Hanna Ganther Science in Culture 12 October 2012 Fire to the Water: 1 Kings 18:16-45 You look around in wonder

of everything going on around you. There are four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal dancing and shouting to their god to bring fire to the bull that they prepared and laid on their alter. They have been doing this for a very long time and so far nothing has happened. Even you, as eight year boy, can tell that they are looking quite foolish right now. And then there is the one man who is different than all the others, he calls him the God of Abraham or the Lord, this guys is mocking all the other prophets by saying Maybe your god is asleep and cant hear you. The other prophets keep yelling louder and louder, but yet nothing is happening. You tug on your fathers arm and ask what is going on, he just say lets wait and see what happens. In 1 Kings 18:16-20 1 Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal to see which god which god is the true god. Both Elijah and the prophets made alters made out of stones and sacrificed a bull. The prophets of Baal went first, they prayed and prayed to Baal but yet nothing happened. Elijah taunted the prophets of Baal, so they prayed harder and hard, and then nothing happened once again. After a good amount of time the prophets making a fool of them, Elijah called together the people and he built and alter of twelve stones, to represent the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he did something completely crazy and out of the norm. He dug a trench around the alter and then poured not one, not two, but four jars of water on the alter and then did this two other times. The wood was so wet that it was dripping; he then prayed and cried out to Him to answer him. And then fire from heaven came and burned up the sacrifice and everything around it. This story of the Old Testament shows the amazing power of God and how he is the one true Lord, but it also demonstrates the scientific approach. Objectivity is show in this passage in that the prophets and Elijah did not just argue about which god was the one true god, they decided to have a test to prove which one was true. This was also rational in the case that it did not leave room for argument, whatever the results were that is what they were. It would have been irrational to just have the prophets and Elijah just go back and forth in a debate or something of that manner. It was also empirical in that the evidence given came from what was seen and observed. There was no way that the evidence could be tampered with or changed, it all came from what the people there saw and experienced themselves. This passage of the Old Testament is proof that we serve a great God, and that there is none other than can ever be the one true god. In this story when the prophets of Baal prayed to their god, nothing happened. But when Elijah prays to the Lord, even though he poured 12 jars of water on the alter, fire came down from heaven and burnt not just the bull sacrifice but all the wood too. The evidence is right there in the event that happened. Some application that can be taken from this text is that whenever questioning if God is a god that should be worshiped and honored, instead of one the
1

All Bible references are taken from the New International Version of the Bible.

other gods from a different religion. Our God is a great god, who is mighty in power, what other god would you want to serve? This passage just shows how amazing and awesome he truly is. You see the fire coming down from heaven and you look in amazement. This God of Elijah must be way more powerful than Baal. The fire was burning all the wood and the bull, even though they poured all that water on them. You look up at your dad and he is speechless at the sight too. Wow, this God must be the one true God, even in your young mind and heart you can see this.