Engineering by command! That is what Jesus’ words about faith and mountain-moving seem to suggest. He says that if one has only a tiny bit of faith, he or she can move a mountain just by telling it to move. The feats of our modern earth-moving equipment are astounding enough, but they are nothing compared to this engineering by faith!

But this could create problems. Suppose a person was unhappy with the location of a certain mountain and decided to move it somewhere else. Who could guarantee that its relocation would be in the best interests of all concerned? Even assuming the good will of all, it would be rather risky business for persons to be able drastically to alter the landscape simply by speaking a word!

We are not bothered about this, however, because we don’t believe it can be d…