Not a Prophet but a Lowly Voice for Nature's God

written by Raymond Fontaine, Ph.D. - August 2004

   Last evening, I received an email from a reader of my articles on the Internet. She said that my writings enlightened and pleased her. She asked, "Do you consider yourself a prophet of sorts?" With no sign of jest, her question could be serious and prompted me to respond in kind. After checking my dictionaries, I sent her the following essay.

   The word "prophet" comes from two Greek words : "speak" and "for". First, it means: a person who speaks for God or a god. The word also signifies someone who utters divinely inspired revelations. Thirdly, the word applies to someone who foretells future events.

   In the Bible, the prophets clearly stated that their messages came from God. The prophets were simply the mouthpieces of the Lord. As Jeremiah wrote, "The Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth and said, 'Now I have put my words in your mouth'." (Jeremiah 1:9)

    Unlike Jeremiah, I was not told by God what to write. What I say about God is what my mind tells me is the truth. My reason realizes that the laws and structures in Nature presuppose an Originator - a supremely intelligent and powerful Creator.

    From Nature, that is all that I can know about God and that is all that I can tell others about him. But that much I do say. In that limited way, I do speak for God. For simply saying "God exists", however, I don't deserve the prestigious title of "prophet". I would prefer to be called a "lowly voice for Nature's God. 

    A second reason for refusing the title of "prophet" is that all the prophets on record proclaimed supernatural realities beyond human reason. One of them is God's predilection for the Hebrew race who called themselves God's "Chosen People". Another reputed supernatural revelation is that the first human couple disobeyed God's command not to eat a certain fruit. To expiate that crime and regain God's good graces for all mankind, the Son of God, Jesus, had to die on a cross. There are hundreds of other supernatural revelations about God reported by prophets but none by Nature and none by me. On that score alone, I do not deserve the fame of being called a prophet. 

    As regards the last meaning of prophet as someone who predicts the future, I fail completely. For what will happen in the near or distant future, I do not consult fortune-tellers nor Bible thumpers. I listen to experts who rely upon the facts and realities that Nature reveals.

    When I look back in history, however, I see that humans, who lived about five thousand years ago in Egypt and Sumer, believed that deities controlled the forces of nature. So did the Greeks (900-200 B.C.) and the Romans (500 B.C.-300 A.D.) After abandoning the notion of deities, people began to believe in one God. But this belief was not homogeneous. It differed greatly and splintered into a hodgepodge of religious groups. 

    None can prove the veracity of their interpretation of spurious revelations of God. Not one bases its teachings on realities in Nature. All members rely on the testimony of other humans, who also believe on the say-so of other people down into the distant past. On that record of history, I surmise that, just as humans rejected the idea of many deities, so will they eventually abandon all the unproven supernatural revelations of God. Like the genius Einstein and so many others, they will rely only on the verified laws of Nature that presuppose a Maker  who is supremely intelligent and powerful. God exists. That's all we need to know about God. Enjoy his world. 

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