Friday 24 October 2003

Pic of the day: Will resurrection some time in the future be as natural and understandable as flying is today? (Screenshot from, of all places, the anime Hanada Shounen Shi.)

God's knowledge

Did Isaiah foretell genetic engineering?

"The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea." (Isaiah 11,7-9, the Bible, New International Version.)

What is "the knowledge of the Lord"? Is it knowledge about the Lord, or is it the knowledge that the Lord has?

***

Recently the prime minister of Malaysia made a speech to representatives from the major Muslim countries of the world. Here he reminded them that when the Muslim civilization was young, it was eagerly gathering knowledge about the world and the sciences. The Muslim nations of the time towered over their European neighbors intellectually and culturally. But later there came a movement which disregarded worldly sciences and insisted that only spiritual knowledge was worthy of study. As a results of this the Muslim countries sank down in poverty and slavery. But worse perhaps, the great progress in spiritual understanding is still conspicuously absent. Instead wars and civil wars have divided the Muslim world until this day.

It is a sad thing indeed that this speech would be known around the world mainly for a small anti-Jewish comment about Jews ruling the world. It was an unfortunate phrasing, I believe: In reality it is the world which is ruling the Jews rather than the other way around. Unlike most Muslim countries, the nation of Israel has adapted to the realities of this world. And this was exactly what the man was recommending for his fellow Muslims.

But those who follow the Koran are not the only ones who are tempted to disregard this world while seeking a better. There have been and are still Christian preachers who claim that true believers should have nothing to do with science. I can understand this in one way, as time is always a limited resource. I suppose it is a good thing that some people concentrate completely on the Scriptures and their application in our daily life. But I also believe that there is only one truth in Heaven and on Earth. God has created the universe, and therefore all truth in the universe must necessarily come from God. If we believe that we have knowledge directly from God, but that knowledge does not mesh with the observed truth of the world around us, then it is likely that we have mistaken our own imagination for God's voice. Therefore if we see a conflict between these two truths, we should study them further. It is highly unlikely that our problem is too much knowledge. It is far more likely that we still don't understand even the things we think we understand!

***

Progress in science has led to progress in technology. This is not without danger, and we should remain ethically grounded in mercy and humility when we use these new powers. When we approach them in this way, they have many benefits. Antibiotics and chemotherapy cure many illnesses which in the past caused suffering and death. Oh, it is certainly more impressive to lay your hands on the sick and wounded and heal them in the name of the Lord. But for everyday use, surgery and medication work just fine. And I for one don't have the courage to pray to God to protect the milk from corruption when I could simply have put it in the fridge. I think you will agree with me that this would have been slightly blaspheming. By the same token, then, we should probably take into our own hands such matters as infertility, for which we also have the tools. As long as it harms no one, that is.

I do not see science as a replacement for spirituality. This is how I see it: As we acquire more of the knowledge that God has about the universe, we should take upon ourselves more of the maintenance. But we should do so in the Spirit of God, not in selfish greed and jealousy and hate. As the saying goes these days: "With great power comes great responsibility." For those who think this is a new and revolutionary idea, allow me to quote Jesus Christ: "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." (Luke 12,48.) These days when we are all superheroes, we need to act responsibly.

If there comes a time when the world is blanketed in the same knowledge that God has, then it is vitally important that we not only have God's knowledge about how to do things. We also need his knowledge about when to do (or not to do) things and why to do things. Already we can perform miracles: Jesus walked on the water, but men have walked on the moon. Jesus fed more than 5000 men with a few loaves and fishes; today, a few seeds can feed millions. When my grandfather was born, nobody believed that the prophet should be taken literally when he foretold that the people of Israel would come flying back to their country. Today, flying is so commonplace that most of us don't even look up when a plane is passing overhead.

I will not speculate how, but perhaps one day we may understand time as well as we today understand space, and we may be able to retrieve those who died long ago. But what kind of world could we resurrect them to? Would they come to Heaven or to Hell? Unless we grow spiritually, we will be like a toddler who has got into Daddy's car and started driving. Nothing but disaster can come from that. There is knowledge, and there is knowledge. And we need them both.