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16
INTRODUCTION
God’saction,theresultofwhichistherecovery.Yet,GodandHis
actionsare,bytheirnature,imperceptibleforhumansenses.Thus,if
theadequatecausalexplanationsrequirepointingtomerelyempirical
causes,directGod’sactioncannotberegardedastheappropriateex-
planationofthefact,whichtookplace(healingofanillman).
Obviously,wemayadopttheoppositeapproachandclaimthatnot
onlytheexplanationsreferringtotheempiricallyperceptiblecauses
aretheadequateones.ItseemsthatGod’scausalityislogicallypossi-
ble.That’swhy,itisalsopossiblethatsomeeventswerecausedbythe
non-empiricalfactor,namelybyGod.Thus,notallexplanationshave
tobescientific(natural)incharacter.Ifweareunabletoexcludebe-
yondalldoubttheactionofsomecause,otherthanempirical,wecan’t
saythatallcausalexplanationshavetobeexpressedintermsofnatural
sciences,either.Itisconnectedwithadoptingacertainphilosophical
‘option’,whichdoesn’tregardontologicalnaturalismastheonlypos-
sibleandadequatelyexplainedpictureofreality.
However,evenacceptingthepossibilityofthedirectcausalac-
tivityofGodintheworldstilldoesn’texplaintheway,inwhichthis
activitytakesplace.Thus,wecanclaimthatbecausewedon’tknow
‘how?’Godacts,wedonotunderstandHiscausalactivitywellenough
andhencewedonotgetthefullyadequateexplanationthroughrefer-
ringtoGod’scausality.Aslongastheactionofthesupernaturalcause
(God)isnotdescribedbywayofempiricalexamination,thiskind
ofexplanationhaslesspredictivevaluethanthescientificoneandis
functionallyuseless.Thus,itturnsoutthatthenaturalandsupernatural
causalexplanationscannotbeplacedatthesameleveloffunctionality,
becauseoftheirvaryingabilitytoexplainandpredictevents.So,we
shouldn’tregardthesupernaturalexplanationsastheequivalentand
substituteofthescientificones.Nevertheless,thisdoesn’tmeanthat
thesupernaturalcausalityhasnorighttoexist.That’swhy,ifweadmit
theactivityofsupernaturalfactorintheworld,thereferencetosome
conceptionofGod’sactivitymayturnouttobethenecessarywayof
explainingtheevent,whichtookplace.
Comingbacktotheabovequestionofthepresenceofthestate-
mentsregardingGodastheefficientcauseofmiracle,itisworthnot-
ingthatthedefinitionofthemiracleasasupernaturaleventmaybe