📖 Biblical Definition
Scripture presents a universe that is fundamentally supernatural in origin, sustenance, and destiny. God created the natural world out of nothing (Hebrews 11:3). He sustains it moment by moment (Colossians 1:17). He intervenes in it through miracles, prophecy, and incarnation. Naturalism rules out all of this before examining any evidence -- it is not a scientific conclusion but a philosophical presupposition. "By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible" (Hebrews 11:3). The natural world is real and good, but it is not all there is. Behind it, above it, and through it stands the God who spoke it into existence.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
A state of nature; the system of those who deny a supernatural state of things.
expand to see more
NAT'URALISM, n. Mere state of nature. Also: the doctrine of those who deny a supernatural agency in the miracles and revelations recorded in the Bible, and maintain that the principles of nature are sufficient to account for everything. Note: Webster accurately identified naturalism as the denial of the supernatural -- a position that guts Christianity of its essential content.
📖 Key Scripture
• Hebrews 11:3 — "By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God."
• Colossians 1:16-17 — "By him all things were created... and in him all things hold together."
• Psalm 19:1 — "The heavens declare the glory of God."
• John 1:3 — "All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Naturalism is the unquestioned assumption of modern academia, presented as science rather than philosophy.
expand to see more
Methodological naturalism (the practical assumption that scientific work explains via natural causes) gets quietly inflated into metaphysical naturalism (the claim that only natural causes exist). The corruption is the slide from method to metaphysics, often invisible to the speaker.
Usage
• "Naturalism says only nature exists -- Hebrews 11:3 says the visible was made from the invisible by the word of God."
• "Naturalism is not a scientific finding but a philosophical presupposition that rules out God before examining any evidence."
• "When Christians explain away miracles as metaphor, they have capitulated to naturalism while keeping the vocabulary of faith."