Necessity of a revelation of creation 3 Getting understanding by Word of God 1

The God of order who planned everything does not yet look at the world which would be like He has planned it. We should know that this world is not yet according to the wishes of the Divine Creator.

Their are thousands of artworks created in the art world depicting St Paul. This painting was created by the famous artist called Rembrandt. It hangs on the walls of the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is worth reminding ourselves that this world is not as it should be. The Bible describes how suffering entered the world as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s sin. The apostle Paul says that “creation was subjected to futility” (Romans 8:20), and we see this “futility” in the world around us.

Rom 8:18-23 NSB  I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us.  (19)  For the earnest expectation of the creation is waiting for the manifestation (revelation) (disclosure) of the sons of God.  (20)  For the creation was subject to corruption, not by it’s own will but by reason of the one who subjected it on the basis of hope.  (21)  The creation will also be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.  (22)  For we know that the whole creation groans and is in pain together until now.  (23)  We also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption and the release from our bodies by ransom.

2Co 4:17-18 NSB  Our light affliction is for the moment. It works more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory for us.  (18)  We do not look at the things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen. For the things that are seen are temporal (for a season). But the things that are not seen are eternal.

People do not all live to ripe old age, but some are cut off prematurely through disease or accident, others loose their life by accident. The many tragedies we may witness in our life are reminders that the world is not as God originally intended – it is a world separated from God by sin. We also can see that lots of bad things happen because the people did not live according the rules of God, not respecting others or not respecting the laws of nature.

As long as we live in this world and with this world system, not having the theocracy set up which God has prepared for the world, those who believe in God and take His Words for granted, there is hope. The prosecutor of the first followers of Christ, got a shock and had his eyes opened. As a devote Jew Saul knew the Word of God but did first not see the light because he wanted to keep strongly to the traditions and the Jewish teaching by which he was grown up. When the sent one from God, the son of man Jeshua (Jesus Christ) opened his eyes, Paul came to understand that God subjected the world to futility “in hope”, because there will come a day when the world will be delivered corruption and restored to the paradise that God intended (Romans 8:20-21).

The momentary and light affliction of ours is working out for us an eternal weight of glory, great beyond expression, while we are aiming not at things seen, but at things unseen; for the things seen are temporary, but the things unseen are eternal. Lots of people get blinded to day by all those modern gadgets which seem to enliven their circumstances. Lots of people do think they can gain lots of friends of social media which would make them so much more special. How are they mislead! Lots of people are trying to build themselves a super world which they loose as soon as they die. They do not see that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be set against that glory which is about to be revealed for us. (Romans 8:18)

Lots of them do not hear the words God gave the world. After the fall the God of love did not abandon his people. He also understand the weaknesses of man and did not mind His own son even crying unto Him why he would have abandoned him (Jeshua).

Mat 27:45-46 NSB  Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.  (46)  About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, »Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?« Which (translated) means: »My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?«

Mar 15:33-34 NSB  It was the sixth hour and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.  (34)  At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying: »Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?« Interpreted it means, »My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?«

Jeshua who came down from heaven, not to do his own will but the will of Him (God) who sent him (Jesus), asking Jehovah the Only One God of Abraham to be with him and to help him to endure, saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done. “

God had not left Jesus alone, though he had perhaps that impression. (In case Jesus was God himself such a cry would naturally be ridiculous and when he would be God he could not leave himself alone or abandon himself.) Jesus who always tried to do God’s Will and not his own will, loved the God of Abraham very much and had always followed the Words of the God from the Holy Scriptures.

Mat 6:9-10 NSB  »‘Our Father in heaven, holy is your name. (Exodus 6:3) (Psalm 83:18) (Isaiah 42:8; 54:5; 63:16; 64:8)  (10)  »‘Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:33) (Daniel 2:44) (Revelation 11:15) (Psalm 37:10,29) (Acts 24:15)

Mat 7:21 NSB  »Not everyone who calls me Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. He who does the will of my Father in heaven will enter.

Mat 12:50 NSB  »For everyone who does the will of my Father who is in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother.«

Mat 26:39 NSB  Then he went forward a little, and fell on his face, and prayed: »My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.«

Mat 26:42 NSB  A second time he went away and prayed, saying: »Father, if this cannot pass away, except I drink it, your will be done.«

Mar 14:36 NSB  He said: »Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Take this cup from me. Even so not what I will, but what you will.«

Luk 22:42 NSB  He prayed: »Father if it is your will remove this cup from me, nevertheless not my will, but your will be done.«

Joh 6:38-40 NSB  »I do not do my own will. I came down from heaven to do the will of him that sent me.  (39)  »This is the will of him that sent me that I should not lose any of those he has given me, but I should raise them up at the last day.  (40)  »For this is the will of my Father. Every one who sees the Son and puts active faith in him will have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day.«

Joh 7:16-17 NSB  Jesus replied: »My teaching is not my own. It is his who sent me.  (17)  »If any man does his will he shall know the teachings. He will know if it is from God, or whether I speak from myself.

When impaled, יהושע Jeshua (Jesus) cried onto his heavenly Father, the God of Abraham and the Only One True God: “Ěli, Ěli, lamah sheḇaqtani?” which is translated, “My Ěl, My Ěl, why have You forsaken Me?: My God, My God, why did You forsake Me?

Many have no eye nor ear for those Scriptures and have left God. They abandoned Him temporarily or for ever, but God stays open to receive them back. In our affliction  many bad things may come over us, but we should also try to see the good things. some people do have to have first something very bad happening to them before they come to realise that they need God. When all these bad things have come upon them in the latter days, when they turn to the Lord of lord of lords, the Most High Elohim, come to recognise the existence of This God of gods, and hearken to His Voice because Jehovah, the Lord their God, is a merciful God; He will not forsake them utterly, nor totally destroy them. He will not forget the covenant of their forefathers, which in the very long past, Jehovah confirmed to them with an oath.

 

Deu 4:27-40 NSB  »Jehovah will scatter you among the nations. You will become few in number among the heathen, where Jehovah will lead you.  (28)  »You will serve gods that are the work of men’s hands. Made of wood and stone. They cannot see, hear, eat or smell.  (29)  »From there you will seek Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your being. And you will find him!  (30)  »When you are in trouble (distress) and all these things happen to you in the latter days, turn to Jehovah your God and obey his voice.  (31)  »Jehovah your God is a merciful God. He will not forsake you. He will not destroy you, nor forget the covenant he made with your fathers.  (32)  »Ask about the days from the past. A time that came before you, since the day that God created man upon the earth. And ask from one side of heaven to the other whether there has ever been anything like this great thing, or anything like it has been heard?  (33)  »Did people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the middle of the fire, as you have heard, and live?  (34)  »Has God attempted to take a nation from the middle of another nation? Has he done this by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by great terrors? Yes, and by the use of his great power! Jehovah your God did all this for you in Egypt before your very eyes!  (35)  »This was shown to you that you might know that Jehovah Is God! There Is No One Besides Him!  (36)  »He made you hear his voice out of heaven. That way he could instruct (teach) (correct) (discipline) you. He showed you his great fire on the earth. You heard his words from the middle of the fire.  (37)  »He loved your fathers. Therefore he chose their descendants. In fact he watched over you and he brought you out of Egypt with his mighty power.  (38)  »He drove out nations far greater than you so that he could bring you in and give you their land as an inheritance as it is today.  (39)  »Know this and consider it in your heart today: Jehovah Is God in heaven above, and on the earth beneath: There Is No One Else!  (40)  »You must keep the regulations and commandments I commanded you today. Then all will go well with you and with your children after you. You may prolong your days on the earth that Jehovah your God gives you for all time.«

This God said so that people could come to understanding for not taking other gods as their god. Jesus knew this very well and tells us he did not want to do his own will but only the Will of his heavenly Father who Jesus considered to be the Only One God Whom we should worship, and not him or any other man. Jesus knew that it was over for him when he got impaled. (John 19:28) In order that the scripture might be accomplished or in order that the scripture might be fulfilled the sent one from God died with no bone of him being broken. (John 19:36)

Jesus, like several other men of God, did not abandon God nor His Laws. They followed the scrolls which were given from one to the next generation. In those scrolls we can see that though many times people did not want to see the wonders of God and were ignoring Him, He always came back to them when they had left Him.

Neh 9:6-17 NSB  »You are Jehovah, even you only! You made heaven, the heaven of heavens with all their armies, the earth and all things in it, the seas and everything in them. You keep them from destruction and the armies of heaven are your worshippers.  (7)  »You are Jehovah, the true God, who took Abram and made him yours, guiding him from Ur of the Chaldees, and gave him the name of Abraham;  (8)  »You saw that his heart was true to you, and made an agreement with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Jebusite and the Girgashite, even to give it to his seed, and you have done what you said; for righteousness is yours.  (9)  »You saw the trouble of our fathers in Egypt, and their cry came to your ears by the Red Sea.  (10)  »You did signs and wonders on Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land. You saw how cruel they were to them. So you made a name for yourself as it is today.  (11)  »You parted the sea before them, so that they went through the sea on dry land; and those who went after them went down into the deep, like a stone into great waters.  (12)  »And you went before them by day in a pillar of cloud and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light on the way they were to go.  (13)  »You came down on Mount Sinai, and your voice came to them from heaven, giving them right decisions and true laws, good rules and orders.  (14)  »They received word of your holy Sabbath from you. You gave them orders and rules and a law, by the hand of Moses your servant.  (15)  »They received bread from heaven when they were in need, and you made water come out of the rock for their drink, and gave them orders to go in and take for their heritage the land that your hand give them.  (16)  »But they and our fathers, in their pride, made their necks stiff, and paid no attention to your orders.  (17)  »They would not obey you and gave no thought to the wonders you did among them. They became stubborn and turning away from you. They appointed a leader over themselves to take them back to their prison in Egypt. However, you are a God of forgiveness, full of grace and pity, slow to wrath and great in mercy, and you did not give them up.

Neh 9:18-33 NSB  »Even when they made for themselves a bull out of metal, and said: ‘This is your God who took you up out of Egypt, and had done so much to make you angry.’  (19)  »Even then, in your great mercy, you did not give them up in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud still went before them by day, guiding them on their way, and the pillar of fire by night, to give them light, and make clear the way they were to go.  (20)  »You gave your good Spirit to be their teacher. You did not hold back your manna from their mouths. You gave them water when they had need of it.  (21)  »Truly, for forty years you were their support in the wilderness. They needed nothing. Their clothing did not get old or their feet become tired.  (22)  »You gave them kingdoms and peoples, making distribution to them in every part of the land. They took for their heritage the land of Sihon, even the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og, king of Bashan.  (23)  »You made their children as great in number as the stars of heaven. You took them into the land, of which you had said to their fathers that they were to go in and take it for themselves.  (24)  »So the children went in and took the land. You overcame before them the people of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them up into their hands, with their kings and the people of the land, so that they might do with them whatever it was their pleasure to do.  (25)  »And they took walled towns and a fat land. They became the owners of houses full of all good things, water-holes cut in the rock, vine-gardens and olive-gardens and a wealth of fruit-trees. They had food enough and became fat, and had joy in the good you gave them.  (26)  »But they were hard-hearted, and went against your authority. They turned their backs on your law, and murdered your prophets. These prophets gave witness against them with the purpose of turning them back again to you. They did much to make you angry.  (27)  »So you gave them up into the hands of their enemies who were cruel to them. In the time of their trouble, when they prayed to you, you listened to them from heaven. In your great mercy you gave them saviors, who made them free from the hands of their enemies.  (28)  »When they had rest, they did evil again before you: so you gave them into the hands of their enemies who ruled over them. When they came back and prayed to you, you listened to them from heaven; again and again, in your mercy, you gave them salvation.  (29)  »You admonished them so that you might make them come back again to your law. Their hearts were lifted up, and they paid no attention to your orders. They went against your life giving decisions and turned their backs on you. They were stubborn and did not listen.  (30)  »You put up with them for years. You admonished them by your Spirit through your prophets. Still they did not listen. So you gave them up into the hands of the peoples of the lands.  (31)  »Even then, in your great mercy, you did not put an end to them completely, or give them up; for you are a God of grace (loving-kindness) and mercy.  (32)  »Now, our God, the great, the strong, the God who is to be respected, who keeps faith and mercy, do not let his trouble seem small to you. It has come on us, and on our kings and our rulers and on our priests and our prophets and our fathers and on all your people from the time of the kings of Assyria till this day.  (33)  »You have been in the right in everything that happened to us. You have been true to us, but we have done evil!

When Adam and Eve were cast out they could tell their children what happened. And their children could continue telling what happened in the Garden of Eden and what the consequences were of the things man had done wrong. The population grew and more and more things happened where God had to intervene and God had to give guidance again so that people would be able to come back on the good track.

To help man, enabling him again to restore the relationship with their Maker God gave them His Words so that they could get more understanding of all things.

+

Preceding articles:

The very very beginning 2 The Word and words

Necessity of a revelation of creation 1 Works of God and works of man

Necessity of a revelation of creation 2 Organisation of a system of things

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 1

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 2

Next: Necessity of a revelation of creation 4 Getting understanding by Word of God 2

++

Additional reading:

1. Creator and Blogger God 5 Things to tell
2. The faithful God
3. A promise given in the Garden of Eden
4. Increased in wisdom in favour with God
5. I Will Cause Your Name To Be Remembered
6. Old age
7. A Jewish Theocracy
8. Bad things no punishment from God
9. Who was Jesus?
10. Entrance of a king to question our position #2 Who do we want to see and to be
11. The day Jesus died
12. Why do we need a ransom? 
13. How Many were Bought
14. As Christ’s slaves doing the Will of God in gratitude

+++

Related articles

• Dead and Buried (fbcpolson.wordpress.com)
  One of the grandest blessings in the entire Bible is often missed by believers. It is the burial of Jesus Christ! That’s right! The burial of Jesus is a blessing to you. Because not only have we died with Him, we have been buried with Him.
• Christ Receives Sinful Men (headedhome.wordpress.com)
  Jesus Christ is referred to as the “Lamb of God”. This symbol points to Christ being a perfect sacrifice for sin. It also conveys his meekness and his willingness to submit to suffering and death and that He did.
  +
  Through the death of Jesus Christ, God has provided a means of removing guilt, thus op
• Ten Commandments in Christianity – Intro (cmoneyspinner.wordpress.com)
  Some think or believe that these Divine edicts were done away with via Christianity. This is false. In Christian Scriptures, these Commandments are restated in the gospels by Jesus Christ and in the epistles by His Apostles.
• “… If We Only Had The Backbone To Do Our Duty?” (gunnygbb2.wordpress.com)
  many professing Christians wrote me with comments to the effect that we should not be concerned about whatever global tyranny may be developing, because “it’s all a part of God’s plan,” or “Jesus is coming soon,” and similar statements. I, too, believe in the imminent return of Jesus Christ to earth.
  +
  They seem to look at God as some kind of glorified fireman, who is obligated to rush in at the last minute to rescue them from a burning fire–a fire that they helped ignite, or at least, refused to put out themselves when they had the opportunity to do so. It’s the old, “God would not let that happen in America” syndrome.
• Preparing For Eternity (therenewedreformedmind.wordpress.com)
  God promises to give so much to his children and none of which we deserve. Peter tells us that our inheritance is unfading. He later in the same chapter tells us to set our hope fully on the grace that will be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
• The Bible as a Revolutionary Toolkit (disinfo.com)
  Learn how and why the bible is a revolutionary’s handbook and the antecedent for modern Individualism, Existentialism, Democracy, and Communism as Shawn and Aaron are joined by DJ Matt Hogan for a very special bible study.
• Culture Change by the Apostle Paul (bpardekooper.wordpress.com)
  The Apostle Paul was a dynamic leader as a founder of Christianity and the church of Jesus Christ. As a Jew, Paul was keenly aware of the culture of the Jewish people and their customs, but recognized growth was necessary for his people to follow Jesus the Christ. Paul’s central message throughout his ministry focused on a simple concept: to become like Jesus Christ and live a life in accordance with his teachings and example. (I Co. 11:1, Ep. 5:1, 4:22-24, Ga. 3.27, Ro. 8:29) In establishing Christianity, Paul was on a journey to change the culture of the Jewish people to embrace a new reality given to them by Jesus.
• Joel Osteen’s false gospel (babylonexposed.wordpress.com)
  We never like to close our broadcast, without giving you a chance to make Jesus the Lord of your life.
• Who Will We Reach? (foolforhim.wordpress.com)
  If we retreat from the world because everyone else is unholy, who then would be saved? If we retreat from preaching and praying and influencing people in the world, then who will we reach?
• Christian Benefits (faithcounts.wordpress.com)
  Whether you are a Christian or not, it is helpful to know what Christian benefits are, and are not. You might be surprised. Many people incorrectly think that Christians have health, wealth, no problems, and an easy life. — Not! God does not promise any of these to Christians.

Necessity of a revelation of creation 1 Works of God and works of man

The Divine Creator of heaven and earth wanted His creation to know Who He is and wanted to be worshipped by them. When man revolted against His Wishes He had to make it clear to them that He is and always shall be the Most High. Loving His creation He knew that they were miserable in making the wrong choice. Therefore He provided a solution but demanded His creation to come to know Him better and to restore the broken relationship.

He had a plan with His creation, but by the choice man made this plan was interrupted. To come back to the point were man went wrong there had to come a second Adam who would proof the world that it is possible for man to keep to the commandments of God and to fulfil God’s Wishes. The world had to come to see who that man of salvation is and why God has imposed such Laws unto man. At the same time the one sent from God (Jeshua from the lineage of King David) would come to declare the works of God and show the world Who his heavenly Father is and what He wants from the human beings. This man to be born in Bethlehem would have to reveal the Divine Creator.

Creation myth (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The whole world should come to see the necessity of a Revelation to make known the origin, reason, and tendency of things in relation to man and the world around him — An intelligible Mystery, and the only source of true wisdom; but practically repudiated by the Moderns.

Man in the world may have forgotten Who is behind everything, but it are the lovers of God who should bring them back on track and show the world the light of Christ and the Way to the Most High Supreme Power.

Man may be lost in the amount of things around him. He might consider him just an element in a universe about which we still do not know much. Though some may think they know a lot of that universe. When looking at it they may see the world or earth revolving upon its own axis, and describing an ample circuit through the boundless fields of space, a planet of the solar system bearing upon its surface a population of over a thousand millions subject to sin, disease, and death.

Dr John Thomas wrote in the 19th century:

This orb of the starry heavens shines with a glory similar to that of its kindred spheres. Viewed from them, it is seen sparkling “like a diamond in the sky”; and with the rest of the heavens, declares the glory of God, and shows forth the handiwork of Him that did create it.
This celestial orb, which is a world or system of itself, is styled The Earth. It is the habitation of races of animals which graze its fields, lurk in its forests, soar through its atmosphere, and pass through the paths of its seas. At the head of all these is a creature like themselves, animal, sensual and mortal. He is called Man. He has replenished the earth and subdued it, and filled it with his renown. His crimes, however, rather than his virtues, have illustrated and distinguished him with an unhappy pre-eminence above all other created things. His heart is evil; and, left to its uncontrolled impulses, he becomes licentious, merciless, and more cruel than the fiercest beast of prey.
Such is the being that claims the independent sovereignty of the globe. He has founded dominions, principalities, and powers; he has built great cities, and vaunted himself in the works of his hands, saying, “Are not these by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?” He repudiates all lordship over him, and claims the inalienable and inherent right of self-government, and of establishing whatever civil and ecclesiastical institutions are best suited to his sensuality and caprice. Hence, at successive periods, the earth has become the arena of fierce and pandemoniac conflicts; its tragedies have baptized its soil in blood, and the mingled cries of the oppressor and the victim have ascended to the throne of the Most High.
Skilled in the wisdom which comes from beneath, he is by nature ignorant of that which is “first pure, and then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy”. This is a disposition to which the animal man under the guidance of his fleshly mind has no affinity. His propensity is to obey the lust of his nature; and to do its evil works, “which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, sects, envying, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like”. All these make up the character of the world, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life”, upon which is enstamped the seal of God’s eternal reprobation. “They who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God,” but “they shall die”.
Such is the world of human kind! The great and impious enemy of God upon the earth. Its mind is not subject to His law, neither indeed can it be. What shall we say to these things? Is the world as we behold it a finality? Are generations of men, rebellious against God, and destroyers of the earth, to occupy it successively through an endless series of ages? Are men to repeat the history of the past for ever? Is the earth always to be cursed, and sin and death to reign victorious? Who can answer these inquiries? If we survey the starry canopy, thence no sign or voice is given expressive of the truth. They declare the eternal power and divinity of their Creator, but they speak not of the destiny of the earth or of man upon it. If we question the mountains and hills, the plains and valleys, the rivers, seas, and oceans of the earth, and demand their origin, why they were produced, to what end they were created; their rocks, their strata, their fossils, or deposits, afford us no response. Turn we to man and ask him, “Whence comest thou, and what is thy destiny? Whence all tile evil of thy nature, why art thou mortal, who made thee, who involved thee in the wide-spread ruin and calamity on every side?”
Ask an infant of days the history of the past, and he can as well detail it, as man can answer these inquiries without a revelation from Him who is before all, and to whom is known from the beginning all He intends shall come to pass. So true is it, that, unaided by light from heaven, “since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what is prepared for him that waiteth for him”; but, adds the apostle in his comment upon these words of the prophet, “God hath revealed these things unto us by his spirit … which things we (apostles) speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the holy spirit teacheth; interpreting spiritual things in spiritual words.”
To the Bible, then, all must come at last if they would be truly wise in spiritual things. This is a great truth which few of the sons of men have learned to appreciate according to its importance. A man may be a theologian profoundly skilled in all questions of “divinity”; he may be well versed in the mythology of the heathen world; be able to speak all languages of the nations; compute the distances of orb from orb, and weigh them in the scales of rigid calculation; he may know all science and be able to solve all mysteries,—but if, with all this, he be ignorant of “the things of the spirit”; if he know not the true meaning of the Bible; he seemeth only to be wise, while he is, in fact, a fool. Therefore, the apostle saith, “let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Therefore let no man glory in men”. If our contemporaries could only attain to the adoption of this great precept, “let no man glory in men”, they would have overleaped a barrier which as a fatal obstacle prevents myriads from understanding and obeying the truth.
But while God lightly esteems the wisdom of the reputed wise, there is a wisdom which He invites all men to embrace. This is styled “the wisdom of God in a mystery”; it is also termed “the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world which none of the princes of this world knew”. It is said to be hidden in a mystery, because until the apostolic age, it was not clearly made known. This will appear from the following texts: “Now to him that is of power to establish you according to the revelation of The Mystery, which was kept secret (χρόνοις αἰωνίοις) in the times of the ages, but now (in the time, or age, of the apostles) is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.” “By revelation God made known unto me, Paul, The Mystery, which in other ages (former ages under the law of Moses) was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed unto the holy apostles and prophets by the spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.”

Here is “the knowledge of God”, in which are contained “exceeding great and precious promises”, the understanding of which is able to make a man wise, and “a partaker of the divine nature”. Now, although these hidden things have been clearly made known, they still continued to be styled the mystery; not because of their unintelligibility, but became they were once secret. Hence, the things preached unto the Gentiles, and by them believed, are styled by Paul, “the mystery of the faith”, and “the mystery of godliness”, some of the items of which he enumerates; such as, “God manifest in the flesh, justified by the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory”. Thus an intelligible mystery characterizes the once hidden wisdom of God, and becomes the subject matter of an enlightened faith. This, however, is not the case with regard to religious systems which are not of the truth. Unintelligible mystery is the ultima ratio for all difficulties which are insoluble by the symbols of ecclesiastical communities, whose text of universal application is, that “secret things belong to God, but the things which are revealed, to us and to our children”. This is true; but, then, these things which were secret in the days of Moses, have been revealed by God to the apostles and prophets for our information.

– Thomas, D. J. (1848-1849/e-ed. 1990). Elpis Israel: a standard work of the Christadelphian community and exposition of the kingdom of God with reference to the time of the end and the age to come, available at the Christadelphian bookshop.

+

Preceding articles:

• The very very beginning 1 Creating Gods
• The very very beginning 2 The Word and words
• Genesis 1 story does not take away an evolution
• Something from nothing
• Means of creations
• Coming to the creation of human beings in the image of God

To be continued: Necessity of a revelation of creation 2 Organisation of a system of things

++

Additional reading:

1. What is life?
2. Science and God’s existence
3. Cosmos creator and human destiny
4. Different principle about the origin and beginning of everything
5. Human Nature: What does the Bible teach?
6. Destination of the earth
7. Destination of righteous
8. No man is free who is not master of himself
9. Always a choice
10. Choices
11. It is a free will choice
12. Object of first woe
13. The Cares of Life
14. Subcutaneous power for humanity 2 1950-2010 Post war generations
15. God’s wisdom for the believer brings peace
16. Reflect on how much idolizing happens
17. 8 fears caused by the fear of Man
18. If we, in our prosperity, neglect religious instruction and authority
19. Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #5 To meditate and Transform

+++

Related articles

• Our Father In Heaven By: Joe Stowell (christianmotivations.weebly.com)
  What do we know about God as our Father? According to Jesus’ prayer, we know that our Father in heaven is available and attentive to us. It is also clear that He provides for us. He forgives us and protects us from evil (vv.2-4).
• Some Sins Indeed Result In Greater Judgment (planet.infowars.com)
  , if Christians are guilty of the criticism of which they have been charged, isn’t that tendency in part the result of the way the Biblical narrative presents itself?
• Man who raised God as son (wordignite.wordpress.com)
  just like God had a plan for Joseph, God has a plan for each one of us. The plan does not need to be more than that He wants us to be upright and righteous. He wants us to be loving parents, loving husbands and wives. God wants us to follow the law – observe the commandments. But, just like Joseph, we may feel that we don’t have anything to contribute: that we are nothing but simple carpenters…we may feel insignificant, that we have nothing to offer. Still, God has a plan for us. God gives us dreams and speaks to us in our dreams.
• Follow Me (heartfixxer.wordpress.com)
  With Christ being alive and with us we can do all things if we trust in him. He has a place picked out for us in his heavenly kingdom, filled with God’s presence.
• David “A Man after God’s own Heart | How God Chooses in 1 Samuel 16:1-13 (wordsforliving.org)
  Some may wonder why we would even bother to spend time on a man who has been dead some three thousand years.  The short answer to that is this: David achieved in his life something that God wants each of His children to achieve.  David achieved something that many of us fail to accomplish.  David became a man after God’s Own heart and a study of his life can teach us how to do that too.
• Sermon: The Heart of God Seeks Unity (grantspasschurchofchrist.com)
  The Civil War left a tragic aftermath of bitterness, hatred, and resentment in America. The wounds inflicted by the war were deep and painful. Though the guns fell silent, the angry recriminations went on. Many could not forget or forgive what had been done. Exchanges between former enemies rarely rose above the level of angry accusations and scornful denunciations.
• Gospel, 21 March, Lent, Year B (jessicahof.wordpress.com)
  Chrysostom adds that the Pharisees neither knew the fullness of the Law, neither did they do what it commanded, for it said that no man should be killed without being granted a hearing. But it is clear, from the testimony of Nicodemus, that not all the Pharisees were blind. He knew, from his own experience, the power of the words of Jesus, but he is silenced, as Peter will be later, by fear of the wrath of the Pharisees. Like us, he is weak and fearful. Authority on earth is a powerful thing and can drive us into silence. Can we summon the courage to confess Him in such circumstances?
• 1 Samuel 26 (asorensen.wordpress.com)
  David knows good and well it is not God who wants him dead.  So he calls on Saul to wake up and realize that he is listening to bad advice and direction from his men.
• March 9 – peace (cohdailyprayer2014.wordpress.com)
  Heavenly Father, help us purge ourselves of those attributes which make not for peace but which set the stage for war.
  Lord hear our prayer, and grant us your peace.
• Vayikra after its opening word וַיִּקְרָא, which means and He called (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
  For the Jews this Shabbat is the last of the Four Parashiot that have special Torah readings in preparation for Pesach (Passover), which is only two short weeks away! For Jews and Christians it should be the most important day of the year.

Something from nothing

Is it possible to get something from nothing?

When we hear the story of the creation of the universe we might get that impression.

WMAP image of the (extremely tiny) anisotropies in the cosmic background radiation (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the Holy Scriptures we get to read that there was void or a “ Containing of no matter“. There was or was not something with something ” completely lacking”. At first there was a “Having no legal force or validity” but than out of nowhere seemed to come a Voice of Some One Who spoke.

The Bible tells us that every time that One Spoke His Voice brought into being. We do find the principle of something not being there but “God said…” and it was done. The prophet Isaiah quotes the Lord as saying:

I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded (Isaiah 45:12).

So, there was not only The Voice but there where also Hands. Out of nothing we do seem to get Sound, from emptiness creating things. This means that there was a power. This incredible Power we consider to be the Most High Power. It is the Force of bringing to life, or the Force of life.

Galaxies are very important fundamental building blocks of the Universe. Some are simple, while others are very complex in structure. As one of the first steps towards a coherent theory of galaxy evolution, the American astronomer Edwin Hubble, developed a classification scheme of galaxies in 1926. Although this scheme, also known as the Hubble tuning fork diagram, is now considered somewhat too simple, the basic ideas still hold… (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This creative Power of God is mentioned many other times in the Scriptures, but, as always, the mechanistic details are not supplied. It is hard to imagine, for example, what would have happened if instead of saying let there be light, the Bible had written out Maxwell’s equations of electromagnetism. Even if the Bible had given us the formulas explaining the physical details, no one in ages past would have understood them, or if somehow they could have achieved comprehension, they would surely have abused the information!

There was the void or open space which could or could have not a continuity or a break in continuity, a vacate space.

About when and how the universe came into being, science and scripture may come up with the same unambiguous result, namely, in the beginning (Genesis 1:1).

The scientist is not let off the hook, for an eternal universe would also have solved a whole host of scientific problems. According to the model pictured by classical physics, an eternal, everlasting static universe would have been just fine, but these ideas were overturned by the astronomer Hubble in 1929, and still later unambiguously verified by observations made in the mid-1960’s on the universal microwave background.

In 1929, Edwin Hubble, an astronomer working at the Mount Wilson Observatory in Southern California, discovered that all the galaxies in the universe appeared to be moving away from the earth and the further away they were from us the faster their speed of recession. The conclusion was that the universe could not be static but was undergoing dynamic expansion. (See e.g. G. E. Christianson, Edward Hubble: Mariner of the Nebulae, (1995) )

Arno Allan Penzias (born 26 April 1933) is an American physicist, radio astronomer and Nobel laureate in physics who is co-discoverer of the cosmic microwave background radiation, which helped establish the Big Bang theory of cosmology.

In 1965, two physicists at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey studying antenna noise discovered that the entire universe appeared to be bathed in a radiation afterglow of a singular event of vast energy taking place in the far distant past. This event has come to be known in popular terms as the “Big Bang”. We will have more to say about this in a later chapter. See: A. Penzias and G. Wilson, A Measurement of Excess Antenna Temperature at 4080Mc/s, ApJ, 142, 419, (1965).

The book of Genesis does not want to present a factual account but in a certain way wants to bring a tale or narrative comprehensible for most people.

Genesis simply and beautifully describes God’s initial creation, as well as His declaration of His creative purpose. It then describes the coming of sin into the world through the choices made by Adam and Eve, and the consequences of those choices for them and their descendants. Then Genesis follows their descendants’ decline into lawless violence — a decline that God brought to an end by sending a great flood, while saving eight people for a new beginning.

Genesis bringing an account from the creation of the world to the death of Joseph in Egypt, we may later find references to the course of events by the New Testament writers, by which John loves to construct his books in the same manner as the Bereshith, talking of the Word spoken and a Word bringing into being. He looks at the Old world and compares the happenings to the New World. He was convinced that in the Garden of Eden the Word spoken by God, the promise made to the first male and female creature of the human line or human tree, had come into existence with the birth of the Nazarene Jeshua from the lineage of king David.

Physics of Sound Sensory System of the Inner Ear & Space Time Continuum – By Doctor Emad kayyam (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Out of nothingness there was sound. That What had been for ever and is everlasting, has no beginning and no end, has no birth but also no dying or no death, and Which is an incredible Power, a Supreme Being, the Only One capable to create something from nothing. this may be very difficult to believe and is what we consider the only dogma a person of faith has come to take for truth. All other thoughts in our faith are easy to proof and are particularly explained in the Book of books,which we consider the infallible Word of that One and Only One God Who is One.

The question of how to reconcile suboptimal design with special creation is one that has puzzled many Christian groups as well as the Christadelphian community.

While the existence of suboptimal design is not ‘proof’ of evolution, for any special creationist who appeals to design in nature as evidence of special creation, the existence in nature of suboptimal design that directly leads to morbidity and mortality is a problem that is too often ignored.

Too many people want to take the Bible as an minute per minute or literal day to day account, forgetting that one day in the eyes of God is like a thousand years in the eyes of man. And they are also forgetting that perhaps God does not see any reason to have a detailed scientific account of all things when the uneducated also has to understand His Word.

God has given man, created in His image the possibility to see, hear, speak and think, using their brains to make up their minds and to come to conclusions. God has given in nature proof for all things. In it we should come to see how and what and should come to understanding.

In this contemporary world there are still too many Christians who do not want to see what God provided in nature and which treasures He left behind to be discovered by man in time.

The challenge of how to explain the scientific evidence for a very old earth, filled with fossil remains of countless generations of extinct species which are increasingly complex, has been faced by Christadelphians since the earliest days of our community.

Brother Roberts and other early expositors explained this evidence as the product of numerous creations being made and destroyed by God in succession. [1] [2] [3] Later Christadelphian commentators found this solution unsatisfying. Brother Walker objected to it on scientific grounds, pointing out that there was no break in the fossil record providing evidence for the destruction of a previous creation, and that the fossils showed earlier extinct animals had a close physical relationship to modern species which were still alive, indicating a continuity of life rather than a break.[4]

However, a far more challenging problem with which Christadelphian commentators have wrestled, is the issue of sub-optimal features within the creation. Our community has long recognized the imperfections of the human eye, acknowledging it has a blind spot.[5]

We should learn from geology, geographic changes, and take not of the many findings of people who studied several sciences. We not always should accept that they are totally right. Look at some findings, which a few years ago where considered the discovery of the time and the truth which are now considered as outdated and no longer valable and incorrect.

We should not have to expect from the Bible to give a detailed account, but should see the general line. This over the whole line of the canonical Bible Books has been proven to be happened like it is told and should be enough information to be provided for all people to come to understanding the Works of God.

The Book of the Beginnings teaches us much; it speaks of a time and creation on this earth when animal life was not like it is now and people did not look like we recognise other human beings today. Appearance was totally different.

We should not expect the Bible giving us all details of the creatures, how they looked like or how they behaved. It does not want to specify that humans and apes have are missing an enzyme that would allow them to make their own vitamin C, like other animals do.

To come to faith people do not need to know all sub-optimal features of all living elements.

Many creatures may have features which are sub-optimal, and may let people think this would not be the work of an omnipotent and omniscient Designer. In fact brother Matthew’s description of creation was that “the evidence implies problem, failure and imperfect solution”.[6]

There are several people who also do want to believe like Brother Matthew who proposed that the angels were responsible for creation, rather than God and suggested that since angels are less powerful than God, and closer to humans, it should be expected that their characters and work would be subject to weaknesses and limitations similar to those of humans. Because of that we can see so many ‘faults‘ in creation.

But we should know better and follow the Biblical account which explains what went wrong with creation. The Bereshith tells us how the first human beings reposted and went against the wishes of their Maker, resulting them willing to go on their own, God allowing them to be their own master, with all consequences, we having to face so many problems.

We do not believe God left the work to unskilled, uninformed, and largely unsupervised agents who were compelled to learn on the job as they muddled through generation after generation of mistakes. We do know that every high person speaks in the plural form, using the pluralis majestatis or Royal we, to have their words being taken seriously and as important.

When looking at creation we should consider that it all happened over a long period of time, many thousands of years. God was the Only One Maker Who established a natural biological process of speciation, which accounts for the variety of creatures in the fossil record and those we see today. That process followed rules established by God in the beginning, and was not blind, random, or accidental. Man revolting against their Maker choose to go their own way and where allowed to go into their own universe. In their own world they could give plants and animals and everything they created a name. they themselves had to cultivate it and work it out how to survive in the world they chose themselves. However, being a natural process without constant guidance from an intelligent being, its results were imperfect. God has always been prepared to work with a less than perfect creation, and it is a Biblical principle that His glory shines with great brightness when His character is reflected by fallible creatures.

The tendency for the evangelical Christian church to source their information outside of mainstream science [7] tends however to blunt the impact of such scientifically informed Christian warnings both against science denialism and basing first principles on demonstrably false views of the natural world. Deconversion anecdotes such as these, culled from a 2002 TalkOrigins post of the month [8]  are representative of the one-way traffic towards unbelief that often results when science and faith are pitted against each other.

Young earth creationist organisations remain stubbornly wedded to an a priori commitment to a fundamentalist reading of Genesis. Terry Mortenson, a YEC theologian and historian regards adherence to Biblical literalism as important because he regards it as fundamental to his theological world view:

None of us, including any particular scholar (no matter how respected he is), or even the majority of scholars or Christians, can be the final authority for determining truth. God’s Word must be the authority. And it clearly teaches creation in six literal days about six thousand years ago and a global catastrophic Flood at the time of Noah. We must graciously but uncompromisingly contend for the literal historical truth of Genesis 1–11, which is absolutely fundamental to all other doctrines in the Bible. [9]

What Mortenson fails to so convincingly is justify why a Christian must interpret Genesis 1-11 literally or exactly how our salvation depends on recent creation in six days or a literal world-wide flood. Instead he damns respected 19th century Christian scholars such as Torrey, Warfield and Dana as ‘compromisers’ for being willing to follow the scientific evidence where it led them, even if it contradicted with a particular interpretation of the creation narratives.

This refusal to engage with modern science is particularly acute given that the scientific evidence is overwhelmingly against flood geology and recent creationism, and in fact was recognised by conservative Christians well before Darwin. To be blunt, any Christian doctrine that hinges on a literal world-wide flood that laid down the fossils or recent creation in six days has been falsified, and no amount of appeal to a literal reading of Genesis will change observable reality. [10] Mortenson and his colleagues at Answers in Genesis may pride themselves on not compromising on what they believe to be a fundamental principle, but all they are doing is forcing believers to choose between observable reality and dogma, which as the Barna Group has shown is not a strategy for long-term growth of Christianity. More importantly, it is forcing believers to base fundamental doctrines on a description of the natural world that is demonstrably false.

*
Notes:

[1] ‘Interested Stranger.—No doubt the earth has gone through changes. Christadelphian. — Have not these changes been in the nature of progress—an advance from a crude to a more perfect state? Interested Stranger.—It has doubtless been so. Christadelphian.—From what sort of a state did this process make its start? Interested Stranger.—That, I think, we cannot ascertain. Christadelphian. — Not in an exact sense perhaps; but are we not justified in saying that if we go far enough back in the record of the earth’s physical history, as written in the rocks, we come to a time when the earth was a molten mass, incapable of sustaining life, either vegetable or animal? Interested Stranger.—That is believed by the geologist; and I do not see that any thing can be said against it.’, Roberts, ‘A Page for the Interested Stranger – No. 2’, The Christadelphian (22.255.405), 1885.

[2] ‘Geology teaches us much; it speaks of a time and creation on this earth when animal life, if not totally, was nearly unknown, and only the lower order of vegetable life covering its face, and this must have existed many thousands of years; and during the whole of that long period, the earth was undergoing wonderful and necessary changes to fit it for a creation of a higher order, and evidently with the creature man in view. There are evidences to show that when this early period had done its work, it was replaced by a creation of a higher order , when animal and vegetable forms of a far more wonderful structure were brought into existence and most admirably adopted to the atmosphere, climate, and peculiarities of that creation; and this, again, must have lasted for many thousands of years, and in its turn been swept away, and a grander creation built on its ruins. And so on, stage after stage.’, Simons, ‘Why Man was not at once made Perfect’, The Christadelphian (21.238.177), 1884.

[3] ‘There can be no reasonable doubt that when the non-fossiliferous rocks were first formed t he heat of the earth’s matter was too intense for vegetable and animal life to exist. There can be no reasonable doubt that it was only in a later age that the lower forms of plant and animal life could exist . And there can be no reasonable doubt that the succeeding ages allowed the creation of still higher and more perfect forms, till we reach the age called the “Tertiary,” and the “Post-pliocene” period of that age, when we are told remains of man are found for the first time. All of this, I say, I do not doubt. The facts of old mother earth’s storehouse are too convincingly inscribed upon her crust to allow me to doubt. At the same time, and amid it all, I have the most implicit faith and unbounded trust in God and His sacred word.’, Welch, ‘Knowledge.- No., 12 Geology’, The Christadelphian (28.329.416), 1891.

[4] ‘If we suppose a sudden and absolute break some 6,000 years ago, or before, resulting in the destruction of all life, and that the creation account of Genesis describes a new creation following, we ought to find some evidence of the break, and we cannot well account for the apparently close relationship that obtains between extinct and existing forms. There are forms becoming extinct in our own day from slow and natural causes. May it not have been so in pre-Adamic times? The professors tell us for instance that some of these ancient birds, whose strides we can see for ourselves from their footprints were from four to six feet long, were like gigantic ostriches.’, Walker, ‘Genesis’, The Christadelphian (47.557.501), 1910.

[6] “So to take the human elements, the frustration, the changes of plan and the solution along with God allowing that process to work its way through, and applying it to a creative environment where the evidence implies problem, failure and imperfect solution.”, Matthew Wigzell, email on his email list “Watchmen“, 17 January, 2013; (brother Matthew has explained this email list was not private, and both he and other members have shared publicly emails by various members of the list.)

[7] Giberson K “Why Evangelicals Are Fooled Into Accepting Pseudoscience” Huffington Post 23rd September 2011

[8] http://www.talkorigins.org/origins/postmonth/nov02.html

[9] Mortensen T “Exposing a Fundamental Compromise” Answers June 3rd 2010

[10] See for example Alan Hayward’s “Creation and Evolution – The Facts and Fallacies” (Triangle Books, 1985). Although his arguments against evolution were flawed even in the early 1980s, and are utterly dated now, his critique of flood geology and young earth creationism still hold up today.

+

Preceding articles:

Scripture about Creation and Creator Deity

The very very beginning 1 Creating Gods

The very very beginning 2 The Word and words

Genesis – Story of creation 1 Genesis 1:1-25 Creation of thing

Genesis 1:26 God said “Let us make”

How Many Persons Created the Heavens and the Earth?

++

Please do find to read:

1. Bible and Science (2): In the Beginning
2. Nothingness
3. Suboptimal design and special creation
4. Understanding God’s Word through His Creation -2
5. Here is why an increasing number of Christadelphians are accepting evolution
6. YECS: don’t compare yourself to Galileo. Unlike you, he had evidence on his side.
7. The “aha” moment – Biblical Scholars Tell Their Stories. Part 5
8. Andrew Perry shows how not to discuss evolution and creation – 1
9. Bible and Science: Scientific Facts and Theories
10. Is it “Wrong” to Believe that the Earth is a Sphere?
11. Cosmogony
12. Science, scepticism, doubts and beliefs
13. Science, belief, denial and visibility 1
14. Science, belief, denial and visibility 2
15. Ian Barbour connecting science and religion
16. Are Science and the Bible Compatible?
17. Reconciling Science and Religion
18. Science and God’s existence
19. People Seeking for God 1 Looking for answers
20. Challenging claim 2 Inspired by God 1 Simple words
21. Challenging claim 4 Inspired by God 3 Self-consistent Word of God
22. Interpretation of archaeological data
23. Science, 2013 word of the year, and Scepticism
24. The Immeasurable Grace bestowed on humanity
25. Sharing thoughts and philosophical writings

+++

Additional related articles:

1. Discovering or Destroying the “Recipe for Belief in Creationism”?
2. Do Evolutionists Believe Darwin’s Ideas about Evolution?
3. Deep Time Evolution

 

Related articles

• 6 significant steps in the quest to find the shape of the universe (royaldockside.com)
  The latest immersive spectacular at the Peter Harrison Planetarium at Greenwich’s Royal Observatory is the exquisitely rendered exploration of the structure and history of the universe.

  Narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson, Dark Universe moves from Edwin Hubble’s discovery of an expanding universe to the enigma of dark matter and dark energy.

  In between, the design team of astrophysicists and visualisation experts, commissioned by the American Museum of Natural History, take the viewer through time and space in a series of sweeping journeys.

• After the Fact (briankoberlein.com)
  One of the common accusations made about cosmology is that it is just a kludge model to explain away all the strange things we see in the universe. Galactic redshift? Invent the big bang. Galaxies don’t move the right way? Invent dark matter and dark energy. Tweak any model enough and you can make it fit data. Part of the reason for this is the way scientific discovery is represented. The lone genius has a revolutionary idea that clears away all the stuffy old models. But that’s not how science gets done. Scientific models are often proposed to explain strange data, but the real test is whether the predictions they make hold up under scrutiny. Take, for example, the story of the cosmic microwave background.
  +
  The CMB was actually discovered 25 years before Penzias/Wilson “stumbled” across it… In a 1940 paper, Canadian astronomer Andrew McKellar (1910-1960) published “excellent coincidences obtained between the wave lengths of three of the unidentified, sharp, interstellar lines and lines arising from the lowest states of the CH, NaH, and CN molecules” (from spectral analysis). Based on data obtained, McKellar stated that “the maximum ‘effective’ temperature of interstellar space would be 2.7K” — no reference to “ghost radiation” from the “birth of the Universe”… McKellar’s findings have apparently been largely forgotten.

  Could it be that the CMB has been misinterpreted? Could it simply be thermalized starlight, the “temperature of space”?

• NASA Has Revisited the Pillars of Creation and It’s Stunning (nerdist.com)
  In 1995, after one servicing mission to repair a warped mirror, Hubble took the iconic image of the so-called “Pillars of Creation.” It revealed in unprecedented detail three giant columns of cold gas bathed in hot ultraviolet light in the Eagle Nebula. It’s an evocative image. Inside those pillars of gas are the building blocks of solar systems like our own.
  
• “Dark Universe” Opens January 16 in the Hansen Dome Theatre (clarkplanetarium.org)
  Dark Universe starts 100 million light years away from Earth. After flying to our own Milky Way Galaxy, visualized using the latest scientific data, and to our own planet, viewers arrive at California’s Mount Wilson Observatory, where Edwin Hubble’s discovery that the universe is expanding gave the first hint of the Big Bang. That initial discovery, and ever more sensitive instruments on the ground and in space, led to other breakthroughs that give astronomers an increasingly detailed and precise picture of how our universe formed and evolved.

  But these revelations have also uncovered intriguing new mysteries. What is the mysterious Dark Energy accelerating cosmic expansion? What is the invisible Dark Matter underlying galaxies that, together with dark energy, account for at least 95 percent of the universe? What lies beyond our cosmic horizon?

  

  In stunningly detailed scenes based on authentic scientific data, including a NASA probe’s breathtaking plunge into Jupiter’s atmosphere and novel visualizations of unobservable dark matter, Dark Universe explores this new age of cosmic discovery and reveals the myst

• On Lorser Feitelson’s Life Begins (greg.org)
  :Life Begins is oil and collage on a shaped masonite panel around two feet square. The painted elements are the blue space, which often gets called a sky, and a half peach and pit on a small plate. The collage elements are two black&white photographs, or close to it, of a doctor holding a newborn baby, cropped to preserve the caption, which gives the work its title; and an astronomical feature.
• Transmitting Live from Mount Wilson: How KCET’s Signal Comes to You (kcet.org)
  Television, by its own design, seems like magic — you turn on a box (or, nowadays, a panel), and images and sound magically appear out of nowhere. Of course, how those images and sounds find their way to you isn’t as magical as the experience of enjoying the content that’s being broadcast, but we all know that television signals reach our sets via antenna, cable, or satellite dish.

  The exact journey of how those signals travel from the television station to your set is something we usually take for granted, or fail to think about at all, yet it has been a fundamental concern to the people who perform the day-to-day task of keeping KCET on the air for the past 50 years.