Solomonic or silly

Religious liberals, who want to have their cake and eat it too, claim the name of Christian while doing a striptease of the supernatural. They like to think they have a suave and Solomonic solution: Events in the Bible that the simple-minded call miracles are actually very explainable in scientific or psychological terms.

The parting of the Red Sea was achieved by a fortuitous wind drying out a shallow lake many miles upstream. The so-called multiplying of the loaves and fishes in Jesus' time was not a literal increase in the number of food items. The "miracle" was the tenderizing of people's hearts to make them share their lunches.

But consider the manna situation. Oh, I know, somebody out there has a logical explanation for daily dining on white coriander-like, honey-flavored hoarfrost. But note one interesting detail in the narrative: God, through Moses, had commanded the people to scoop up only a day's supply every day, and not to hoard any for tomorrow.

". . . But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. . . . He said to them, 'This is what the Lord has commanded: "Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning."' So they laid it aside till the morning . . . and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. . . . On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. . . ." (Exodus 16:20-27).

So on a Tuesday or Thursday the white stuff would get wormy if kept overnight, but not on a Saturday. That one is pretty tricky by scientific reductionism. Better just deny the whole Bible and be done with it.

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