A Scientific Old Wive's Tale

I had the pleasure (in a painful sort of way) of watching NBC's report on the "Jesus Tomb" discovery twice yesterday - my Father kindly recorded it for me, and my husband then watched it on-line. Words escape me when I think of the shoddy logical, archaeological - rational - arguments laced through the documentary and interview.

More than this, though, I have a hypothesis. Paul warns us not to turn aside to old wive's tales, but what if those 'old wives tales' have actually morphed into the 'scientific discoveries' of today? He exhorts, "Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly" in 1 Timothy 4:7. We think this speaks to mythologies, or stories, and I'm sure it does - but false "scientific" rationalism, such as macro-evolution, easily falls into this category, no?

I was amazed the journalist kept saying, "we're just reporting facts." No, you're not - not when you claim that the Acts of Phillip (and prominent New Testament scholars...who are where?) establish that Mariamne was the "real" name of Mary Magdalene. Odd - if you look at the context of this gnostic text (which is missing six of its fifteen chapters, mind you), the only identification we get for this "Mariamne" is that she is the sister of Martha and Lazarus...good job on knowing that's a Mary, you smart journalist, but not Mary Magdalene.

That, however, is a tangent. Lewis recognized we were far more apt to be swept away by Scientism - the belief Science alone reveals truth - than by fairy-tales and make-believe. Sure, your average housewife might indulge in some Romance novels that are destructive and escapist, but it's science almighty and humanism gone rampant that rule our world.

Yet, perhaps Science and make-believe aren't so distinct. At least, both Lewis and Tolkien equated magic with science, for as Lewis says:

The serious magical endeavour and the serious scientific endeavour are twins: one was sickly and died, the other strong and throve…there is something which unites magic and applied science while separating both from the “wisdom” of earlier ages. For the wise men of old the cardinal problem had been how to conform the soul to reality…the solution had been knowledge, self-discipline, and virtue. For magic and applied science alike the problem is how to subdue reality to the wishes of men."


I suppose, then, the Message version of 1 Timothy could perhaps read something like this:

"Watch out for those who worship themselves, their own senses, and their own rationality - who parade the false as fact, and discount the supernatural in favor of crippled Man's own prideful attempt at subjecting nature and creation to himself."