We awoke to an inch or two of white blanket (snow cover) this morning, and as I have nowhere to go, the Moses Effect is on my mind (or I should say it is the first thing this morning to stimulate much in the way of barely cognitive thought?). Theres a backstory. Last night we invited a couple to dinner and then casually entertained ourselves with a movie of mutual interest. While watching the Jackie Robinson Story (42), or anything really on the small screen, somehow I like to keep a glass filled. I drank too much Fresca, V8, and flavored waters, apparently. Thus my bladder had something to say about how much, and what quality of sleep I was to get, through a hyperhydration hangover. Right now gazing over the snowscape, I cannot seem to quaff enough compensatory java, which of course soon enough and likely well into the afternoon will start the porcelain fountains flowing. Then, as coffee is said to cause a net loss of water in the body, well you can see where this is ahhh, going... sorry, but during coffee time here, you get whatever this murky stream of consciousness happens to be delivering at the moment. In eventually oxbowing fashion then, back to the subject of The Moses Effect. I veered into this while reading the following from some literature our dinner guests left behind (Jehovahs Witnesses are nothing if not big on dispensing same, and given some free time, I will read just about anything if only out of curiosity). SIDEBAR: I actually enjoy chatting it up whenever these very sincere JW sorts come knocking at our door, whether the occasion is works-based motivated or not (although that ground gets covered in completely pleasant and respectful fashion from my POV too.). After a long and diplomatic interaction they generally tell me (apparently with genuine regret) that they must be on their way! More work to do, I suppose, but without question they have the courage of their convictions. One couple in particular regularly comes back around, special, not even in the course of knocking on the neighbors doors, but just because they are in the neighborhood. They do this despite knowing full well (from the original get go, actually) that I am not a likely candidate for joining their faith tradition. I guess they like the unusually warm reception at my door, and that I genuinely invite them to come back anytime, especially after hours, in an unofficial capacity. END SIDEBAR Heres the relevant quoted sample from their stuff, which mentioned in passing The Moses Effect, which I looked into just a bit. Appears legit. The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines miracle as an extraordinary event attributed to some supernatural agency. Such an extraordinary event involves an interruption in the natural order, which is why many are not inclined to believe in miracles [comment: reasonably enough, so far as it goes]. However, what seems to be [and in other cases may well be] a violation of a natural law may easily be explained in the light of the other laws of nature involved. [and where oh where have I heard that before? Oh yeah, its the thick confidence-building intro to many a thin evolutionary explanation. Only here, Im more inclined to buy it.] To illustrate, New Scientist reported that two physicists at the University of Tokyo applied an extremely strong magnetic field to a horizontal tube partially filled with water. The water rushed to the ends of the tube, leaving the middle section dry. The phenomenon, discovered in 1994, works because water is weakly diamagnetic, repelled by a magnet. The established phenomenon of water moving from where a magnetic field is very high to where it is lower has been dubbed The Moses Effect. New Scientist noted: pushing water around is easy - if you have a big enough magnet. And if you do, then nearly anything is possible. Of course, one could not say with absoluteness which process God used when He parted the Red Sea for the Israelites [MY LONG interjection: ...or even if doing so required any humanly comprehendible / understandable process; a God who claims to have created from the beginning virtually everything ex nihilo (or out of nothing, but at His spoken command), would certainly not be under any obligation to abide by a yet non-existent skeptics preferred rules, would He? Scripture speaks in many places to His every divine whim being brought about merely at His Word. One of the handier aspects of omnipotence Id say, but also handy for us to realize (beyond mere theoretical Sunday school head knowledge, getting instead to actual heart - trust) when we are faced with difficult circumstances beyond anyone elses control.] [In my experience it is uncanny how fast and often miracles happen - these usually occur no sooner than I eventually get settled about trusting Him with full, carte blanche authenticity. Apparently He really goes for that in a big way. Not that such trust is easy for anyone to exercise. Although with experience, it need not be especially hard either. In fact, throughout recorded as well as personal histories, the world has been absolutely rife with impossible instances in which even a little of that sort of full faith, otherwise inexplicably, went a long way. Such attributions seem to make or break faith, with no neutral ground separating the camps. The mystery of the means being the inadequate, but faux-sophisticated skeptics reason for the general inadmissibility of such things. Such occurrences point too persuasively to realities many would simply prefer not to accept, although that preference does not exactly make such realities go away, now does it? One can certainly stick ones head and heart both in the spiritual sand. So back to the JWs reading material] ... one could not say with absoluteness which process God used when He parted the Red Sea for the Israelites. But the Creator knows in the fullest detail all the laws of nature. He could easily control certain aspects of one law by employing another of the laws that he originated. To humans, the result could seem miraculous, especially if they did not fully grasp the laws involved. [this reminds me of the speculation regarding the post- resurrection upper room account of JC entering directly through the wall, and (a big hint for those inside) not bothering that time to knock on any doors atall... todays science recognizes that even matter quite dense to our perception through handling is quite vastly composed of mere empty space; thus in principal integrated human flesh and blood could still share the same physical space with say, stucco, whether or not we can reproduce the effect ourselves! ].. Resuming again... As to miracles in the Bible, Akira Yamada, professor emeritus of Kyoto University in Japan says in Gods in the Age of Science.: While it is correct to say that a miracle cannot be understood as of now from the standpoint of the science in which one is involved (or from the status quo of science), it is wrong to conclude that it did not happen, simply on the authority of advanced modern physics or advance modern bibliology [their typo, not mine, but its kinda fun, so I left it uncorrected]. Ten years from now, todays modern science will be a science of the past. The faster science progresses the greater the possibility that scientists of today will become the target of jokes, such as Scientists of ten years ago seriously believed such and such As the Creator, being able to coordinate [as opposed to unfairly (see our human pride here?) manipulate] all the laws of nature [any number of which we are likely not even necessarily aware, much less fully understand], Jehovah can use his power to work miracles. pgs126-127 ANYHOO, it is time to void and move on. While there is rarely any end to what I might wish to add or to question (as for me, writing is more than a way to wake up, it is THE preferred way to exercise cognition; via being made explicit, one might be better able to detect otherwise hidden assumptions, oversights, mistakes, and various other sources of a blindness we are all subject to), I will almost end my coffee time with the following link to The Moses Effect, which is indeed rather miraculous to behold - who knew? cm.ph.bham.ac.uk/grants/fluxlinesgrant/moses_effect.html Some other coffee time I might bring up The Lazarus Effect. Unfortunately this was not something I got to cleverly name, but I was nonetheless quite involved in (uncovering, via the field work) and aware even as the data were being collected of the emerging, wholly unexpected, thought impossible phenomena; it involved larval fish survival in large, commercially navigable rivers, something about which I was subsequently fortunate to design and employ cutting-edge sampling equipment - probably the highlight of my former career. That I am aware of, the LE was one of the more funny and at the same time humbling examples of the foibles and fallacies of even rigorously pursued, serious science. Dont kid yourself. We just dont the the half of what we think we do. Bottom line: Perhaps in an effort to be perceived as with it intellectually as possible, adopting a science versus faith, or even a science versus religion perspective, is a false dichotomy one might NOT wish to bank upon, particularly if you havent all that much FIRST-hand familiarity of ongoing sciences ever-present warts! Indeed a scientist (and I are one, or was one) employs plenty of faith, only one of a different, narrower and equally peculiar sort. Just because it is of a measurable and quantifiable kind does not necessarily make it one bit more reasonable as the sole route along the path to enlightenment, in the final analysis. Nor must it be an exclusive faith. Most of the great men of science were believers, apparently. Only in the last century plus have aggressive secularists been vainly suggesting (and getting away with) the absurd notion that one cannot do real science and at the same time believe in any supernatural reality. Balonidae oscarmeyerensis to that. Again, I can speak from first-hand experience. One of my university committee members threatened he would see to it that no (beyond-nominal, practicing) Christian would be awarded a degree in science on his watch. Indeed he did his best to trip me up during my thesis defense, which another faculty member was assuming was certainly over dissertation material instead. But miraculously, I did (get the MS; my impishly overreaching appeal for an upgrade to PhD did go unfulfilled, however). And he had no heartburn with any other religious faith - huh?!? Just Christianity. How objective, unbiased, tolerant, diversity-welcoming and classically liberal is that, anyway? And what but a deep seated hatred could he cite as his justification for ever decreeing such a thing? Now thats pretty darned dark, intellectually. And his research specialty was nutrient cycling/spiraling in rivers, - nothing evolutionary in nature. I am the Light of the world! someone else once said, and He still does for that matter. Take heed not to become proud or even satisfied with dimmer and more limited realms of illumination. That someone is more reliable than Duracell (keeps going and going and...), even! John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”. Where do we suppose we are walking, and just how sure are we of our true bearings? Perhaps it would be worth the time to stop and check our spiritual GPS, and thus to make sure we are not lost. All men (and not just males, classically) hate asking for these directions, but there comes a time when our personal sense of orientation could use a little revision. Hell speak those true directions as often as necessary. Its up to us whether we are interested in listening. While long-suffering, to be sure God will not be mocked forever. Sorry for the blizzard of shifting and interwoven verbiage there. Im finally done, but still feeling fairly fuzzy between the ears. Its still snowing with a projected high of 27F. There will be no dealing with turf and earth today, needless to say. Its been a long while since my last chance, but it might just be a Sudoku sort of day, maybe in the sunroom with an equally sleepy cat in my lap. The sun is briefly poking out, even as the flakes fall from the same sky.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 21:41:57 +0000
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