A Real Resurrection

Via Andrew Sullivan, some amazing footage of a real resurrection and the real Miracle on the Hudson — the airplane being pulled out:

Exclusive unseen video footage of the Miracle on the Hudson, flight 1549 New York City from David Martin on Vimeo.

If you’ve missed the original story, a few months ago a plane had mechanical troubles very soon after it took off and was set to crash land in a reasonably populated area until the pilot skillfully set it down on the Hudson River, amongst dramatic TV rescue footage. As can be expected, the event generated a lot of commentary on how this was a “miracle” and how “God himself” intervened (there are too many stories to link to). Now when there’s a natural disaster and people praise God for the few survivors the natural response is why wasn’t God with the vast majority who perished. But this doesn’t apply here because — thanks to the crew — nobody was killed. So the most annoying thing left about those kinds of comments is that they take away from the pilot. The real cause for celebration was some human being using his brain to skillfully do his job — and I think that’s more meaningful than any miraculous magic-carpet landings provided care of The Almighty^TM.

But this video brought it home even further — and gave me a serious lump in my throat. How much more of a real miracle is the organisation of brains, planning, intention and technology that pulled out the plane! It reminded me of just how trivial and petty most miracle claims are, for instance the sun dancing around to the ooh-ing and aah-ing of the devoted. The best response to that from a theist is I think to point to the other kind of everyday miracle (eg. the “miracle” of childbirth) — but those are precisely the ones for which there is no need for a miraculous explanation, and that’s where the wonder comes from.

In any case, if ever a video had some real teleological imagery this is it. There’s the cold water, representing the unfriendliness of the cosmos and the forces of time, decay and entropy working to kill us. There’s the fluttering of people hither and thither, before a situation that would seem hopeless for 99.99% of human history. And then the triumph of resurrection. When it really is done right, it really is meaningful in a way that faith healing could never be.

And of course this is just a preview of what’s to come. For one day we will achieve real immortality and resurrection. And once again because it will be founded in organisation, wits, science and humanity, it — unlike the petty miracles YHWH has stooped to — really will be a jaw-dropping, throat-lumping, world-shattering thing to behold.