God, Science and a Post-Truth Nativity

If you spend any time on social media, reading the comments of what policy-makers like to call “opinion formers”, you will encounter many furrowed brows. There is grave concern about the times in which we live. Our problems apparently stem from ignorant people voting the wrong way on the basis of being misinformed about the facts. They’ve been given “fake news” invented by mud-slinging liars. Or, worse, they’ve looked at true facts and are unmoved or unconvinced. Surely facts should end any debate?

This state of affairs should be no great surprise. We have been living in a society which has been rejecting absolute truth for decades. It began in academia with post-modernism, and so slowly spread to the rest of our culture. Truth with a capital “T” has been undermined for decades. So now when presented with facts, why shouldn’t people shrug or ignore what has been put in front of them?

Moreover, when Truth is demoted or destroyed, what do we expect to emerge other than lies? Our media lies, telling lies about our leaders who in turn lie to the media, sometimes about the media and other things too. It is clear that our nation has never been hungrier for truth.

It is clear that our nation has never been hungrier for truth.

Facts, however, are not the solution on their own. Facts are not truth bombs that destroy lying opponents and win arguments. Facts do not end a debate. They are, in fact, merely the beginning.

The Christmas story: Facts or fake news?

In this context, what are we to make of the Christmas story? The story of the birth of Christ is littered with facts. In Luke’s Gospel, the author is at pains to locate the event firmly in history. We are told by some historians that these are not facts, and that there’s no evidence that Luke is right. This assumes that the Biblical narrative is not evidence. Why should this be the case? Are we dealing with facts, or fake news?

Then there are more troubling facts, the birth of Jesus to a virgin being the most obvious. And the appearance of angels on mountainsides and in dreams. John the Baptist’s father is struck dumb, and then speaks the moment his child is named. These all culminate in the incarnation of God as man, and born as a baby and laid in a manger. God in a cattle trough. Is anything more ridiculous?

In the spirit of the season of good will, many are prepared to overlook these facts, without necessarily declaring them “fake news”. For them, Christmas is about the prospect of peace on earth, or family or excess or whatever the spirit of the age tells them is the real meaning of Christmas.

It’s the awkward facts, the Christmas miracles, that Christmas is really about.

But it’s the awkward facts, the Christmas miracles, that Christmas is really about. That’s what gives the season meaning. Without the specifics of the nativity, it’s just a glorified long weekend with presents, rich food, and arguments.

How do we approach miracles like the virgin birth? The sceptic would argue that virgins don’t give birth. They can’t. The response is surely that we all know this. The question is whether we are open-minded to look at whether it happened that one time nonetheless.

The problem with miracles

I encountered these issues in writing a play about science and Christianity called The God Particle. A quantum physicist runs into a vicar and there’s some chemistry, as well as some theology. The discussion and story that unfolds is essentially around what it means to be open minded. The scientist insists she is, and that as a scientist, you never close your mind on anything, being always open to new evidence.

But there’s the problem. Miracles are not repeatable in lab conditions. There is no way of verifying them scientifically. And therefore, they have to be rejected. Is that being open minded? It wouldn’t appear so.

God does not require our approval. We should be more interested in His approval of us.

God does not show himself in order to be proven to exist in a lab. If God were to thus submit himself to humanity to “settle the discussion once and for all”, that would mean that men were in charge, not God. God does not require our approval. We should be more interested in His approval of us.

The point of miracles

Miracles are not primarily intended to be proof of the divine. Jesus didn’t perform miracles to impress but to teach. He was drawing parallels between himself and key characters and moments in the Old Testament. He calmed the storm, walked on water and fed five thousand in the wilderness to show he was the true Moses, leading Israel to the promised land.

In the Christmas story, Jesus is not born of a virgin because it’s impressive and will attract attention. If God had wanted that, why was Jesus born in a lowly stable? When word got to Herod, it didn’t bring celebration but mass-murder. Jesus was taken into hiding, and then grew up in obscurity for thirty years. If the virgin birth was designed to be part of a PR campaign, it failed.

Jesus is born of a virgin for all kinds of theological reasons to do with showing his dual nature as divine and human. And breaking with the line and sin of Adam. Ask a theologian or a minister. But in so doing, what is happening? A fact, albeit a contentious one, is not the end of the discussion but the beginning of one. Jesus did miracles not so his followers would run off and tell everyone about the amazing miraculous preacher. He did them so they would lean in, listen and learn more.

Christmas is not a time to ignore facts about Jesus’ birth, or write them off as fake news. It’s a time to consider whether we are open-minded to the voice of God, and the miraculous, or to ask if we have closed our minds on the world around us.

James Cary is a comedy writer for the BBC. He is also the writer and director of The God Particle, a romantic comedy about science and faith. Available on DVD here.

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