THE GOLDEN EVOLUTION (Part 38): On the Matter of Faith

The following continues the serialization of Chapter 5 on Religion from SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity:

Biblical Miracles

 

What is a great big miracle? What about Moses (born as Moshe) parting the Red Sea? First of all, recent publications have trashed the notion that there ever was an Exodus or a Moses. The whole thing seems illogical and historically empty. But, for the sake of analysis, let’s say there was the Exodus of 1628 B.C. or 1446 B.C. or 13th century B.C…scholars are still not sure when this occurred. One story is that Moses was born around 1392 B.C., lived to the age of 120 and died just before his people crossed the Jordan River. 

Here were more than 7,000 Israelites…or was that 603,550…or, maybe, 3 million, escaping the Egyptian army and roaming for more than 40 years. An ABC four hour TV special in April of 2006 on The Ten Commandments showed what appeared to be only a cast of hundreds, so the 3 million figure must have been considered to be an exaggeration by the program writers because computer simulations can place any number, anywhere on the screen these days. The other disappointments in this latest version were the depiction of standard miracles: walking sticks turning into snakes and, yes, that burning bush that talked. The logistics involved with moving, feeding, housing and maintaining the spirit of this group, through mostly deserts and mountains, were at least an equal miracle, if it happened at all. However, the parting of the Red Sea seems to capture the imagination of biblical experts and painters, so, I’ve compiled some of the best explanations:

                  o      God.

o      The crossing was metaphorical, that is, it did not really physically happen.

o      Ah, it was not the Red Sea, but the nearby Sea of Reeds, or Reed Sea, a shallow swamp.

o      The great volcanic eruption of Santorini, which is radiocarbon dated to have occurred in 1628/7 B.C., resulted in a 660-foot mega-tsunami, opening up a temporary gap and fortuitously providing a channel for passage, while also explaining all those plagues.

o      Doron Nof and Nathan Paldor in 1992 published a theory suggesting that the crossing was in the relatively shallow Gulf of Suez, where gale force winds pushed the waters, lowering the water level by eight feet, creating a passable alley.

o      Naum Voltsinger in 2004 reinforced the Nof/Paldor water level setdown concept.

And the winner is…you decide. I’m leaning towards the Sea of Reeds because, as coincidental as that mega-tsunami (see Chapter 6 in Book 1) was, I can’t imagine 600,000 or so quickly traversing 15 miles of muck before the big waves came crashing back. Also, the big wind theory provides huge disbelief, for the scientific analogy was a sloshing of a giant bathtub, again not leaving sufficient time for such a mob to cross even the narrowest part of the Gulf of Suez.

Let’s next look at one of the more fateful days for Jesus, when he walked on water and fed 5,000 with five loaves of barley bread and two fish. These events took place on the same night on the banks of the Sea of Galilee in probably what is now Syria. John the Baptist had just been executed by King Herod. Facing his followers, Jesus asked out aloud for God to bless the bread and fish and whatever else anyone might have with them. No, this third part is never reported, but, at worst, it must have been implied. At the end of the meal, there were supposedly twelve baskets of leftovers. What’s the miracle? People shared. Some would call that a miracle.

Later into the early morning, the Sea was misty, as it supposedly normally is, and the only three people who saw him walk on water were his disciples: Matthew, Mark and John (the Apostle). Mind you, those 5,000 followers did not witness this miracle. Written decades after the event, these three had totally conflicting stories of what in actuality happened, which leads to the more sensible reality that Jesus was probably walking along the banks of the sea and appeared to be walking on water. No miracle here.  

Yet, Doron Nof of Florida State University, a respected oceanography professor who in 2005 was awarded the Nansen Medal for his fundamental contributions towards ocean research, and his colleagues, including Nathan Palador, returned in 2006 to announce in the Journal of Paleolimnology that Jesus could very well have been walking on ice. Surely enough, there was a cold period around the time of Christ, where sufficiently freezing temperatures did occur. The team speculated that Lake Kinnerat (the name today for the Sea of Galilee) could have formed ice every 30 to 60 years.

Finally, you all have seen magic acts. Some of them are amazing. However, once you are taught how they are pulled off, the exploits become trivial. Analogously, we just don’t happen to know sufficient details about miracles. Given all the facts, miracles generally vanish. But what else can the Church offer if not the supernatural...or equivalent magic acts?

If I seem skeptical of these hypothetical episodes as real miracles, I am not alone.  Benedict Spinoza (left--1632 to 1677) said miracles were impossible, David Hume (right--1711-1776) wrote miracles cannot be imagined, and Immanuel Kant (below--1724 to 1804) contended that miracles never occurred, all with carefully philosophized logic. Me, I just read the listed references.

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The Dow Jones Industrials skyrocketed 285 to 10,259, while world markets were all up, especially Europe.  Why?  Mostly because China reported confidence in Europe.  BP of Gulf spill infamy jumped 7%.  The company did indicate that the stuff it was stuffing down the blown hole seems to be working.  BP stock remains 27% below its year high.  Gold remained at $1110 and oil appears to be approaching $75/barrel.

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