Posted on 06/18/2003 4:45:56 PM PDT by blam
'Asteroid impact could have prompted Constantine's conversion'
An asteroid which exploded like a nuclear bomb may have converted the Roman emperor Constantine to Christianity it is now being claimed.
Scientists have discovered an impact crater dating from the fourth of fifth century in the Italian Apennine mountains.
They believe the crater in the Sirente mountains, which is larger than a football field, could explain the legend of Constantine's conversion.
Accounts from the 4th century describe how barbarians stood at the gates of the Roman empire while a Christian movement threatened its stability from within.
It is said the emperor saw an amazing vision in the sky, converted to Christianity on the spot, and led his army to victory under the sign of the cross.
Swedish geologist Jens Ormo discovered the crater after spotting a photograph of an unusually round lake in Italy's Sirente-Velino Regional Park.
A visit to the site quickly identified several tell-tale features of an impact crater, New Scientist magazine reported.
The seasonal lake, 140 metres across, had a pronounced raised rim and no inlet or outlet, being filled by rainfall.
Ormo's team believe they were made when an asteroid about 10 metres in diameter shattered during entry into the atmosphere.
New Scientist said: "From the crater size, Ormo estimates that the impact had an explosive force of a kiloton - equivalent to a very small nuclear weapon. Indeed, it would have looked like a nuclear blast, with shock waves, earthquakes and a mushroom cloud."
Story filed: 19:21 Wednesday 18th June 2003
Article, pictures and etc.
Augustine utterly destroyed this theory in his book "City of God", (412 A.D.). He lived in Rome during the Barbarian invasions and recorded that it was Rome's pagan lifestyle that was responsible for the sack of Rome, and not Chrisianity.
Or even a modern Tourist Guy.
NFP
So, an asteroid was responsible for the conversion of Constantine and created Christendom? hehehe. I suppose the dust from this collision created the huge Cross that Constantine saw in the sky, and it also formed the words he saw: "in hoc signo vinces", (in this sign you shall conquer). These scientists are getting funnier and funnier every day. :o)
However, I have no problem believing that if God wanted to influence Constantine that he would arrange for an asteroid to drop at just that moment in just that place. While the peculiarly shaped mushroom cloud (a big P with an X through it?) was rising He would have simply placed the words in his ear. I don't have any issues with him starting that asteroid on that particular course, oh say, 2 billion years ago. No problemo. Oh, and the cloud could easily be caused by a convenient cold front and some clear air turbulance. He built the universe. He would probably tend to use the tools he built in. It would do less violence to His creation. (there seems to be a trend to the threads I'm feeling compelled to contribute to tonight. I may have to think about this some..... )
Can't buy it. There's absolutely nothing in the historical record relating to this "impact". You'd think that a few more people besides Constantine would have noticed this, wouldn't you?
I wonder how they would describe such things?
This guy, Professor Mike Baillie, thinks Beowulf may be about a comet swarm impacting.
I didn't know he was a Sigma Chi?
I am always amused by the smallness of some minds. How arrogant to believe that a human mind could wrap itself around our Holy God. You kids just keep on trying to apply your human mind to this mystery, it will keep you busy for eons. ;^)
-Sir Thomas More [more or less]
LOL!
Any contradictions are in our failure to understand, not in God's ability to work His will. The cliche is that Einstein described math as the language of God. I believe that this is true of the real, correct, results of the scientific method. When we really understand the universe and the laws it runs by we will better understand what God has in mind for us. I fully agree with your point. Not only do I see no contradiction, I see confirmation.
Of course trying to explain this to a teacher at my uncle's bible school (an uncle kicked out of Bob Jones' for being too conservative) at an abandoned Nike missle site in southern Jersey back in the 60's (I didn't see any problem reconciling evolution with the sequence of events in Genesis) earned me a caning... ah well.
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