Today’s Scripture Reading (May 23,
2015): Job 38
If a tree falls
in a lonely forest, does it make a sound? The philosophical thought experiment
has a long history. The idea may have been first explored by the philosopher
George Berkeley in his “A Treatise Concerning the Principals of Human Knowledge”
(1710), although Berkeley never actually asks the question. But since then
philosophers seem to have had trouble not asking the question in some form. The
basic idea behind the question explores the relationship between an event and
the observation of the event, and asks the question whether or not the
observation of an event changes the event in some way. Even theoretical
physicist Albert Einstein got into the act, supposedly asking fellow physicist and
friend Niels Bohr whether he realistically believed that the moon does not
exist if no one is looking at it.
The question
almost seems absurd to our modern minds. If we were involved in the
conversation with Einstein and Bohr, maybe we would point to the very real
effect that the moon has on the earth regardless of whether we are looking at
it or not. The tide, a result of the gravitational interplay between the moon
and the earth, would continue to happen even if no one on earth thought to look
up and behold the moon – or if dense clouds enveloped the earth hiding the moon
from our view. And yet, we also can’t ignore that, at least with regard to some
events, observation of an event can and does change the event. (Here is another
thought experiment. Because of the Baltimore riot, a baseball game between
Baltimore and the Chicago White Sox in April 2015 was played in a closed
ballpark – no fans were allowed in to see the game. It was thought to be the
first time in Major League Baseball History where a game was played and no fans
were there to watch. The announced paid attendance at the game – zero. The
question, did the lack of fans effect the outcome. And the answer, most likely,
is yes. Sports players feed off the energy of the fans, something that was totally
absent at the game. But one very real difference did occur. The game, in which
Baltimore won 8-2, only took two hours and three minutes to play. Maybe the
secret to shortening a baseball game is to not let any fans watch.)
God responds
to the conversation that is happening between Job and his friends very
poetically. For the scientifically minded, a discussion of storehouses filled with
snow and hail (vs. 22) and a place where lightning is dispersed (vs. 24) seems
somewhat silly or antiquated. We understand the cycles of the weather, and what
it is that causes snow and hail and lightning to fall to the earth. But that
isn’t really God’s point. Speaking in words that Job and his friends would
understand, God asserts his control over the weather. He is the one who designed
the system, and he is the one who knows the inner workings of the weather, and
he remains the one who is fully capable of interrupting the system.
But God also
answers Berkeley’s philosophical question. God sends the rain even to deserts
where no one lives, and the rain produces grass that no one will see and on
which no animals will graze. There is entire ecosystems on the earth that exist
outside of human perception. With our own very limited and egotistical view,
this seems like a waste. Why should something as valuable as rain fall on a
desert? Why should grass grow where there are no animals to graze? And why
should flowers bloom where there is no one to admire their beauty? The simple
answer is because God is there, and as much as we know that he created us, he
also created the desert and the grass and flowers, and he is concerned with
everything that he has created - and not
just us.
If a tree
falls in a lonely forest, does it make a sound? Of course it does, because God
has observed and noted the tree that fell and he has heard the sound. And in
the end, does anything else really matter?
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 39
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