Psalm 114:1-8 (ESV) When Israel went out from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, [2] Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion. [3] The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back. [4] The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs. [5] What ails you, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back? [6] O mountains, that you skip like rams? O hills, like lambs? [7] Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, [8] who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water.
This morning I read this Psalm, and found myself struck by the starkness of its call to a holy fear. There is indeed a 'naturalness' of fear of the Lord, as evidenced by the psalmist's rhetorical questions to the inanimate earth... and what have WE men done? We have rejected our natural created state (as creatures, wholly dependent upon and subservient to God to whom all must be subject) and taken on an autonomous air of superiority. How wicked is such a practice! How deeply is this sin ingrained in me! Lord, help me - help us - to find our proper relation to you as your humble servants...
Dear Sir,
I read your posts whenever there is a title that interests me. From these seemingly random perusals, I have observed that you are, or claim to be a Christian.(This is the internet, after all, anyone can simply write Christian sounding things.) But I believe, nonetheless, that you are, in fact, a Christian.
The reason I am writing is threefold.
One, to say: I enjoy your post, being a Christian myself.
Two, to say: I have no knowledge of that Vanguard site where your post "will this, etc." came from; but to me they seem to be correct. If it could be verified and then broadcast nationally...well.
Three, and finally, we watched the movie "Paycheck" with Ben Affleck last night, and I must say, on the imagination scale, it was a ten. But, of course, on the Atheistic scale it was also a ten. (With three children, we do not go to movies, or rent them near as often as we once did. No matter, the children are more fun...sometimes!)
So what is the point of this seemingly random information about our movie watching experience? Quite simply, you are a professor of Physics and I am not. I was curious if their premise was sound scientifically? IE:allegedly based on a theory of Einstein's...light bends...if one had the proper instrument, they could, theoretically, see the future.
Anyway, just curious on your thoughts.
Sincerely,
Carl
Hi Carl
Thanks for your comments. I am, as you have surmised, a Christian, and have a strong interest in and devotion to Reformed perspectives.
My wife and I very rarely attend movies, since today's films are so very rarely edifying and/or free of gratuitous sex and violence and promotions of unbelief and false worldviews. We rent or borrow movies on occasion, but we try to be very specific about content.
I've not seen Paycheck, so I can't comment from experience about your question. However, I can tell you that certainly light does bend in the presence of matter - recently this has been dubbed 'gravitational lensing'. There are myriad examples of 'double vision', that is, double images of the same star or galaxy due to matter in the foreground, closer to us than the object being imaged. Einstein himself actually saw physical evidence of his prediction, as star light was seen to be bending around the sun in an observation in, oh, about 1920 I think.
However, while light does bend around objects in a physical way - its path bends - the same cannot and does not (to my knowledge, or in any way in my imagination) bend in terms of time... in order to "see the future" you would need to see light prior to its emission... this has all kinds of improper causal problems. While time and space are indeed wrapped up together, this kind of flight of fancy is simply right out, as far as I'm concerned.
Thank you for the response. I was just curious to know what a person who is knowledgeable on the topic thought.
That bible thing sickens me. I suppose you gather the reason behind the use of that particular word, "partner." Saddens me to no end. Some people will believe that this book is on equal footing with the Bible. Erasmus and others would turn over in their graves.
Finally, I want to say I thoroughly enjoy your blog site.
Sincerely,
Carl--"The 'Grub Street' Plumber"