Scientists are beginning to agree with God yet again. And again – it’s about water.
Find out why the fact that it’s about water is so important.
And – did they learn anything “important” from this new “knowledge”?
Ro 1:19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made …
Yes – I’m taking these verses out of context. For a reason. It’s kind of an “if … then …” set of verses. And I’m starting with the “if …” part.
Paul is saying here that certain things about God have been made plain to us – since the creation of the world. And that’s what we’re going to look at – something that we’ve been told for thousands of years – something about the creation of the earth – and that some are just now recognizing. But are they learning – and truly “seeing”.
As it says in Ezekiel 12:1-2 –
Eze 12:1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.
We all have eyes to see. But do we really see?
Here’s the article, from sciencemag.org – Earth may have kept its own water rather than getting it from asteroids
Earth may have kept its own water rather than getting it from asteroids | Science/AAAS | News
Carl Sagan famously dubbed Earth the “pale blue dot” for our planet’s abundant water. But where this water came from—and when it arrived—has been a longstanding debate. Many scientists argue that Earth formed as a dry planet, and gained its water millions of years later through the impact of water-bearing asteroids or comets. But now, scientists say that Earth may have had water from the start, inheriting it directly from the swirling nebula that gave birth to the solar system. If true, the results suggest that water-rich planets may abound in the universe.
From Genesis – telling how God created the earth –
Ge 1:6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
Ge 1:9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
Details from the article –
Earth may have kept its own water rather than getting it from asteroids | Science/AAAS | News
Instead, Hallis and her colleagues propose that Earth’s water came directly from the protosolar nebula—the cloud of gas and dust that eventually clumped together to form the solar system. Based on measurements of Jupiter and the solar wind, which are thought to preserve the hydrogen isotopic ratio of the protosolar nebula, scientists think nebular water had an extremely light hydrogen isotopic signature—much closer to what the Baffin Island lavas suggest about the deep mantle’s water.
Traditionally, the main objection to this idea has been that the inner portion of the protosolar nebula, where Earth formed, would have been too hot for water to hang around. But Hallis’s team suggests that water floating around in the nebula snuck into our nascent planet by adsorbing to dust particles. They cite previous modeling work suggesting that this mechanism could allow a significant amount of water to survive the brutal temperatures and violent processes by which dust particles coalesced to form planets. Hallis says the discovery of a deep reservoir of material with protosolar isotope ratios supports the idea that the hot, early Earth somehow retained this water.
Before getting into the details of what we have here – let’s get one thing out of the way.
Many will try to argue that this is all a waste of time – because the Bible says the earth was created in six literal days – and we all “know” that this didn’t happen.
Well – what I have to say about that isn’t an argument about whether or not the earth was – or could have been – created in six literal days. The simple reality is that the Bible does not – I repeat – does not – say that the earth was created in six literal days!
The Hebrew word that’s used here can mean the period of time that we now call day and night. However – it can also mean “a period of time”.
Let’s check out another word. – starting with a definition, from dictionary.com:
the largest division of geologic time
The word – if you don’t recognize it – is
eon
which can also be defined as –
an indefinitely long period of time
So let’s just get over the “literal six days” issue. It’s not an issue. It’s just a way to distract from what the Bible actually says.
Back to the details
Prior to this – scientists felt that water on earth came from asteroids that hit the planet.
Now – this article proposes that the water was here all along.
That it came from –
… the cloud of gas and dust that eventually clumped together to form the solar system.
Compare this to what Moses recorded in Genesis –
Ge 1:6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so.
Separating water from water. Sounds like there was water everywhere.
Not at all different from the cloud of gas and dust that was everywhere –
But Hallis’s team suggests that water floating around in the nebula snuck into our nascent planet by adsorbing to dust particles.
Yes – that really does say “adsorb”. It’s not a typo. It means –
to gather (a gas, liquid, or dissolved substance) on a surface in a condensed layer
So in a cloud of gas and dust – that was everywhere – there would be water everywhere, attached to the dust that was everywhere.
So let’s continue with the article –
They cite previous modeling work suggesting that this mechanism could allow a significant amount of water to survive the brutal temperatures and violent processes by which dust particles coalesced to form planets. Hallis says the discovery of a deep reservoir of material with protosolar isotope ratios supports the idea that the hot, early Earth somehow retained this water.
So as the gas and dust cloud coalesced – or came together into one object – the water was retained in the earth.
There are two unknowns that come from this study –
- water floating around in the nebula snuck into our nascent planet by adsorbing to dust particles.
How did the water “sneak” in? - the hot, early Earth somehow retained this water
how did the earth manage to “somehow” retain this water? It really should have evaporated – or been transformed into something else with all that heat. So how can it still have been there?
The elephant in the room that answers the question – just a couple words –
God said
It’s all about credit.
Who gets the credit for what happened?
How many times will new discoveries have to be made – that say the same things as what Moses wrote thousands of years ago – before people finally accept that what the Bible says is true?
For more on this – see previous posts –
Why are scientist running away from the big bang?
Cockroach personalities – dehumanize people at any cost?
Was there really enough water to flood the earth?
BTW – to check out some info on the real importance of “God said” – and how it relates to current theories in physics – see this post, which tries to explain “string theory” in everyday English, and how it points to “God said.
Making Planets of Discovering them?
What’s the big deal about water?
First of all – you may remember this scene – where Jesus talked to a Samaritan woman about water. As you read this, keep in mind that Samaritans were pretty much the bottom of the barrel as far as ethnic backgrounds were concerned. For Jesus and this woman to even be talking to each other would have been scandalous. The topic was even more so –
Jn 4:4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
Jn 4:7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
Jn 4:9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. )
Jn 4:10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
Jn 4:11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?”
Jn 4:13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Jn 4:15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
Jn 4:16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
Jn 4:17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
Jn 4:19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
Jn 4:21 Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
Jn 4:25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
Jn 4:26 Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.”
The second scene we’ll look at is from the Old Testament – one you may not be as familiar with. Abraham and Sarah have had various issues resulting from their refusal to believe what God told them – that Abraham would have a son by Sarah. So Sarah (then named Sarai) convinced Abraham (then named Abram) to conceive with her maidservant – Hagar. It worked – Ishmael was born. Sarah insisted that Abraham send Hagar away – twice. The first time was after Hagar became pregnant, but before the birth of her son. The second time was after Ishmael was born. BTW – the reason Hagar went back was because God told her to go back – and promised to make her offspring (Ishmael) into a great nation. Here’s what happened the second time –
Ge 21:8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. 9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, 10 and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”
Ge 21:11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. 12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. 13 I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also, because he is your offspring.”
Ge 21:14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the desert of Beersheba.
Ge 21:15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went off and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there nearby, she began to sob.
Ge 21:17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
Ge 21:19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
Ge 21:20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. 21 While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.
What we see here – both times – is a significant occurrence related to water.
In the second one – (which actually occurred first) – we find out that there is a well, with life saving water, right there with Hagar and Ishmael. But they didn’t / couldn’t see it. They couldn’t see it until after the boy cried – and Hagar cried out to God to save them. Then – and only then – is it visible.
In the first one – the Samaritan woman can see the water – knows about the prophecy of the Messiah – but fails to recognize that she is talking to him – even after He points out the significance of the water.
So what does this all mean?
The water is there. God is there.
But can we see them?
And even if we “see” them –
Ro 1:19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made …
can we really truly “see” them?
Do we recognize what / who we are looking at?
If we do recognize what we are seeing – then we will also have the things promised by God.
If not – if we refuse to acknowledge what we really see – if we continue to be rebellious – then we get the Romans verses in context –
Ro 1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
Ro 1:21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Ro 1:24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
Ro 1:26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
Ro 1:28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
It’s our choice.
Actually – it’s your choice.
I’ve already made mine.