Genesis 2001
Genesis 2001 The creation story in an up-to-date version for intelligent minds of the new millennium
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Included also is the background and reasoning behind this completely new concept.
Section I - Why this Book was Written
PREFACE
Over the years I have read, written and collected many quotes, comments, letters, emails, and other writings. These contain: facts, ideas, thoughts and/or theories that make sense to me. The purpose of my talks, discussions and writings is to share with others the my understanding gained from the best and most compelling of these.
Some of my words will please you and may even bring a smile. Some may not be in harmony with your own feelings and beliefs. Some will be about unpopular subjects - those we are reluctant to face. In all situations and methods of communication, I strive to share my concepts and ideas in a flexible, friendly, non-confrontational manner.
I try to be open minded and not to be emotionally bound to rigid positions on most subjects. Many times in life I have reversed my thinking on a subject when new evidence or arguments have tipped the scale from one side to the other. I have also discovered that many situations have more than a few different practical positions that can be held. Sometimes these differing positions have relatively equal positive and negative factors making a certain decision impossible. Nevertheless, a decision sometimes must be made. It is good to remember that not to decide is a decision to abandon the control of a situation to the whims of others. Far to many people do this rather than take a stand one way or the other. You must choose, or be the victim of another’s choosing.
As a scientist and as a Christian I have searched for the common ground of truth that enriches science and religion and found surprising agreement. As one who freely expresses thoughts and opinions on the subject, I have frequently and unwittingly trod on sensitive toes. My own Christian beliefs are deeply rooted and quite strong; guided and molded by truth as I see it. I do not see God as a dour, solemn being, but rather as a jolly one with a profound sense of both love and humor. Were it not so, God would not have let loose on earth a creature as funny, loving, joyful and yet dangerous as man.
This is intended as a thoughtful and serious work presented in an attitude of reconciliation. It is deliberately not confrontational. My purpose in updating the creation story is both honest and reverent. Truth doesn't change. Wisdom reflects current understanding or knowledge of truth! Understanding, belief, concept and explanations do change according to our knowledge and culture. It has been said that God moves in strange and mysterious ways his wonders to perform. I believe I have been given a call to bring a message of genuine Christian perception in this work. For a great many years I have felt driven to share these thoughts and put them down on paper. Doing so has been quite satisfying and left me feeling somewhat more at peace with myself.
A quote from Proverbs 3:13-22 is my biblical guide.
“Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who embrace her; those who lay hold of her will be blessed. By wisdom the LORD laid the earth's foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place; by his knowledge the deeps were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew. My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight; they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck.”
I believe it is unfortunate we are often so polarized by our emotions that we refuse to see the value of some of the views, ideas, proposals and actions of those we oppose, simply because they are different from our own. I try very hard to listen to views that oppose my own and search for those nuggets of value that lie hidden therein. I hope you will find your own truth and share it with others as I have. I dedicate this work to those who are challenged by conflicts between scientific truths and religious beliefs, yet search for the real truths held in common by both.
All my talks and writings are open to your opinions and suggestions. Positive or negative, they are always encouraged. As Peter Abelard said,
“By doubting, we are led to inquire. By inquiring we perceive the truth.”
There is another quote that I treasure. Angela Monet said,
“Those who dance are thought insane by those who can’t hear the music.”
Hopefully, my words may bring a bit of my music to your ears.
PERSONAL BACKGROUND AND BELIEFS
This work should be introduced with some explanation of my personal background, beliefs and life experiences which have shaped my views and concepts as to religion and the Bible.
EARLY FAMILY LIFE
I grew up in a Christian home where religion was part of each day. My parents had very strong beliefs and shared them with my two sisters and me. At the same time, they taught us to be our own persons and think for ourselves with an open mind. We were also taught great respect for the truth and learning. These factors led to lively dinnertime discussions guided by my father. The subject of these discussions covered many topics including: business, politics, religion and family life, were frequently animated and sometimes quite emotional. As we children grew and matured, our words came more freely and we participated more in the discussions. As the youngest, I did a great deal of listening. The educational power of those daily discussions was considerable. Sadly, this activity is practically gone in today's family life. In most homes this valuable tool has been replaced with TV and all its glitzy plastic commercialism.
As a small child I had the opportunity to spend summers on a lake in the country where I learned first hand much about wildlife and the natural world. I was absolutely fascinated by everything around me and hungered to know all the hows, whys, whens and wheres. In the winters I spent many hours deeply engrossed in our books and encyclopedias, searching for more knowledge about everything. Before learning to read I spent hours looking at pictures. One particular set of books, The Books of Knowledge, fascinated me and I pored over them time and time again from cover to cover, devouring everything from how locomotives work, to the distances to the planets and stars, to Alice in Wonderland, to the art treasures of the world.
While I enjoyed school, it was never enough for me. I read many books, particularly about astronomy and animal life. My friends used to call me "the walking encyclopedia." This overpowering thirst to know has never diminished to this day. My growing store of knowledge, from school and other factual, scientific sources, sometimes came into conflict with some of what I was being taught in church and during family dinnertime discussions. This troubled me greatly. The evolution versus creation battle went on in my mind very early in my life and was every bit as heated as the debate in the Scope's trial. It took years of living to resolve that debate for myself and with my father. I feel very good about its final resolution as both sides won.
SCIENCE versus RELIGION
How did both sides win? It is really quite simple and illustrates how easy it could be to solve many science vs. religion questions if the parties could open their minds, swallow their egos and flex their arbitrary positions a bit. All creation vs. evolution comparisons are far from "apples vs. oranges." They're more akin to "apple pie vs. cooking." One is talking about the result, the other about the method. I see no problem with God using "evolution" to "create" life as it is today. I see no problem with God using the "big bang" to "create" the universe as we know it. I do see a problem with present day men clinging to a first century time sequence for historical events that happened long before their births, just because it is so written in the Bible. In fact, I see no conflict between current knowledge and the Bible considering the state of man's knowledge at the time the Bible was written. I do see much confirmation.
I see no reason why persons in religion or science should have anything to fear from truth and if either do they are wrong. To illustrate my point, a great many years ago I was in an adult Sunday school class where the teacher, a minister of considerable intellectual prowess, was beginning a new series. He began at the blackboard where he wrote religion at the top left of the board, science at the top right and superstition in the middle. I immediately raised my hand and objected saying, "I have no idea where you are going with this but the implication is that religion and science are far apart with superstition somewhere in between. I strongly object to this notion!"
A kind and considerate man, the teacher acquiesced. After I changed the board writing religion and science together on the left and superstition on the extreme right he taught the entire course using my new format. To my mind, science is man's search for truth in the physical world and religion is man's search for truth in the spiritual world. I also believe these two worlds are one and the same, the difference between them existing only in the mind of the observer. I saw no valid relationship with either science or religion and superstition. Unfortunately, too many people view superstition and religion as similar since both deal with the supernatural. My view is that the supernatural is merely something natural that we don't understand or which defies our logic. In truth, any enigma could fit this category.
Recently I watched one of the TV ministers preaching to a group of young people on the validity of creationist theory and how evolutionist theory was fraught with inaccuracies and unknowns. How ludicrous, I thought, to use twisted facts and outright lies to teach young people a first century view of reality and with an air of absolute authority. To claim that the earth, indeed the universe, was created as it is today some few thousand years ago, flies in the face of demonstrable facts, common sense and reason. It is understandable in people four thousand years ago who were explaining to their children just who they were and where they came from in the language and knowledge of the time. At that time, you may recall, we also knew the earth was the center of the universe and the sun, moon, planets and stars revolved around us. Fortunately few in the church still hold this antiquated view. While I find this TV minister's views ludicrous and probably even harmful, I see as equally or even more ridiculous, the unbending position of the devout atheist proclaiming that science has proven there is no God. Both are out of touch with reality.
There is an old story about a southern minister who was preaching to his flock about the difference between faith (belief) and knowledge (truth). Addressing the congregation, he said, "Take brother and sister Jones here in the front pew with their three fine children. Sister Jones knows those children are hers. That's knowledge! Brother Jones knows those children are his as well, but that's faith!" Unfortunately, many closed-minded religious zealots think and act as if any knowledge which disagrees with their own personal faith is false. Our knowledge changes as understanding increases and our faith should follow our knowledge closely or serious conflicts can arise. Those atheistic zealots who preach that modern science has proven there is no God, are as misguided as the religious zealots who state the earth was created some six-thousand years ago. They are simply the other side of the same coin. In undeniable fact, there is an order to the universe that demands a universal power with which we learn to adapt or perish.
Our exploding knowledge and technology have not caused the young to turn from religion nearly as much as those in organized religion who cling to ancient words as being precise and in today's language and understanding. Most young people treat the Bible as they do the Greek, Chinese, Roman and Norse myths because they are not worded in the framework of today's knowledge. I have decided to take those old words and rewrite them to reflect current wisdom I will treat the stories as if they happened then and not now. Treat the history as history, the philosophy as philosophy, the facts as facts and update the words to current standards of knowledge and language meaning. I see no sacrilege in this although I am sure some will. To this end, I am rewriting parts of the Bible, bringing it up-to-date while trying to keep the message intact and more understandable to modern, thinking humans. I have started with the creation story in Genesis which for Christians has been the most powerful and controversial source of conflict with science. An open-minded and thoughtful look at this new "creation story" will hopefully extinguish this conflict in the minds and hearts of many readers.
MAN IS JUST ONE CREATURE AMONG MANY
Many people believe that existing Bible versions teach man’s superiority over all other life on the planet. Along with this, they seem to believe it includes the right to use and/or destroy whatever is needed to satisfy man's needs and whims. The original meaning of stewardship, or the responsibility to care for the planet, seems to have been lost in the minds of many. I firmly believe this to be the work of men, in defiance of the God who created life. I hope this work will help put man's horrendous, self-serving, egotistical, superior attitude about himself in proper perspective regarding other life. I find it hard to see God really setting man to rule willfully over all other life on this planet. [Gen 1:26-29] It makes more sense to me for man to be charged with caring for the planet as a benevolent ruler and not "permitted" to willfully destroy the lives, homes and habitats of all other creatures to satisfy the needs of our ever-exploding population. I see the common use of those words, setting man over all creatures, to be the current, self-serving interpretations of men, not the true meaning as God intended. Unless we drastically change this attitude, we will soon be alone on earth with all life forms extinct except those suitable as human food. Even Noah, the first conservationist, knew that would be wrong. Incidently Noah had no dinosaurs on the Ark. Why? Because men wrote and translated the story of Noah and the flood before they knew dinosaurs ever existed.
MAN'S PROBLEM EGO
One verse in the Bible that I think should be changed is "So God said, 'Let us make Man in our own image and likeness.'" I believe it should read "So God said, 'Let us make life in our own image.'" To me, man is just one of God's many creatures. While man may have existed as Homo Sapiens for hundreds of thousands of years, man's use of language, intellect and technology has been quite recent. This technology has lead to the overpopulation threat which has become real and global only within the last few hundred years, all historical. Some view man not as an animal but as a uniquely privileged creature of God or as the highest result of evolution. Bunk! Many insects outnumber him - many animals are bigger, faster, stronger and more beautiful - turtles outlive him, and some Cetaceans may have more intellect. Only with tool use, technology, uncontrolled reproduction and the ability to communicate by written and spoken word, is man superior to other life forms.
I was listening to a sermon shortly after the time when a few whales were trapped in ice near Alaska and a massive effort was made by a large number of people at huge expense to save these whales. The minister expressed indignation at the money and effort spent to save these dumb beasts when so many people were starving or otherwise could use that help. With billions of humans on the earth and only a few thousand of these spectacular creatures left, I thought that effort to be the highest expression of human compassion and caring for this planet. The minister's comments seemed ill-placed. How much is the life of one whale worth, particularly in view of how humans have slaughtered them? I am sure that if whales had torpedoes and nuclear warhead missiles we would treat them with a great deal more respect, probably not love, but certainly respect.
ANTI-EVOLUTION FERVOR - DARWIN AND THE CHURCH
I personally believe the anti-evolution fervor among many Christians is driven not by rational belief but by this monstrous ego that doesn't want to acknowledge man as just another one of God’s creatures, albeit an intelligent one. Even in scientific circles it is very difficult to find those who credit any creature other than man with the power of rational thought or self awareness. These smug human positions fly in the face of observations we make every day of pets and other creatures both wild and domestic. The similarity of the foreleg of a dog, the wing of a bird, the flipper of a seal and the arm of a man is unmistakable. That we are somehow related is obvious. It is likewise obvious that the arm of a Chimpanzee is more like the arm of a human than the foreleg of a horse. It therefore follows that man is more closely related to the Chimpanzee than to the horse. I know also that my son more closely resembles me than an Australian aborigine. Fundamentalist Christians are not the only dogmatic group with many closed-minds. Scientists can be just as unmoving and emotionally attached to a belief or concept. To find ways of reconciliation between these two hard-held positions is an awesome challenge.
MALE - FEMALE CONFLICT
Unfortunately, there is one part of the Bible I feel certain was written by a male chauvinist and which is in serious trouble with current scientific understanding: that is the story of Eve being made out of Adam's rib. At present the best minds on the planet lean toward a "woman" as the first modern "Man" on the planet. In other words, it is most likely the first "Homo Sapiens" was a female whom scientists appropriately call "Eve." I have no doubt but that the early male religious leaders (and some throwbacks even today) would disavow evolution entirely based on this one tiny part of the theory. Their male egos just couldn't handle it. In this work "man" and "men" will refer to the human species, both male and female together, as well as to an individual or group of male humans. In which meaning the words are being used will be obvious from surrounding text.
PLAYING FOLLOW THE FOLLOWER
Many people follow religion as though they are sheep. They don't exercise their minds to believe but let others do their thinking for them without ever questioning. Sadly, they ape the actions and expressions of others rather than doing their own thinking and planning. Some permit charismatic "religious leaders" to guide their thoughts and even their lives. In the extreme, this can result in tragic consequences like the one in Guyana when about 600 people drank cyanide-laced Kool-Aid at the direction of a guy named Jones. Or look at the war and strife all over the world right now. See for yourself how much is caused by ethnic and religious differences carried to extremes by mindless followers. Consider the fundamentalist madrassa schools in many Islamic nations. In these schools children are taught hatred of all non-Muslims. Mullahs and teachers literally brain-wash children into following their edicts blindly and without question. In contrast to the unquestioning person, Jesus himself questioned the church leaders when he was twelve years old. Should we not follow his example?
A COMMENT ABOUT POLITICAL CORRECTNESS
It seems that the new left is substituting political correctness for our old, Biblical morality. It is becoming, in effect, the new morality. To be politically correct, is to pander to and subjugate oneself to the dictates of a few influential, but self-serving politicians and media types who would control our speech to serve their particular agenda. While ostensibly intended to prevent verbal affront to certain groups, it has actually become a cruel reversal, insulting people in those groups by inferring they are somehow less than others and so incapable of dealing with reality they must be protected against any kind of criticism. As in all my writings, there will be zero effort at being politically correct in this book. I most certainly will not stoop to use this tool of weakness and so thrust its condescending indignities on any group. I will, instead, practice courtesy and consideration. Oh how I long for those days when we held dignity, honesty, consideration, courtesy and well crafted sentences as measures of quality and excellence in speech and writing. What a contrast with today’s lies, insults, crass words and muddled phrases supposedly redeemed by being politically correct.
THE BIBLE - BACKGROUND
Many think of the Bible as holy words, an inspired, divine work, the revealed word of God. Whatever you think it to be, I respect your belief with all my heart. We know the written Bible to be very old. Bible scholars believe part of the Old Testament existed as spoken words for centuries before it was written down. The Bible is an assembly of collections of works of philosophy, history, religion and law set down by groups of men for their own purposes, however lofty those purposes may be. For the most part, it is the law, literature and history of the Hebrew peoples of the Jordan river area. Many parts directly contradict other parts when using literal meanings but that merely represents differing views. Many writings and "books" were considered when the current Bible was assembled as a single work.
During the time the Old Testament was written, the law recognized slavery and the ownership of women by their husbands. Travel was by oxcart, wagon or chariot, if you were rich and powerful. Most walked. There were no engines, pants, buttons, socks, zippers or nail clippers. There were no guns or gunpowder hand weapons and a new material, iron, was replacing bronze for swords, plows, arrowheads and axes. Oxen pulled the plows of the well-to-do while poor men pulled their own plows. Horses were ridden only by the military, the wealthy and the elite. Many people of northern Europe, Africa, northern Asia and the Americas were warring tribal groups, still in or just emerging from the stone age. China was the overwhelming power in the Far East and the Americas had several advanced civilizations totally unknown to Europe, Africa and Asia. The entire world outside the Mediterranean area was virtually unknown to the people of the Middle East. The Mediterranean was the center of the then western world and Rome held the sea and most of people around it including Palestine. Even when the Gospels were written many years after the events, little had changed. They were written in the language and understanding of that day and place: first century Roman empire.
While most things in human nature are the same now as they were then, current human knowledge and technology are infinitely different. While we still eat and have emotions, two legs, arms, ears and eyes, we no longer walk long distances, have slavery, or live in tents or mud houses (except in the third world). We have traded swords and arrows for planes and atomic bombs. We have traded clay tablets, papyrus and the stylus for paper, computers and electronic media. We have mostly become a "global village" with instantaneous communication and swift travel. There is very little of the surface of the globe we don't know something about and none we don't affect.
While I believe most of the Bible should remain just as it is, I believe updating some parts to current knowledge would make it far more understandable (and accurate) for modern people. History, literature, law, and all parts that merely report the past should remain unchanged. In this revision of the creation story, I have rewritten the beginning of Genesis into the language of today’s truth. Explanations of natural phenomena and physical realities are updated according to current human knowledge. I also explain my reasoning and my hope for reconciliation between the fundamentalist Christian and scientific points of view. An open mind will facilitate understanding. A closed-mind is, as always, a tool of ignorance in any human endeavor or effort at communication.
NEW WORDS AND DEFINITIONS
Words change meaning with time because of usage and changes in knowledge. Concepts familiar to children today were inconceivable to the best scientific minds only a few hundred years ago. Man’s scientific knowledge and thus, his basis for describing all things, was vastly different at the time of Christ. Man's knowledge and understanding of the universe is exploding and more and more people are comprehending it on an infinitely larger scale. Science, knowledge, truth, religion - all these things should be in a concert of understanding, not discord. Collections of words represent the thoughts of one or more persons, no more and no less and this piece represents the views of one person trying to work within that concert of human understanding. My efforts aim at merging current human knowledge, as I understand it, with human expressions of thousands of years ago.
This new "creation story" is written using currently accepted knowledge as well as theory from several fields of science including astronomy, astrophysics, particle physics, geology, paleontology, anthropology and zoology. I start with Chapter 0 to imply "before the beginning" and to make Chapter 1 coincide more with the NIV Chapter 1. I have tried to word it for general understanding. Some new words and some words from physics and astronomy are defined in the glossary. I believe people of today are better able to understand new scientific concepts than most academicians are willing to accept. Even at the time the Bible was first set down, man and the higher animals knew the effects of what we now call gravity. Since then, we have learned much of the math and physics of gravity, but we're still struggling with exactly what it is and how it relates to other forces. It all depends on just what one believes to be real and what one believes is not. That, of course, is the reader's own choice.
Section II - The New Creation Story
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION OF THE BIBLE
IMPORTANT: The New International Version of the Bible (NIV) is the reference for this work and is quoted extensively. In this creation, all words taken directly from the NIV are printed in italic type. Complete verses using the same numbers as NIV are numbered in italic numbers. All new wording including those parts revised or rearranged, are in regular type.
GENESIS 2001 - The Creation Story Rewritten
Chapter 0
1. Before the beginning there were many unknowns moving toward a point in space-time.
2. All matter was compacted in unknown form from which no light could escape so there was no light. All obeyed the Law which was the Truth which was God.
3. At the beginning, space was formless and empty; darkness was everywhere. All energy/matter passed through a point in space/time. Gravity became infinite and the universe began in a monstrous explosion we call the “Big Bang” as time began according to the present day definition of man.
4. In the beginning was the Truth, and the Truth was with God, and the Truth was God.
5. The Law which was the Truth was with God in the beginning.
6. Through the Law all things were made; without the Law nothing was made that has been made.
7. All occurrences in time, space, energy and matter were according to the Law which was the Truth which was God.
8. Nothing could happen except it was according to the Law which was universal.
9. The first microsecond after the beginning there were gluons and quarks in a plasma only. There were no atoms or molecules, no real matter, only energy. The entire universe was in a space the size of an atom.
10. Gravity, time, energy and exotic particles interacted under the Law creating the universe in the “Big Bang.”
11. And then there were hadrons and other particles moving at phenomenal speeds away from that beginning point.
12. As the universe expanded and cooled, more complex matter condensed out of the plasma until finally hydrogen and a few other atoms formed after about 30 centuries.
13. Turbulences began to form according to the Law and atoms of hydrogen began to gather in huge concentrations, spinning about each other like eddies in a giant stream.
14. Energy was converting into matter according to the Law and the eddies of hydrogen were affected, gathering into increasingly complex structures as the first day of several billion years ended.
15. The hydrogen within the eddies was compressed by gravity-driven shock waves forming billions of matter islands which would become stars as their fusion fires ignited.
16. The eddies of forming stars spiraled into galaxies moving apart from each other as the universe continued expanding.
17. There were countless galaxies each containing countless forming stars and expanding space became peppered with them and the second day of several billion years ended.
18. At this time there was no life or materials from which life could be fashioned.
19. Slowly at first, but with acceleration, concentrations of hydrogen compressed together in smaller and smaller islands generating heat according to the Law.
20. Gravity compressed the hydrogen until the fusion point was reached, igniting fusion fires which began fusing hydrogen into helium and stars were born.
21. Stars of all sizes were born by the billions in the waves of hydrogen that spun in the spiraling galaxies.
22. Still there was no life or molecular materials for living things and the third day of billions of years ended.
23. The largest stars consumed their hydrogen fuel rapidly by fusion into helium according to the Law. The larger the star, the faster the hydrogen fused.
24. There passed many hundreds of millions of years before the hydrogen in a star was completely consumed and fused into helium.
25. When the hydrogen was completely fused into helium, the star collapsed in size and began instantly to fuse helium into boron according to the law. It then stabilized until all the helium was consumed.
26. After tens of millions of years of fusing helium into boron, the helium was exhausted and the star collapsed according to the Law and began fusing boron into carbon.
27. For thousands of years, boron fused into carbon until the boron was exhausted and the star again collapsed according to the Law and began fusing carbon into oxygen.
28. Hundreds of years passed as carbon fused into oxygen until the carbon was exhausted and the star again collapsed according to the Law and began fusing oxygen into silicon.
29. After years of burning oxygen into silicon, the oxygen was exhausted and the star again collapsed according to the Law and began fusing silicon into iron.
30. In just a few days of fusing silicon into iron, the silicon was consumed and the star collapsed catastrophically compressing all atoms to the point where atomic nuclei met and could compress no more.
31. This instant stopping of a catastrophic collapse created a "bounce" shock wave that traveled outward at incredible speed through the inwardly collapsing atomic nuclei.
32. As the shock wave neared the surface of the star, it so disrupted the outer shells that they were blown off into space at fantastic speeds creating the first "super nova" star.
33. The first large stars exploded becoming "super novas" according to their size and age. Subsequently and according to their mass and fusion rate, all large stars would become super novas.
34. The galaxies continued to spin and billions of stars of all sizes were born. The large ones exploded as super novas creating all of the elements in their fiery lives and deaths, including the elements of life.
35. The fourth day of billions of years ended.
Chapter 1
1. Near the outer fringe of one spiral galaxy a small star had formed and gathered around it a flat, thin disk consisting of the debris of exploded giant stars.
2. This debris, or stardust, in the disk consisted of all the elements bound into compounds as they had cooled in the emptiness of space.
3. The disk of stardust rotated about the star according to the Law. The lighter elements and compounds were mostly driven out from close to the star by the force of the star's energy.
4. The stardust and debris in the disk gradually condensed into knots of matter. These knots of matter grew, as the force of their gravity pulled more and more of the debris together until the planets were formed.
5. The third planet out from the star formed from mostly rocky and iron debris. It was heated by the energy of impacts and radioactivity becoming a hot, semi-liquid ball of iron and rock with a thin skin of frozen rock on the surface. Orbiting the planet was a smaller companion of similar composition, but with much less iron.
6. The star will be called the “sun.“ The planet will be called the “earth.” The companion to the planet will be called the “moon.”
7. As time passed, the earth cooled and continued to collect dust and debris from elsewhere in the disk and from outer space by the attraction of gravity. Thus, many new and different compounds were added to those already present.
8. The lightest materials stayed at the surface according to the Law and the heavier ones sank with iron forming the core of the earth.
9. Now the earth had a very thin skin of light elements and compounds including water, ammonia and carbon dioxide as well as small amounts of most of the other light elements and compounds.
10. As the surface of the earth cooled sufficiently, water vapor began to condense and fall to the surface as rain. Over time the rain formed the rivers, lakes and oceans. Still, there was no life and the earth was barren.
11. The rains washed the soluble compounds from the rocks and down the rivers into the oceans making them salty.
12. In time, in warm shallow salty pools, the elements and compounds of life combined according to the Law and the first living things appeared on the earth. These were microscopic creatures that reproduced themselves and organized elements and compounds into the compounds of life from mostly carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.
13. So God said, "Let us make life in our own image and likeness, and let the first day of life begin" as the fifth day of billions of years ended.
14. So God started the creation of life according to the Law. God created simple life out of compounds in the dust of the earth and started it on a path to remake the earth.
15. For three billion years these tiny creatures were the only life, extracting the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and using the sun's energy to combine it with water. In this process they formed complex molecules of organic material, reproduced, evolved, and freed oxygen into the atmosphere.
16. There became single cells including bacteria, algae as the first "plants" and protozoans as the first "animals."
17. Then, about a billion years ago and according to the Law, some of these tiny one-celled creatures began combining together into cooperative groups as successful organisms.
18. The algae gave birth to seaweeds and the protozoans gave birth to metazoans. Multicellular life appeared and became active on the earth.
19. By about 600 million years ago the atmosphere changed as living plant life created more organic compounds from carbon dioxide, water and sunlight. By-product oxygen increased in the air until it became a major proportion.
20. As the environment changed, new and larger life forms evolved, both plant and animal, and the oceans teemed with life including seaweeds, corals, worms and finally, sharks and bony fishes.
21. About 450 million years ago life forms crept out of the sea onto the dry land; plants first and animals soon after.
22. Amphibians evolved from fishes and reptiles evolved from amphibians and there became warm-blooded creatures and all were on the land and in the waters.
23. About two hundred million years ago the largest and most successful land creatures to walk the earth appeared, the dinosaurs.
24. They filled every ecological niche from huge herbivores to tiny insectivores to ferocious carnivores. Some had hard, tough scales. Some had soft feathers. Some were warm-blooded and could live in colder climates.
25. For 150 million years they ruled the earth and then nearly all vanished in the great extinction of 65 million years ago. Only the small, feathered ones survived, evolving into the birds of today.
26. After the great extinction, tiny warm-blooded creatures with fur began evolving into the great diversity of mammals of the present age.
27. These tiny, mole-like mammals, which had survived the great extinction, evolved into many groups, families and species. They move into the ecological niches previously occupied by dinosaurs.
28. There were marsupial and placental mammals including the plant eaters: deer, antelope, cattle, horses, camels and kangaroos - the rodents: rats, mice, rabbits and squirrels - the carnivores: cats, dogs, wolves, wombats and weasels - the omnivores: bears, raccoons and opossums - those that live in the sea called cetaceans - and a diverse family that evolved in the trees known as primates.
29. All were created according to the Law which was God and lived in balance with the change that constantly brought new life forms into being.
30. The adaptable, successful life forms lived unchanged for many generations while the unadaptable soon became extinct.
31. Less than one-in-one-hundred life forms created since life began on this planet are alive today. Most life forms passed out of existence and almost none of those living today were on this earth at the time of the great extinction.
32. One of those, a primate not in existence today, lived in the trees several million years ago and gave birth to a line that would evolve into the great apes of today: the gorilla and the chimpanzee.
33. Another of the same primate group gave birth to a line that would evolve into modern man sometime between two hundred thousand and one hundred thousand years ago.
34. Eve, the very first of Homo Sapiens, appeared somewhere in Africa and her progeny have populated every corner of the earth since that time, replacing all other human species.
35. This then is how God created all the creatures now on the earth through the Law, from the lowliest amoeba to the great blue whale and from tiny bacteria to giant Sequoia trees.
36. And God said, "Let the land produce living forms great and small according to their kinds -- cells and plants and creatures that move along the ground -- creatures that fly in the air and swim in the sea, each according to its kind." And it was so.
37. God made the microscopic life, the fungi and the green plants, each according to their kinds.
38. God made the animals according to their kinds, the creatures that fly and swim and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
39. Then God said, "Let this life we have made in our likeness rule over the earth, the fish and creatures of the sea in their way and the birds and creatures of the air in theirs, the creatures of the land in theirs, over all the earth, let the creatures rule their dominion in their own way, even the creatures that move along the ground."
40. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the earth, each in his own way, the plants, the creatures of the sea, the birds of the air and every living creature that moves on the ground."
41. Then God said, "I give animals every green plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it and other animals as are appropriate for food.
42. To all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground-- everything that has the breath of life in it-- I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
43. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning-- the sixth day of billions of years.
Chapter 2
1. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
2. By the seventh day of billions of years God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.
3. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
4. This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens–
5. and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground,
6. but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground– and lakes and oceans formed.
7. The Lord God created all the multitude of life forms from the dust of the earth that was truly stardust by and according to the Law which was the truth. All this was done by the process to be named by man as evolution.
8. As a part of this process, the LORD God formed the species, Man from the stardust of the ground and breathed into the nostrils of this new species the breath of life according to the Law and through all preceding life forms, and Man became a new creature on the earth.
9. Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there God put Man.
10. And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground-- trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
11. A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters.
12. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.
13. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.)
14. The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.
15. The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
16. The LORD God took Eve, the first of modern Man and put her in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
17. And the LORD God commanded Eve, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;
18. but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
19. The LORD God said, "It is not good for Eve to be alone. I will find an equal companion suitable for her."
20. So among the people of Eve’s parent's kind God found a male attractive to Eve and the male's eyes saw great beauty in Eve.
21. The male called Adam said, "This is now my love, my companion and my strength in life; she shall be called `woman,' for she would be the mother of Man."
22. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
23. Thus became the female, Eve, and the male, Adam, and together they and their progeny would be Man.
24. And God said, "I set Man aside and give him alone the stewardship and responsibility for all life on earth, charging him with reason and understanding so he can learn how to best care for my world and my life forms."
25. Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air through evolution. He brought them to Eve and Adam to see what they would name them; and whatever they called each living creature, that was its name.
26. So they gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.
27. The man and his wife were both naked the same as all other life forms, and they felt no shame.
Section III - Supplementary Information
Science and Religion - a Reconciliation
The following link is to an excerpt from a lecture and discussion the author holds frequently about the things current knowledge and science have in common with religious beliefs. In the lecture he asks the questions: Was the “Big Bang” God’s way of creating the universe? Is evolution his method of creating man? Did you know man is truly made of “dust” of the earth, and why that dust is actually, “star dust.” The goal of this lecture is reconciliation and thoughtful resolution of some of the conflicts between religion and science.
CLICK here to view the lecture.
Some Important Early Men of Religion and Science
Information about a few of the men who formed and reformed our views of the universe and were often at odds with religious dogma and church leaders who didn’t want that dogma to change. This biographical information was downloaded from the Internet, copied and printed for your enlightenment on the history of the conflicts between science and Religion and the results of those conflicts.
Claudius Ptolemaeus - 87 - 150
Ptolemy (aka Claudius Ptolemaeus, Ptolomaeus, Klaudios Ptolemaios, Ptolemeus) lived in Alexandria, Egypt. We know very little of Ptolemy's life, including his birth and death dates. Various sources report different years, however, the first observation made by Ptolemy which we can date exactly was on 26 March 127 while the last was on 2 February 141. Some experts believe his life spanned the years 87 - 150.
We get a few clues about him from his name, Claudius Ptolemy, which is a mixture of the Greek Egyptian 'Ptolemy' and the Roman 'Claudius'. This seems to indicate that he was descended from a Greek family living in Egypt and that he was also a citizen of Rome. This could only have happened as a result of a Roman emperor rewarding one of Ptolemy's ancestors with this favor. The Ptolemy family were Greeks and among the family were a number of Egyptian rulers. Cleopatra was a Ptolemy.
Ptolemy was an astronomer, mathematician and geographer. He classified the Greek geocentric view of the universe, and calculated the apparent motions of the planets, as they were known in his time by synthesizing and extending Hipparchus's system of epicycles and eccentric circles to explain his geocentric theory of the solar system. He used at least 80 epicycles to explain the motions of the Sun, the Moon, and the five planets known in his time. He proposed the heavens were made up of rotating concentric crystal spheres nestled in each other like bowls. The stars were embedded in the outer sphere, while inner spheres held the sun, moon and planets. This theory of celestial spheres, with the earth as the center of the universe, was accepted for some 1500 years and was adopted by the early church. Center most in this cosmology was the Earth. The sublunary sphere was comprised of the four elements (earth, water, fire, and air). Next, followed the spheres of the 7 planets (which included the sun and the moon). After these came the Circle of the Fixed Stars (including the signs of the Zodiac). Outermost in this scheme was the Primum Mobile, sometimes divided into three spheres of the Crystalline Heaven, the First Moveable, and the Empyrean, or highest heaven.
While not scientifically supportable, this cosmology was eagerly embraced and adapted to fit Medieval theology. The Prime Mover became the Christian God, the outermost sphere became heaven, and the earth was the center of God's attention. The spheres, moved by the Prime Mover, existed and rotated in perfect harmony, creating the “music of the spheres.” Man, habitant of the sublunary sphere which was corruptible since Adam's fall, could no longer hear this music. This world view gave rise to further Medieval philosophical explanations of man's place in the universe, such as the concept of corresponding plains, and the idea of the Great Chain of Being, so prominent in Boethius and Chaucer, for example. Near the end of the middle ages, navigators, calculating accurate positions using celestial objects, began finding flaws in the theory.
This system came to be called the Ptolemaic System and was the center of astronomical beliefs for nearly a millennium and a half. It predicted the positions of the planets accurately enough for naked-eye observations.
Ptolemy described his system in his book, Almagest (also known as Mathematical Syntaxis). It was a thirteen book mathematical explanation of astronomy, containing a wide variety of information. He also included a star catalog that contained 48 constellations, all with the same names still in use today.
The Ptolemaic System was the accepted wisdom until the Polish scholar Copernicus proposed a heliocentric view in 1543. In fairness, Ptolemy's system is actually more accurate than Copernicus's. The heliocentric calculations for the movement of planets does not improve on Ptolemy's until Kepler's Laws were added. Some people also doubt that Ptolemy truly believed his own system, rather he merely used it as a method of calculating positions.
Not just an astronomer, Ptolemy was very important in the history of geography and cartography. He was well aware that the Earth is a sphere. His is the first known projection of the sphere onto a plane. His work, “Geography,” remained the principal work on the subject until the time of Columbus. It was amazingly accurate for the time, but had Asia extending much too far east. This may have been a deciding factor in Columbus's decision to sail west for the Indies.
By the 17th century, the Copernican and Galilean models gained ground, and replaced this world view. It was still an attractive philosophical construction, and one that persisted for a long time in the collective Renaissance consciousness. Milton, who chose to use the Ptolemaic cosmology for his Paradise Lost, was not alone in Renaissance literature to hold on to the Medieval world view, if not in scientific earnest, as a poetical conceit.
Nicolas Copernicus - (1473-1543)
Copernicus is said to be the founder of modern astronomy. He was born in Poland, and eventually was sent off to Cracow University, there to study mathematics and optics; at Bologna, canon law. Returning from his studies in Italy, Copernicus, through the influence of his uncle, was appointed as a canon in the cathedral of Frauenburg where he spent a sheltered and academic life for the rest of his days. Because of his clerical position, Copernicus moved in the highest circles of power; but a student he remained. For relaxation Copernicus painted and translated Greek poetry into Latin. His interest in astronomy gradually grew to be one in which he had a primary interest. His investigations were carried on quietly and alone, without help or consultation. He made his celestial observations from a turret situated on the protective wall around the cathedral. These observations were made "bare eyeball," so to speak, since a hundred more years were to pass before the invention of the telescope. In 1530, Copernicus completed and gave to the world his great work De Revolutionibus, which asserted that the earth rotated on its axis once daily and traveled around the sun once yearly: a fantastic concept for the times. Up to the time of Copernicus the thinkers of the western world believed in the Ptolemiac theory that the universe was a closed space bounded by a spherical envelope beyond which there was nothing. Claudius Ptolemy, an Egyptian living in Alexandria, at about 150 A.D., gathered and organized the thoughts of the earlier thinkers. (It is to be noted that one of the ancient Greek astronomers, Aristarchus, did have ideas similar to those more fully developed by Copernicus, but they were rejected in favor of the geocentric or earth-centered scheme espoused by the likes of Pythagoras and Aristotle.) Ptolemy's findings were that the earth was a fixed, inert, immovable mass, located at the center of the universe, and all celestial bodies, including the sun and the fixed stars, revolved around it. It was a theory that appealed to human nature. It fit with the casual observations that a person might want to make in the field; and second, it fed man's ego.
Copernicus was in no hurry to publish his theory, though parts of his work were circulated among a few of the astronomers that were giving the matter some thought; indeed, Copernicus' work might not have ever reached the printing press if it had not been for a young man who sought out the master in 1539. George Rheticus was a 25 year old German mathematics professor who was attracted to the 66 year old cleric, having read one of his papers. Intending to spend a few weeks with Copernicus, Rheticus ended up staying as a house guest for two years, so fascinated was he with Copernicus and his theories. Now, up to this time, Copernicus was reluctant to publish, -- not so much that he was concerned with what the church might say about his novel theory (De Revolutionibus was placed on the Index in 1616 and only removed in 1835), but rather because he was a perfectionist and he never thought, even after working on it for thirty years, that his complete work was ready, -- there were, as far as Copernicus was concerned, observations to be checked and rechecked.
(Interestingly, Copernicus' original manuscript, lost to the world for 300 years, was located in Prague in the middle of the 19th century; it shows Copernicus' pen was, it would appear, continually in motion with revision after revision; all in Latin as was the vogue for scholarly writings in those days.)
Copernicus died in 1543 and was never to know what a stir his work had caused. It went against the philosophical and religious beliefs that had been held during the medieval times. Copernicus' theories might well lead men to think that they are simply part of nature and not superior to it and that ran counter to the theories of the politically powerful churchmen of the time.
Two other Italian scientists of the time, Galileo and Bruno, embraced the Copernican theory unreservedly and as a result suffered much personal injury at the hands of the powerful church inquisitors. Giordano Bruno had the audacity to even go beyond Copernicus, and dared to suggest that space was boundless and the sun was and its planets were but one of any number of similar systems: Why! -- there even might be other inhabited worlds with rational beings equal or possibly superior to ourselves. For such blasphemy, Bruno was tried before the Inquisition, condemned and burned at the stake in 1600. Galileo was brought forward in 1633, and, there, in front of his "betters," he was, under the threat of torture and death, forced to his knees to renounce all belief in Copernican theories, and was thereafter sentenced to house arrest for the remainder of his days.
The most important aspect of Copernicus' work is that it forever changed the place of man in the cosmos. No longer could man legitimately think his significance greater than his fellow creatures, a position assigned immodestly to him by the theologians.
"Of all discoveries and opinions, none may have exerted a greater effect on the human spirit than the doctrine of Copernicus. The world had scarcely become known as round and complete in itself when it was asked to waive the tremendous privilege of being the center of the universe. Never, perhaps, was a greater demand made on mankind - for by this admission so many things vanished in mist and smoke! What became of our Eden, our world of innocence, piety and poetry; the testimony of the senses; the conviction of a poetic - religious faith? No wonder his contemporaries did not wish to let all this go and offered every possible resistance to a doctrine which in its converts authorized and demanded a freedom of view and greatness of thought so far unknown, indeed not even dreamed of." [Goethe.]
Martin Luther - 1483-1546
Martin Luther, a professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg, was stirred to action by the campaign for dispensing indulgences being launched under Johann Tetzel in Germany. He protested. On October 31, 1517, he posted his ninety-five theses on the door of the castle church at Wittenberg, inviting debate on matters of practice and doctrine. Luther's action was not as yet a revolt against the church but a movement for reform within. It was, however, much more than an objection to the money-grabbing and secular policies of the clergy. Luther had already become convinced that in certain matters of doctrine the purity of the ancient church had been perverted by self-seeking popes and clergy.
His disagreement with the church on matters of doctrine soon became apparent. In 1519 Luther, in a dispute with Johann Eck, openly espoused doctrines that were implicit in his theses, and he denied the authority of the church in religious matters. In 1520 the pope issued a Bull of Excommunication against Luther and the Holy Roman emperor, Charles V, thundered against the rebel. Luther defied them, publicly burned the Bull of Excommunication, and issued vigorous pamphlets assailing the papacy and the doctrine of the sacraments. The breach was thus made in 1521, and the meeting of the Diet of Worms not only failed to produce a compromise, but forced many doubters into the camp of the rebels. Luther was declared an outlaw, but the threat was empty. Under the protection of the powerful Frederick III, elector of Saxony, he was spirited off to the safety of the Wartburg. Luther’s intent was not to split from the church, but merely to bring about change. It would be hundreds of years before Rome listened to the message
Galileo Galilei - 1564 - 1642
Galilei was born in Pisa in 1564, the son of Vincenzo Galilei, well known for his studies of music, and Giulia Ammannati. He studied at Pisa, where he later held the chair in mathematics from 1589 - 1592. He was then appointed to the chair of mathematics at the University of Padua, where he remained until 1610. During these years he carried out studies and experiments in mechanics, and also built a thermoscope. He devised and constructed a geometrical and military compass and wrote a handbook which describes how to use this instrument.
In 1594 he obtained the patent for a machine to raise water levels. He invented the microscope, and built a telescope with which he made celestial observations including the spectacular discovery of the satellites of Jupiter. In 1610 he was nominated the foremost Mathematician of the University of Pisa and given the title of mathematician to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. He studied Saturn and observed the phases of Venus.
In 1611 he went to Rome. He became a member of the Accademia dei Lincei and observed sunspots. In 1612 he began to encounter serious opposition to his theory of the motion of the earth that he taught after Copernicus. In 1614, from the pulpit of Santa Maria Novella, Father Tommaso Caccini denounced the opinions of Galileo on the motion of the Earth, judging them to be erroneous. Galileo, therefore, went to Rome, where he defended himself against charges that had been made against him but, in 1616, he was admonished by Cardinal Bellarmino and told that he could not defend Copernican astronomy because it went against the doctrine of the Church.
In 1622 he wrote the Saggiatore (The Assayer) which was approved and published in 1623. In 1630 he returned to Rome to obtain the right to publish his Dialogue on the two chief world systems which was eventually published in Florence in 1632. In October of 1632 he was summoned to Rome by the Holy Office. The tribunal passed a sentence condemning him and compelled Galileo to solemnly abjure his theory. He was sent to exile in Siena and finally, in December of 1633, he was allowed to retire to his villa in Arcetri, the Gioiello. His health condition was steadily declining, - by 1638 he was completely blind, and also by now bereft of the life-long support of his daughter, Sister Maria Celeste, who died in 1634. Galileo died in Arcetri on 8 January 1642.
NOTE: The sections on Kepler and Brahe are by William L. Drennon - Mar 14, 1997. Bill is a physics teacher at Central Valley Christian High School - Visalia, CA USA.
In his article Bill adds, “Well, the laws are by Johannes Kepler!”
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
Halfway through the thirteenth century, after Greek manuscripts of Arabic science had been translated into Latin for study in European universities, knowledge of astronomy had spread throughout Europe. The Renaissance blossomed in the next two centuries, ushering in a new era in picturing the physical world, ending the dominance of ecclesiastical concerns. The reformation had challenged the authority of church hierarchy with "Sola Scriptura," (i.e., Only the Scriptures). In the atmosphere of this new intellectual freedom of thought, Copernicus came up with a simplified geometrical system of looking at the universe.
When the the Renaissance and the Reformation were coming to an end in the years prior to 1600, Copernicus's work was read by a few astronomers who recognized the computational advantages of the Copernican system. However, they were not willing to take seriously its philosophical and physical implications.
Enter Johannes Kepler! Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), the German assistant and successor to Tycho Brahe, was a Copernican from his twenties on, and was destined to bring about acceptance of the heliocentric concept. That is, he believed the sun rather than the earth was the center of the planetary system.
The life-long question that concerned Kepler was the nature of the timing and motion of the celestial machinery, for he was convinced that simple mathematical relations existed that could make sense of the planetary system. He saw the planetary system operating according to its own set of mathematical laws which was quite a radical idea for those times.
Kepler was a mathematician rather than an observer. He was supplied with years of impeccable data by the elder Tycho Brahe who had carefully marked the position of Mars in relationship to the rest of the celestial map. Kepler rejected many ideas, such as circular orbits, because they did not fit Brahe's observations. In 1609, Johannes Kepler finally published his first two laws of planetary motion in a book entitled New Astronomy. A decade later (1619), his third law was published in The Harmonies of the World.
"By the study of the orbit of Mars, we must either arrive at the secrets of astronomy or forever remain in ignorance of them." - Johannes Kepler. Through these works, Kepler can be seen in many respects to mark the beginnings of what we call modern science. Kepler developed his empirical laws from Brahe's data on Mars. However, in what proved to be a revolutionary step, Kepler then generalized saying that his laws applied to all the planets, including the Earth, without ever actually verifying that this was indeed true. Now we now know, they even apply to comets. Though Kepler may not have dreamed of such things, the generalization of his laws predict and explain the motion of satelites orbiting the earth. The expectation that the mathematical laws of science are universal is so readily accepted in our time that it is difficult to imagine just how important to science Kepler's actions were.
Kepler's work put to rest any notion that planets move in perfectly circular orbits because nature has decreed that the heavenly bodies must show perfection in their movements. He also put to rest in the scientific community an ancient idea that there exists a mystical complex motion of planets that somehow governs our ways. Although Kepler never knew why planets move by the empirical relationships articulated in his three laws, he diligently sought a cause of which these three laws were the effect. As he stated, "I am much occupied with the investigation of physical causes. My aim in this is to show that the celestial machine is ... rather a clockwork...." Kepler vaguely sensed that bodies have a natural "magnetic" affinity for each other and guessed that the Sun has an attractive force. However, it remained for Newton, half a century later, to formulate a unified theory of motion invoking gravity as the cause of planetary motion.
Kepler's laws: Though originally stated to describe the motion of planets around the sun, Kepler's Laws also apply to comets.
LAW 1: The orbit of a planet/comet about the Sun is an ellipse with the Sun's center of mass at one focus.
LAW 2: A line joining a planet/comet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas in equal intervals of time.
LAW 3: The squares of the periods of the planets are proportional to the cubes of their semimajor axes.
Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)
Without the diligent work of Tycho Brahe, Kepler would not have had the accurate data of Mars from which he derived his famous three laws.
Appearing at an opportune time, the right man for the next advance in astronomy was Danish nobleman-astronomer Tycho Brahe. With the financial might of King Frederick II, Brahe constructed an observatory on the island of Hveen, about 32 km northeast of Copenhagen, in 1582. With the most accurate pretelescopic observing instruments ever designed, Brahe determined positions with a precision of 1 minute of arc, far surpassing any previous measurements. He was the first to observe and record the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars with regularity. In the past, this was done haphazardly, at best. He faithfully recorded their movements over many years, making them available for future study.
Brahe had reservations about adopting the heliocentric theory of Copernicus. He accepted the idea that the five known planets revolved around the Sun, but not the idea that the earth moved. It was far too heavy and sluggish. The earth's motion would be felt, he argued. Most important to Brahe, a moving Earth was contrary to scriptural belief. In addition, he was unable to detect the Earth's orbital motion by parallactic shifts in the positions of the brighter stars. Thus, the cosmological system of Brahe was a complex compromise: The planets orbited the Sun; the Sun and Moon, in turn, orbited a fixed Earth. It was a mathematical nightmare! There was relatively little interest in Brahe's cosmology, and it was never seriously considered.
Brahe's great contribution in science came not from his ideas but from the persistance, consistance, and accuracy with which he recorded the position of the planet, Mars. From this accurate taking of data, Kepler could derive his famous laws.
Author William L. Drennon’s Notes:
Kepler was fortunate. His sound faith in a heliocentric solar system with geometric simplicity proved correct. He was able to explain the motion of all orbiting bodies through the manipulation of data from only one (Mars). He never tested his hypothesis on the other planets, but we now know that it holds true for all orbiting bodies.
Brahe was less fortunate in his theories. Brahe's beliefs are a classic case where wrong conclusions can be obtained from accurate data. In his case, poor theology prevented good science. There is a lesson to learn here. However, one must also be careful not to take that warning to the extreme. One could also corrupt sound theology with poor science
Sir Isaac Newton - 1643-1727
Isaac Newton's life can be divided into three quite distinct periods. The first is his boyhood days from 1643 up to his appointment to a chair in 1669. The second period from 1669 to 1687 was the highly productive period in which he was Lucasian professor at Cambridge. The third period (nearly as long as the other two combined) saw Newton as a highly paid government official in London with little further interest in mathematical research.
Isaac Newton was born in the manor house of Woolsthorpe, near Grantham in Lincolnshire. Although by the calendar in use at the time of his birth, he was born on Christmas Day 1642. The date of 4 January 1643 is used in this biography which is the "corrected" Gregorian calendar date bringing it into line with our present calendar. (The Gregorian calendar was not adopted in England until 1752.) Isaac Newton came from a family of farmers but never knew his father, also named Isaac Newton, who died in October 1642, three months before his son was born. Although Isaac's father owned property and animals which made him quite a wealthy man, he was completely uneducated and could not sign his own name.
It would be easy to think that Newton's talent began to emerge on the arrival of Barrow to the Lucasian chair at Cambridge in 1663 when he became a Fellow at Trinity College. Certainly the date matches the beginnings of Newton's deep mathematical studies. However, it would appear that the 1663 date is merely a coincidence and that it was only some years later that Barrow recognized the mathematical genius among his students.
Despite some evidence that his progress had not been particularly good, Newton was elected a scholar on 28 April 1664 and received his bachelor's degree in April 1665. It would appear that his scientific genius had still not emerged, but it did so suddenly when the plague closed the University in the summer of 1665 and he had to return to Lincolnshire. There, in a period of less than two years, while Newton was still under 25 years old, he began revolutionary advances in mathematics, optics, physics, and astronomy.
While Newton remained at home, he laid the foundations for differential and integral calculus, several years before its independent discovery by Leibniz. The 'method of fluxions', as he termed it, was based on his crucial insight that the integration of a function is merely the inverse procedure to differentiating it. Taking differentiation as the basic operation, Newton produced simple analytical methods that unified many separate techniques previously developed to solve apparently unrelated problems such as finding areas, tangents, the lengths of curves and the maxima and minima of functions. Newton's De Methodis Serierum et Fluxionum was written in 1671 but Newton failed to get it published and it did not appear in print until John Colson produced an English translation in 1736.
When the University of Cambridge reopened after the plague in 1667, Newton put himself forward as a candidate for a fellowship. In October he was elected to a minor fellowship at Trinity College but, after being awarded his Master's Degree, he was elected to a major fellowship in July 1668 which allowed him to dine at the Fellows' Table. In July 1669 Barrow tried to ensure that Newton's mathematical achievements became known to the world.
A modern man of science speaks
In some of today’s views on the subject, the physicist Paul Davies seems to feel that the concept of a Creator and the concepts of Science are not irreconcilable. However, religious dogma and science will always be in opposition as long as the dogma remains unchanged in the face of knowledge and truths which differ from that dogma.
Davies says, “Many scientists are finding evidence that the Universe could not have been unplanned. It will be fascinating to watch to see how far this trend can take us. We seem to have come a long way since Giodorno Bruno was burned at the stake in February of 1600 for believing there may be other solar systems, but the journey may still be near its beginning and we certainly have so very far to go. Many an example of physics construed as witchcraft has done much damage. The Catholic Church refused to allow Spanish sailors to use the compass because it was believed the compass received its powers from the Occult. We really shouldn't laugh at the stupidity of this. Now Religion says belief in extraterrestrials is demonic. The logical choice is to believe in the possibility of other beings from other star systems. Real creatures, not demons. Besides, we have enough “demons” currently running amok on the earth.
The simplistic scientist who denies the existence of God and ridicules believers of all faiths, is the scientific equivalent of the strictly fundamentalist Christian who ridicules all who don’t share his specific beliefs. Both have mostly closed-minds which deny possibilities even a wee bit beyond their comprehension. They totally and almost without thinking, reject any new information not within their strictly and artificially set limits. They are victims of an unreasoning belief that totally ignores the possibility of anything outside the realm of their particular reality.”
GLOSSARY
Some terms are defined in this work somewhat more specifically than usual to prevent misinterpretation. These definitions apply to the use of the word in this work.
ALGAE - Single celled green life that uses sunlight to create organic compounds from water and carbon dioxide.
ANTHROPOLOGY - Science dealing with the physical and cultural development of mankind.
ASTROPHYSICS - Science of physics as applied to all heavenly bodies.
ASTRONOMY - The study and science dealing with all heavenly bodies as to structure, size, distance, relative positions, courses through space and related phenomena.
BACTERIA - Microscopic, one-celled life forms found in nearly all environments on the earth which cause fermentation, nitrogen fixation, decay of organic matter and many diseases.
BIG BANG - Name of the currently accepted theory of the start of the known universe. Result of extrapolating backwards the known movements of galaxies which are all moving apart from each other as if part of a gigantic explosion.
BORON - The fourth of the ninety-two naturally occurring elements on the periodic table of the elements. It contains four protons, four to seven neutrons and four electrons.
CARBON - The eighth element on the periodic table containing eight protons, eight to ten neutrons and eight electrons.
CARBON DIOXIDE - Compound with molecules made up of one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms. Thought to be a major component of the earth's primordial atmosphere.
CETACEAN - The name for a family of fully aquatic mammals which include whales and dolphins.
COMPOUND - (chemical) Chemical made up of identical molecules containing more than one element. Carbon dioxide is a compound. Oxygen is an element.
CONSERVATION - (specific) The practice of saving natural habitat, life and wilderness as opposed to development for human use only.
CONSERVATIONIST - one who actively supports and promotes conservation.
CREATION - (Biblical) The creation of all things, including man.
CREATIONIST - One who espouses the biblical account of creation literally, particularly as it applies to the creation of Man in God's image as written in the Bible. Specifically one who believes the theory of evolution to be wrong and in conflict with the literal creation story in the accepted versions of the Bible.
ELEMENT - any substance that cannot be broken down into other substances. Material made up of one kind of atoms. Examples are, hydrogen, oxygen and iron.
ENERGY/MATTER - All things in the universe are either energy or matter. Energy such as light and matter as mass are convertible by the formula e = mc2 where e = energy, m = the mass and c is the velocity of light.
EVOLUTION - The process by which life forms change gradually over time into new and differing life forms as originally proposed by Charles Darwin in "Origin of Species." Did God use this process to create all life on the earth, including Man? The theory of evolution certainly does not deny the hand of God.
EVOLUTIONIST - One who believes the theory of evolution is valid and so disagrees with the literal creation story from the Bible. The principal antagonist of creationists. Importantly, it is the process of the creation of life, including Man, that is the subject of both arguments. Either process would still have been God’s work.
EXOTIC PARTICLES - Sub-atomic particles generated by high energy collisions, usually in particle accelerators which rarely, if ever, exist in the natural state on earth.
EXTINCT - No longer in existence. Any species that no longer exists alive on earth is said to be extinct.
FUSION - Combination of two or more things into one; usually irreversible. In nuclear physics, the uniting of two atomic nuclei into one new nucleus releasing large amounts of energy as in the fusion of hydrogen into helium.
GALAXY - Massive collections of stars held together by gravity. There are several types including: spiral, elliptical, spherical and irregular according to their shapes. Our Solar System lies near the edge of a spiral galaxy which we see as the Milky Way.
GEOLOGY - The science that deals with the structure of the earth and its physical changes, especially as recorded in rocks.
GLUON - A theoretical particle that is a component in protons and neutrons. Gluons are thought to hold quarks together.
HABITAT - The region where specific plants and/or animals can live. Specifically natural habitat as opposed to habitat modified for man's use where wild creatures and plants can no longer survive.
HADRONS - Basic particles which constitute most of the mass of normal matter. They include: protons, neutrons and pions.
HELIUM - The second element in the periodic table. Helium atoms consist of two electrons, two protons and most commonly two neutrons.
HOMO SAPIENS - The human species of the order of primates; Man.
HUMAN - Pertaining to mankind. Having the attributes of or being a man or woman.
HYDROGEN - The first and simplest element consisting of a single electron and a single proton. Most hydrogen atoms have no neutrons. With a single neutron, hydrogen is called deuterium. With two neutrons, hydrogen is called tritium.
INDULGENCES - In theological language the word is sometimes employed in its primary sense to signify the kindness and mercy of God. But in the special sense in which it is here considered, an indulgence is a remission of the temporal punishment due to sin, the guilt of which has been forgiven. Among the equivalent terms used in antiquity were pax, remissio, donatio and condonatio.
IRON - The sixty-fourth element in the periodic table and the commonest metal.
MAMMALS - One of the five basic vertebrates. Mammals are warm-blooded, have hair or fur and give birth to live young which they suckle and rear.
MARSUPIAL - An order of mammals which carry their young in a pouch as opposed to placental mammals which carry their young inside the body. Kangaroos and opossums are examples.
METAZOA - Small, usually microscopic multi-celled animals.
MICROSECOND - One millionth of a second.
MILKY WAY - The spiral galaxy wherein our Solar System resides.
NANOSECOND - One billionth of a second.
NOVA - A type of star which to the eye appears suddenly because of a dramatic increase in brightness, hence "nova" or new.
ORGANIC - Any thing or substance that is now or was once part of living matter. Compounds made up of hydrogen, carbon and oxygen whether natural or synthetic which are similar in structure to living materials.
OXYGEN - The 16th element in the periodic table. A gas which constitutes about 21% of the air we breath. One of the "life" elements.
PALEONTOLOGY - The science and study of all kinds of fossil records and remains.
PARTICLE PHYSICS - That special field of physics dealing with subatomic particles and energy.
PLACENTAL - Mammals which carry their young inside their bodies attached to a placenta until the fully formed young are born.
PLASMA - Specifically a state of matter where all atoms are broken down into particles and energy, usually at extremely high temperature.
PRIMATE - An order of placental mammals with stereoscopic forward vision, grasping hands, and large, highly developed brains. Lemurs, monkeys, apes and man are all primates.
PROTOZOA - The simplest animals consisting of a single cell. They reproduce by cell division.
QUARK - A theoretical, sub-nuclear particle. A component of hadrons. A proton consists of two "up" quarks and a "down" quark. A neutron consists of an "up" quark and two "down" quarks. Gluons bind the quarks together.
RELIGION - A system of faith, beliefs or worship. A spiritual understanding, way of life or science.
SCIENCE - Systematized knowledge and truth, acquired by study and research and according to natural laws. Can be general or as applied to a single field such as the "science" of physics.
SILICON - The 32nd element in the periodic table and one of the commonest. Silicon is the major element in rocks and sand.
SOLUBLE - Can be dissolved in a liquid, usually water. Salt is said to be "soluble" in water.
SPACE - Specifically the continuous extension or whole extent of the universe within which all matter, energy and bodies exist. The stars are in "space."
SUPER NOVA - An extremely brilliant and powerful stellar explosion caused by the disruption of a large star when it collapses after consuming most of its nuclear fuel. They are extremely rare and happen hundreds of years apart among the many billions of stars in our galaxy. They are so energetic that they can be seen in other galaxies, sometimes outshining the entire galaxy. The "star in the east" of the Bible, Matthew 2:2, is thought, by some, to have been a "super nova."
SUPERSTITION - Belief in supernatural things, happenings and beings, usually evil and generally not of God. Belief in omens and signs.
ZOOLOGY - The science and study of animal life.
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posted by HoJo at 11:59 AM
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