A very strange universe

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It looks like most of us are like children " …we have piped and you have not danced, we have sung a durge and you have not cried…" Nothing satisfies us. If all the " evil " disappeared we would say " …how boring it all is, why can’t God put a little zing into things…" 🤷
True.
 
Everything that will concern us either in this life or the next has already been revealed to us by God
Quite strangely, this concept reminded me of a passage from an unrelated book I’ve been reading–Quetzalcoatl and Guadalupe, by Jacques Lafaye (University of Chicago Press, 1976). In the passage, the author discusses the way Spanish missionaries in Mexico, intent on gaining traction for their efforts in the Indian culture, drew a possible connection between the legendary ruler/cleric/deity Quetzalcoatl and the Apostle Thomas.

“…the very notion of confronting something radically new was abhorrent from the point of view of revealed truth…Given the a priori rejection of novelty—which would have implied an intolerable gap in the totality of revealed truth claimed for Scripture—it remained only to search in the Prophets, on the one hand, and in America, on the other, for signs linking the New World to revelation. Quetzalcoatl appeared to combine in himself a number of luminous signs. There was only one problem. What if, as Sahagun thought, Quetzalcoatl had been a minister of the native religion, a sorcerer; what if the analogies with Christianity were all a devilish parody?”

I guess what I’m saying here is, let’s be careful in our zeal to either fit the new and unexplained into conventionally-accepted views of revelation, or to preclude the new and unexplained in the name of those same views. That can carry its own hazards, in ways foreseeable neither to Sahagun nor to us.

Conventionally-accepted views of revelation may need to be revised.
 
It looks like most of us are like children " …we have piped and you have not danced, we have sung a durge and you have not cried…" Nothing satisfies us. If all the " evil " disappeared we would say " …how boring it all is, why can’t God put a little zing into things…" 🤷
I highly doubt the woman who died of the flesh eating bacteria, caught while swimming would say “Ah, come on, that was so much fun, lets do it again.”

Or the child who died from multiple bee stings while accidentally coming upon a hive would cry out “Why did all the little bees leave, bring them back!”

Or the elderly who die every year from simply eating food which they must to live, catch salmonella and die would proclaim, where has all the “zing” went, I want to vomit my self to death again.

I would be willing to bet we could make it just fine without all of the “natural” sickness not created by mankind and not say it was boring…🤷
 
I highly doubt the woman who died of the flesh eating bacteria, caught while swimming would say “Ah, come on, that was so much fun, lets do it again.”

Or the child who died from multiple bee stings while accidentally coming upon a hive would cry out “Why did all the little bees leave, bring them back!”

Or the elderly who die every year from simply eating food which they must to live, catch salmonella and die would proclaim, where has all the “zing” went, I want to vomit my self to death again.

I would be willing to bet we could make it just fine without all of the “natural” sickness not created by mankind and not say it was boring…🤷
👍👍

I’d gladly do without the ‘zing’ that human death provides, whatever in heck that means!

ICXC NIKA
 
I guess we do live in a strange universe. I used to think that just about every star system has one star and a few planets. Now, I hear and see documentaries about how the universe has systems with two or more suns, weird orbits… roaming planets…
Then, there’s that talk about Nemesis ‘Star’s evil twin brother’.

Maybe God expects us to adapt to it if we ever get off of Earth and colonize the galaxy.I read that just because we don’t receive the same attention and care like a newborn babe does not mean that we are not loved, but rather that we are expected to handle a bit more.
Speaking of which: would God allow space colonization for humans? And if we meet any aliens up there, would they believe in our God or would they be having different religions or be something perfect like those awesome, perfect aliens that don’t break any rules in some tv shows or games?
 
Speaking of which: would God allow space colonization for humans? And if we meet any aliens up there, would they believe in our God or would they be having different religions or be something perfect like those awesome, perfect aliens that don’t break any rules in some tv shows or games?
Speaking for myself, I’ve always enjoyed the fiction that posits a universe with other intelligent species—Star Trek, Star Wars, ET, Men In Black, Close Encounters.

But I’ve always had a sneaking hunch that the truth about life “out there” is probably closer to what Frank Herbert postulated in Dune. I think there is probably life out there—animal and plant life—but that WE are the only sentient species, capable of space flight and all the lesser manifestations of high technology.

And, as per Frank Herbert, I think that the only other sentient life we will ever encounter will be what WE create—artificial intelligence. I think THAT is destined to move from the realm of fiction into reality. And Frank Herbert may be right about that, too—it may not be a pleasant encounter.
 
I guess we do live in a strange universe. I used to think that just about every star system has one star and a few planets. Now, I hear and see documentaries about how the universe has systems with two or more suns, weird orbits… roaming planets…
Then, there’s that talk about Nemesis ‘Star’s evil twin brother’.

Maybe God expects us to adapt to it if we ever get off of Earth and colonize the galaxy.I read that just because we don’t receive the same attention and care like a newborn babe does not mean that we are not loved, but rather that we are expected to handle a bit more.
Speaking of which: would God allow space colonization for humans? And if we meet any aliens up there, would they believe in our God or would they be having different religions or be something perfect like those awesome, perfect aliens that don’t break any rules in some tv shows or games?
Unless we as human kind find a way to travel faster than light (it would be an unbelievable miracle by itself) then there is no way we can get anywhere.
The other option is to build a ‘planet’ spaceship that would not need to ‘hurry’ to get wherever it would go. It would get thousands of years to get to the closest stars though.
 
Unless we as human kind find a way to travel faster than light (it would be an unbelievable miracle by itself) then there is no way we can get anywhere.
The other option is to build a ‘planet’ spaceship that would not need to ‘hurry’ to get wherever it would go. It would get thousands of years to get to the closest stars though.
Or forget about planets altogether and build travelling space cities.
 
Or forget about planets altogether and build travelling space cities.
Travelling space cities - doubt it. One thing we are learning from technology is that it has limits. Or to put it this way: the more radical the things are that you want to do, the more radically you have to manipulate the laws of physics, and the more radically you manipulate the laws of physics the harder and more expensive it becomes. A single man could invent nitroglycerine, but it took a team of experts and a government funded project to create an atomic bomb. Two men could make the first aeroplane, but it took a lot more than two men to build the first manned spacecraft.

A better understanding of matter and the laws that govern it doesn’t change anything. To build a manned space city capable of functioning under its own power, travelling to neighbouring stars, and keeping hundreds of people alive through dozens of generations simply isn’t possible. We don’t have the resources to do it. Getting half a dozen astronauts to Mars and back would be about the limit, and even that is pushing it (the problem of landing a heavy manned ship safely onto the Martian surface hasn’t been solved yet).
 
Travelling space cities - doubt it. One thing we are learning from technology is that it has limits. Or to put it this way: the more radical the things are that you want to do, the more radically you have to manipulate the laws of physics, and the more radically you manipulate the laws of physics the harder and more expensive it becomes. A single man could invent nitroglycerine, but it took a team of experts and a government funded project to create an atomic bomb. Two men could make the first aeroplane, but it took a lot more than two men to build the first manned spacecraft.

A better understanding of matter and the laws that govern it doesn’t change anything. To build a manned space city capable of functioning under its own power, travelling to neighbouring stars, and keeping hundreds of people alive through dozens of generations simply isn’t possible. We don’t have the resources to do it. Getting half a dozen astronauts to Mars and back would be about the limit, and even that is pushing it (the problem of landing a heavy manned ship safely onto the Martian surface hasn’t been solved yet).
We don’t have the means now, but unless the survival crowd et al. have their way, we will develop them.

The fact that many people are needed to build something doesn’t make it undoable. If requires many people in many places to build an automobile; there is no shortage of those.

And human life would have gone to Mars by now if it were worth doing. It’s not. All they could do there that rovers can’t is to shuffle around looking for signs of life (and in the process, seeding the planet with Earthly microbes, thus making the question unanswerable). In so doing, they would roast their bodies in cosmic radiation and use up $20B worth of space engineering.

Landing on Mars is doable. A LEM could do it, with a heat shield and some Apollo parachutes. Lifting off again would be harder.

ICXC NIKA
 
Not only may there be multiple universes out there, there may be many more dimensions… at the beginning of this universe, scientists think there may have been at least a dozen more dimensions…

I suspect there are many, many other planets with life forms, and many of them will be much more advanced than ours. Consider the universe is estimated to be about 30 billion years old… our planet is about 4 or 5 billion year old… our sun maybe twice that… that leaves other stars and planets a 20 billion year head start… plus consider that our real technological age really only started less than 200 years ago… cars only invented 100 years ago, computers only about 50 years ago.

Imagine a technology that has been at it for many thousands of years ! or for several million years. Traveling through space, through time and even through other dimensions should be available for them.

A couple of years ago, I traveled through a dozen cities in China, and one thing I noticed throughout the country were the many buddist temples and shrines. And even though their religion at first glance looks far different from CHristianity. I noticed that there is a distinct concept of Heaven and Hell, there is eternal life and eternal punishment… there is a Heaven and there is a Hell.

Their concept of God is far different, I think because there is no real revelation of Christ to them. They grasp at ideas that they think may be possible, but no one has confirmed anything to them. What is striking is that everywhere there is a concept of evil and demons. I think that is because, there have been many encounters with evil and demons, and there is great paranoia in trying to prevent or fight off such things.

I think in encountering aliens, we may see a similar type situation or any range of beliefs or lack thereof. There may be basic concepts of good and evil, but no revelation of what God is really all about. Or the aliens may have a more advanced knowledge of God and how He relates to them and to the universe. They may even be able to travel or communicate directly between the spiritual realm and the physical. Or they may have developed completely agnostic or unbelieving as our athiests.

The latter does not mean they are correct. It just means that they have not received any revelations like we have. Whether or not an alien race or some or all alien races know God is irrelevant as to whether of not God exists. We could be the only planet that God choose to reveal Himself. Probably not likely but its possible.
 
We don’t have the means now, but unless the survival crowd et al. have their way, we will develop them.

The fact that many people are needed to build something doesn’t make it undoable. If requires many people in many places to build an automobile; there is no shortage of those.
Which proves my point. The first motorcar was made by a couple of individuals. The first spacecraft wasn’t. And no-one is going to be able to mass-produce cheap spacecraft.
And human life would have gone to Mars by now if it were worth doing. It’s not. All they could do there that rovers can’t is to shuffle around looking for signs of life (and in the process, seeding the planet with Earthly microbes, thus making the question unanswerable). In so doing, they would roast their bodies in cosmic radiation and use up $20B worth of space engineering.
True. Space (and the near-space Martian surface) is an ideal place for machines and bad place for humans.
Landing on Mars is doable. A LEM could do it, with a heat shield and some Apollo parachutes. Lifting off again would be harder.

ICXC NIKA
It’s not quite that simple. Check** this link**. So far, no combination of heat shields, hypercones, ballutes, parachutes and retro-rockets will get anything heavier than a ton safely onto the Martian surface.
 
Some perspective. Man is located in the middle of the largest distances and the smallest.
 
Not only may there be multiple universes out there, there may be many more dimensions… at the beginning of this universe, scientists think there may have been at least a dozen more dimensions…

I suspect there are many, many other planets with life forms, and many of them will be much more advanced than ours. Consider the universe is estimated to be about 30 billion years old… our planet is about 4 or 5 billion year old… our sun maybe twice that… that leaves other stars and planets a 20 billion year head start… plus consider that our real technological age really only started less than 200 years ago… cars only invented 100 years ago, computers only about 50 years ago.

Imagine a technology that has been at it for many thousands of years ! or for several million years. Traveling through space, through time and even through other dimensions should be available for them.

A couple of years ago, I traveled through a dozen cities in China, and one thing I noticed throughout the country were the many buddist temples and shrines. And even though their religion at first glance looks far different from CHristianity. I noticed that there is a distinct concept of Heaven and Hell, there is eternal life and eternal punishment… there is a Heaven and there is a Hell.

Their concept of God is far different, I think because there is no real revelation of Christ to them. They grasp at ideas that they think may be possible, but no one has confirmed anything to them. What is striking is that everywhere there is a concept of evil and demons. I think that is because, there have been many encounters with evil and demons, and there is great paranoia in trying to prevent or fight off such things.

I think in encountering aliens, we may see a similar type situation or any range of beliefs or lack thereof. There may be basic concepts of good and evil, but no revelation of what God is really all about. Or the aliens may have a more advanced knowledge of God and how He relates to them and to the universe. They may even be able to travel or communicate directly between the spiritual realm and the physical. Or they may have developed completely agnostic or unbelieving as our athiests.

The latter does not mean they are correct. It just means that they have not received any revelations like we have. Whether or not an alien race or some or all alien races know God is irrelevant as to whether of not God exists. We could be the only planet that God choose to reveal Himself. Probably not likely but its possible.
With all due respect, multiple universes and other dimensions are purely science fiction. There is no evidence to support any of that.

The Chinese were far more advanced than Western Europeans in a number of areas, yet it took a long time for the Gospel to reach them. Upon hearing it, one Chinese man is reported to have said, “How long did you know?”

Our imaginations are limited. Speaking as an SF writer, even aliens must have human attributes even if they look inhuman so that the characters in the story and readers can relate to it/them.

The Chinese believed in multiple god-like beings and multiple hells. They also believe in geomancy, and a complicated way to calculate the “energy” traveling through the land. It is called feng-shui (feng-shway). This energy is also referred to as “dragon’s tracks.”

Even in modern Hong Kong, if something bad happens, some people will whisper “Fox Spirit.”

Peace,
Ed
 
…]

I suspect there are many, many other planets with life forms, and many of them will be much more advanced than ours. Consider the universe is estimated to be about 30 billion years old… our planet is about 4 or 5 billion year old… our sun maybe twice that… that leaves other stars and planets a 20 billion year head start… plus consider that our real technological age really only started less than 200 years ago… cars only invented 100 years ago, computers only about 50 years ago.

…]
The best current estimate of the age of the universe is 13.75 ± 0.11 billion years.
 
$1000 to Phil Plait if he can Prove the Earth is 4.5 Billion Years Old

$1000 to me if he can’t

Phil Plait, the Internet astronomical guru who has made evolution into a religion instead of a science, wonders “Why Doesn’t Florida Senator Marco Rubio Know How Old the Earth Is?” in his latest column at
slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2012/11/19/florida_senator_marco_rubio_the_age_of_the_earth_is_a_great_mystery.html
Talk about “bad astronomy.” Phil’s plate is full of it.
Let’s see how Phil tries to support his religion of Evolution and the Big Bang
Phil Plait: Posted Monday, Nov. 19, 2012, at 1:47 PM ET, The Earth is 4.54 billion years old. We know this because science works. A large number of independent fields of science show that the Earth is terribly old, and all these different scientific areas—highly successful in their own rights—converge on the same age of the Earth. This number is very well known, very well understood, and the process behind its determination is a foundational assumption across all fields of science.
R. Sungenis: No, sorry Phil. All of the so-called “science” that purports to get us to 13.7 billion years for the age of the universe is built on assumptions, presuppositions, fudge factors, unknowns, guesses and downright stubbornness when it comes to alternative evidence that shows the Earth and the universe are quite young. For example, modern cosmology has had to invent such things as Inflation, Dark Matter, Dark Energy, the Multiverse and many other totally unproven and unseen entities to prop up the anomalies that are constantly occurring in the Big Bang model. Additionally, any scientist worth his salt knows that radiometrics doesn’t prove the Earth is 4.5 billion since radiometrics has no way of knowing the parent/daughter relationship between the elements. Geology also has no way of proving the Earth is old simply because geology has no way of proving that sediments were laid over millions of years. In fact, recent scientific evidence shows that the geologic column could have been made in months rather than millions of years.

more…
 
$1000 to Phil Plait if he can Prove the Earth is 4.5 Billion Years Old

$1000 to me if he can’t

Phil Plait, the Internet astronomical guru who has made evolution into a religion instead of a science, wonders “Why Doesn’t Florida Senator Marco Rubio Know How Old the Earth Is?” in his latest column at
slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2012/11/19/florida_senator_marco_rubio_the_age_of_the_earth_is_a_great_mystery.html
Talk about “bad astronomy.” Phil’s plate is full of it.
Let’s see how Phil tries to support his religion of Evolution and the Big Bang
Phil Plait: Posted Monday, Nov. 19, 2012, at 1:47 PM ET, The Earth is 4.54 billion years old. We know this because science works. A large number of independent fields of science show that the Earth is terribly old, and all these different scientific areas—highly successful in their own rights—converge on the same age of the Earth. This number is very well known, very well understood, and the process behind its determination is a foundational assumption across all fields of science.
R. Sungenis: No, sorry Phil. All of the so-called “science” that purports to get us to 13.7 billion years for the age of the universe is built on assumptions, presuppositions, fudge factors, unknowns, guesses and downright stubbornness when it comes to alternative evidence that shows the Earth and the universe are quite young. For example, modern cosmology has had to invent such things as Inflation, Dark Matter, Dark Energy, the Multiverse and many other totally unproven and unseen entities to prop up the anomalies that are constantly occurring in the Big Bang model. Additionally, any scientist worth his salt knows that radiometrics doesn’t prove the Earth is 4.5 billion since radiometrics has no way of knowing the parent/daughter relationship between the elements. Geology also has no way of proving the Earth is old simply because geology has no way of proving that sediments were laid over millions of years. In fact, recent scientific evidence shows that the geologic column could have been made in months rather than millions of years.

more…
How old do you think the universe is?
 
If the universe was truly hostile to life, it would not allow life anywhere.

I believe the vastness of the universe to be a hint and reflection of the infinite power of God.
 
$1000 to Phil Plait if he can Prove the Earth is 4.5 Billion Years Old

$1000 to me if he can’t

Phil Plait, the Internet astronomical guru who has made evolution into a religion instead of a science, wonders “Why Doesn’t Florida Senator Marco Rubio Know How Old the Earth Is?” in his latest column at
slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2012/11/19/florida_senator_marco_rubio_the_age_of_the_earth_is_a_great_mystery.html
Talk about “bad astronomy.” Phil’s plate is full of it.
Let’s see how Phil tries to support his religion of Evolution and the Big Bang
Phil Plait: Posted Monday, Nov. 19, 2012, at 1:47 PM ET, The Earth is 4.54 billion years old. We know this because science works. A large number of independent fields of science show that the Earth is terribly old, and all these different scientific areas—highly successful in their own rights—converge on the same age of the Earth. This number is very well known, very well understood, and the process behind its determination is a foundational assumption across all fields of science.
R. Sungenis: No, sorry Phil. All of the so-called “science” that purports to get us to 13.7 billion years for the age of the universe is built on assumptions, presuppositions, fudge factors, unknowns, guesses and downright stubbornness when it comes to alternative evidence that shows the Earth and the universe are quite young. For example, modern cosmology has had to invent such things as Inflation, Dark Matter, Dark Energy, the Multiverse and many other totally unproven and unseen entities to prop up the anomalies that are constantly occurring in the Big Bang model. Additionally, any scientist worth his salt knows that radiometrics doesn’t prove the Earth is 4.5 billion since radiometrics has no way of knowing the parent/daughter relationship between the elements. Geology also has no way of proving the Earth is old simply because geology has no way of proving that sediments were laid over millions of years. In fact, recent scientific evidence shows that the geologic column could have been made in months rather than millions of years. (Reference?)

There is always the problem of what you consider “proof.” As recently as the 1930s, Wilbur Glen Voliva claimed the earth was not a sphere and offered $5000 to anyone who could prove it was. The prize was never collected. Why? Because the skeptics can always challenge you to prove the assumptions that your proof is based on. When you provide that proof, they say, “Oh, that doesn’t prove a thing.”

A better approach is presenting a preponderance of evidence supporting your position. Like, what would you consider proof that the sediments were laid down over millions of years? Interestingly, your statement that recent scientific evidence shows the geologic column could have been made in months. What evidence? What’s the reference on that? Who published it? When you make a statement like that you can’t just say it and not give the source. You have to give a reference so the rest of us can check it out.

Here, let me show you why this is necessary: “On a recent scientific expedition in Norway, 20 scientists from many countries discovered a cave hidden deep in a valley. Upon entering it, they were immediately confronted by angels with flaming swords forbidding them to enter further. The angels said that this was where God the father and God the son met when they visited earth and the ground was holy. Dr. Ben McCaffery, a geologist from Harvard pressed forward anyway, and was quickly killed by the head angel. The other scientists retreated quickly and reported the experience to their universities but were told to keep their mouths shut or they would be fired.” Honest!

Oh! Did you want a reference on that? Just trust me it’s true! Check it out on Snopes!
Anybody can say “There is irrefutable evidence that has confirmed several times by Nobel Laureates, that the earth is flat.” (No, I don’t happen to have the references of the peer-reviewed journals that was published in.)
/FONT]
more…
 
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