Posted on 02/25/2009 6:52:31 PM PST by GodGunsGuts
Psalm 150:1, the first verse of the last psalm, contains a phrase that has always intrigued me:
… Praise Him in his mighty expanse. (NAS), or
… praise him in the firmament of his power. (KJV)
God made the expanse (firmament) on the second day and called it “heavens” (Genesis 1:8, plural from literal Hebrew). Later, on the fourth day, He populated the expanse with the sun, moon and stars (Genesis 1:14-19). So the expanse is not the heavenly bodies, but rather the space that contains the heavenly bodies. Normally people think of interstellar space, and also the space in which we ourselves exist, as an empty nothingness. Saying that an emptiness is strong would be rather odd. Praise God in His mighty nothing? So what does God mean here?
Scripture itself gives a clue: it looks like the expanse (firmament, heavens, space) is an actual material that we cannot perceive as we move through it and it moves through us. For example, it can be stretched out (Job 9:8 and 16 other Old Testament verses as discussed in reference 1), torn (Isaiah 64:1), worn out like a garment (Psalm 102:26), shaken (Hebrews 12:26, Haggai 2:6, Isaiah 13:13), burnt up (2 Peter 3:12), split apart like a scroll (Revelation 6:14), and rolled up like a mantle (Hebrews 1:12) or a scroll (Isaiah 34:4), see Figure 1.
Figure 1. Rolling up the heavens like a scroll (Isaiah 34:4).
Many physics theories and experiments seem to require that space be a real material:
The observed “displacement” electric current of James Clerk Maxwell, the greatest theoretical physicist (and a fine creationist) of the 19th century. (Maxwell based his theory on the experimental work of another great creationist scientist, Michael Faraday.) With that idea he was able to predict the existence of radio waves, and to lay the foundations of all 20th-century devices using electricity and magnetism.
Einstein’s theories of special and general relativity not only stem from Maxwell’s work, but at bottom they only make sense if space (and time) is some kind of “stuff,” as Einstein finally acknowledged in a little-known speech in 1920.2 The famous limit for the speeds of light and particles, c, could only work if there were a real material to enforce the speed limit. (Why should there be a limit if space were completely empty?) Space could be “warped” or “bent” only if it were actual solid matter.
The esoteric but well-verified quantum field theory starts with the premise that space is filled with the particles of a non-perceivable material (the “quantum vacuum”) that is very dense. According to the theory, this material exists in and around all visible-matter particles and transmits the forces between them, thus enabling visible matter to exist. Experiments stemming from quantum field theory show that electrons in atoms influence the space around them and in turn are influenced by it (“vacuum polarization”). In the 1930s, quantum theorist P.A.M. Dirac correctly predicted the existence of antimatter on the basis of his theory that required all space to be filled with a “sea” of electrons. The quantum theory of solids offers a way to understand how space could be very dense but not felt or seen, in the same way that free electrons can move through a perfect crystal without any hindrance.
These and other physics clues suggest that the material, which from the biblical clues I call the “fabric” of space, is an elastic solid, like a very rigid and enormously massive crystal. That could be why the Hebrew word for the expanse (raqia), and the Greek and Latin translations of it (stereoma and firmamentum) all have some connection with solidity and firmness, as does the English word, “firmament” used (coined?) by the King James translators.3
Strangely, academic materialists have tried to ignore the physics clues that space is a material, probably for religious and philosophical reasons. They even ignored Einstein’s 1920 recantation (see second item above) of his 1905 denial of the 19th-century idea of an “ether” (or “aether”) meant to propagate light waves. The academics have made the word “ether” politically incorrect.
Now that it looks as if the ether idea merely needed a bit more sophistication, physicists use many code words for it, such as various combinations of: “spacetime,” “continuum,” “manifold,” “quantum vacuum,” “the Vacuum,” “substratum,” “Dirac sea,” “plenum,” and “medium,”—all to avoid using the word “ether.” This verbal beating-around-the-bush amuses me. It prevents academics from explaining relativity and quantum mechanics in simple, visualizable terms that solve the various paradoxes. I suspect the academic experts on relativity and quantum theories prefer to keep them arcane and perplexing (to other academics as well), because the mystery makes them the high priests of a secular religion for which the public needs interpreters.
Putting aside the foibles of academia, my main point is that the expanse (firmament) is a real material that God made early in Creation Week. It is invisible and very clear, since we can observe through it for cosmic distances. Though we can’t perceive it directly, our new knowledge of its massiveness and strength shows forth the glory of its mighty Creator.
Ping!
Placemarker ... are we about to have a discussion on the where/when?
pingalingaling
Just thought people might be curious about the YEC interpretation of the Bible’s cosmological statements.
I enjoyed reading it!
I’m glad. I find this stuff absolutely fascinating!
For some reason I thought you guys might be interested in this. All the best—GGG
Now, what's going on between galaxies? I would think not much is left there anymore. Microwave background is all around and is what happened a long time ago.
I don't think we are going to find out what is in the space between galaxies or what it's doing, if anything, for a while.
Sounds interesting. I’ll check it out. Thanks—GGG
After reading the eternal Words of the Creator the IQ seems to spike a few points higher on the sensor scale.
I know what you mean. There are all these passages in the Bible relating to creation, cosmology, etc, that I used to just gloss over. Now I stop and ponder with a true sense of wonder.
I’m currently into a manuscript title ‘That’s In The Bible?’ I’ve chosen several passages of fascinating phenomena through which to build interest in reading the Bible for the astonishing things in it accessible to the lay reader, like the Daniel Chapter 5 surreal scene, or the floating iron axehead, and of course, the astonishing revelations in the resurrection.
Sounds fascinating. Is there anywhere I can go to get a preview?
So we do explore and measure the physical world. Even Einstein said God exists after spending the latter part of his life at Princeton U looking for the Unified Field Theory. Nobody can get there from here. Even with 11 dimensions wandering into sub-particle neighborhoods.
Humphreys? At least he good for a few laughs but no much else.
Humphreys is one of my favorites. Have you seen his video, Starlight and Time?
PS I’m not ignoring your previous post. I just haven’t had the time to sit down and go through all your Bible verses.
All the best—GGG
The most usual answer is instantaneously, since time lags might have showed up by now?
Just think...if that is true, that gravity travels vast expanses within no discernible elapsed time...then what the heck is going on? Is the aether a fabric? Ok, your article claims it as one. That might not be a bad idea to hold to help orient one's thinking. It may also be made to fit with the idea of "dark matter", which supposedly comprises what --- something like 98% of the universe? --- unless many other calculations are very, very wrong?
I wonder every now and then what ever happened to Gravity Probe B? Every time I looked it up, it seemed like "not much", which made me suspect something went wrong with it, like they were not able to fully stabilize the orbit (or something?), which would jinx the measurements --- or --- I don't know, inconclusive returns maybe?. Perhaps someone will come along and tell us the proper answers, to that one...I'm a bit too tired at the moment to go search for it. Besides, my many other searches in the past few years yielded underwhelming results. I couldn't tell if the frame skewing, frame dragging question was answered --- though if memory serves, something of the geodetic effect supposedly was.
But they sure didn't make much noise about it. Just a little blip, then nothing. I would have expected a bit more crowing, since the project was only the oldest-longest in planning space shot ever to come to eventual launch.
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