The Truth in Miracles

 

The Gospel readings for the last two weeks recount two of the signs in the Gospel of John.  John’s Gospel has seven signs or miracles performed by Jesus.  The first is the great one for any wine lover, when Jesus changes the water into wine at a wedding when the host had done the unforgiveable and run out of wine.  The last sign, and last week’s Gospel, was the raising Lazarus from the dead.

The miracles recorded in the bible, can be a test of faith for Christian believers and a reason that many people have in not being able to believe the word of God presented in the bible.  It is, I believe, a key to understanding the relationship between God and humans – between the Divine and the human. 

Catholic biblical scholar Murray Watson gives a continuum of possibilities in how to understand the inspired nature of the relationship between the Divine and the Human.    

 

 

  

 It struck me that this is a good illustration of the challenge that miracles bring to people in our culture today.  The belief in the part which God plays in the world relates directly to how miracles are understood and accepted or not accepted by people.  On the one end of the continuum, the stories of miracles in the Old and New Testaments in the bible are actual, literal accounts of the events.  On the other end they are made up stories which have no validity as factual accounts of actual events.

To illustrate, how do you understand the account of the flood in Genesis in which God told Noah to build an arc to hold a pair of every kind of animal to enable them to survive the flood which God sent upon the face of the earth?  Whether you believe that this actually happened as recorded in the Book of Genesis or was just a “myth” i.e., it didn’t happen, can create an inseparable barrier to people exploring with each other how God is working in their lives today. 

In my view, there is little to be gained by arguing over the details of this account or other accounts of miracles in the bible.  If we can put aside the issue of the historical nature of the event, and whether the details are historical facts, we are much more likely to have a meaningful discussion of how God in working in our lives today.  Rather than argue over the truth of the facts of the case, we can explore the capital ‘T’ Truth of how God was operating in the lives of the people who wrote down the account and explore that Truth in our lives today.

For me, the story of the flood shows that God’s creation is redeemable regardless of how fallen the world seems to be.  God can and does work through individuals who can work to redeem the world against impossible odds.  That is certainly applicable to the world today as we see the challenges that are facing the world from pandemics, to an outbreak of conflict between the Israeli and Palestine, and now the war between United States and Iran - not to mention the chasm that exists between political parties in our neighbour to the south.  To me, it doesn’t matter whether or not a person named Noah existed and whether or not he built an arc that held all those animals.  The Truth is that God has and does work through people to bring about the salvation of the world.  We can have hope in that and not give into despair when we read today’s news.

Blessings on your journey and may you know the Truth of God in your life.

Flood Facts and Stories

Lorna and I arrived at our cottage in Prince Edward Island a week ago and we are still settling in and adapting to the new mode of living.  Perhaps because our property is on the water – although well up from the shore which is actually ocean water, my thoughts turn to Noah and the Flood story in the bible. 

In this reflection on the Flood story, I am drawing on material in wonderful lectures by Prof. Joel Baden of Yale Divinity School which are available on YouTube.  Here is the link to the first lecture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZIm_edPz20.  I have listened to the lecture series a couple of times and find them enlightening and engaging. 

As Dr. Baden points out, most people, even in today’s secular society, know the story of Noah and the flood – or think they know it.  The basic story outline probably foes something like this.  God told Noah – the only good man in the world - that God was going to send a flood to kill all living thing.  God told Noah to build and arc and get his family on board along with a pair of animals of every kind.  The rains began and it rained for forty days and the water covered the earth.  The water subsided and Noah sent out a dove which, after a few tries, didn’t return and Noah and his family and all the animals disembarked and the animals and people re-established themselves on the earth to make a new start.  Most people can probably recount a basic version of the story which is still very much part of popular culture – particularly in this time of Global Warming and melting glaciers and Ice Caps. 

However, the story, as Dr. Baden illustrates, is not that clear cut.  There are conflicting aspects to the story.  Here are some of the things which don’t quite match the popular understanding of the Flood story:

                                                       Version 1                                       Version 2

Animals                          1 pair of all animals                        7 pairs of clean animals, 1 pair unclean;

Water                              Rains 40 days and 40 nights          waters fall from above and raise from below.

Duration                         Flood lasts 40 days and nights.           Flood lasts 150 days

Bird sent out                   a dove sent out three times                   a raven sent out once

These are a few of the example of the conflicting details in the story.  As Dr. Baden explains, the Flood story in the bible or bibles is a compilation of two sources – what are named the J source (for Yahwist) and P source (for Priestly).  Each source has a complete flood story which is coherent and unified.  They have been combined into one story which is what is found in the Christian bible and Hebrew scriptures.  This is part of what is called the Documentary Hypothesis which postulates four sources for the first books of the bible. 

If you would like to explore this in more detail, I would invite you to read or reread the Flood story in Genesis chapters 6 to 9, and check out the variation and see if you can spot these and others.  I also invite you to tune into Dr. Baden’s lecture 3 on the Flood https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzV5qiQmTBw&t=1303s

Whether you are a religious believer or not, the Bible is a wonderful source of stories and wisdom and an account of people struggling to relate to what they understand as the divine source of life.  Reading it with an open mind and heart will give you an entry into a world which is more than you can ask or imagine.

Blessing as you read interesting books on your journey. *

The Truth About Miracles

 

As I wrote last week, I am currently engaged in a biblical study course on the Old Testament.  Last weeks lecture raised the question about the human involvement in divine action – specifically, what does it mean for scripture to be inspired by God?  The following chart offered by the leader, Murray Watson, gives a continuum of possibilities in how to understand the inspired nature of the relationship between Devine and Human beings.

A spectrum of possibilities in terms of the human-divine relationship

 It struck me that this is a good illustration of the challenge that miracles bring to people in our culture today.  The belief in the part which God plays in the world relates directly to how miracles are understood and accepted or not accepted by people.  On the one end of the continuum, the stories of miracles in the Old and New Testaments in the bible are actual, literal accounts of the events.  On the other end they are made up stories which have no validity as factual accounts of actual events.

To illustrate, how do you understand the account of the flood in Genesis in which God told Noah to build an ark to hold a pair of every kind of animal to enable them to survive the flood which God sent upon the face of the earth?  Whether you believe that this actually happened as recorded in the Book of Genesis or was just a “myth” i.e., it didn’t happen, can create an inseparable barrier to people exploring with each other how God is working in their lives today. 

In my view, there is little to be gained by arguing over the details of this account or other accounts of miracles in the bible.  If we can put aside the issue of this historical nature of the event and whether the details are historical facts, we are much more likely to have a meaningful discussion of how God in working in our lives today.  Rather than argue over the truth of the facts of the case, we can explore the capital ‘T’ Truth of how God was operating in the lives of the people who wrote down the account and explore that Truth in our lives today.

For me, the story of the flood shows that God’s creation is redeemable regardless of how fallen the world seems to be.  God can and does work through individuals who can work to redeem the world against impossible odds.  That is certainly applicable to the world today as we see the challenges that are facing the world from pandemics to a new outbreak of conflict between the Israeli and Palestine - not to mention the chasm that exists between political parties in our neighbour to the south.  To me, it doesn’t matter whether or not a person named Noah existed and whether or not he built an ark that held all those animals.  The Truth is that God has and does work through people to bring about the salvation of the world.  We can have hope in that and not give into despair when we read today’s news.

Blessings on your journey and may you know the Truth of God in your life.

Reconsidering the God of the Old Testament

I am currently auditing an Old Testament course at Huron University College in London Ontario.  I signed up for it after getting a taste of what was on offer at the first lecture which is, of course, offered by Zoom.  Lorna had signed up for the course so it is through her encouragement that I was introduced to what should be a very engaging overview of a subject that is well worth exploring further.  The course is being led by Murray Watson who did a great job in the first lecture and left me wanting more.   

I have not taken a formal course in the Old Testament since studying theology at Huron almost twenty years ago, so I thought this would be a good way to dip my big toe into those very deep waters again.  I must confess that I have always been fascinated by the Old Testament ever since I was captivated by all the stories of heroes such as David the shepherd boy slaying the giant Goliath or the blind Samson pulling down the building and killing all those evil Philistines.  The stories of Jesus in the New Testament just didn’t do it for the young me until much later when I could more fully appreciate that love can be more powerful than heroic acts even when the underdog defeats the forces of evil.   

The Old Testament of the Christian bible is deep water with many currents and eddies and even rip tides that can be hard to navigate for Christians who follow Jesus who proclaimed and lived out his life as the son of a God of love.  The first lecture had an interesting exploration of these challenging waters with a short discussion of the heresy of Marcion.  Marcion who was a second century Christian theologian who taught that the malevolent God of the Old Testament was a different God than the benevolent one of the New Testament who sent his son Jesus Christ to redeem the world. 

Now Marcion was heretical and indeed wrong in his belief that the God who made a covenant with Abraham and wrestled with Jacob was not the God whom Jesus Christ prayed to as his Heavenly Father.  However, even a cursory reading of the Old Testament will reveal what might have been the basis of his heresy.  The OT God who – as an aside had many different names such as Elohim, El-Shaddai, Yahweh, Jehovah and Adonai – did not seem to often believe in justice for people who were not his chosen ones despite what the prophets proclaimed and was not slow to anger as the psalmist sang – at least not always.  Yahweh would have wiped out the Israelites after they demanded the Golden Calf to worship if it wasn’t for the intercession by Moses.  It is this God who sent the flood and drowned the world and everything in it except for Noah and the favoured few people and animals in the Arc.  Yahweh also commanded the Israelites slaughter of the inhabitants of the Promised Land, “You shall annihilate them—the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites—just as the Lord your God has commanded.” (Deuteronomy 20:17)

So, how do we reconcile the difference between the God the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament without following Marcion down the dead end of his heresy?  How can we reconcile the apparent differences in the actions and behavior of God?  I believe that it was not God that was different but rather, it was the people who saw and heard God through the lens of their culture and times.  The people of the OT were not ready to appreciate a God that did not have at least some of the characteristics that we see as negative today.  Similarly, people today are not ready to embrace the message of what it means to pick up our crosses and truly follow Jesus - I am in no way claiming I do this a lot of the time.  For me the key is in John 16:12-13 - "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come." 

Murray Watson addressed this in a more learned manner in a response to me:

I prefer to think more in terms of "evolution" and "transformation" over time (as you suggest in your message). We often speak of "progressive revelation" over hundreds of years, and you're right ... those who received some of that revelation in the earlier centuries lived in a world of warriors, constant violence and battles ... and their understanding of God definitely fit into that familiar framework. I often go back to what I learned in my university courses in Thomistic philosophy; St. Thomas Aquinas said (in Latin): "Quidquid recipitur ad modum recipientis recipitur" (Whatever is received, is received according to the mode of the recipient) ... as human beings, we are conditioned by our time

Carl Jung affirmed the same point when speaking of people not being conscious enough to appreciate the truth of the world in which we live, “There does seem to be unlimited knowledge present in nature, it is true, but it can be comprehended by consciousness only when the time is ripe for it.”  I do wonder how the people of the future will regard the follies and foibles and atrocities of our world.

Perhaps we are blessed if we can do our utmost to avoid heretical paths on our journey.