Eucharistic Devotion

I heard that someone said they thought I have a special devotion to the Eucharist. I could see how someone might make this mistake. I suppose I could say that I have a special devotion to John Paul the Great. Perhaps you could say I have a devotion to Mary (albeit a poor one). But I don't think that you can have a special devotion to the Eucharist.

We are called to give our entire lives to Jesus. And the Eucharist is Jesus. Special devotions, like one to Mary, are supposed to lead us closer to a complete gift of ourselves to Jesus. But since a devotion is really the gift of just a part of us, we can't possibly have a proper devotion to Jesus (without his grace), we can't have a proper devotion to the Eucharist. All we can do try, and pray for the grace to understand.

Taking the Bible Literally

Let's be clear: the Bible is the Word of God. So am I saying that we shouldn't take the Word literally? I'm not saying that -- the Word says that. Jesus used parables to teach. He clearly didn't intend for us to take the parables literally (i.e., we aren't to pay orchard workers the same wages regardless of when they start), but he clearly intended us to take the teachings seriously.

So did Job exist? Was there really a great flood? Perhaps, but it is irrelevant. Just as it's irrelevant whether or not a Samaritan ever found a beaten Jew by the side of the road.

And since Jesus is the Word, and Word used parables, the Bible is (by definition) not to be taken literally.

Note though: when the Bible says "... the LORD says...", that was probably meant to be taken literally. And please don't take this as license to re-interpret the Bible for your own ends.

Principle of maximum entropy and Bible Critics

WARNING - This is tough mathematical/physics topic.

The idea behind maximum entropy is fairly simple -- don't make assumptions, any assumptions, about data that you don't have. For instance, if you flip a coin three times, and get three heads in a row, what can you say about the fairness of the coin? You clearly can't say that it is a two headed coin, because that would be an assumption about the next several flips. Now if you get 100 heads in a row, you have a lot more information, and you might be ready to take that leap.

On to the Bible. Let's take the story of Adam and Eve. Bible critics are quick to point out that based on our knowledge of genetics, there could not have been only one man and one woman, therefore, the Bible cannot be without error. But where in the Bible does it say that God only created one man and one woman? You see, if you are going to take the Bible literally (which, by the way, I don't think it should be, but more on this tomorrow), you have to recognize that the Bible doesn't tell you everything that happened. If you make assumptions about occurrences not related, you will get different interpretations, which will most likely be incorrect (entropy again).

For the curious, entropy is a measure of disorder. I have a few children whose rooms have lot's of entropy! If you make assumptions about information you don't have, you limit the amount of alternative occurrences outside the related story, and thus have a lower information entropy (a more ordered story) than one with the uncertainty. Detective stories take extreme advantage of this principle, as the detective usually keeps an open mind about facts he/she hasn't got evidence for.