Last night I watched a video on the Haitian and Chilean earthquakes and how researchers are looking for ways of being able to predict them. In the case of the Haitian earthquake, they knew that a big earthquake was coming, because Haiti is in a known earthquake zone, and they had placed sensors in several places to measure how much stress was building up, but they were unable to say exactly when it would be. Compared to weather forecasting, earthquake prediction is still very much in its infancy, and scientists are not even sure if it is even possible to predict the timing of an earthquake with any accuracy. But that does not mean they are giving up!
As I watched this video I started thinking about the people who wrote the Bible and how they would react to the idea that someone can predict natural disasters. I don't think it would be the technology that would upset them (though that in itself would be hard enough to explain!) but the very idea that these things have natural causes, that they aren't sent by God for a reason. That would be the hardest part, because that is a concept that is totally alien to the Bible. That it is not our behavior that causes storms or earthquakes but just mindless forces set in motion.
Every so often Pastor stumbles on something, then shies away from it. I don't know if he is doing this intentionally, or just failing to follow up on a thought because he has another thought in mind. But when he was talking about the storm in Jonah he said we don't think that way about the storm we just had. And then he went on to explain why God sent the storm in Jonah. But I wanted to know, why don't we think that way about the storm we just had? Does God work differently now than he did in Bible times? If it was valid to think so then, why isn't it valid to think so now? Sometimes I think he reads this blog even though he has never said anything to me about it, because some of the things he comes up with are things I have been thinking about or writing about. Or maybe it is just coincidence.
You see, if the worldview of the Biblical writers is correct, and natural disasters happen because God has a hand in sending them for whatever reason, then those who are working on ways to forecast them are wasting their time because they are looking at the wrong causes! It's not good enough to say, as he did, that "sometimes" God sends an earthquake or a storm and "sometimes" they just happen due to natural processes. How do we know which is which? If that's a valid worldwiew then it is vitally important that we know which is which so that if it is due to something we are doing (like Jonah running from his call to preach to the Ninevites), we can do something about it.
So let's look at what happened at the Indiana State Fair. Right away, I noticed that one of the victims was a gay and lesbian activist. Well, we know what the Bible says about that, right? So, were the other four collateral damage? But then, God is a merciful God. He sent the storm in Jonah not to punish him but to set him on the right track. Jonah wanted to die. God didn't want him to, that's where the fish comes into it. So, none of these people died because God didn't like their lifestyle. Maybe someone (who didn't die) was running from God and the storm came to turn their life around and the five, well, again, collateral damage. Do you see where this is going? We aren't talking about something that happened two or three thousand years ago, we're talking about something that happened only a few days ago. Why is it not valid to ask these questions about the tragedy at the fair? Notice none of this has to do with cold fronts or warm fronts or wind shear or anything else meteorological, because the Biblical writers in setting down their truths about how God operates weren't interested in the mechanics. They didn't even know there were mechanics!
There was a guy named Lyell who was to geology and earth sciences what Darwin was to biology. (Young earth creationists don't like him any more than they do Darwin). His doctrine of uniformitarianism--that the processes that shape the earth now are the same processes that have always shaped the earth--replaced the previous doctrine of catastrophism (except among the YEC crowd). Supposedly the Bible teaches the same idea about God, that the way He acts now is the way He has always acted--Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, sort of thing, although we have seen that on closer look that is apparently not always the case.
Again, this is part of the uneasy compromise that fundamentalist, literalist religion has to make if it is not to alienate all but the most uneducated, uncritical believers. I saw a T-shirt today that said, "Got Evidence?" and below it the quote "we walk by faith, not by sight." I guess that is why they call it blind faith.
As I watched this video I started thinking about the people who wrote the Bible and how they would react to the idea that someone can predict natural disasters. I don't think it would be the technology that would upset them (though that in itself would be hard enough to explain!) but the very idea that these things have natural causes, that they aren't sent by God for a reason. That would be the hardest part, because that is a concept that is totally alien to the Bible. That it is not our behavior that causes storms or earthquakes but just mindless forces set in motion.
Every so often Pastor stumbles on something, then shies away from it. I don't know if he is doing this intentionally, or just failing to follow up on a thought because he has another thought in mind. But when he was talking about the storm in Jonah he said we don't think that way about the storm we just had. And then he went on to explain why God sent the storm in Jonah. But I wanted to know, why don't we think that way about the storm we just had? Does God work differently now than he did in Bible times? If it was valid to think so then, why isn't it valid to think so now? Sometimes I think he reads this blog even though he has never said anything to me about it, because some of the things he comes up with are things I have been thinking about or writing about. Or maybe it is just coincidence.
You see, if the worldview of the Biblical writers is correct, and natural disasters happen because God has a hand in sending them for whatever reason, then those who are working on ways to forecast them are wasting their time because they are looking at the wrong causes! It's not good enough to say, as he did, that "sometimes" God sends an earthquake or a storm and "sometimes" they just happen due to natural processes. How do we know which is which? If that's a valid worldwiew then it is vitally important that we know which is which so that if it is due to something we are doing (like Jonah running from his call to preach to the Ninevites), we can do something about it.
So let's look at what happened at the Indiana State Fair. Right away, I noticed that one of the victims was a gay and lesbian activist. Well, we know what the Bible says about that, right? So, were the other four collateral damage? But then, God is a merciful God. He sent the storm in Jonah not to punish him but to set him on the right track. Jonah wanted to die. God didn't want him to, that's where the fish comes into it. So, none of these people died because God didn't like their lifestyle. Maybe someone (who didn't die) was running from God and the storm came to turn their life around and the five, well, again, collateral damage. Do you see where this is going? We aren't talking about something that happened two or three thousand years ago, we're talking about something that happened only a few days ago. Why is it not valid to ask these questions about the tragedy at the fair? Notice none of this has to do with cold fronts or warm fronts or wind shear or anything else meteorological, because the Biblical writers in setting down their truths about how God operates weren't interested in the mechanics. They didn't even know there were mechanics!
There was a guy named Lyell who was to geology and earth sciences what Darwin was to biology. (Young earth creationists don't like him any more than they do Darwin). His doctrine of uniformitarianism--that the processes that shape the earth now are the same processes that have always shaped the earth--replaced the previous doctrine of catastrophism (except among the YEC crowd). Supposedly the Bible teaches the same idea about God, that the way He acts now is the way He has always acted--Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, sort of thing, although we have seen that on closer look that is apparently not always the case.
Again, this is part of the uneasy compromise that fundamentalist, literalist religion has to make if it is not to alienate all but the most uneducated, uncritical believers. I saw a T-shirt today that said, "Got Evidence?" and below it the quote "we walk by faith, not by sight." I guess that is why they call it blind faith.
