Science in Antiquity: Part 9

 Many modern people have a very limited view of history. They can only see or think about five or ten years into the past. They see history as boring and they think of the ancients as ignorant and backward. This was actually not true. What the ancients lacked was the modern accumulation of facts. An ancient Israelite would have been very puzzled and culture-shocked to have been dumped into the modern world, but he or she could have eventually learned to drive a car or to cook on a stove or to use a cellphone.

The ancients were just as intelligent as we are but the accumulation of scientific facts had not yet reached a critical point. Human knowledge took centuries to double, fact by fact. As knowledge accumulated, the rate of accumulation began to speed up. Every answer exposes a new question. Buckminster Fuller spoke of the Knowledge Doubling Curve which was relatively flat for centuries, then began a slow climb, and then went into an explosive upward thrust.

By the end of the 19^th Century, knowledge was doubling once per century. By about 1945, the rate of doubling was about every 25 years. By 1982, the rate was about every 12-13 months. By 2020, the doubling was occurring about every 12 hours. With at least 50,000,000,000 devices now operating and with the rise of artificial intelligence, the rate may now be in minutes.

 

Ca 582-ca 507 BC/BCE: Pythagoras of Samos stresses the mathematical nature of reality. He declares that “All is number.” Along with metaphysical and religious concepts, Pythagoras teaches other subjects including music, mathematics, vibrating lyre strings, and geometry.

25 May 585 BC/BCE: A solar eclipse ends a war between Lydia and the Medes during the Battle of the Eclipse. The battle stopped because of “day turning into night” and a treaty was signed. The eclipse had been accurately predicted by Thales (Ca 640-546 BC.BCE, WBD), a Greek philosopher. He is considered to have been the father of modern astronomy and geometry.

            The end of fighting resulted in a treaty of alliance cemented by the political marriage of a Lydian princess, Aryenis, to a Median prince, Astyages. 

624-546 BC/BCE:  Thales says the Earth’s surface is curved.

635 BC/BCE: Chinese astronomers notice that a comet’s tail always points away from the sun.

780 BC: The first historical mention of a solar eclipse is made in China.

Render Unto Caesar What Belongs to Caesar: Christian Citizen Involvement

 

Most of us read Jesus’ comment, “Render unto Caesar…” as a negative but it clearly is not. Jesus turned the Pharisees’ hostile trap question back on them and they walked away humiliated. The point of what Jesus said is that the commandments of God supersede or override those of any government whenever there is a conflict between the two. His comment acknowledges that the government can make legitimate claims on us. Remember that all governments are in place only with his consent.

Our compliance with and assistance to government can take many forms, including jury duty, military service, running for a place on the local school board, and paying required taxes. I know, I hate them too, but Jesus himself paid taxes.

There are many avenues for Christians to faithfully serve their government. For Americans with an interest in history, there is one very intriguing option. (I am not sure if this is restricted only to American citizens, but other countries may also have programs such as this for their own documents.)

The vast majority of the millions of original documents from the 17^th to 19^th centuries and many from the early 20th still exist only in handwritten form. These include military records, land transaction and dispute records, supply requisitions, court records, official correspondence, census books, tax records, government pension applications, and various miscellaneous documents. The United States National Archives is seeking unpaid volunteers who are able to read cursive handwriting and especially the handwriting of the 17^th to 19^th centuries. The needed skill is called paleography: the science or skill of transcribing ancient or historical documents.

The Archives need this because people have shifted through the years from handwriting, to type-setting, to typewriters, then word processors, then texting, and many now almost exclusively use talk-to-text technology. Some even tell an artificial intelligence program what they want to be in a document and then allow the AI to compose it. These people will look at the English-language handwriting of the 18^th and 19^th centuries and may be as confused as if it were written in Chinese or Arabic.

The handwriting of prior centuries is very different from what is now considered to be standard. The forms of letters are different, the language can sound stilted, flowery, or obscure, the letters may be written very close together to get more writing on one page (paper was expensive), unfamiliar or archaic words may be used, and the spelling is often very fluid, even in the same document.

The difficulties are compounded by the fact that in some modern school systems, cursive handwriting is no longer even taught. My granddaughter went to one such school and had to ask me to teach her how to read and write cursive.

Volunteers for the National Archives program may sign up online and pick any one of the over 300,000,000 currently digitized but still un-transcribed documents. There is no specified number or type of documents which the volunteer must process and no time limitations. Those who are uncomfortable reading older forms of cursive can still volunteer their efforts since the documents transcribed by others also need to “tagged” by mentioned subjects and names to make them easier to search. Information about this program can be viewed here: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2025/01/15/national-archives-is-seeking-citizen-archivists-who-can-read-cursive/77717797007/ and the government website is here: https://www.archives.gov/citizen-archivist/missions/revolutionary-war-pension-files

Matthew 17: 24-27, 22:15-22; Mark 12:13-17: Luke 20:20-26; Romans 13:1-7.

Thanksgivingkuh

When I first heard about Thanksgivingkuh, it somehow did not sound right to me.  It is a sort of comical take on the extremely rare occurance of the American secular holiday, Thanksgiving, and the first day of the Jewish religious holiday, Hanukkah, occurring on the same day.  The next time this convergence will occur is on 28 November 79,811.   Since the Hanukkah festival lasts for eight days, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah have and will continue to occur on other days within the eight-day period over the years.  The last time both holidays fell on the first day of the festival was on 29 November 1888.  Hanukkah 2013 began on Wednesday 27 November because the Jewish day begins at sundown.  Since the Jewish calendar is lunar-based and on a nineteen year cycle, the festivals move around in date much more than in the common Gregorian Calendar.  Hanukkah begins each year on the 25^th day of the month of Kislev.

Thansgivingkuh (Thanksgiving + Hanukkah) cards have appeared along with a menurkey (menorah + turkey).  A menurkey is a turkey decoration whose tail holds the candles normally place in the sacred menorah.

I asked a Jewsih friend what he thought of Thanksgivingkuh and he said he had not heard of it but that he was amused. My friend did not share my feeling that the merging of the two holidays, one secular and one religious, was somehow sacrilegious.  Though Hanukkah is a religious holiday, many American Jews see it as overly secularized and commercialized.  Some see it as a time to give gifts so that their children will not be upset about not celebrating Christmas.

Hanukkah celebrates a Jewish military victory in 165 BC/BCE over the Greek/Syrian army of Antiochus Epiphanes after which the candle in the Temple burned for eight days on a supply of oil sufficient for only one day.  The battle ended on 25 Kislev. This was seen as an affirmation from God of the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.  The word “Hanukkah” derives from the Hebrew verb חנך   which means “to dedicate.”  The festival is mentioned in the New Testament at John 10:22-23.  The events of Hanukkah are recounted in the apocryphal books of 1 and 2 Maccabees.

Rachel Gurevitz, the Senior Rabbi at Congregation B.nai Shalom in Westborough, Massacusetts, sees Thanksgivingkuh as a chance to discuss Jewish and American history with children, seeing a convergence of meaning in both holidays.  Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, on the Fox News Channel, said essentially the same thing.

I am not a humorless Scrooge, but Thanksgivingkuh still strikes me as questionable.

………………………………………….

I am not sure who first pointed this out, but Hanukkah, from a Christian perspective, is very important.  If Antiochus Epiphanes had succeeded in basically exterminating the Jewish religion, then Jesus would probably not have been born as a Jew.   Jesus had to be truly human, He had to be truly divine, and He had to be Jewish.  Salvation comes through the Jews (John 4: 22).  God used the Jewish nation over the centuries to reveal Himself in a manner intellible to man’s limited understanding.  All of history before the Crucifixion was a preparation and an explanation of what God is like and what the Crucifixion and Resurrection mean.

Obituary of Kenneth Edwin Cherry

Kenneth Edwin Cherry age 83 of Homewood, Alabama (USA) passed away Saturday, October 6, 2012.  Mr. Cherry was a member of Dawson Memorial Baptist Church.  He served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War.  He was buried October 9 in Elmwood Cemetery where military honors were rendered by the U.S. Air Force.

Shocking Information About the Roman Empire

Here is one reason why the Jews and early Christians viewed the Roman Empire as hopelessly corrupt. This has nothing to do with the fact that the wheels of the Empire were greased with bribery.  It has nothing to do with the rampant ruthless ambition of many (possibly most) of the military and political leaders.  It has to do with the Roman attitude towards household sexuality.  A Warning: Do not read this if you are easily shocked.

http://www.roman-empire.net/society/soc-household.html

Put On the Full Armor of God

“Soldiers don’t arm themselves partially leaving the rest of their bodies unprotected.  For if they received their death wounds in the unprotected area, what would be the point of their partial armor? … The gospel implies that those who try to build a tower, but spend all their time on the foundation and never finish, are ridiculous.”  Gregory of Nyssa (330 – ca. 395) in On Virginity, 17.

Gregory was talking about those who never develop in their Christian understanding past that of infants, babies, the ones which Paul said were still drinking milk when they should already have been eating meat (1 Corinthians 3:2, Hebrews 5:12).

The reference to the soldiers calls to mind the instructions of Paul that we should put on the full armor of God in our battle, and whether or not we realize it, we are in a battle.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.   For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.   Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.   Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,   nd with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.   In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.   Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.   And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”  Ephesians 6:10-18

“He shall say: “Hear, O Israel, today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not be terrified or give way to panic before them.  For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.” Deuteronomy 20:3-4

God has given us powerful spiritual armor and weapons for our fight.  Our real enemy is a person, Satan.  It is not popular to say this.  Satan has been able to convince the world that he does not really exist.  We don’t regularly see exorcisms and demonic activity (thank goodness) because Satan, the deceiver, knows that it is much more effective to work “under the radar.”  When we think of Satanic rituals, Rosemary’s Baby, little red devils with horns and spiked tails, and all the other popular images, we think of the devil as silly, funny, or entirely superstitious and fictional.  This is one of his strongest weapons.

“Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield.”  Psalms 33:20

“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”  Hebrews 4:12

“O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.”  Psalms 140:7

“He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.”  Isaiah 59:17

“Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;”  Ephesians 3:14

Satan wins by deceit, lies, and half-truths, not by courage.  He is a master manipulater and wins his arguments.  Do not waste your time arguing with him.  Never yield in any degree.  Instead, look him in the eye, and, with the name of Jesus on your lips, walk toward him.  He runs from the name of Jesus.

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  James 4:7

Extra-Biblical Evidences of Biblical Persons and/or Events: The Mortuary Temple of Rameses III

The Medinat Habu Mortuary Temple of Pharaoh Rameses III of Egypt is a massive complex 150 meters long.  On its walls are inscriptions praising Rameses and listing his military triumph over the Sea Peoples in a great land and sea battle which occurred about 1191 BC/BCE.  One of the tribes composing the Sea People was the Philistines, who were Israel’s mortal enemies.  They are believed to have originally come from Crete.

The temple site is near Luxor (al-Uxxor) in Egypt.

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Son Jong Nam: (b. 1958, North Korea – d.? Dec 2008, in a Pyongyang prison) Martyr, Christian missionary in North Korea, ex-North Korean military officer.  Son was arrested for the charge of “spying,” incarcerated, beaten, and tortured.  He is reported to have died in prison after his sentence of public execution was cancelled due to international pressure.

The Thief on the Cross: This repentant thief was crucified to the right of Jesus and recognized Jesus as the Messiah (Luke 23:39-43).  Jesus promised him that he would be in paradise that day.  He is not named in Luke but later traditions name him as The Good Thief, The Penitent Thief, Dismas, Dimas, Titus, Zoatham, and Rach. San Dimas, California is named for him.  The Bad Thief is traditionally called Gestas or Dumachas.

Robert Edward Lee: Military officer United States of America (1829-1861) and Confederate States of America (1861-1865)  Though he personally opposed slavery, he thought that it was ordained by God and would be ended in God’s time.  His US citizenship was posthumously restored in 1975. Anglican/Episcopalian.

Jesse Truesdell Peck: (b. 1811, New York – d. 1883), Methodist Episcopal bishop.  College president. Great uncle of writer Stephen Crane.

Camillo Borghese: (B. Italy – d. 1605, aka: Pope Paul V)  Paul V was known for his building projects such as the façade of St. Peter’s Basilica. 

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian. Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, their religious beliefs, or their actions. This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Thomas Dyer: (b. Tennessee, USA) A former Southern Baptist pastor, in 2009 Dyer became the first Buddhist to become a United States military chaplain.

Lobegott Friedrich Constantin von Tischendorf: (b. 1815, Germany – d. 1874), German Biblical scholar.Translated the Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus, a 5th century Greek manuscript of the New Testament and found the Codex Sinaiticus, a 4th century New Testament manuscript. He was a university professor.

Liu Zhenying: (b. 1958, China, aka: Brother Yun) House church leader, evangelist, proponent of the Back to Jerusalem movement. He was arrested and tortured over 30 times by Chinese communist authorities. In 2001, he walked out of prison in full view of his guards, no one stopped him, no doors were locked. He now operates out of Germany.

Robert Charles Guccione, Jr. (b. 1956) Latin rite Roman Catholic. Music magazine (Spin) founder. Publisher of Discover magazine. Son of Penthouse magazine founder, Bob Guccione, from whom he is estranged.

John Venn: (b. 1834, England – d. 1923)Logician, philosopher, and Anglican priest. His mathematical work has influenced set theory, probability, logic, statistics, and computer science. He was a mechanical genius particularly adept at building machines.

Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day on which we in America remember those who have served and died in the defense of their country. For many, it is just another day to be off from work and an excuse to drink beer and eat barbecue. Some within the Christian community question whether Christians should have anything to do with this holiday, or with the military at all.

Philip Gulley, a Quaker minister, in If the Church Were Christian (***), recounts how one Quaker church erupted into controversy after one of its members joined the military. Quakers take a pacifist stance and many say that a Christian can not be a soldier.

Perhaps some of them have been listening to their Inner Light more than to their Bible. There is a proper respect due to government and the military and they serve a useful function; the protection of the people and the preservation of the peace. That subject is for a later post to this blog.

On the subject of soldiers themselves, the attitude of the Bible is generally that they are honorable men, especially the Roman Centurions who were entrusted with the supervision of 100 soldiers. Two of the Centurions are named; Cornelius (Acts 10) and Julius (Acts 27).

Mentions of Roman Centurions in the Bible:
Matthew 8: 5-13; 27:54; Luke 7: 2-10; Acts 10; 22: 25; 23:17; 27:1-43

*** : I am preparing a detailed, chapter by chapter response to Philip Gulley's book, If the Church Were Christian. Rediscovering the Values of Jesus (2010).

"Dear Lucky Agent" Contest

I have submitted an entry into the "Dear Lucky Agent" Contest currently being run by Guide to Literary Agents, one of the blogs in my list below. The genre for this particular contest is Fantasy and Science Fiction and I have submitted my novel, Chosen, which is best described as a Crossover Christian Young Adult Military Science Fiction Romance. The designation "crossover" means that the novel could be considered for publication into both the Christian and secular markets. Crossover Christian novels such as Chosen often contain no overt supernatural elements.

As you may know from my profile, I am a published writer; not at the level I would wish, but published nonetheless. Some say that science fiction is atheistic, but that is because we have not yet adequately staked our claim to at least one corner of the genre. My novel, Chosen, is my attempt to do so and is in keeping with the stated aims of this blog.

κηρυσσων την βασιλειαν του θεου και διδασκων τα περι του κυριου ιησου χριστου μετα πασης παρρησιας ακωλυτως.
A themed blog based on the idea that Christians should be, and are, in every nook and cranny and that they should, and do, excel in every field. Comments on films, current events, doctrinal questions, ethics, science, humor, etc. Recurrent postings will feature Christians, Film Comments, Book Comments. Readers are encouraged to comment and to suggest new topics.

Film Comment: Getting Ready Morally

This 1951 black and white film, Getting Ready Morally, would invoke groans and eye rolls from modern audiences, but the points it makes are still as valid as ever. It was made, surprisingly enough, by the United States military. The concern of the film is with innocent young men being suddenly away from home and family and expected to cope with the almost total lack of restraints and guidelines of free unsupervised adults.

Anyone whose son or daughter "went wild" during their first semester at college knows the validity of this film. One of the main points is that one's parents aren't there to help the young man (remember, this is 1951) make the right choices so the right choices must come from within the young man, ie. personal responsibility. The film counsels choosing one's friends wisely and avoiding some people altogether. Finding a mentor is also important as is thinking about consequences before taking actions. As the narrator says, "When you choose the start of a road, you also choose the end."

Separation

I am a firm believer that Christians should clearly be "different" from other people. We are a separated, called-out, people, still citizens of our home countries but owing our ultimate allegiance to the Kingdom of God. Any conflict between the two should be easy to resolve: our duty is with the Kingdom.

Any activity which detracts from one's allegiance to the Kingdom should be modified or dropped altogether. This could include political associations, social activities, sports, or hobbies; none of which are, by themselves, wrong or forbidden.

The Bible recognizes the validity of the State and acknowledges that it has important functions. The State has been placed in power by God. The caveat is that the State also has its limitations. The State establishes censuses, registrations, laws, fees, taxes, and even calls for legitimate civil and military service. The State can not, however, demand unquestioning obedience or the right to dictate belief. For the Christian, there can be no ,"My country, right or wrong."

Something to Think About: Robotic Humans

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT: Robotic Humans
This is a recurrent segment in this blog and is dedicated to questions not yet being asked by most people, but which, inevitably, will come up. If you think about them now, you won’t be caught unaware when they arrive.
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In Rome in 2008, Pierpaolo Petruzziello moved his arm and hand and felt sensations even though he no longer had an arm and even though the arm and hand which he was moving were attached to his body by electrodes inserted into the stump of what was left of his arm. Other than the wires placed into the stump, the mechanism was not attached to the patient. The hand was entirely mechanical and was controlled entirely by Petruziello's thoughts. Presumably, the mechanism could be controlled from a distance by remote control.

The science fiction dream of brains kept alive in robotic bodies will eventually be realized. Will paraplegics be able to live and experience normal lives within mechanical bodies? Will the resultant persons still be human? Will they be able to remain alive for centuries by switching to new robotic bodies as the old ones wear out? Will living tissue one day replace the robotic mechanisms? Will it be ethical to discard the living bodies for new ones?

Will someone realize another science fiction concept and produce long-distance soldiers such as the beings seen in the 2009 film, Avatar? Mechanisms (robotic or living tissue) controlled like today's military drone airplanes by someone safely miles or even continents away from the deadly action? What will this mean for the value of human life? Will remaining human in one's original body be seen as a liability? Will cybernetic implants enhance their recipients?