Terry Read
Specification writers describe to builders the different types of materials used in construction projects. They also instruct builders on how to use the materials. These descriptions or specifications cover everything from the type of concrete used in the foundation to the type of paint used on the front door. ~Careers.StateUniversity.com
Being an engineer myself makes me keenly aware that God is what we refer to as a “specification writer.” For example, we read about this when God gives Noah instructions to build the ark:
“Build a large boat from cypress wood and waterproof it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior. Make the boat 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. Leave an 18-inch opening below the roof all the way around the boat. Put the door on the side, and build three decks inside the boat—lower, middle, and upper.” – Genesis 6:14-16 NLT
This is the optimal design for the ark’s purpose.1
We also quickly think of the extensive specifications for the tabernacle, the items to be used in the tabernacle, and the garments worn by the priests which take up the chapters from Exodus 25 through chapter 30.
Mold Abatement
Something that recently reminded me of another area God demonstrates his skill as a specification writer was the news of mold contamination at Joint Base San Antonio.2
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC),
In 2004 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) found there was sufficient evidence to link indoor exposure to mold with upper respiratory tract symptoms, cough, and wheeze in otherwise healthy people; with asthma symptoms in people with asthma; and with hypersensitivity pneumonitis in individuals susceptible to that immune-mediated condition.3
That’s funny. About 1400 BC, God, the specification writer, gave detailed instructions for mold abatement. Leviticus 13:47-58 has procedures for ridding garments of mold—even to burning them if necessary to be rid of the mold.
Leviticus 14:33-53 goes on to give instructions for mold abatement in a house. Contaminated stones are to be removed and plaster must be scraped off of the walls. The contaminated materials must be “taken out of the town to an unclean place.” Even washing the clothes of people that spend time in the house is required.
And, if nothing works, the house must be destroyed.
You even see a picture of the Messiah in a priestly ritual that goes along with the mold abatement process:
“To purify the house he is to take two birds and some cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop. He shall kill one of the birds over fresh water in a clay pot. Then he is to take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet yarn and the live bird, dip them into the blood of the dead bird and the fresh water, and sprinkle the house seven times. He shall purify the house with the bird’s blood, the fresh water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop and the scarlet yarn. Then he is to release the live bird in the open fields outside the town. In this way he will make atonement for the house, and it will be clean.” – Leviticus 14:45-53 NLT
In a discussion with Richard Dawkins, atheistic evangelist Lawrence Krauss stated:
I put out a challenge, and maybe some people here could try to match it, but I have challenged theologians to give me a single example of a contribution to human knowledge that theology has provided in the last 500 years. And when I talk to major theologians, and I do believe it or not, the answer that I always get is ‘What do you mean by knowledge?’ And I point out as I talk to a biologist or a historian or psychologist, I get concrete answers. But they give me this epistemological non, anyway.4
Sadly, Krauss may actually have a point. I am sure he does talk to theologians. And I am sure that many of the theologians he talks to are unprepared to engage him and discuss these issues. Probably some of the theologians that he talks to do not really believe the Bible anyway.
If theologians did believe the Bible, were prepared to engage in this issue, and understood the importance of this issue, we would not be where we are.
Well, Lawrence, here is an example of the Bible scooping the scientific community by about 3,400 years. And we have many more.
Footnotes
- https://creation.com/safety-investigation-of-noahs-ark-in-a-seaway
- https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/texas/articles/2019-07-31/general-mold-found-in-military-dorm-rooms-in-san-antonio
- https://www.cdc.gov/mold/stachy.htm
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUe0_4rdj0U – SOMETHING FROM NOTHING ? [OFFICIAL] Richard Dawkins & Lawrence Krauss
