-
†. Gen 1:14c . . they shall serve as signs for the set times-- the days and
the years;
The word for "signs" is from 'owth (oth) and means: a signal; such as a flag,
beacon, monument, omen, prodigy, evidence, etc.
The Sun and the Moon are very useful time keepers. The Sun of course
marks off days and years; and if you were to tell somebody your intention to
visit them in five Moons, they would have a pretty good idea when to get
ready for your arrival.
†. Gen 1:15-18a . . and they shall serve as lights in the expanse of the sky
to shine upon the earth. And it was so. God made the two great lights, the
greater light to dominate the day and the lesser light to dominate the night,
and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the
earth, to dominate the day and the night, and to distinguish light from
darkness.
For the third time now in Genesis, "day" is defined as when the sun is up,
and "night" is defined as when the sun is down; and yet people still don't
think God means it.
Stars require some special consideration because of their distances and the
time it takes for their light to reach the Earth. For example: this past
decade, Hubble telescope detected a galaxy at a distance of 12.8 billion light
years; which was subsequently given the label A1689-zD1.
Chronologically; the cosmos' creator began constructing the Earth before He
began constructing the stars; which indicates that as a physical structure,
the Earth should be older than A1689-zD1.
But geologists have pretty good reasons to believe the Earth to be only
something like 4.5 billion years old; while A1689-zD1 appears to be a
minimum 12.8 billion years old. So then, it seems reasonable to conclude
that A1689-zD1 is Earth's senior by at least 8.3 billion years; but there's a
rub. Light's journey through space is complicated by some yet-unsolved
mysteries.
1• The available data suggests that the universe is expanding in all
directions. In other words: it's stretching out-- every galaxy in the cosmos
appears to be moving away from every other galaxy (with the exception
apparently of the Milky Way and Andromeda, which astronomers-- according
to an article in the Mar/Apr 2013 issue of Science Illustrated --predict will
collide in 4 billion years).
And not only is the cosmos expanding; but the velocity of its expansion isn't
slowing down as might be expected; but rather, contrary to common sense
and Newton's laws of gravity; the velocity of the cosmos' expansion is
accelerating due to a mysterious force which, for lack of a better name, is
called dark energy.
Ergo: the stars that God created on the fourth day are quite a bit farther
away from Earth now than when He first made them. How much farther
away I don't know; but if the age of the Earth is really and truly 4.5 billion
years then it's my guess the difference is significant.
Point being: A1689-zD1's apparent distance is an unreliable measure of its
age.
2• Photons have no detectable mass, yet are effected by gravity; so that
light's path through the cosmos is not always the shortest distance between
two points.
3• Although the speed of light is constant in a vacuum, the void is a bit more
complicated due to the fact that it's state isn't steady. Not only is it
constantly expanding; but it may even be somehow curved.
4• Light doesn't decay. In other words: there is no detectable difference in
age between the cosmos' first light, and the light generated by a television
or the sparks of a grinding wheel.
All the above suggests to me that the estimated age of the cosmos is only
loosely theoretical rather than actual. In other words: current dating
methods are grossly unreliable and it's very possibly true that the Earth
really did precede the stars just as the Bible says.
The final say of course is the Bible's. According to Gen 1:15, stars
illuminated the earth on the day that God made them, which was prior to His
creation of humanity. In other words: it's not unreasonable to believe that
God didn't wait till starlight reached the earth on its own, but punched it
straight through in order to begin illuminating the earth immediately.
But what's the point of putting all those objects out there in deep space?
Well, for one thing, they're not only brain teasers; but they're actually quite
pretty. Celestial objects decorate the night sky like the ornamentation
people put up during holidays. The night sky would sure be a bore if it was
totally black. But decorated with stars; the night sky is like a beautiful
tapestry, or a celestial Sistine Chapel. Stars makes better sense that way
than to try and find some other meaning for them.
"The heavens declare the glory of God, the sky proclaims His handiwork."
(Ps 19:2)
The universe is simply a magnificent work of art-- just as intriguing, if not
more so, than the works of Picasso, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Monet,
Vermeer, and da Vinci --testifying to the genius of an engineer-artist without
peer. It was never meant to be a home for Mr. ET.
Sadly, many intelligent people like Carl Sagan look to the sky for the wrong
reasons. Personally, I think it's futile to look to the sky for SETI reasons.
Why not just look to the sky for inspiration instead of intelligent
extraterrestrial life? What's so bad about visiting the sky as a Metropolitan
Museum of your maker's many-faceted talents?
"For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it
evident to them. Ever since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes
of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived
in what He has made.
. . . As a result, they have no excuse; for although they knew God they did
not accord Him glory as God or give him thanks. Instead, they became futile
in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened. While claiming
to be wise, they became fools" (Rom 1:19-22)
Which would you rather be: a fool, or an idiot? Well, I'd prefer being the
idiot. At least the mentally challenged man has an excuse for being stupid.
†. Gen 1:18b-19 . . And God saw that this was good. And there was evening
and there was morning, a fourth day.
Cont.
/
†. Gen 1:14c . . they shall serve as signs for the set times-- the days and
the years;
The word for "signs" is from 'owth (oth) and means: a signal; such as a flag,
beacon, monument, omen, prodigy, evidence, etc.
The Sun and the Moon are very useful time keepers. The Sun of course
marks off days and years; and if you were to tell somebody your intention to
visit them in five Moons, they would have a pretty good idea when to get
ready for your arrival.
†. Gen 1:15-18a . . and they shall serve as lights in the expanse of the sky
to shine upon the earth. And it was so. God made the two great lights, the
greater light to dominate the day and the lesser light to dominate the night,
and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the
earth, to dominate the day and the night, and to distinguish light from
darkness.
For the third time now in Genesis, "day" is defined as when the sun is up,
and "night" is defined as when the sun is down; and yet people still don't
think God means it.
Stars require some special consideration because of their distances and the
time it takes for their light to reach the Earth. For example: this past
decade, Hubble telescope detected a galaxy at a distance of 12.8 billion light
years; which was subsequently given the label A1689-zD1.
Chronologically; the cosmos' creator began constructing the Earth before He
began constructing the stars; which indicates that as a physical structure,
the Earth should be older than A1689-zD1.
But geologists have pretty good reasons to believe the Earth to be only
something like 4.5 billion years old; while A1689-zD1 appears to be a
minimum 12.8 billion years old. So then, it seems reasonable to conclude
that A1689-zD1 is Earth's senior by at least 8.3 billion years; but there's a
rub. Light's journey through space is complicated by some yet-unsolved
mysteries.
1• The available data suggests that the universe is expanding in all
directions. In other words: it's stretching out-- every galaxy in the cosmos
appears to be moving away from every other galaxy (with the exception
apparently of the Milky Way and Andromeda, which astronomers-- according
to an article in the Mar/Apr 2013 issue of Science Illustrated --predict will
collide in 4 billion years).
And not only is the cosmos expanding; but the velocity of its expansion isn't
slowing down as might be expected; but rather, contrary to common sense
and Newton's laws of gravity; the velocity of the cosmos' expansion is
accelerating due to a mysterious force which, for lack of a better name, is
called dark energy.
Ergo: the stars that God created on the fourth day are quite a bit farther
away from Earth now than when He first made them. How much farther
away I don't know; but if the age of the Earth is really and truly 4.5 billion
years then it's my guess the difference is significant.
Point being: A1689-zD1's apparent distance is an unreliable measure of its
age.
2• Photons have no detectable mass, yet are effected by gravity; so that
light's path through the cosmos is not always the shortest distance between
two points.
3• Although the speed of light is constant in a vacuum, the void is a bit more
complicated due to the fact that it's state isn't steady. Not only is it
constantly expanding; but it may even be somehow curved.
4• Light doesn't decay. In other words: there is no detectable difference in
age between the cosmos' first light, and the light generated by a television
or the sparks of a grinding wheel.
All the above suggests to me that the estimated age of the cosmos is only
loosely theoretical rather than actual. In other words: current dating
methods are grossly unreliable and it's very possibly true that the Earth
really did precede the stars just as the Bible says.
The final say of course is the Bible's. According to Gen 1:15, stars
illuminated the earth on the day that God made them, which was prior to His
creation of humanity. In other words: it's not unreasonable to believe that
God didn't wait till starlight reached the earth on its own, but punched it
straight through in order to begin illuminating the earth immediately.
But what's the point of putting all those objects out there in deep space?
Well, for one thing, they're not only brain teasers; but they're actually quite
pretty. Celestial objects decorate the night sky like the ornamentation
people put up during holidays. The night sky would sure be a bore if it was
totally black. But decorated with stars; the night sky is like a beautiful
tapestry, or a celestial Sistine Chapel. Stars makes better sense that way
than to try and find some other meaning for them.
"The heavens declare the glory of God, the sky proclaims His handiwork."
(Ps 19:2)
The universe is simply a magnificent work of art-- just as intriguing, if not
more so, than the works of Picasso, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Monet,
Vermeer, and da Vinci --testifying to the genius of an engineer-artist without
peer. It was never meant to be a home for Mr. ET.
Sadly, many intelligent people like Carl Sagan look to the sky for the wrong
reasons. Personally, I think it's futile to look to the sky for SETI reasons.
Why not just look to the sky for inspiration instead of intelligent
extraterrestrial life? What's so bad about visiting the sky as a Metropolitan
Museum of your maker's many-faceted talents?
"For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it
evident to them. Ever since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes
of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived
in what He has made.
. . . As a result, they have no excuse; for although they knew God they did
not accord Him glory as God or give him thanks. Instead, they became futile
in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened. While claiming
to be wise, they became fools" (Rom 1:19-22)
Which would you rather be: a fool, or an idiot? Well, I'd prefer being the
idiot. At least the mentally challenged man has an excuse for being stupid.
†. Gen 1:18b-19 . . And God saw that this was good. And there was evening
and there was morning, a fourth day.
Cont.
/
