Anything But God

Some of you may remember Michael Drosnin’s book “The Bible Code.”  What is the book about? Well, it seems that there is this secret code imbedded in the Bible that allows us to predict the future. To maintain his credibility with the nonreligious Mr. Drosnin is careful to let us know that he remains a confirmed Atheist. And, lest anyone associate him with those wackos who actually believe the Bible he is quick to assure us that there is another explanation for the existence of the code: super intelligent beings from outer space encoded their messages in the Bible (which they presumably wrote as well).

Drosnin’s explanation of the code is just one example of an all too familiar phenomenon we have seen for centuries: intelligent people clutching at absurd ideas in order to deny the obvious: the existence of God. When American astronomer Edwin Hubble proved that every galaxy within 100 million light years is speeding away from every other, many astronomers were up in arms because it was one more proof that forced them to recognize a created universe with a definite beginning. Robert Jastrow of NASA remarked, “For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason alone, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance (meaning religion); he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.”

It is not difficult to understand modern man’s resistance to God. People who have grown up on the “do your own thing” philosophy of life are very uncomfortable with the thought that God may be watching over their shoulder. The obvious implication is that if God created humans He probably had other pursuits in mind for them. The solution? Deny God.

I read the statement of a young man who was taking a freshman course at Yale University on the classics of Western Literature. The entire presentation on the Bible dealt with theories of multiple authorship of all sections of the Bible (in other words, who you always thought wrote the Bible, didn’t.  Other people wrote it at a later period).  The young man challenged the professor to explain why he didn’t treat other writings the same way, such as Homer’s Iliad.  The answer was simple. Homer makes no demands upon its modern readers. The Bible, by contrast, insists that there is a divine standard by which we will all be judged. That was an idea which was far too dangerous for Yale university.     —Adapted

 

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