tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127231318556758701.post1093139154517871290..comments2023-11-05T03:06:30.977-08:00Comments on Mormon Midrashim: What's the Difference Between Science and Religion? --Numbers 21: 8-9James Goldberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14422536627746885883noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127231318556758701.post-87281105616505915292010-05-22T15:21:00.135-07:002010-05-22T15:21:00.135-07:00I've been thinking about this over the past mo...I've been thinking about this over the past month, in connection with the Sunday School lesson on Israel receiving manna in the wilderness.<br /><br />Part of the manna experience seemed to be accepting things which were beyond the predictable normative way of the world that science aims to help us discover, and relying on the Lord's love instead of working out the rules.<br /><br />The "bread from heaven" is so out of the ordinary that its name is just a question: manna is our rendering of "man hu?" ("what is it?") The Israelites learn, by experience as well as my commandment, that it will spoil if kept overnight. But right after that, they're instructed that it won't spoil if they take an extra portion the night before the Sabbath.<br /><br />I wonder if those who didn't collect that second portion were the extra-conscientious, rather than the lazy. They'd seen the manna squirming with worms, and there was no way they'd save any overnight. They knew, from scientific experiment, how that turned out. But the Lord had the power to overcome the way things were, to make them the way the Israelites needed them to be.lionofzionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16356448527363112598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127231318556758701.post-13247793308956131492010-05-11T22:46:14.048-07:002010-05-11T22:46:14.048-07:00That's a great book. I actually met Mary Doria...That's a great book. I actually met Mary Doria Russell when she came to Otterbein College campus in November of 2001 and had the chance to talk with her at some length. She's a very kind, engaging, and interesting person.James Goldberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14422536627746885883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127231318556758701.post-40966183265508109902010-05-11T22:26:08.368-07:002010-05-11T22:26:08.368-07:00I borrow from others when I have nothing wise of m...I borrow from others when I have nothing wise of my own to add, and I thought you might enjoy this:<br /><br />"The Jewish sages also tell us that God dances when His children defeat Him in argument, when they stand on their feet and use their minds. So questions [. . .] are worth asking. To ask them is a very fine kind of human behavior. If we keep demanding that God yields up His answers, perhaps some day we will understand them. And then we will be something more than clever apes, and we shall dance with God."<br /><br />Mary Doria Russell, _The Sparrow_Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com