Materialistic Naturalism: Is There Anything Beyond?
by Terry Wane Benton
Many are those today who sincerely believe that only the things we see and observe now with our senses are real. They won’t allow for God and angels or demons unless they can test them with the “scientific method,” which just so happens to be limited to one kind of evidence. I have been privy to some insiders information regarding things outside this realm. Though I cannot give the materialistic naturalist the kind of evidence he demands, he can never convince me that he knows enough even about the material universe to perceive it correctly as “the handy work of God” (Psalms 19), much less to convince me that he knows that there is nothing outside the material realm.
Most will simply say they remain unconvinced of God until or unless He provides evidence they can use their “method” of testing on. Is there merit to the idea that material naturalism is all there is because our observational tests are only designed to discover all truth through these kinds of tests alone?
Many have not been fully convinced that the Naturalist is on the right track of thought, so they have sought ways to detect “spirits” and “ghosts” with devices of human make. Some have even sat by a dying person’s bed trying to detect with photography and other devices when a spirit leaves a body, thinking this will prove that there are spirits and therefore a “spiritual” realm that really exists.
While I am sure that spirits are real and there is a spiritual realm that is not detectable through the senses and devices used to help the senses perceive this reality, I am privy to amazing testimony from that spiritual realm to this one. I would point out that the natural man cannot “know” or receive “the things of the Spirit of God” (I Corinthians 2:14) because "they are spiritually discerned." The apostles of Jesus confidently claimed “God has revealed them to us through His Spirit” (I Corinthians 2:10). Paul confidently claimed “we have the mind of Christ” (I Corinthians 2:16). He got what the Spirit revealed because “no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God” and only by the Spirit revealing these things do the apostles “know the things that have been freely given to us by God” (I Corinthians 2:12).
Earlier Paul said that “eye has not seen, nor ear heard” the things which God prepared for those who love Him (I Corinthians 2:9). So, using this method, many call the “scientific method”, knowledge gained only through the senses of sight and sound, observation, etc. one could not know the things of God. This was not the way to gain this knowledge. That is for natural world studies, but this knowledge comes from God’s mind to the apostle’s mind through revelation, not imagination, nor through observational science.
Now the apostles wrote it down for us to read so that we can know what they knew by direct revelation (Ephesians 3:3-5). Therefore, the so-called “scientific method” does not apply to this type of knowledge. To know God and the things of God, we must turn to finding and learning what God has revealed. Paul also recognized that the “carnally (earthly and fleshly) minded” and the “spiritually minded” are poles apart in outlook and viewpoint (Romans 8:6). He said, “the carnal mind is enmity against God” (Romans 8:7). The “spiritual mind” has already opened to seek and find the things of God by virtue of believing in spiritual things.
Testimony from God is in the form of revelation, and revelation is left for our study in the inspired scriptures. The scriptures walk us through various times that God has “spoken” to us “at various times and various ways” (Hebrews 1:1) and how He has finally “spoken to us through His Son.”
Can we be certain that the spiritual world truly exists? Can we be certain that revelation really comes to us from a real God who knows all things? When we put the Bible to the test, it shows foreknowledge, knowledge that men cannot project, guess, or read from world events. Foreknowledge is an ability beyond this world. Someone beyond this world can see the past and future and arrange for the future to unfold in our favor. We can plan things within the range of our time, skill, and ability, but have no real control over what will happen. It may work out, or it may be altered and changed due to circumstances beyond our control. However, someone who can predict the future and ensure it happens is proof of otherworldly capabilities.
