Testing God: Christ's Second Trial Revisited

"It is written, you shall not test the Lord thy God."

Sandwiched between choosing the spiritually satisfying over the physically satisfying and a rejection of worldly praise and power, Christ response to his second test sticks in my mind. We can never know of God's existence with certainty. Not only is this the way the universe is set up: it is wrong for us to even try.

For me, the fact that the universe is designed (or we are designed) to keep the answer to this key question ambiguous gives away the game. No matter how much we learn, we must choose to believe in God or not. Currently, science recognizes that there are about twenty variables in physics, whose values could be anything, but which are finely tuned to allow life. Absent a belief in God, the only explanation is an infinite number of universes so that one could have this combination of values that allow us to observe them. This is called the "anthropomophic principle," which is kind of funny because it purpose is to give us the ability to think that we are the highest power in the univers. Science does not allow us to choose between an incomprehensible divine cause and some simple physical explanation for the universe. Instead it allows us to choose between two infinities: a physical one or a spiritual one.

However, the more I think about Christ's second test, the more pivotal it become. This uncertainty is the essence of freedom. The fact that we cannot test God, cannot test our version of faith, and cannot test what we think God wants us to do, gives us freedom. God will not smite us if we step out of line. We can cross the line. We are free.

How do we know where the line its? Christ's answer to all his tests makes it clear. He begins each with "It is written." Certainly, in saying this he was referring to the lesson of the old testament, but he may have also been referring the all the ancient wisdom of humanity. There is a clear convergence of all the ancient religious books on morality. This code is written in the human heart. We may get confused at a given time and place. Even an entire generation can get confused by the lies of the world, but the knowledge the is preserved and survives generation after generation is the truth.