It drives me crazy. If, for some reason, you find yourself in a scientific argument with a biblical liberalism, well, first of all you’ve probably done something wrong or made some kind of mistake somewhere, but should it happen, the ultimate brick wall you’ll always hit is: God willed it, and the Bible is the correct and authoritative source of God’s history and intent.
It’s an appeal to authority. In other subjects of argument that can be a fine thing to do sometimes (I guess) but in matters of science, it’s lazy and delusional. It’s passing the buck. In addition to an argument that God is responsible for an action, it also contains a subtle second assertion: because God is responsible for something, there’s really no point in even thinking about it, because, really, who knows, right?
Let’s accept that, relative to what we know about the universe, God has an independent will and magical powers to change what he desires. This is stated to be true.
Sorry, God just became part of science.
Everything in this universe is either deterministic or probabilistic (basically random but weighted, generally constrained to the quantum world). God’s will is no exception. Like the human mind it is stated to resemble, it functions on decision making, as led by a system of values and priorities. In other words, he’s deterministic.
And his powers, which warp and change reality, able to create and destroy matter and energy in ways that to us seem impossible. (thermodynamics) What’s going on there? It happens in physical reality. We can see it. God has a method by which the universe is changed. We can observe it. We can describe it.
So let’s say God defies everything we know about science. That’s actually pretty okay! It’s a massive shock to established science, but that’s happened plenty of time before. What it means is that the way we thought the universe worked was inadequate, and needs to be revised, because it turns out there is a God who operates everything. It’s time for more science! God can be observed and described, therefore God can be explained. God is now part of what we think of nature.
And with that, what we define as the natural universe expands. It now has this thing called God in it! It’s a major force in the universe! And therefore, he’s part of it.
Ultimately, religion is in the business of telling it how it is, while science is a process of determining how it is. They’re not in the same market. So if God is real, not a lot changes. Science, being a process of collecting and organizing information, continues on, with God just another one of its endless conquests.
So don’t appeal to divine authority. Even in heaven, science reigns supreme.