Chapter – 44 ‘Reuben makes a choice’
It was four weeks later; the experimentation lab was going through a transition. It would take another month to finalize and close down the research on the theory of relativity that Reuben had been involved in over the past three years. Two weeks earlier he had sent a resume to MIT; he had hopes that something might be available for someone with his experience and knowledge. The other four scientist were also updating their resumes.
Just an hour prior to quitting time there was a meeting called for the group. Their group leader, Joe, came out of the conference room with a cluster of people; they started walking around the lab and, Joe, the boss so-to-speak, was explaining the different work stations.
It only took about twenty minutes and then the others of our group joined everyone in the conference room. It didn’t take long for the main spokesman of the donor group to ask, “What do you think was the main reason the result we were hoping for did not transpire?” The boss looked at each of us for a response but Reuben and the other scientist tightened their lips; finally Joe commented, “Something, apparently, was missing in the theory that we could not find or measure.” Jenny spoke after a pause, “Yes, now that I’ve had time to think about it, maybe the missing part of the equation was that God did not speak.”
As Reuben smiled from within, he could see about every jaw in the room drop a couple of inches. No one would have expected a comment like Jenny’s coming from a group of scientist who were gathered in the room. It took a few seconds but the bosses face took a slow change of color before he was able to finally speak. He looked at the main donor and told him that he wasn’t sure where that remark had come from.
It did not take long for the conference room to empty; the boss was walking the donors to the door. Once the door shut he screamed before he had taken one step and then rushed toward the conference room. He screamed a few choice words at Jenny and made a couple of threats also using a poor choices of words. Reuben finally stood and pointed a finger at his boss and commented, “Enough Joe, don’t say another word or I’ll make sure you never work in a lab again.” He raised his arm and showed a small microphone, “Everything said, since we gathered, has been recorded including your recent rants. You are the group leader and all experiments were at your direction. You are the one who had the game plan. Jenny probably gave the most logical reason this experiment didn’t actually work; what do you think about that,” he asked?
The Group Leader, Joe commented, “What’s wrong with you Reuben; are you turning into a church boy?” Reuben laughed, then commented, “Joe, you are a Jew; you should know the scriptures. I checked out the scriptures to see what it had to say and found several references of interest myself; there are probably more than what I could find.” Joe told the group he would do a little research and discuss his findings in the morning.
As the group were leaving the lab Jenny moved beside Reuben and whispered, “Meet me for dinner at 6:30 so we can talk.” As they walked away Reuben was thinking, “I love it when she asks me out.”
Two hours later they were sitting at a table; they had just ordered their food and were sipping on their glass of water. Ruben commented, “You look extra beautiful tonight, Jen. What do you think you’ll be doing in a couple of months?” She reached her hand across the table and motioned for Reuben to take it. He got the hint and took her left hand. She smiled and told him she would be going on-line and applying for a job as a professor at NYU. He nodded and told her that it sounded like a good plan.
As they were eating he told her that he had sent his resume along with a job application to MIT. “Oh, how far is Boston from New York,” she asked?” He checked his smart-phone and told her a little over two-hundred miles. They talked about the two universities for several minutes. NYU was about five times larger in student population as well as the employed staff. He told her he had looked into other schools but MIT had over a thousand researchers, which was what he was more interested in.
As they finished eating Ruben asked, “Do you have a plan for Joe when God is brought up tomorrow?” She told him, “Not really; but on the other hand Joe has no proof that scripture is not true.” Rueben told her he would email her several passages that he had been studying, “I started this search several months ago and have found a few interesting ideas that the original Hebrew language tried to teach.” He told Jenny that he had finally made a choice, “I wanted my choice to be based on my belief in Science but only when they line up after searching the scriptures; then choose the one scripture supports.”
When Ruben returned to his apartment he looked up his Word document on ‘God & Science’ and emailed it to Jenny. He told her to print it and have it ready when Joe asked for her proof.
As she read the document it surprised her that so much was in the scriptures. She read it twice before shutting out the light and praying that the Holy Spirit would direct her speech with Joe and the others.
The next morning Joe called the meeting after taking care of a phone call. He opened up the meeting by placing a tape recorder in front of him; Ruben did the same as he smiled at his Section Leader.
Jenny cleared her throat and was about to speak when Ruben commented, “Something to consider in all of this, Joe, is that a couple of scientific truths be included concerning human anatomy. (First) The organism of man is composed of chemical elements inherent in our Earth.” (Second) We humans live by virtue of the Oxygen, which is continuously breathed into our lungs. The Torah, that would be Leviticus 17:11, says “the life of the flesh is in the blood.” It is now known that the oxygen taken into the lungs is carried by the blood to every part of the body, and therefore the body is kept alive. Isn’t it great that this knowledge was recorded in the Bible far in advance of its discovery by mortal man?” Ruben paused a moment as he looked at Joe and then asked another question, “As we scientist have looked out to other planets, where is the oxygen that is needed to sustain life?”
From that comment, Jenny walked to the front, and plugged her computer into the large monitor. She covered each of the scripture references that Ruben had given her.
“Something to consider,” she commented as the monitor displayed the following scriptures.
*
Genesis 1:1-5, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. [She commented, “Nothing happened until God spoke.”]
Psalms 102:24-25, I say, “O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days, Your years are throughout all generations. 25 “Of old You founded the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. [She commented that this was David speaking about the infinite days of God and from a time in the past, God had formed or founded earth.]
Jenny spoke before she continued, “Joe, as a Jew you know it was 3000 years ago that this scripture was written”.
John 1:3, All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. [Again, nothing in the Universe happened until God willed it to happen]
Colossians 1:16-17, For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. [Molecules! – Jenny paused a moment before continuing.]
Hebrews 1:10-12, And, “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the works of Your hands; 11 They will perish, but You remain; And they all will become old like a garment, 12 And like a mantle You will roll them up; Like a garment they will also be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end.” She commented, “This is a new testament quote from old testament scripture in Ps.102”
Peter 3:10-13, 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. 11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. [Jenny spoke, “The electrons of the Atomic mater will react negatively and cause a self-destruction of the physical universe. No longer being held together as ‘stuff’ with different elements and molocules.”Vs17 of Col.]
Genesis 1:28, God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” The earth must have been empty for God to speak and tell Adam to ‘fill the earth’. What do you think?
Job 38:4-5, 4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, 5 Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it? God was the architect; HE drew up the plans with measurements that were foreplaned.
Isaiah 40:21-22, 21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. [Jenny commented, “For year’s people thought the earth was square; did they read scripture?”]
Isaiah 45:18, 18 For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited), “I am the Lord, and there is none else. “Joe, who was it that created the heavens and earth”, she asked as she looked him in the face?
*
When she finished, she looked at Ruben and then at Joe. She commented, “I didn’t know you were Jewish before yesterday so what do you think the old prophets were writing about when these scriptures were given to the people?” Joe looked between her and Ruben, “Are you asking me or Ruben?” She responded, “You Joe,” He told her he would get back to her but the points she brought up were very interesting.
So, what about you? Should God be in the scientific equations?
DG