Friday, January 8, 2010

Shemos

And Moses responded, saying, "But they will not believe me, and they will not heed my voice, for they will say, 'the Lord did not appear to you.'" - Ex 4:1
When God sends Moses to lead the children of Israel, He gives him some evidence of his prophecy to go with. This instantly puts Moses above the unwashed masses of purported prophets who just crankily stamp their feet and yell "I mean it, you guys!" The proofs God shows him take the form of a series of magic tricks: turning his staff into a snake, turning his hand white, and turning water into blood (yes, I know Jesus' version of this trick was far more fun at parties).

The obvious problem here is that none of these are very good proofs. Penn and Teller regularly catch bullets with their teeth, and David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear. Derren Brown recently predicted the winning numbers of Britain's National Lottery. These are events of the same ilk as Moses' pocket miracles. The royal sorcerers of Egypt could even duplicate his staff-to-snake trick. Yet none of these magicians are messengers of God... not even Derren.

But rather than just proclaim "the evidence is insufficient!" I'd like to pose a question: what would constitute sufficient evidence? How would one prove the claim "I'm the true messenger of God"? There doesn't seem to be any way which could not be plausibly faked. The Revelation at Mount Sinai - to pick perhaps the strongest contender - might be difficult to pull off, especially the midrashic part about the entire mountain hovering above the nation's collective head. But even if I did it, how would that prove that I am channeling the One True God who created the Universe? Might I not just as easily be channeling a lesser god, or a demon, or a djinn of some description? The ability to move mountains or yell really, really loud does not indicate that one created the Universe, nor that one has complete knowledge of, and dominion over, its many workings in their entirety - including morality and, if applicable, the afterlife.

So the challenge is this: name a single event or phenomenon that would count as sufficient proof that the Master of the Universe was interfering with the natural order of things, either personally or through a messenger.

Bonus points if you can show me an instance where it has already occurred.

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