Daniel 3 : The Fiery Furnace

Today's lesson : Three men stand up for their convictions in the face of death.

Text from Daniel 3

Bible Study for October 11 : God's Promise of a New Home : Revelation 21

I may not be at Sunday School this week so here's the lesson.

You have no free will (if you're a 'scientist')

Here is what, in my mind, is the final clinching argument against scientific naturalism. For the scientifically-impaired, naturalism is simply the belief that everything that has or will happen in the universe can be explained by purely natural meaans. That is, there is no supernatural. This belief is the foundation of such scientific theories as the big bang, evolution and, in fact, all “true science” according to the definition of science as set by the National Science Foundation.
As I have mentioned before in my article The Problem with Science, the underlying fault with this belief is this. If there is, in fact, a supernatural force, it is not even taken into account as a possibility as the cause of any events. However, there is somethng that we do everyday that I believe requires the presence of a supernatural, which I believe to be the God of the Bible.
The very fact that we are able to debate it proves a supernatural force exists. This argument is so simple, I'm surprised it is not brought up more often. Follow my logic.
According to naturalistic belief, all processes of living things are essentially chemical in nature. Unless you believe in some magical force called “life” which would be supernatural in itself. Actually I think some biologists do believe in the mystical “life.” They just don't admit it. “Life finds a way.” says Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park.
Anyway, if all biological processes are chemical in nature, then they all simply follow the laws of chemistry and occur according to the nature of chemical reactions. For example, in 10^th grade biology we were all taught the various chemical reactions that make up the processes of photosynthesis or DNA replication. Now understand that in a purely naturalistic universe, all chemical processes are the result of the law of cause and effect. In other words, if this molecule comes within a certain distance of that molecule they will always react in a certain way. In a purely naturalistic universe there is no randomness. All molecules are where they are because some other effect caused them to be there.
Now if this is true, then the same types of processes occur in the brain. After all, thoughts, according to naturalistic science, are simply caused by chemical reactions. As stated before, these reactions are caused by certain molecules being in certain places at certain times. But these places and times are determined by previous reactions. This series goes all the way back to our conception, which itself was caused by molecules being in certain places at certain times.
Therefore, in a purely naturalistic universe, there is no such thing as a random thought. All thoughts you have ever had were the result of chemical reactions which were caused by previous chemical reactions, etc. You have no free will even regarding your thinking, unless you believe that something called “the mind,” which Christians would call the soul, directs these molecules to be in certain places at certain times causing certain thoughts. But that would be supernatural. Otherwise, even the actions of the mind would be the result of cause and effect.
So, if you believe in a purely natural universe, you are saying that we can actually know nothing to be real because all thoughts were pre-determined at the time of the Big Bang (if there was one) and all aspects of the universe (even thoughts) are simply the results of series of chemical reactions. If you have an independent thought that you caused, then you must have a supernatural mind that can direct the chemicals that cause your thoughts. 

"If a soul is non-physical and the human body is physical, how does a soul stay in our bodies?"

I had a friend at college who was a big Star Trek fan (Bigger than I am. His room was decorated in Klingon.) He loved to ask the question, "What happens to the soul when someone is beamed down to a planet?" That is, if the body were dissolved into atoms, what would happen to the soul? There are a lot of questions about the soul's relationship to the body. 
Is the soul a part of the body or is it completely separate? Does the body die when the soul leaves or does the soul leave when the body dies? Does someone who is brain dead, but still on life support still have a soul? I was in the room when my wife's grandmother passed away and tried to see some evidence of the soul leaving, but couldn't. Some scientists even tried to measure the mass of a body before and after death to determine the physical mass of the soul. Unfortunately, the reason we know very little about the physical makeup of the soul because the soul is not physical. The soul is supernatural. It is the immortal part of ourselves. The soul doesn't die. The soul is what separates humans from animals.
We do know that the soul is corporeal. It has a shape and can be recognized. (Revelation 6:9) Apparently, our souls look like ourselves.(1 Samuel 28:14) And one day, our souls will be reunited with our bodies to either be rewarded in Heaven or punished in Hell.
How does the soul stay in the body? The Bible doesn't say. All we can say is because God allows it. When God decides to take it away, we die.