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In the Beginning | Part 6: Day Two - Continued
IN THE BEGINNING
Part 6
Day Two - continued
In part five of our study, we were looking at how God created the sky (firmament) and in that process He suspended water above the surface-water that continued to cover the earth. We noted the fact that this suspended water was what we recognize as clouds - and we considered how much that suspended water weighs - as it hangs there on nothing. But are clouds actually suspended on nothing?
The scientific answer to this question has to do with the process of evaporation where surface-water (for example, in the oceans) is changed from a liquid to a gas. As the Sun heats up the water, that heat energy causes the bond that holds the molecules of water together (which sustains their liquidity) to break up, basically turning liquid into a gas (or, water vapor). As a result, microscopic droplets of water rise as the surrounding air heats up from the energy of the Sun. Additionally, because heat energy causes the atoms in the air to expand, the density of the heated air begins to weigh less (per volume) than cold air (which is more dense). Therefore, the heated water vapor rises above the colder air until it reaches an elevation where the surrounding temperature is the same. It is at this point that the water vapor accumulates into what can be seen visually as a white, puffy cloud. As that process progresses with the continual heating of the air, more water vapor accumulates until the density of the suspended water condenses to the point that the water vapor forms drops of water that eventually fall to the earth due to gravity.
Now that may seem pretty technical - because it is! But just remember Who designed that entire process. All we have done is learn something about what God has done in His amazing creation that sustains itself. But this knowledge isn’t anything new. Listen to this quote from the book of Job: “He (God, gvw) draws up drops of water, which distill as rain from the mist, which the clouds drop down and pour abundantly on man. (Job 36:27-28) It wasn’t until 1841 (after the invention of the thermometer by Galileo in 1593 and the invention of the barometer by Evangelista Torricelli in 1643) that James Pollard Espy was able to prove this process scientifically - yet the Scriptures had already stated it within the most ancient of the books of the bible.
By the way, the invention of the barometer by Evangelista Torricelli was also a discovery (in 1643) whose truth was already known and mentioned in the bible. It was again in the book of Job that it had already been said that God “...looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole heavens, to establish a weight for the wind, and apportion the waters by measure.” (Job 28:24-25) Until 1643 it wasn’t yet discovered scientifi-cally that air (or wind) has weight. Now, we are able to measure barometric pressure whose weight at sea level is 14.7 pounds per square inch.
But consider this additional piece of scientific information found in the bible written by the hand of Solomon: “The wind goes toward the south, and turns around to the north; the wind whirls about continually and comes again on its circuit.” (Eccl. 1:6) While Solomon was bemoaning the vanity of life and its many unchangeable things, he was also revealing something about the wind currents that God designed into His cre-ation that allows the clouds to move across the earth, mostly forming over the oceans and being carried by those wind currents to where they can drop their rain on the land. But notice that Solomon stated the fact that the wind goes from the south toward the north. He wrote that bit of information some 2,900 years before it was discovered in the 1940’s by observation (using hot air balloons), that warm air at the equator causes air to rise and move toward the poles where the air is colder and more dense. Then, from the poles, that current follows its circuit back to the equator where the air is reheated to continue the cycle. Solomon, living in the northern hemisphere would have correctly said that it moved from the south to the north. In the southern hemisphere it would be from the equator (in the north) to the south pole. This is still one more example of the fact that the Bible is divinely inspired, revealing truths that we are still verifying by scientific evidence.
God asked Job, “Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven, when the dust hardens in clumps, and the clods cling together?” (Job 38:37-38) That was obviously a rhetorical question to emphasize that it is only God who has such power and wisdom. It was not until the 1950’s that meteorologists learned, by way of high-flying aircraft, that each thunderstorm emits one ampere of electrical current upward into the ionosphere (upper atmosphere) while emitting an equal negative charge to the ground. It was soon discovered that the total electrical discharge of the ionosphere is a consistent 1,800 amperes over the entire earth. It has since been visually confirmed what was then being learned about the number of storms that are active around the world: 1,800 at any given time. Now, does that give mankind any room to boast because we know what God claimed to be the only one to know? That’s an absolutely rediculous assertion. Understand - that when God asked who can know the number of clouds by wisdom, it was a challenge to anyone to not merely know the answer - but to have the wisdom to design and set in motion the complexities behind the answer.
There is much more that can be said about the firmament that surrounds the earth that we call the sky, but this is sufficient to show that the one thing that God created on the second day of creation was no simple accomplishment. Truly, our God is an AMAZING God!
Day Three
“Then God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear’; and it was so. And God called the dray land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.” (Gen. 1:9-10)
Prior to this act, keep in mind that the earth was still covered with water. Now, by merely speaking His will, the elements submitted to His command according to what He said. What this might have looked like we cannot know. However, we can certainly know what it didn’t look like. Have you heard of Pangea? Many have not, but rest assured that many of our young people have. Let me give you an example. If you have ever seen the animated movie entitled “Ice Age,” you may be familiar with how it started. The scene begins with a view of the earth from space. However, it is an unfamiliar earth because there is only one continent. Then, the scene progresses as this single super-continent begins to break apart and to move into the familiar shapes and locations that they exist in today. That supercontinent has been named Pangea. This is not the product of an animator’s imagination, but rather the unbiblical theory that is commonly taught in our schools regarding the origins of the earth.
Now for a little history lesson on this subject. In 1912, a German meteorologist named Alfred Wegener proposed his theory of continental drift, theorizing that, due to the known movement of tectonic plates in the earth (along with some vivid imagination that might fit the shapes of the continents into an originating supercontinent), perhaps the present arrangement of the continents was not always as they are now. The name for this single landmass was derived from the Greek word pangaia which means “all the Earth.” Today, scientists are able to measure these continental movements and, based on the rate at which they are moving (at small fractions of an inch per year), back up the process and thereby calculate the amount of time it would have taken for them to have traveled the distances to their present locations. You can see how that a teacher in a science class who subscribes to this theory could make this sound like a logical thinking process to arrive at such a conclusion. It is based on this kind of pseudo-logic that it is taught today as though it were fact, that this breaking up process began 200 million years ago during the Jurassic Period. But the Bible proves otherwise.
To be continued...
- Gary V. Womack -
- In The Beginning - part 6 2.doc (35.33 kB)
