Today’s Scripture Reading (July 22,
2015): Exodus 17
In Dean
Koontz’s 2008 novel “Breathless” the thriller writer makes a comment about the
difference between science and religion. According to Koontz, true scientific
truth is never fixed – it is an ongoing experience. Science never arrives at
the place of certainty. As proof, Koontz offers two scientific errors that
until very recently we accepted as scientific fact. The first was the idea that
the universe was eternal – the idea that the sun and the stars have simply
always been there and will be there. And this scientific idea was accepted
until we finally noticed that the universe was expanding – and something that
is expanding cannot be eternal. The expanding universe has led us to
hypothesize about the possibly of the universe beginning in a “Big Bang.” And
the hypothesis of the possibility of a “Big Bang” at the beginning of creation
ended the certainty of something that we had thought was proven – the eternal
universe.
The second
example Koontz gives is the idea of spontaneous life out of dead objects. It
seemed so clear for millennia that flies spontaneously came to life out of
rotting meat. We just accepted that that was true until we discovered that the
rotting meat simply hid the eggs that the flies had laid there. Life could be
the only origin of life (although in the ending of the novel, Koontz also
throws this truth away.) For Koontz, science never accepts any theory as the
ultimate reality – it always tests and struggles for truth, not readily
accepting anything as truth. But when scientists start to believe in science as
the ultimate holder of truth, they have in that moment ceased to be scientists
and have become evangelists for some kind of misguided religion.
I think
Koontz is right, but more than that I think that religion is also supposed to
mirror science – it is supposed to also be an eternal struggle for truth.
Religion at its very root is an opportunity to see the world in a different
way. It is a chance to make the world better, to work toward the way that life
should be – but it is not a guarantee that good is simply going to be handed to
us. It is something that we have to work toward.
Israel needs
water. But the reality is that they were in the desert, the need for water
should not have been a surprise. What should have been understood was that as
God released them from slavery into the desert that surrounded Egypt, life from
this point on was going to be partly about the search for water. But Israel
doesn’t seem to want the struggle. They want water without having to do
anything about it themselves. And so they cry out to Moses because he is with
them. But their problem is really with God.
So Moses
asks why they (Israel) insists on testing God, but tempting God might be a
better translation of the prophet’s question. Why do you tempt him to do
something? It might be that God decides to take this opportunity away from you.
Israel, it is time to rise up and do something. You are better than this. God
has given to you an opportunity. Stop complaining and refuse to accept this as
your reality. Join together to make a difference – which just might start with
trying to find some water if you are really thirsty.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus
18
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