Fitting the bill(s)

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Feb 23, 2015 at 08:01

Hi, Waz

Here's the exact reference:

Hebrews 1:
[10] And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
[11] They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
[12] And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.

This is not about a "flat earth". Paul (who, I presume, wrote or dictated Hebrews) quoted the psalmist:

Psalm 102
[24] I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations.
[25] Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands.
[26] They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:
[27] But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.
[28] The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee.

"like a garment" is a simile referring to "waxing old"; and "as a vesture" is a simile referring to "changing". What the psalmist explicitly states, is that the "heavens and the earth" (= the known universe) will "become old" (succumb to entropy) and "become changed". There is no implication here that the earth is flat. What the psalmist DID say was an enunciation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, some 2000 years before Sir Isaac Newton "discovered" it.

My own comment about the awesomeness (which includes "interestingness") of God referred to the following:

Revelation 4:
[2] And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
[3] And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
[4] And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
[5] And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
[6] And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.
[7] And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.
[8] And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
[9] And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,
[10] The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
[11] Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

What I gathered from this, was that every time the elders look up, they see God doing some mind-boggling new thing. They then throw down their crowns, representing all that they have, and worship in wonder. For them to do that, they must be seeing someting new and interesting every time -- of course, this includes all the pathetic "alternate universes" our minds can imagine; and goes beyond that: so far beyond, in fact, that we blubber in wonder, every time. To me, that defines the word "interesting".

You mentioned, in passing, about the changeability of Turkey. They have certainly done a 180° (2π radian, for you physics types) turn since Erdogan took the helm. This sort of thing is to be expected, and does not greatly trouble me. What rather upsets me, is that my own country has been changing its foreign policy so fast in recent decades, it's impossible to tell where our leaders are and where they're headed at the same time -- Heisenberg's uncertainty principle applied to politics, if you will. It's enough to make one dizzy, trying to follow it.

For places in which one might want to duck the coming world crisis, perhaps Macquarie Island would foot the bill(s).

Shalom shalom :-)

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".