completely in the supernatural God of the Scriptures. 1 Cor. 2:10, 12, 14 have been totally verified since actual knowledge of the "deep things of God" has only occurred after I was supernaturally indwelt with His spirit. And, I have actual physical and personal evidence of such an indwelling, and it is not a special language. The sequence of events that I have just described is Scriptural as I found out after the experiences occurred. Since I mostly exist within an atheistic scientific society, I am often exposed to naive arguments against the existence of the God of the Scriptures. I am never enticed by any such arguments for
it is a fact that the above described singular event has sustained me through many a difficult adventure. All that I need to do is to simply stop and recall what occurred on that very quiet and warm June morning many years ago.