One Hand Clapping

There is a game show, Cash Cab, on the Discovery Channel, where they surprise people who get in the cab by having them answer questions for cash on the way to their destination. Miss three questions and you are out on the street, looking for a new cab. I watched an episode a while back that made me think. One of the questions was about an ancient question from Zen Buddhism: “What is the sound of one hand clapping?”. They mentioned that it was the subject of great debate. I thought it was ridiculous to spend time debating such a silly question, but especially silly as a debate amongst religious “masters”. But then I remembered that famous question, “How many angels can dance on the point of a pin?” This debate became so big that the pope actually appointed St. Thomas Aquinas to use logic to decide if angels were material or spiritual to decide if they could dance on a pin.

People love to debate things, even things that seem to be useless or ridiculous. If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a sound? If an author writes a great novel and there is no one alive at the time who is able to fully comprehend or appreciate it, is it still a great novel? OK, before I get a phone call trying to explain to me the actual importance of such questions, let me just say I do understand the underlying issues that actually are important, and that these debates have led to scientific thought and discoveries, philosophical and religious ideas, and that thinking is always a good thing (for most people anyway). These just aren't the questions that I spend a lot of time on. Granted, I am not a philosopher or a theologian or even a great mind, so there's no reason for me to ponder them excessively.

The Bible leads any thinking person to questions we could never answer. How is it possible for God to have always existed? How can He not have been created? Where did He come from if no one made Him? Oh wait, He didn't come from anywhere because He always existed. OK, He could always exist because He created time...before He created time, there was no time, so there was no “time” for Him to have not existed in. But wait, if He created time, to us there would be a time before time was created, but to Him, not being bound by time, is there such a thing as a time before He created time?Uh...moving on. What did He do before He created us? Did He have other projects? Does He have other projects now? Is there another universe somewhere with other beings He created, maybe even having their own time that is different from ours? (OK, the time thing bugs me.). Why didn't the termites eat a hole in the ark? Where is the garden of Eden? What happened to the flaming swords and cherubim who were set as guards when Adam and Eve were evicted? After they were evicted, did Adam and Eve ever stand outside looking at what they'd lost and wish for the good old days? Did their children or grandchildren ever try to go in, and thus encounter the cherubim or swords? And what happened to the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? OK, now my brain hurts and I need to go rest it.

It may be interesting to ponder such things, and even debate some of them. For the most part, it is harmless. It only becomes a problem when we let it divide us as Christians or we let it take the place of more serious Bible study and time with God. So let your mind ask questions you can't answer on the small stuff, but be certain you have a firm understanding of what and why you believe the big things: who God is, how to be saved, why Jesus came, etc. And if you figure the whole “time before time” thing out, let me know so my brain can rest.

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