LISTENING WITH TWO EARS
As we think about the two claims of how forces and powers work in the natural world, recall that we listened to physicist Michio Kaku and scientist Bill Nye talk about the four forces in nature; gravitational, electromagnetic, weak, and strong. They can be measured, calculated, and predictions can be made about their effects in the natural world. Natural disasters, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes, exhibit characteristics and effects of these forces. It’s important to remember that science is a tool for understanding how the powers and forces of the world are at work, not a tool for trying to prove or disprove God’s power.
We also listened to the story of a woman who survived an F5 tornado, and looked at four ways to understand God’s active presence, or power, in creation; deism, omnipotent, neo-Thomist, and kenotic. While each of these offers a way to understand God’s presence and power, for Christians it is important to listen to these through the message of Christ. |
Think About It......
If, like the survivor of the F5 tornado, we claim God’s power as directed toward our personal protection, then what does that say about how God’s power was used toward the person who might have been hurt or killed? If we think about God as only omnipotent, then there is the risk that we begin to see God as “a mean kid with a magnifying glass.”
As Rabbi Brad Hirshfield tells us about people who claim God as only wrathful, “They simply dressed God up as a larger and angrier version of themselves. If that doesn’t come perilously close to idolatry, I don’t know what does.” This view is similar to that of an omnipotent God who can appear to behave like a "mean kid with a magnifying glass." |
Also, if we think about God in the way of deism, or having ‘left the building,” then we ignore the fact that God is still active and present, which for Christians is through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God’s life-giving presence, which is made known in the event of God meeting us in the person of Jesus Christ. In Christ, God became fully human and took on our sin and suffering so that we would have new life.
God reveals God’s self in weakness, suffering and in a way that seems to hide God’s action. God is also hidden in terms of working through natural causes, but this absence is not because God has “left the building.” |
As we heard in the definition of thinking about God in a neo-Thomist way, Rev. George L. Murphy tell us, “God works through natural processes as instruments,”1 and God is the primary originating cause with creatures as the instruments, or tools. A kenotic understanding tells us that, “God limits divine action to what is within the capacities of creatures. That is, God acts in accord with rational laws (which themselves are God's creation).”2
We can understand how the world operates according to rational laws that science can explore, test, and evaluate. Natural disasters, diseases, and death are all a part of this. |
The understanding of how and why the forces and powers of the world are related and work together are heard though the claims of science. These are all explanations that have to do with the material world.
But God is not material, and cannot be understood through exploration, testing, and evaluation. For Christians, the understanding of God’s presence and power is heard through the claims of Christ. Christ tells us of the purpose of these relationships and promise of God’s love and intended future in the event of his life, death, and resurrection. |
We can use both ears to hear each claim and make sense of each by using our brains. To understand how our hearing works to send messages to the brain, click on the link below.
Listening to both claims requires that we use critical listening skills to be sure that we are not using the information to make false claims about either God’s presence and power and the work of the Holy Spirit, or about scientific understandings of forces and powers. Listening with both ears also helps us to “keep our balance” as we hear about the interdependence and connectedness of all things that are a part of the greater whole of the world.
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1 George L. Murphy, “The Theology of the Cross and God’s Work in the World,” in Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 33, no.2 (June 1998): 225.
2 George L. Murphy, Evolution – Cosmic and Biological, http://www.elca.org/What-We-Believe/Social-Issues/Faith-Science-and-Technology/Covalence/Features/Evolution-Cosmic-and-Biological.aspx (accessed March, 2013).
2 George L. Murphy, Evolution – Cosmic and Biological, http://www.elca.org/What-We-Believe/Social-Issues/Faith-Science-and-Technology/Covalence/Features/Evolution-Cosmic-and-Biological.aspx (accessed March, 2013).