Exodus 3:2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
Exodus 3:4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses.
Although the Bible (KJV) is somewhat unclear as to who is in the bush we can note with certainty that this was the last instance of such an occurrence. There have been no recent sightings of orally enhanced unconsumable burning bushes. Perhaps both the angel and God were in the burning bush. Would it be proper to speculate as to what God and the angel were doing in the bush?
If such a report were to be received in our time (2008) the skeptical antennae of curious scientists would go up while the pious parade of pilgrims to the site of the burning bush would proceed forthwith. No doubt a new shrine would be built to commemorate the occasion. One group seeks evidence while the other seeks salvation. One group wonders if David Copperfield was in the area while the other knows that Jesus was present.
A talking, unconsumable burning bush is indicative of science fiction to the skeptical mind for scientists know that such occurrences do not obtain in our universe. When bushes burn they are consumed and they do not speak with a human voice. It seems ridiculous to be making this point in the 21st century.
Deities must be imbued with supernatural characteristics in order to inspire awe and fear in the credulous and to establish their authority to be heard and followed. Humans who speak for the deity trade on these characteristics as reminders to the pious that God is superior to them and can do terrible things to them if they disobey the commands of the Lord. In ancient times, if a human wanted to be taken seriously his god had better have characterisitcs more wonderful than rival deities. A talking, unconsumed burning bush does quite well in that regard.
To the religious a report of a burning bush that spoke would fit into their world view that allows the laws of the universe to be suspended by God at any moment to suit his purposes. Hope springs eternal. Anything goes in the religious universe. Skeptics perform a useful service for the devout. They weed out charlatans leaving only valid instances of the miraculous.
In the 21st century we know that the contents of the universe have individul identities. That is why we can label an item, say, an apple, and not have to worry that it will acquire the properties of a coconut when we are not looking, Exodus 4:2-4:9 notwithstanding.1 It is sad that there are those who think that such an occurrence is possible. In a recent survey done for the American Medical Association and published in the August 2008 edition of Archives of Surgery 57 per cent of respondents believe that God can intervene to revive the dying when medical personnel say nothing further can be done for their loved one. Apparently when their own relatives were the assumed ill person 20 per cent of medical personnel shared this belief in divine intervention. And when a patient does recover after doctors have said that further treatment is futile in our glee at the happy turn of events would we wonder about the significance of all the instances in which doctors were correct? Was the deity too preoccupied on those occasions? Was the patient not worthy of preservation? Does the deity play favorites?
Is it more likely that the talking burning bush is an example of science fiction or of a universe gone wild? We have yet to witness the spontaneous transformtion of an apple into a coconut. Things are what they are. It is what it is. Bushes don't talk and when they burn they burn.
While some of us wait for the second coming of the biblical burning bush (and won't we be miffed should it occur in a part of the world far from us and speaks in a language with which we are not familiar) the rest of us will move forward with a metaphyics rooted in reality and focus our attention on promising avenues of research that can assist the human race to improve on the imperfections we find in the universe that we inhabit.
If the verbal instructions from a burning bush would assist us to eradicate disease from the world we wouldn't care who are in the bush or what they were doing. We would have an oracle and the keys to the universe. Science and technology would be so much easier with an operating guide.
1. Leprosy in the 20th century - the real deal
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