[First posted in 2012, seven years ago, buried in our over-1000 posts; so reposting since it’s worth a review, if not a good first time read for those who might have missed it the first time around.—Admin1]
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The subtitle of this book: “A Physicist Proves We’ve Been Wrong About God All Along”
The title sounds presumptuous, especially for a nuclear physicist and not a theologian, to speak for God! But perhaps it takes a scientist to truly understand this universe, how it works on a level that the hoi polloi like us can’t even begin to grasp. If you get past the introductory chapters where you get a simplified science lesson, you will appreciate the insights of this gifted scientist-bible teacher-writer all in one and learn new things you probably have never heard before; it is definitely a soul-enlightening journey. Plus, there is a lot of useful information about other scientists, authors, bible interpreters, flaws in the Septuagint translation, etc. etc. It is WORTH THE READ!
Here are some excerpts from the concluding chapters of the book, just to whet your appetite.
This is from Chapter 12: Partners with God: Working with a God That Will Be
- If God is truly present and active in this world, why isn’t that presence more obvious? Why is God so well hidden? The answer to the query is in essence the topic of this book’s entire discussion.
- There either is or is not a God. On this there is no middle ground. . . . And what is the evidence “on the ground”?
- We are truly the idea of the creation and, biblically speaking, the wisdom of the Creator. . . we have direct Divine direction in our cosmic genesis.
- The source of potential calamity lies . . . in God’s proclivity for withdrawing control, the tzimtzum, the contraction, of God’s manifest presence. . . . nature is allowed to run its own course.
- God will help, but we have to finish the task. In general, for those situations where we can solve the problem by our own efforts, God relegates completion of the task to us.
- In God’s management of the world, the Bible makes clear that the acts of an individual strongly affect the community. . . We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, individually and communally.
- The world gets its share of free reign and when a mess arises, the God of the Bible may enter to aid in the repair. Nipping the potential evil before allowing it to flourish would be a compassionate world-management system, but that fails to match the blueprint brought by the Bible. The logic lies in the need for an unhampered free will. God hides the Divine presence sufficiently to allow each of us to make our own choices, for better or worse, freely within the confines of our physical and social landscape, without the specter of a cosmic Force peering over our shoulders, judging our every act.
- Dr. Joseph Hertz, former chief rabbi of England, describes the human situation perfectly: “Though man cannot always even half control his destiny, God has given the reins of man’s conduct altogether into his hands.”
- We can only know God by what God does. What God is is what God does in our temporally and physically limited span of existence.
- So why doesn’t God step in? That is part of the Diving management system. Biblically, there’s evidence for all the freedom of purpose implied in “I will be that which I will be,” God has set ground rules, limit, not only for humans, but also for Divine behavior.
- There is a plan by which God interacts with this world. And one goal of that multifaceted plan reaches out to bring an awareness to all nations of God’s concern for all inhabitants in the creation It brought into being. As the prophet Amos taught, not only did God bring Israel out of Egypt, but also the Philistines out of Caphtor and Aram out of Kir. Three “exoduses” are described in one biblical verse. Though that Divine connection may not always be obvious to, or in accord with, our limited human logic, the connection and care are there.
- Most ancient cultures remove the troubled episodes of their history from their records and preserve only the blessed portions. The Bible keeps it all, and in doing so shows a series of incidents that expose God’s relationship to the world It created. Most important of all, we learn that God is present and interested in all nations and all peoples.
- The people of Israel may be a marker making more obvious God’s active role in history, and that role is there for all to recognize. But that has not limited God’s interest to this one people. The role that Israel plays is to be an indicator, an example, so that all people may recognize the Oneness that lies beyond the diversity of existence. We are all intertwined, as individuals and as members of the larger community, truly as our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. Being created in the image of God, we are partners in the final making of the world.
- Psalm 19:1-3 . . . The heavens declare the glory of God and the vault of the firmament tells the work of His hands. Day to day gives forth speech and night to night expresses knowledge. There is no speech and no words; their voice is not heard. These opening verses tell us that the heavens proclaim with no equivocation God’s glory. Then immediately we learn that nothing is heard. The message is there, but to perceive the presence of the Divine, we have to listen very carefully. God knocks very gently: A great and strong wind fractured the mountains and shattered the rocks before the Eternal God, but God was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but God was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire but God was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. And it was when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his cloak. (1 Kings 19:11-13).
- The God that most skeptics reject, a God with unceasing hands-on control, is simply not the God of the Bible. The biblical God may enter the fray when the flow of nature and humanity strays too far from the intended teleological path. In general, however, the running of the universe is not a power play by God We and the laws of nature, which are themselves creations of the Creator, have a major role in the scenario. The Bible recognizes that flaws exist in nature’s designs. It even describes them. The God of the Bible expects us to fix them. That’s what partnership is all about. Not only are we our brother’s and sister’s keepers, we are even God’s keepers, as is God our Keeper.
- Biblical religion is littered with rituals, and most relate to life in the marketplace, not in the house of worship. Not by chance. Abstract theory is fine, but acts are what brings results. There is no difficulty being holy in a church, synagogue, or mosque. The challenge comes when we step outside and confront our fellow humans, some of whom do not conform to our standards.
- The first biblical constraint placed on humankind related to that most primal human need, food—the forbidden fruit in Eden, an arbitrary limit on the desires of our free will. The first question asked of humankind by God was, “Where are you?” (Gen. 3:9). Among what fantasies are you hiding? What excuses have you concocted to justify the failures of humanity to fulfill its potential?
- “But war brings out the worst in people, Never the best. Always the worst.” Oskar Schindler was the living example of a very different truth. It is the strength of one’s will that determines which way a person turns when faced with oppression or trials, whether they are induced by war or other circumstances. Weakness of character and the imperfect mores of a culture, not war, bring out the worst.
- Tortuous though the trend may be, God has a plan for the world. The micro-engineering of that plan is largely up to us. There is a flow from pagan barbarity toward the elusive goal of peace on earth, goodwill to all. Each of us, as individuals, chooses whether to enhance or impede the flow toward the Divine goal.
- The Bible is not so interested in how to get to heaven. In fact there is no direct mention of life after life in the entire Torah. Our God-given goal is to make the world so perfect that we will have heaven here on earth. The prophet Micah brought the world the definition of true religion: It has been told to you, humankind [adam, in Hebrew] what is good and what the Eternal God asks from you: That you perform justice, love, merciful kindness, and walk in humble modesty with your God” (6:8). Note the simplicity of the requirements of a godly life: The only trait of Moses’ character that is recorded in the entire Bible is that he was “the most humble man on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3). Moses confronted Pharaoh, the most powerful ruler of the time. Humility is not the equivalent of self-effacing. Humility is knowing one’s personal value and using it as a gift, not as a source of pride. In that sense, there is no place for our vanity in God’s demanding that we join Him as partners in the task of managing His world. That is simply the nature of existence.
- There is an ancient tradition that, at the end of an individual’s earthly life, the question asked at the “Pearly Gates” will not be, “Why didn’t you achieve the level of Moses?” but rather, “Why didn’t you achieve your own person potential?” We humans are partners with God in running this world. This is not one option among many. It is our obligation. Be fruitful and learn to control nature (Gen. 1:28). Fill the good the lacunae left by the tzimtzum of creation. Fix this less than perfect world that we inherited. Each person, each community, each generation can only act within the potential of its time and environment.
- But to use our potential most effectively we have to abandon, actually sacrifice, the popular though erroneous image of God the Father who controls our every act. The biblical image of God implies that God could indeed control every nuance of our acts and every tinge of our thoughts. But a God that would act out that potential power is not the God of the Bible. As made abundantly clear, the God of the Bible has placed that power in our hands. With that window of potential, we choose among the locally and temporally available options . . .
The book is available as a Kindle edition, for those who have the Kindle reading device; if not, download the Kindle app on your computer and that enables you to download any book from amazon.com.