“Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off!”
Acts of the Apostles 16:26 NLT
“There was a massive earthquake.” I wonder how massive we are talking about here. In terms of the Richter scale, the one that quantitatively measures an earthquake’s magnitude, I wonder what numbers we are talking about. It was enough to knock down the prison doors. And it was a prison, so the doors were probably more sturdy than in ordinary houses.
This was also in olden times, so every natural phenomena, especially ones where the source cannot be easily seen, probably scared people to no end. Same as with eclipses, or blood moons, or solar flares — all these must have bought people to their knees shaking in fear.
Now we are in modern times, and most everything has an explanation of sorts. Nevertheless, they’re still scary, still powerful moments that can strike fear, incite superstition.
Which just goes to show that science, no matter how enlightening, can still never replace nor fully explain the finality, the totality, of God and His works.
This is how it’s always going to be. God is always going to be final word in everything, the ultimate explanation.
And I would always prefer the wonder of His mystery, the awesome richness of His glory, rather than the “certainty” of academic conclusions.
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