This week, the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are all studying John 2-4 from the Bible. Chapter 3 contains a very interesting account of the visit of Nicodemus, one of the Jewish rulers, to Jesus. Nicodemus came by night, even though Jesus was teaching in the open by day, and basically said to Jesus, "We know you are sent from God because of the miracles you do." Some of the Jewish leaders of his time recognized that Jesus was sent from God and even admitted it to him, but only when no one else was around. Why? Why would they keep quiet their knowledge of a prophet of God?
I encourage everyone to read deeply in John 3, for it reveals that the Jewish elders contemporary with Jesus were keeping valuable science-related secrets for themselves. John 3:8 records Jesus saying to Nicodemus:
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
What meaning of wind is Jesus using here? Readers generally assume it means the movement of wind currents, but wind has many meanings. Usually, we can tell where movements of air come from and are going to, so this definition of wind doesn't fit what Jesus is saying. Another meaning of wind, per my big 1971 dictionary, is "a force or agency that carries along or influences." A "force...that...influences" and that makes sounds--I think this is a description of electromagetism.
Archaeologists have found evidence that people as long ago as the Olmecs in southern Mexico have apparently been aware of the interesting and useful properties of magnets and purposely sought out rocks magnetized by lightning. See this 2019 article from the Smithsonian Magazine: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/mesoamerican-sculptures-reveal-early-knowledge-magnetism-180972820/. Combining magnetism with movement and iron rods results in the presence of electrical currents, and the Old Testament contains significant references to iron rod-shaped objects, such as King Saul's javelin.
The conversation between Jesus and the Jewish ruler goes on in the next few verses:
Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
Jesus was talking about earthly things, i.e., what we think of as science, when he described the force that made sounds and didn't have an ascertainable source or terminus. Our technology now allows us to use electromagnetism to produce music, move muscles, and affect our neural networks in both positive and negative ways. Did the Jewish rulers of Jesus' time also have ways in which they used electromagnetism, uses which they preferred to keep hidden? I think so, for in verses 19-21, Jesus says to the Jewish ruler,
"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God."
In a previous blog post of mine, I mention how Jesus also talked openly about the Jewish leaders having the ability to heal some kinds of mental illness and how they reacted with anger at him. The interactions between Jesus and the Jewish rulers of his time make much more sense when viewed in the context of leaders desperate to keep science-related secrets from the people they controlled.
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