In tomorrow’s lectionary, it says in Jeremiah, “Thus says the LORD: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the LORD. … Blessed are those who trust in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.”
I start by saying, yes, great, we should all get our priorities right – get our guidance from God.
Then I say, but hang on a minute, does that mean that we should trust every nonsense ‘prophet’ over science, where for example science says vaccination is good for controlling COVID?
Then I say, of course it doesn’t mean that. (For example not everyone claiming to speak for God does speak for God.)
But what does it mean then?
Interpreting the Bible can be tricky – I suggest that in this case we let science do what science does – show us the facts insofar as they can be known with a reasonably high probability – science is a great collaborative effort which for me bears some of the marks of a kingdom-enterprise (working for a higher ideal, unafraid of the truth, trying to lay aside vanity in order to look into how things really are). … And let God do what God does – (amongst other things) show us what are the important things in life – that other people matter, that we have cause to worship, (for me) that the person Jesus shows us the truth of God; and so on.
Let science do what science does and let God do what God does – sadly in this pandemic we’ve often failed to do both.