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NASB | Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty (subtle, skilled in deceit) than any living creature of the field which the LORD God had made. And the serpent (Satan) said to the woman, "Can it really be that God has said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" [Rev 12:9-11] |
Subject: Enter the Dragon! |
Bible Note: Dear Lionstrong...Peace indeed.. I agree again. "The heavens and everything in them were created sometime between the first and sixth day." There is no "other time" as you have said. Time is our possession as I said. You said, " ...and then you said a time different than ours." But I never wrote that. Take the time now to re-read the post and you will find that I never wrote what you said I did. So I agree, we are having a difficult time communicating. You seem to want to do battle, I want to simply offer an explanation, supported by the science, that time is relative. You said that I sound like I may believe that "spirits might show signs of aging while we wait for the resurrection of our bodies!." But I never wrote that. So again I agree with you. What I have failed to make clear is what time is itself. The science is difficult but it is on our side. It is just a matter of the math. As you may remember, math is an exact science. It is the only exact science. It does not err. Science has shown that, for example, the further you are away from a gravitational pull the faster time will appear to the observer. If you will indulge me I want to offer an illustration. We begin with an astronomer and an astronaut. The astronaut is wearing a wrist watch. The astronomer is in his observatory with his powerful telescope and also has a clock on the wall. Both time pieces read 2:00. The astronaut has blasted off from Earth and is flying thru space towards regions unknown while the astronomer is watching him through his telescope. The astronaut moves further and further away from Earth. The astronomer sees the wristwatch that the astronaut is wearing. It says 2:15. And when he turns to see the clock on his wall he notes that it reads 2:14. As the astronaut moves even further away the scientist gets bored and takes a nap. When he awakes he notes from the clock on his wall that his nap took about 3 hours. It is now 7:00. He decides to check on the astronaut. When he zooms in on the wristwatch it says 7:08. But how could this be? He decides to take a few weeks vacation. After his vacation he once again zooms in on the astronaut to see how he is doing. What he sees is the wristwatch now is spinning. The minute hand is a blur and the hour hand is going very fast indeed. 1, 2, 3, 4 hours on the wristwatch has taken just a few seconds for the scientist to observe. This is the effect of gravity on time first observed by scientists who noticed that two identical atomic clocks were reporting different times. It was just nano-seconds but there was a difference. They did further experiments and repeated them several times. Time is affected by gravity. Meanwhile, back in space, the astronaught takes out his special telescope and looks back at the scientist in his lab. He observes that the scientist is standing still and does not move. He sees that the clock on the wall seems to have stopped or greatly slowed. The astronaught takes a nap. When he awakes 4 hours later, according to his watch, he looks back at the scientist and observes that the scientist has still not moved. Both are in their own time. They both age according to how long they have lived. The astronaut will die of "old age" long before the scientist moves away from his telescope. The scientist will stand on the exact same spot while the astronaut lives a long and healthy life. This is the effect that gravity has on time. Time then is relative. It is not something static that can be measured universally. The time we are in is not the same as the time that our astronaut friend is in. We have performed and observed the experiment. Our understanding of the Laws of Nature (God) has changed because of these observations. It is not something which is in question. I hope that I have not muddled the issue further. I know that what the Bible says is true. All true. But as mere humans with diminished capacity due to the Fall, we leap to embrace the science that shows that the Bible was correct all along. Not for us, but for those who do not believe the Bible but do believe the science...it is a way to equip yourself to be prepared to give an answer for why we have hope. I use science as a witness to the power and glory of our Lord. And then my hearer is more receptive to the Gospel promise. I do not want to battle. My whole problem is my lack of ability to express my ideas clearly. I sometimes will take too much for granted. And now to the nut if you will allow me. Do you, or do you not, believe that God created evil. It is a simple question that you neglected to answer in my earlier reply. The rest of this debate about time can wait. But the meat is in the question. Please reply. God Bless....Jensen |