No Intelligence Allowed: The April 18th Earthquake
If on the day of the theatrical release of Ben Stein's movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed an earthquake violently shakes the Bible Belt I think we need to address the situation and, where necessary, reconcile what happened in reality with our beliefs.
Some might argue that this is merely a coincidence which contains no meaning or message; an earthquake is entirely a geological, natural process. Such individuals will cling to science and empiricism and so offer an explanation rooted in mechanical explanations of reality. They will argue that upon this earthquake there were no fingerprints of a deity, that this quake was not intelligently designed and triggered but rather this was merely a geological process.
Others will argue that this earthquake, this violent shaking of the Bible Belt on the exact same day that Ben Stein's movie is released could not have happened by chance, by coincidence. The last Wabash Valley Fault System activity occurred in 1968 after which it remained inactive for 40 years! Certainly it is not mere chance, mere coincidence that this Fault System would release a 5.2 quake violently shaking the Bible Belt on this day! Certainly this is a sign from God, a divinely created event meant to convey a message!
How are we to rectify this situation, to discover the truth of the April 18th earthquake? To answer this question one must assess one's primary assumption of reality.
If one's primary assumption of reality features a preference for scientific, empirical, observable, falsifiable explanations and understandings of reality then one ought to dismiss this situation as mere coincidence. Films are released, tectonic plates shift, and there is no relation between the two.
If one's primary assumption of reality features a preference for theological, unempirical, unverifiable, non-falsifiable, Biblical explanations and understandings of reality then one ought to embrace this situation as a sign from God; a certain display of his displeasure and a warning against buying tickets for this film. If on the day a film arguing for intelligent design is released a 5.2 earthquake occurs within the Bible Belt on a fault which has been inactive for 40 years this must be a sign from God that one must not attend the film.
So which is it? Coincidence or Providence? Darwinian Chance or Intelligent Design? Which does consistency require you to accept?
3 comments:
Could there be a third variable? Could this be a causal event involving a deity , but with a message other than a warning against watching a particular documentary? Suppose, for example, the date in question was a birthday marking out what may be the last factorial age to-be-experienced for someone. A God who wants to draw attention to this occasion may use an earthquake to indicate that an event of some significance is taking place, then permit the release of a documentary discussing this deity's role in the formation of the person of celebration in order to clarify that the event deserving announcement by earthquake requires that we admire and worship the deity for the deity's ingenuity and creativity.
I hate to break it to you, but adding big words you don't understand just makes you sound stupid. The adjective factorial makes absolutely no sense with the noun age qualified by "for someone". As an adjective factorial means of or pertaining to a factory. "Someone" is obviously not a factory. Factorial in mathematics may possibly make sense here if you are trying to state the age at which someone is a factorial (notice factorial is a noun)and frankly there are only 5 possibilities for a human to be of an age in which they are the quantitative value of a factorial, the fifth being extremely rare. That is unless you know of someone who grew to the ripe old age of 720? Even if this were the desired use of the term (although incorrectly done) what possible significance can a factorial have in philosophy and religion? None as far as I can tell, their only real purpose is for probabilities.
Also, an earthquake is a terribly unimaginative, cruel, and most importantly ambiguous way to "draw attention" to an occasion. Whatever happened to classic storytelling? I want a burning bush! I want shit written in stone! I don't want to chance mistaking a sign for an incorrect purpose. We are a simple people and need to be told in specific terms. You would think a god would know this and act accordingly. According to a book that can not possibly be wrong the Judeo-Christian god was capable of talking to people directly. Why not do so now, in these troubled times?
Expelled sucked it up at the Box Office.
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