Since I studied physics, I had to deal with a lot of math. And while it was a walk in the park at school for me, things got tough on a university level. But at last, I struggled through it. And in the sweat and tears there was a ray of light every now and then. Moments when math was not out to get me, but became beautiful and elegant. These are the things I treasure. And one of these elegant methods that stayed with me is mathematical induction. And to give you a brief description, I will borrow a quote from Concrete Mathematics: A Foundation for Computer Science, by Ronald Graham, Donald E. Knuth, and Oren Patashnik.
“Mathematical induction proves that we can climb as high as we like on a ladder, by proving that we can climb onto the bottom rung (the basis) and that from each rung we can climb up to the next one (the step).”
In other words, we show the existence of the first step, and then, that any step has a next one. Then we are done. We have proved, that we have a ladder that goes on forever. I find that quite beautiful to be honest. So simple, yet so powerful.
The other day, when I was reading the letter to the Hebrews I stumbled over something strange. In chapter 13 Vers 8 it says: “Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.” And I thought to myself: ‘Isn’t that a strange way to put it?’ (There are other interesting places in scripture. For example, what about “the width and length and depth and height” in Ephesians 3:18? Is Paul going 4D on us? To be honest, I have no idea, what he means.) But Hebrews reminded me of mathematical induction. The writer of Hebrews seems to say: He is today (the basis), the same He has been yesterday (the step), therefore He remains the same forever (the logical conclusion). It is interesting though, that he says, God is the same yesterday and today. He starts in the past and goes to the future. A normal mathematical induction begins at one point only to go one direction from there. Just like he is trying to say: ‘It has always been true and will remain true forever. God has never changed and He never will.’ And isn’t that a wonderful thought. God surely is the Rock of the Ages. The one, who remains steady. The one, we can build on. Always reliable, always secure. Now, one might think, that this includes His character and morals as well. I at least do so. We could hardly speak about the unchanging nature of God and exclude His character or morals. Or can we?
Every now and then the public discussion touches topics, where the moral understanding of the Church runs opposite to the ideas of the masses. (In order to ovoid sparking a discussion, I will refrain from giving any examples.) And every time you will hear someone call the ideas of the Church outdated and the Church should change its views.
At this point we have to differentiate a little bit. The first question has to be: Is it God’s moral or ours? So, is it in the Bible or not? (And if so, is it clear enough?) So if the topic is women and pants, the answer is clear. It is not in the Bible and we can allow women to wear pants. (I know, the example is outdated. But I’m really trying, not to touch any sensitive issues here.) When we look at women in ministry, we have scripture, but it seems somewhat unclear. Pro and contra, you will find both extremes in different parts of the Church. And then there are things, that are undeniably true. If a society should argue, that it is right to fight for your position with physical violence, it clearly goes against the Word of God. (One of the many reasons, why the church in Germany should have never been on the side of Hitler. He saw violence as his natural right.) So when we go through the process of seeking the Truth, we should end up with some ideas of what kind of morals God has. He loves every human equally, for example. And when we know the thoughts He has about us, we can be sure, that they are forever. And in consequence, so are His morals. He wants to give us peace and not evil. Hope in the end. That has never changed and will never change. So why should we then change our views, when it comes to the morals of God?
