Dales offers the prompt “look to the skies” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge. These were taken in Ryerson Conservation Area in Illinois.
Look To The Skies
Category: Photography
Sunday Walk 66 – The Mythology of Deep Time
A few years ago I would likely be labeled a theistic evolutionist without realizing what that meant. I was reading Alvin Plantinga’s Where the Conflict Really Lies and studying his evolutionary argument against naturalism. I was also studying how William Lang Craig accepted the deep time of the Big Bang to try to make the kalam cosmological argument work for him.
To caricature my position I tolerated ideas of evolutionary and cosmological deep time as long as I could sugar-coat them with some kind of spirit “guiding” evolution or somehow squeeze in the kalam argument to assert the existence of that spirit. By accepting deep time I was, unwittingly, throwing original sin under the bus along with the rest of the Bible. And all for what? My goal was to assert the existence of some spirit without checking first just what that spirit was.
I now realize that whatever that spirit might be it could not be Yahweh as revealed in the Bible because I had replaced the historical chronology of Genesis with the pseudo-scientific mythology of deep time. Rejection of Genesis is a rejection of the entire Bible. Atheists understand this which is why they ridicule Creation, Noah and Babel. Compromising Christians do not. What I needed was an apologetics directed back at myself that would lead me to take the Bible seriously.
All of that changed when a fellow member of our Men’s Group briefly mentioned the rapid geological change that happened as a result of the eruption of Mount St Helens. Looking into this, I was shocked to realize that places like the Grand Canyon did not need millions of years of deep time to form. The catastrophic global flood and its aftermath could explain the present state of continents, oceans, mountains, coal deposits, canyons, fossil-filled sedimentation layers and glaciers.
Furthermore, if I started with God creating the universe in a functionally mature state, that is, if I took Genesis as seriously as I should have, I could get to the present state of the universe with only a few thousand years of change using processes identified and measured by modern operational science.
By contrast, if I started with the Big Bang and over 13 billion years of deep time, I could not get to the universe I see today. Too much entropy would have occurred over that span of time. Indeed, the evidence is so overwhelming against deep time that Don Batten could provide 101 separate lines of evidence suggesting that the earth and the universe could not be anywhere near as old as deep time mythologies claim it to be. I began to see that the hypothesis of deep time had been falsified over and over again.
The reason I mention all this is because experimental, operational science (not naturalistic speculations presented as “science”) has matured to a point that no one needs to shy away from the historical creation and fall accounts in Genesis.
Weekly Bible Reading: Obadiah (Audio), Joel (Audio)
2 Kislev, 5782, Toldot: Parashat Genesis 25:19-28:9; Haftarat Malachi 1:1-2:7
Commentaries:
David Pawson, Obadiah and Joel, Part 48, Part 49, Unlocking the Bible
Bible Project, Obadiah and Joel
Time – Décima
Delusion masks the sense of it.
Deceptive dreaming wastes my time.
From out of this I’d love to climb,
this dark, demonic, dragon pit.
Against the wall in mud I sit.
I see a makeshift rope appear
and from above the voice I hear
is telling me to grasp it tight.
There was no way, but now there’s light.
Death grabbed my feet, but mercy’s near.
Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “time” to be used in a B-line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC for this week’s challenge. I was thinking of Jeremiah 38 about Jeremiah being rescued from the dungeon of Malchiah when describing the rescue from this dragon pit.
Restore – Six Sentence Story
The psychic smiled upon seeing the wealthy couple waiting for a reading intuiting from her familiar spirits that their future looked promising. She hoped they would purchase further services and perhaps even partner with her helping her restore her own fortunes in the competitive occult arena where mediums and fortune tellers were readily available.
When the tarot cards confirmed her intuition she predicted that the husband’s investments and public influence would increase and his wife would overcome infertility and depression. However, after paying the basic fee the couple declined further services hinting that they doubted her abilities were real.
After the couple left the psychic realized that they must have thought that what they had just participated in was some innocent tourist adventure and so she cursed them. A year later, unable to secure big clients in time, her own business adventure completed its tailspin into bankruptcy.
Denise offers the prompt word “restore” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.
Silhouettes and Shadows
Dale offers the prompt “silhouettes and shadows” for this week’s Comic Photo Challenge. These are shadows on walkways.
Sunday Walk 65 – Learning Biblical Hebrew
I have been studying Biblical Hebrew primarily using the YouTube videos from the Aleph With Beth channel by Andrew and Bethany Case. The Bible Society in Israel offers the Hebrew Bible with a dramatized audio reading and dictionary. They have also translated the Greek New Testament into Modern Hebrew and made this available with an audio reading. One can add a column to compare two versions of the text. As an alternative, I have also used the Step Hebrew Interlinear Bible.
I recommend all of these resources if you are interested in learning Biblical Hebrew. If you have other resources you are using that you find helpful, let me know. I still have a long way to go.
My goal is to be able to read the Masoretic text found in the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia without needing a dictionary. I am not there yet. Here is a song by Miqedem on Psalm 23 that I am trying to understand by hearing it sung without following along with the Hebrew-English text.
The Old Testament was written in Biblical Hebrew. Douglas Petrovich provided evidence that the Israelites possessed an alphabet centuries before Moses. If that’s true there is no longer a compelling reason to follow theories like the JEDP/Documentary Hypothesis which claimed that Moses could not himself have written the first five books in the Bible because he did not have the means to do so. Moses had what he needed to write those books and the Israelites were able to read them.
I used to think that Aramaic was the language Jesus spoke. However, Jeff A. Benner provided evidence that most of the New Testament was originally written in Hebrew which was also the language spoken by Jesus and his early followers. If that’s true then what we have today are translations of the Hebrew originals into Greek from which English translations were later made.
Some early form of Biblical Hebrew may have been the original “one language” (Genesis 11:1 KJV) spoken until the time of the Tower of Babel. For arguments for and against this, including Isaac Mozeson’s Edenics, see Bodie Hodge’s discussion of language before the time of Moses. Mozeson notes that many Jewish commentators see this one language as Biblical Hebrew. For further information on his view see A Garden of Edenics 2021.
Weekly Bible Reading: Daniel (Audio), Hosea (Audio)
24 Cheshvan, 5782, Chayei Sarah: Parashat Genesis 23:1-25:18; Haftarat 1 Kings 1:1-1:31
Commentaries:
David Pawson, Daniel, Part 46, Hosea, Part 47, Unlocking the Bible
Bible Project, Daniel and Hosea
Jack – Décima
Jim jumps about with wayward Jack.
They think they know the way to go,
but tend to graze where demons grow
who’ll watch them fatten then attack.
The Lord makes sure Joe doesn’t lack.
He’s led to pastures green and pure.
Through evil valleys he’ll endure
when led on paths of righteousness.
With oil anointed, fed, and, yes,
through length of days he’ll dwell secure.
Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “jack” to be used in an A line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC for this week’s challenge. I am thinking of Psalm 23.
Keepsake – Six Sentence Story
Joe tossed the letter into the box not as a keepsake but as one of those things he didn’t have time to sort through at the moment. More than two decades later while cleaning the basement he noticed the box and went through its contents. He found his father’s letter at the bottom. Reading it for the first time he realized his father was not scolding him in spite of their disagreements but rather offering him assistance should he need anything during that tense period when he decided to move away from the family home.
Having a rebellious son now of his own Joe understood what must have been going through his father’s mind. Although he and his family reconciled shortly after his move, it wasn’t until he read his father’s letter that he began wondering just how much of his past was lived under misconceptions of what was actually going on.
Denise offers the prompt word “keepsake” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.
Autumnal Landscapes
Dale offers the prompt “Autumnal Landscapes” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge. These are scenes from last November at Allison Woods if I remember correctly.
Sunday Walk 64 – The Universe Has A Center
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
Genesis 1:14, King James Bible 1769
John Sanford and Christopher Rupe provide evidence that our galaxy is near the center of the universe in a paper at LogosRA. They write, “Astronomical data shows that the universe displays a striking pattern in its arrangement. Not only that, the universe may have a central position and it appears that our galaxy is at or very near it—far from what we would expect from a random, cosmic accident.“
Here is a summary of the evidence offered for that view.
- Redshift Data
Regardless of whether we are in an expanding universe or not the galaxies furthest away from us have a stronger red shift. This is evidence that we are near the center of the universe. Edwin Hubble who discovered this redshift phenomena realized this. However, he found it philosophically intolerable, but not disprovable. Sanford and Rupe remark, “the cosmic redshift phenomenon clearly revolves around our own location, and this when taken at face value indicates we are near the center.“ - Galactic Shells
In 1977 William Tifft discovered that the galaxies were patterned on their redshifts forming concentric spherical shells around our galaxy at the center. - Uniformity of the Cosmic Microwave Background
From all directions we see a uniformity in the cosmic background radiation. Were we not at the center we would not expect to see this uniformity. - Symmetry of the Cosmic Microwave Background
In 2001 the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe found evidence for a cosmic north-south pole and equator centered around our galaxy. - Spatial Distribution of Galaxies
As Sanford and Rupe put it, “galaxies appear to be organized into gigantic web-like structures, and these structures form concentric rings around our own special position“.
On the fourth day of creation God created lights in the firmament for signs. Sanford and Rupe suggest: The universe’s countless galaxies may be designed for no other purpose than to be seen by us in these last days – so that it might be clear to all humanity that “The heavens declare the Glory of God…” (Psalms 19:1)
Weekly Bible Reading: Ezekiel (Audio), Daniel (Audio)
17 Cheshvan, 5782, Vayeira: Parashat Genesis 18:1-22:24; Haftarat 2 Kings 4:1-4:37
Commentaries:
David Pawson, Ezekiel, Part 44, Daniel, Part 45, Unlocking the Bible
Bible Project, Ezekiel (34-48) and Daniel
Poetry, Short Prose and Walking 