Prayer
Lord, I thank you for the inspiration that allowed me to put together today's talk, and I pray that the message conveyed is your message, and not my own.
My talk today, like the last one I gave, is drawn from my own personal faith journey. We all know how hard it is to be a believer in today's world. Believe me, it's even harder working in a university, surounded by today's scholars. It's just not "cool" to believe in the God of the Bible. While some will acknowledge "a greater power" or the "force of the Universe", most seem to believe that God is somehow a human creation. The general view is that the notion of God was originally invented to explain the mysteries of the past, things we now fully understand. God and religion today are simply comforting myths for the masses. If mentioning God in polite company makes people feel uncomfortable, imagine bringin up Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for our sins.
In this context, I want to share with you my personal thoughts on God's miracles. Sadly, miracles simply cannot occur. If we can't figure out how God did something he is reported to have done, then it cannot really have happened, for that would mean believing in the Supernatural. It must be just a metaphor or a story written to make a point. Forget about Jesus' turning water into wine, feeding the thousands with a few loaves of bread, or raising Lazarus from the dead. In some cases we can come up with plausible explanation for an event. But then it is not considered a miracle at all, just a natural phenomenon.
What has shocked me in the past, and has even tested my faith, is the degree to which our religious scholars, even Lutheran scholars, seem to buy into this viewpoint. They may not admit it outright, but their thinking comes out in the way they explain things.
(As an interesting aside, did you know that a famous American air marshall caused quite a stir in the 1920s, when he predicted that the Japanese would someday strike at America by air, and that this strike would be at the U.S. fleet anchored in Hawaii. I guess not all prophecy is supernatural.)
I'm left wondering why even our church scholars seem to want to explain away and rationalize the Bible? Anything that appears "supernatural" seems to cause great distress. Yet our society is most ready to embrace other notions of the supernatural. There is no end to movies about demons from Hell, vampires, werewolves, or "Jason", the un-kill-able slasher in a hockey mask. There is a steady market for magic pyramids, astrological calendars, and other such signs of the supernatural. Our society seems to have trouble with the supernatural only when it relates to God.
What is "supernatural"? It is simply that which we cannot explain. By deciding that anything we cannot explain cannot really have happened, we are being a bit arrogant. As if we, today, are the pinnacle of understanding. A famous science fiction author named Arthur C. Clarke once wrote that the science of any sufficiently advanced culture would seem like magic to us. Imagine the shock of the Indians of Mexico when the Spaniards first pointed sticks which spouted fire and death. They were seen as gods. Imagine going back to even Shakespeare's time with a box of little wooden sticks which burst into flame when you brush them against some rough surface. You would likely be burned as a witch.
Yet the Bible tells us that God's ways are so far above our ways that we are like children. It also tells us that those who have a faith like that of children will find the Kingdom of God. Finally, we are told that the fear of the Lord is the root of all wisdom. I fear that while our modern society has become very knowledgeable, we have not gained much in wisdom.
When you close the scholarly books and read the accounts of people in the front lines, Soldiers in the field, sailors at sea, doctors in hospitals, firemen in blazing buildings, among many others, you hear a different story. God's miracles are not simply reports from antiquity, recorded in the Bible, or in the Lives of the Saints, but everyday events that happen all the time, all around us. I would not put myself in the same company I've just mentioned, but I can tell you that out on the empty highway, alone on my bicycle, I have felt God's presence. And there have been events which, while not high on the miracle list, certainly convinced me that God's hand was watching over me.
What of these experiences? Well, most have natural explanations, and so don't qualify as miracles.
Maybe God did not really send plagues onto the Egyptians. A major volcanic eruption to the north at about the same time could explain many of the events recorded. Maybe God did not part the Red Sea. It could have been a weather phenomenon, a strong wind combined with a freak tide. Maybe when Moses struck the rock with his staff to break open the waters, he really just hit upon a hidden spring?
What kind of evidence do we need to consider something a miracle? Do we need evidence that Moses' staff transmuted the solid rock directly into water? We should be careful here, because modern science is close to being able to do that very thing.
People have trouble believing that Lazarus was raised from the dead, even as the body had begun to "stink" Yet, I can think of a number of science fiction movies of the last 20 years where some super-intelligent, all-powerful beings from another planet have "revived" the dead. Clearly we believe it is not impossible, just that we don't know how to do it yet. We now regularly freeze sperm and eggs, to revive them later. Children fall into icy cold water and are revived after an hour's "drowning" If we ever figure out how to put the life force back into dead bodies, will we then believe the story, but no longer consider it a miracle?
So what is "natural", as opposed to "supernatural"? Natural relates to nature. That which can occur in the natural world. God's world. Why do any of God's miracles need to be "supernatural"? Maybe the dividing line between natural and supernatural is simply the level of our own ignorance. We've certainly come a long way in understanding the world, but we may well have an even longer way to go before we even come close to seeing all of God's majesty.
Imagine for a moment that I'm out alone on the open highway on my bicycle, and, God forbid, my front tire hits a pothole while I am not paying attention, and I go flying. Amidst all the fast-moving traffic, including huge semi-truck trailers passing at 100km/h, I land on my back, in a pile of hay by the side of the road, without a scratch. It must be a miracle! But wait. Some scientists happen to be studying the area at that very moment with sensitive equipment. No, they tell me. There was a butterfly who flapped its wings at just the right moment to deflect a small breeze, which caught another, bigger one, and led to a momentary cushion of air that eased my fall. It wasn't a miracle, just a perfectly natural occurence: The Butterfly Effect. Of course, I'm exagerating. But you get the idea.
Maybe all miracles are "natural". Maybe a miracle is an event which happens when it needs to happen.
Do we believe that events like this are totally random, or that God's hand is there to provide for us and that Jesus walks with each of us as a constant companion? When I look back on my life, and reflect on how little I am actually in control of events which affect me, I would have to consider myself exceedlingly lucky if I thought all the miracles in my life were simply random occurences.
But wait! If we start to consider natural events as miracles, won't we be in danger of seeing perfectly ordinary, everyday events as miraculous: The bright, sunny day that cheers us up when we are blue; the rain that falls on our garden and the farmer's fields, to provide us with sustenence; the life we have, every day we are given, and every breath we take?
Hmm. Maybe there's a pearl of wisdom here.
Let me finish with an old joke that's been around so much I'm sure you've all heard it. Let me repeat it now so it can serve as a parable. As the joke goes, this man was sitting on top of his house amidst a vast flood that reached to his very roof. A rescue boat came by to take him off. "No, thanks. God will provide.", he says. He waits all night. The next day a helicopter hovers over. "No, thanks. God will provide." The next day, as only the chimney remains above water, yet another helicopter comes by. "No, thanks. God will provide." That night, the current washes away the house and the man drowns. When he comes before the Lord, he asks, "Lord. I put my faith in you. Why didn't you save me?" "Look," the Lord answered, "I sent a boat and two helicopters. What more did you want?"
Roger Kenner
October 10, 2004