78-10-A2
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Mirages
TranscriptSomeone has come up with a scientific explanation for some of the miracles recorded in both the Old and New Testaments. I'll be right back. I suppose it's only natural for any of us regardless of our faith to speculate at times as to whether or not there might be a natural explanation for some of the biblical miracles. I'll confess to doing it in idle thought and occasion but always winding up unable to explain away the happening described in either the Old or New Testament as natural phenomena. But today, just as there are revisionists trying to rewrite history, so are their scholars, yes, and theologians, trying to de-spiritualize the Judeo-Christian tradition. Some time ago, I commented on this with regard to the Christmas story. Now a scholar has come up with a scientific explanation of two of the better known miracles. He says they were simply mirages. The first is the parting of the Red Sea which allowed Moses and the Israelites to escape the pursuing Egyptians. And the second is Jesus walking on the waters of the Sea of Galilee. Most of us know something about mirages, particularly those of us who live in the western United States, and i dare say most of us have been driving on a hot day and seen the highway ahead take on the appearance of water shining in the sunlight. We don't put on the brakes because we know it's simply heat waves rising from the pavement giving the illusion of water. Of course, there's much more scientific knowledge about the often elaborate mirages and reflected images seen in desert areas and I'll admit I'm not blessed with that knowledge, but this scholar has suggested that the Israelites were simply led across desert sands at a time when a mirage gave them the appearance of walking through water. As I say, I'm not an informed scholar on the subject of mirages but even giving the writer that edge, I'm still left with some questions. The mirage might, and let me emphasize the word might, explain the Israelites crossing the Red Sea, but that leaves the story very much unfinished. The armies of the Pharaoh tried to follow and the waters closed on them crushing chariots and drowning men and horses. A mirage can do that? Then there's an unanswered question or two about Jesus walking on the water, if we assume he was on dry land and part of a mirage. First of all, it was night and the disciples were in a wave tossed boat. Jesus walked from the shore to join them in the boat. If that was a mirage and he was really on dry land, what was that boat doing there? I'm afraid our scholar has asked too much of heat waves and reflections on clouds and desert sands. It'll take more than a mirage to do a successful rewrite of the world's all-time best seller the Bible. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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