Genesis 9:13, God Gives Us the Rainbow
I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
//What does it mean that God put the rainbow in the clouds? Rene Descartes explained way back in 1637 how the reflection of light through raindrops forms a bow. Thus we might imagine, because the Bible tells us that Noah’s flood was the first time it rained on the earth, that God didn’t really make the rainbow, but that the rainbow naturally occurred for the first time as the sun came out again after the flood. But this natural explanation does rather defeat the message of this verse: that God put the rainbow in the sky as a agreement that he would never again flood the earth.
So is the rainbow a miracle or not? A friend once told me that he was amazed at the power of God to change the laws of physics in that moment, so that rainbows would appear from then on each time it rained. Wow … I guess the rainbow in Noah’s day would qualify as a miracle, then!
But if God can tinker willy-nilly with the laws of physics, it would explain a lot of the Bible’s miracles. God could form man out of the earth in his own image, by directed evolution. He could break the law of conservation of angular momentum, stopping the rotation of the earth, so that the sun stands still in the sky. He could temporarily make water heavier than people, so that Jesus could walk on the sea.
It’s funny to me how the definition of a miracle has changed. It’s funny to me that the scientific revolution has reached the point where we now consider a miracle to be anything which breaks the laws of physics.
5 Comments
Leave a Reply
Fantasy Football, Anyone?
Put on the whole uniform of the Team, that ye may be able to stand against the blitz of oncoming linebackers. Don the hip pads of truth, the shoulder pads of righteousness, the cleats of preparation. Don’t forget the facemask of faith and the helmet of salvation. Then clutch the pigskin with much Spirit, for that is what the Play Book of your Coach in Heaven demands.The River of Life
Twice before Lee Harmon has written about Christian topics, once on the gospel of John and once on the book of Revelation. But the question people keep asking him is this: As a liberal Christian, why do you care so much about the Bible? Others wonder whether he is truly a Christian at all.
The Way It Happened
|
|
| Revelation: A love story gone awry. | The Gospel: A love story set aright. |
What really happened 2,000 years ago? How did a persecuted minority of end-time believers known as Christians, with their dreams of Armageddon and a conquering Messiah named Jesus, evolve into the largest religion in the world? Author Lee Harmon explores the period in which the New Testament was written in his books about John's Gospel and Revelation.
(Bloggers: you may be eligible for a free review copy! Just contact us.)
Connect With Me!
A Top-100 Christian Blog
Named an Exceptional Website for Christian Theologians
Our Top Book Picks
Selected by The Dubious Disciple as Best Religion Books. Don't miss these!
Subscribers:
Twitter Followers
Facebook Fans
16806 Blog Members
354 Circles
603 Goodreads Friends & Fans
The God Show
Lee Harmon interviewed on The God Show about the History Channel's miniseries The Bible and Lee's latest book, John's Gospel: The Way It Happened.
About Lee
Hello! I'm an author, historical Jesus scholar, book reviewer, and liberal Christian, which means I appreciate and attempt to exercise the humanitarian teachings of Jesus without getting hung up on any particular supernatural or religious beliefs.
The Bible is a magnificent book that has inspired and spiritually fed generations for thousands of years, and each new century seems to bring a deeper understanding of life’s purpose. This is true of not only Christianity; through the years, our age-old religions are slowly transforming from superstitious rituals into humanitarian philosophies. In short, we are growing up, and I am thrilled to be riding the wave.
I avidly read all thought-provoking religion titles. New authors: I'd love to read and review your book!
Contact me here.
About Leslie
Hi! While Lee writes the articles and reviews the books, I edit, organize, and maintain the blog. The views expressed here are Lee's but I'm his biggest supporter! :-)
Hi Lee,
I saw the link for your blog on Tim O’Neill’s site and thought I’d check it out. It has been thought provoking and I look forward to perusing your commentaries in the future.
Just a couple of quick thoughts concerning Noah and miracles. The story of Noah, regardless of whether or not he was a historical person, is mythic (in reference to the literary genre) not historical. The problems that would arise had the genre of the text been historical need not be. However, the question of the relation between miracles (God’s intervention) and the laws of physics is an interesting one and you brought up some great examples. (I particularly like the sun standing still in the sky). In all of these examples though something extraordinary was happening. In other words, the change is not permanent. Indeed, if memory serves correctly the longest duration of such a change happening is the earth’s rotation stopping.
Concerning how miracles are understood today, I think you are absolutely right that most people understand miracles within the context of science: anything which breaks the laws of physics. I think, however, that this is rather sad and to be blunt Christians are being foolish when they fall into this box. A miracle does not need to fall into the category of not-explainable-by-science. Any time there is a supernatural intervention (of the heavenly kind) in the natural order we can properly speak of a miracle. It need be extraordinary, but it does not need to be incapable of being explained by science.
Thoughtful response, Quanah! Why do you further limit the definition of “miracle” to “supernatural intervention?”
I conceive of two basic orders: the natural and supernatural. If there is an extraordinary event, but it was not due to a supernatural intervention within the natural order then it was a natural event and not a miracle no matter how extraordinary or unlikely. That said, I do not believe that if an extraordinary event can be explained by nature that this necessarily excludes the possibility of the supernatural. Since I have no gift for discerning between the two though I rarely dismiss something out right as not being a miracle and more rarely do I whole-heartedly accept an extraordinary event as a miracle. This understanding allows for a broad (or at least broader) interpretation of what can be a miracle. Even more important though is that it respects what is proper to the natural order and, therefore, it’s goodness.
How do you understand miracles? Or do you believe in miracles?
Well, I’m not very good a “believing” in anything, even miracles. If something happened, it had a cause, and if that cause is unexplained, it’s unexplained. Perhaps the cause is random luck. I would probably consider it a miracle if I were dealt two royal flushes in a row. Perhaps the cause is interference by a being outside our sight, or our world, or our 3-4 dimensions. Perhaps this being is an omni-everything god. I still wouldn’t consider that a miracle … just a big fella interfering with us. The odds of that are probably better than being dealt two royal flushes in a row.
Amen, to those royal flushes.