Light Years or Days

Psalms 19:1 (KJV) [[To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.]] The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

(Proverbs 30 also read)

I was sitting here, contemplating the universe and God.  I was thinking about how I’m created in the image of God, with the ability to reason, and think, to interact with the Eternal One, and have free will.  And there are those who believe that the universe is billions of years old who will tell you that the entire universe is established and created to focus on the planet Earth to create an environment that we can exist in.

I find that even more on awesome than 7/24 hour day creation.  God is God.  He can do anything He wants.  The question is not whether God did it, but just speculating on what it all means.  Somehow, something in me says that God enjoys the process of creating, and although He exists outside of time, I think there is an element where He just really celebrated when He was making the novas and the galaxies and all the different types of stars.  I think He reveled in the variety that He was able to come up with.  I think He rejoices in all of this.

And He made us to be a part of this.  He gave us this universe to investigate and look into and it’s only the beginning and the first page of the book of eternity.

So?  Enjoy.  Celebrate.  Rejoice.  Look at the sky and remind yourself that this declares the glory of God and we can only see the tip of the iceberg. 

Squirrel Questions

(Pro 3:20 KJV)  By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.

I got off on a squirrel hunt on the “deeps” (8415).  This is a word that can be taken and used literally but still has a mystery about it.  It appears in the second verse in our Bible.

(Gen 1:2 KJV)  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Picture what the earth might have looked like before it took on modern form.  The elements were still churning from direct contact with the power of God.  He had not yet moved the elements to their final form.  The closest I can come is the picture that forms in my mind of looking down in the maw of an active volcano, ready to spill over the brim.

In Exodus my imagination starts to work on just what the deeps consisted of.  It seems that the deeps is not necessarily the same as the sea.

(Exo 15:8 KJV)  And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths (8415) were congealed in the heart of the sea.

At this point I think of all the mineral wealth that is in the ocean.  Some is on the bottom.  Some is in solution.  I read an article recently about mining lithium from sea water.  I have long known that gold was present.  Not just water in a plastic bottle.

Then Job makes the sea and the depths separate.  Is this just a literary device or should we read more into it.  The spiritual point is the same either way but one might help us understand the physical world better.

(Job 28:14 KJV)  The depth (8415) saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me.

So?  The Bible is loaded with questions just waiting to be asked.  Isn’t that the basis of good science?  Real science is never settled.  There is always another question to be asked.  Sounds kind of eternal doesn’t it?

Limits to Logic

(Pro 14:12 KJV) There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Are you sure?  Really?  Are you willing to bet the farm on it?  One of the differences between Greek thought and modern science is that, while both are thought to be logical, only science demands proof by experimentation.  If you don’t have much time or resources then you may only have logic to go by.  Often that would work out just fine but just as often it will lead to disaster.

So?  Be logical but consult the reference material to find out what you never thought of.  Logic says that man would never be able to fly in a machine that is heavier than air.  I am sure that the first few times it was tried the results were not pleasant.  Now you can design an airplane even if you have never been off the ground.  Our reference manual is the Bible.  It needs to be consulted.  It doesn’t matter how good the deal sounds. 

Foundational Appointments

(Pro 8:29 KJV) When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:

The phrase “foundations (4146) of the earth (776)” shows up ten times in the KJV.  In this discussion of creation it seems to be referring to the core and principles of gravity for this planet.  It also lets us know that the cosmos is involved.  It has been a long time since I listened but William Lane Craig talked about the fine tuning of the universe.  He said that science seems to point to a large number of physical characteristics of the universe that by even a light variation would make life impossible.  He then says that it almost seems like the entire universe is set up in a balance for the purpose of maintaining life on earth.  He of course sees God’s hand in this.

So?  Our world, as polluted by sin as it is, was created by God.  It is maintained by God.  That should give you a little comfort amid all the hysteria going on around us. 

Gravity?

(Pro 8:27 KJV) When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:

Check out Adam Clarke’s comment that this might be the establishment of gravity. 

“Does not this refer to the establishment of the law of gravitation? by which all the particles of matter, tending to a common center, would produce in all bodies the orbicular form, which we see them have; so that even the waters are not only retained within their boundaries, but are subjected to the circular form, in their great aggregate of seas, as other parts of matter are.”

It works in the context of the following verses.  I doubt if that is what Solomon is trying to convey since the scientific principles involved were still in the future but it is interesting how the Bible hints at things still to be discovered.

So?  Read with anticipation and your mind turned on.  You may not be discovering new truth but you may find proofs of old truth. 

Snake Oil

(Pro 16:20 KJV) He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the LORD, happy is he.

It is wonderful to trust in the Lord.  It should not happen in a vacuum.  The believer “trusts” (982) because he pays attention.  Too many people who don’t understand the faith think that we Christians are blind and ignorant.  They think we refuse to think because we are called to believe.  For some reason they think that faith and thinking are mutually exclusive.  Not so.  There may be times when that is the case but it is not our default. 

As a believer I have no trouble with the revelations of science.  Let me qualify that, with the revelations of good science.  So much of what is sold as science is snake oil motivated by politics and a desire to get the largess of the power brokers.  You don’t need to look far.  It could be the most current theory on whether salt is good or bad.  It could be talking about carbon dioxide as a dangerous gas.  We need to understand that just as we have snake oil in science we have it in theology too.

So?  Yes we are saved by grace through faith.  We are to walk by faith, not by sight.  Those are truths based on being informed and keeping our eyes and mind open. 

Roots of Wisdom

(Proverbs 9:1 KJV)  Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars:

God does not operate on the spur of the moment.  Our behavior does not surprise Him.  In a paradox that I cannot begin to understand, He knows the future yet we have free will.  Part of that knowledge must be in the form of wisdom.  We might even think of it as universal laws of physics.  Even that isn’t deep enough because the laws of physics either keep changing or keep being discovered.  We have the physics of Newton.  We have the physics of Einstein.  We have the physics of people I can’t name.  Each previous name did not even imagine the math involved in the next level.

God is different.  He actually knows the laws of physics because He created them.  He created them in a logical and methodical way that makes life possible and planning useful.  This dependable quality of God is part of the reason why the science of the West developed and eclipsed the science of the East.

So?  Wisdom is ready.  It is ready for the temporal and the eternal.  That means God has prepared it for today.  Step out boldly because gravity will continue to function, people will continue to drive like sunspots and gas prices will change. 

The Laws of Physics vs Wisdom

(Proverbs 9:12 KJV)  If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.

Wisdom is not for the ages.  It is for me.  It is to be applied to my life.  It is to set my priorities and impel my action.  It is personal. 

God is all of the omni's.  He is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent.  What makes Him unique is that He is also personal.  That does not mean He is just a big version of man.  It means He is aware of Himself and is not just a force of nature.  He set the laws of physics in place to generally run the universe, except when a miracle is needed.  Wisdom is the laws of physics written in small case so that they apply to us as individuals.

So?  Don’t get too caught up in figuring out how the Big Bang happened or how time can slow down as you go faster.  Wisdom is to remind you how to treat your neighbor or run your business.  Use it.

Obviously Ignored

(Proverbs 30:19 KJV)  The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid.

Four familiar events that Solomon is saying are not to be understood.  On the surface they might seem to be obvious but in reality, who knows.  Take the flight of an “eagle” (5405).  I was talking about the miracle of flight this week.  Have you seen the contraptions that were tried over the years to imitate the flight of eagles?  Most of them totally missed the principle God had developed to make flight possible.  The man on the ground focused on the flapping of wings and never got off the ground.  It took the development of the scientific method to look at all the failures and do the research to find the answer.

Flight is possible because of Bernoulli’s Principle.  It was discovered that birds can fly not because they flap their wings with vigor but because of the shape of the wings being flapped.  As the air rushes across the top of the wing is greater than the bottom and that moving air causes lift.  Airplanes don’t flap their wings.  They are propelled through the air and the bird shaped wings give enough lift for flight to take place.

Who would have known?  That is an easy question, God.

So?  How many issues in our lives have a solution that God knows but we have not considered?  Many of the things we do everyday by habit in a Christian society are foreign to other cultures.  The concepts to honesty and mercy don’t develop naturally, they were demanded.  Read about those and the other principles that God has established for the good life. 

Settled Wisdom

(Proverbs 8:25 KJV)  Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:

I am not a geologist although when I am driving across the country, observing the rock formations, I have wanted to take a few classes.  One of the details that keeps me from doing it is the knowledge that whoever taught the class would be approaching the subject from an evolutionary point of view.  It would be like taking a class in aerodynamics from a professor that believed the speed of sound would never be passed.  Here we see an indication that God was implying things about geology.

How would the king of a small country on the Mediterranean know about “mountains” (2022) settling?   This is obviously not a full blown scientific statement.  It is not meant to be.  But it implies that things were once chaotic and finally “settled” (2883) down.  This is not something Solomon would remember.

And before that the wisdom of God was already established.  Wisdom somehow had a place when dinosaurs roamed the earth.  It had a place before God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation...”

So?  The latest great meme that comes over the internet or airways is just a bit of fluff if it does not agree with the eternal.  That applies to moral behavior as well as the proper use of technology.  Expect to be at odds with your contemporary world. 

Word for the Day: Immutable

(Pro 8:29 KJV)  When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:

God has given His “command” (6310) to the ocean.  We are looking at one of the reasons that modern science developed in Christian Europe and not in the pagan world.  In the pagan world the tides would be explained as some kind of childish conflict between man-like gods.  It would not be of any value to study the tides because the gods might have a different temper tantrum next week.  Christians look at the ocean as bound by the one true God, the Creator.  That creator is immutable.  That means unchanging.  Since you can take that to the bank the scientific method made sense.  Eventually scientists caught on.

So?  We still have a lot to learn.  The part that modern scientists are refusing to learn is the moral law that goes along with the physical laws.  Both come from an unchanging God.  

Evolution Rears It’s Ugly Feet

(Proverbs 3:20 KJV)  By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.

I do not accept the theory of evolution.  I have a number of reasons.

It substitutes random chance for God.  This is the basic problem

It is a theory, not a fact.  Scientific fact requires three things:  Measurable, observable, repeatable.  Evolution meets none of these.  Of course, neither does creation, but who claimed it did?

It does not line up with the evidence.  You have heard of the “missing link?”  Understand, all the links are missing.  And honest evolutionists will acknowledge that even if they find them there is not enough time for it to have worked.

Having said that, the first part of this verse indicates, that with the proper framing of the argument, that God could have done things in stages and those stages could look like an evolutionary process. 

So?  Don’t reject science because it is science.  Reject those parts of it that are based on a flawed religious faith and reject the order and dependability that God built into our world.  Evaluate it in comparison to what the word does say and what the evidence actually shows.  Don’t be afraid of truth and facts, fear theory parading as fact.