Baptist News Global
Sections
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Curated
  • Storytelling
    • Faith & Justice >
      • Charleston: Metanoia with Bill Stanfield
      • Charlotte: QC Family Tree with Greg and Helms Jarrell
      • Little Rock: Judge Wendell Griffen
      • North Carolina: Conetoe
    • Welcoming the Stranger >
      • Lost Boys of Sudan: St. John’s Baptist Charlotte
      • Awakening to Immigrant Justice: Myers Park Baptist Church
      • Hospitality on the corner: Gaston Christian Center
    • Signature Ministries >
      • Jake Hall: Gospel Gothic, Music and Radio
    • Singing Our Faith >
      • Hymns for a Lifetime: Ken Wilson and Knollwood Baptist Church
      • Norfolk Street Choir
    • Resilient Rural America >
      • Alabama: Perry County
      • Texas: Hidalgo County
      • Arkansas Delta
      • Southeast Kentucky
  • More
    • Contact
    • About
    • Donate
    • Associated Baptist Press Foundation
    • Planned Giving
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Advertising
    • Ministry Jobs and More
    • Transitions
    • Subscribe
    • Submissions and Permissions
Donate Subscribe
Search Search this site

The Christmas miracle — by the numbers

OpinionMichael Ruffin  |  December 23, 2011

By Michael Ruffin

Last summer Dr. Ali Binazir wrote a blog post in which he posed the question, “What are your chances of coming into being?”

He considered such questions as (1) the odds of your parents meeting, which he estimates at 1 in 20,000, (2) the odds of that meeting leading to a relationship that produces a child, which he estimates to be 1 in 2,000, (3) the odds of the right sperm from your father joining with the right egg from your mother to form you, which he puts at 1 in 400 quadrillion, and (4) the odds of every one of your ancestors living to the age at which they could reproduce, which Binazir estimates at 1 in 10 to the 45,000th power

When you put all of that together, Binazir said, the probability that you could exist is 1 in 10 to the 2,685,000th power.

Therefore, according to Binazir’s calculations, that chances that you could exist are so infinitesimal as to amount to zero; there is virtually no probability that you could exist.

National Public Radio blogger Robert Krulwich, in an intriguingly titled post Are You Totally Improbable or Totally Inevitable?, summarized Binazir’s article and then observed, “On the other hand …there are poets who argue exactly the opposite: that each of us is fated to exist, that there is a plan, and that all of us are expected.”

The poets of the Bible, I think, would come down mainly on the “there is a plan” side; we at least have strong intimations of such. For example, the Lord said to the young Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).

Had the biblical writers been confronted with the speculations of modern thinkers, would they have admitted to the presence of randomness and chance in our world and in our lives? Some certainly would. Have you read Qoheleth lately?

For the most part, though, I think they would have agreed with Binazir’s conclusion: “A miracle is an event so unlikely as to be almost impossible. By that definition, I’ve just shown that you are a miracle. Now go forth and feel and act like the miracle that you are.”

Perhaps the philosopher Forrest Gump was on track when he said: “I don’t know if we each have a destiny, or if we’re all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze, but I, I think maybe it’s both. Maybe both (are) happening at the same time.”

Jesus Christ, whose birth we are preparing to celebrate, was, the Bible says, the Church teaches, and the Creeds affirm, both divine and human, fully God and fully man. Jesus was the Christ, the Anointed One of God who came to inaugurate God’s Kingdom, to take away the sin of the world, and to conquer death.

Given the divine nature of the Son of God and the teachings of the Bible regarding him, we can use our imaginations to at least move toward saying something about the mystery of the eternal Son of God who came into the world in the Incarnation.

But given the human nature of Jesus of Nazareth — he was fully human, remember — should we think in terms of his birth as being at least partly the result of the same kind of process — randomness, chaos and chance somehow worked with by God to accomplish God’s purposes — as are the births of the rest of us?

A thousand years before Jesus was born, God told King David of Israel that God would give David a dynasty that would never end. The historical dynasty of David in fact came to an end with the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in the early sixth century BCE. But the ongoing partnership between God’s Spirit and the Hebrew theologians led to the expectation that God’s promise to David would be fulfilled in the coming of an ideal ruler, the messiah.

Think back to Binazir’s numbers, and try to imagine the seemingly insurmountable probability of all the generations of people in David’s lineage who had to meet, who had to marry and who had to reproduce in order for Jesus the son of Mary to be Jesus the son of Mary actually meeting, marrying and reproducing.

The mystery of how Mary came to be with child of the Holy Spirit is almost matched by the mystery of how Jesus of Nazareth — or any other human being, for that matter — could be born at all.

Thanks be to God!

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

OPINION: Views expressed in Baptist News Global columns and commentaries are solely those of the authors.
Tags:faithTheologyCommentaries
More by
Michael Ruffin
  • Get BNG headlines in your inbox

  • Featured

    • ‘Pastor Johnny’ wins a bid to unseal Guidepost documents

      News

    • Even on January 6, family was important to Mike Pence

      News

    • Are our churches prepared for Christian autocracy?

      Opinion

    • 30 years ago, RFRA passed with support from a broad coalition unimaginable today

      News


    Curated

    • Elon Musk expresses regret for endorsing antisemitic post but swears at advertisers boycotting X over it

      Elon Musk expresses regret for endorsing antisemitic post but swears at advertisers boycotting X over it

    • Search For God In A Faithless Nation: Inside One Man’s Journey

      Search For God In A Faithless Nation: Inside One Man’s Journey

    • Pope Francis asks theologians to ‘demasculinize’ the church

      Pope Francis asks theologians to ‘demasculinize’ the church

    • An Indian official plotted to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader in New York, US prosecutors say

      An Indian official plotted to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader in New York, US prosecutors say

    Read Next:

    What would happen if clergy unionized?

    AnalysisKristen Thomason

    More Articles

    • All
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Curated
    • Supreme Court declines to reinstate Florida ban on drag shows

      NewsSteve Rabey

    • Immigration advocates deplore House Republicans’ effort to tie Ukraine aid to severe border measures

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Big ideas at human size: An interview with Carrie Newcomer

      OpinionSusan M. Shaw, Senior Columnist

    • Even as Biden supports their interest in Israel, white evangelicals disapprove of his job performance

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • As SBC moves toward second vote on Law Amendment, debate continues on just what it means

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • What I learned teaching incarcerated white students about structural racism

      OpinionChris Caldwell

    • Jack Tales: Remembering Jack Causey

      OpinionJustin Cox

    • Hawks and Felton to lead CBF advocacy efforts

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • The horror of Let Us Prey may not be as far from home as you think

      AnalysisRick Pidcock

    • How churches can participate in the Indigenous Land Back movement and why they should

      AnalysisKristen Thomason

    • 30 years ago, RFRA passed with support from a broad coalition unimaginable today

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Are our churches prepared for Christian autocracy?

      OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

    • Even on January 6, family was important to Mike Pence

      NewsMaina Mwaura

    • On the SBC, Alliance and CBF and lost causes

      AnalysisAndrew Gardner

    • Transitions for the week of 12-1-23

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • ‘Pastor Johnny’ wins a bid to unseal Guidepost documents

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • What would happen if clergy unionized?

      AnalysisKristen Thomason

    • Praying in a time of war

      OpinionMartin Thielen

    • Tougher border policies will not stop the flow of migrants, immigration experts say

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • The speaker and the Bible

      OpinionJim Harnish

    • Professors defend Thomas Jefferson from Christian nationalism

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Baptists were for separation of church and state before they were against it

      OpinionRodney Kennedy

    • Judge rules discovery may continue in Sillses’ lawsuit against SBC parties

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • What happens when the snow melts? Humanizing victims of the war in Gaza with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

      OpinionMallory Challis

    • Supreme Court declines to reinstate Florida ban on drag shows

      NewsSteve Rabey

    • Immigration advocates deplore House Republicans’ effort to tie Ukraine aid to severe border measures

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Even as Biden supports their interest in Israel, white evangelicals disapprove of his job performance

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • As SBC moves toward second vote on Law Amendment, debate continues on just what it means

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Hawks and Felton to lead CBF advocacy efforts

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • 30 years ago, RFRA passed with support from a broad coalition unimaginable today

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Even on January 6, family was important to Mike Pence

      NewsMaina Mwaura

    • Transitions for the week of 12-1-23

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • ‘Pastor Johnny’ wins a bid to unseal Guidepost documents

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Tougher border policies will not stop the flow of migrants, immigration experts say

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Professors defend Thomas Jefferson from Christian nationalism

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Judge rules discovery may continue in Sillses’ lawsuit against SBC parties

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • She was the only Baptist and only woman delegate at a Vatican synod

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Darius Rucker dedicates this one to the faith of his mother

      NewsMaina Mwaura

    • Virginia church took the grief group outside the church

      NewsPeggy Haymes

    • Support for Trump is cultural more than theological, author says

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Amanda Held Opelt has a story to write as well

      NewsMaina Mwaura

    • He’s got a Rice business degree; now he’s focused on finding the best use for church buildings

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Rosalynn Carter: ‘There are not enough accolades to describe how wonderful she was’

      NewsMaina Mwaura

    • Amidst global chaos, ordinary South Africans are emblem of Muslim-Jewish co-existence

      NewsNyasha Bhobo

    • Once again, faith and humanitarian groups decry Texas’ latest approach to ‘border security’

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Archives reveal timeless messages from Dallas clergy days after JFK assassination

      NewsJeff Hampton

    • Christian groups lament and repent role religion played in allowing Israel-Hamas war

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • U.S. evangelicals continue to unite behind Israel but are less likely to mention Palestinian victims

      NewsSteve Rabey

    • Big ideas at human size: An interview with Carrie Newcomer

      OpinionSusan M. Shaw, Senior Columnist

    • What I learned teaching incarcerated white students about structural racism

      OpinionChris Caldwell

    • Jack Tales: Remembering Jack Causey

      OpinionJustin Cox

    • Are our churches prepared for Christian autocracy?

      OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

    • Praying in a time of war

      OpinionMartin Thielen

    • The speaker and the Bible

      OpinionJim Harnish

    • Baptists were for separation of church and state before they were against it

      OpinionRodney Kennedy

    • What happens when the snow melts? Humanizing victims of the war in Gaza with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

      OpinionMallory Challis

    • Hamas’ ‘sexual pogrom’ in Israel

      OpinionJonathan Feldstein

    • ‘Useful idiots’ won’t end the Israel-Hamas war, and neither will a cease-fire

      OpinionErich Bridges

    • The blood of Advent

      OpinionJulia Goldie Day

    • Five truths about church committees and their work

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • Tell me about your Christian tattoo

      OpinionMadison Boboltz

    • A generational torch passes at Bubba-Doo’s

      OpinionCharles Qualls

    • The desire for retaliation is a fool’s errand

      OpinionJohn Carter

    • Knowing what we see and remembering what we know

      OpinionWendell Griffen

    • Two roads diverged in a cold food court

      OpinionBrad Bull

    • What are you wearing to Thanksgiving dinner this year?

      OpinionMallory Challis

    • Did Thomas Jefferson say the president should attend church as an example?

      OpinionWarren Throckmorton

    • Between Hamas and Boko Haram

      OpinionAnthony Akaeze

    • Why the Black church must account for and attend to its own marginalized

      OpinionChristian Ingram

    • Speaker Mike Johnson betrays core Baptist value

      OpinionJennifer Hawks

    • Prison tables and the Lord’s Table

      OpinionChris Caldwell

    • The spiritual practice of friendship

      OpinionMallory Challis

    • What is digital chaplaincy, and why do we need such chaplains?

      OpinionEileen Campbell-Reed

    • Elon Musk expresses regret for endorsing antisemitic post but swears at advertisers boycotting X over it

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Search For God In A Faithless Nation: Inside One Man’s Journey

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Pope Francis asks theologians to ‘demasculinize’ the church

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • An Indian official plotted to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader in New York, US prosecutors say

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • AP Photos: Church that hosted Rosalynn Carter funeral played key role in her and her husband’s lives

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Stoicism and spirituality: A philosopher explains how more Americans’ search for meaning is turning them toward the classics

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • How support for Trump is causing a rift in the evangelical church

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • In the US, Hmong ‘new year’ recalls ancestral spirits while teaching traditions to new generations

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Argentina’s president-elect, Javier Milei, visits Lubavitcher rabbi’s grave to offer thanks for his surprise victory

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Canadian Evangelical Scholar Fired Following University Investigation

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Top Diplomat Of Ecumenical Patriarchate Delves Into Catholic-Orthodox Relations

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Africa’s Wall Street Quiets Christian Worship

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Houston’s Hindu youth will soon have a summer campsite of their own

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • The challenges of being a religious scientist

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Tens of thousands march against antisemitism in London including UK ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Why George Santos’ lies are even worse than the usual political lies – a moral philosopher explains

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • The Democratic Republic Of The Congo Works To Improve Religious Freedom For Christians

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Timekeepers no more, rank-and-file Jehovah’s Witnesses say goodbye to tracking proselytizing hours

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • This ‘wind phone’ helps grievers feel connected to the loved ones they’ve lost

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Why People Switch Churches And The High Hopes That Come With Such Changes

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • For this group of trans women, the pope and his message of inclusivity are a welcome change

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Carlton Pearson, influential Oklahoma megachurch founder who rejected hell, dies at age 70

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Amid Economic Crisis, Ministry And Music Propel Cuban Minister Devoted To Sharing Bread Of Life

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Supreme Court Denies Florida’s Request To Reinstate Its Anti-Drag Law

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Nicaragua’s exiled clergy and faithful in Miami keep up struggle for human rights at Mass

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    Conversations that Matter.

    © 2023 Baptist News Global. All rights reserved.

    Want to share a story? We hope you will! Read our republishing, terms of use and privacy policies here.

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • RSS