Translucite post two

“Giants of Science” is a book that chronicles the development of western civilization’s knowledge through short biographies. It starts with the early Greek thinkers, like Euclid and Hippocrates; goes on to the Middle Ages featuring people like Copernicus and Galileo, finally on to our time with the likes of Einstein and Neils Bohr. In the story of Friedrich Wohler, the father of organic chemistry; who was able to synthesize urea in 1828 we read, “For the first time man was able to produce in the laboratory a compound which had been manufactured heretofore only by living animals.” ("Giants of Science", page 97)

The story told of Louis Pasteur says that his “accomplishments were a result of a kind of chain reaction in thinking. One thing seemed inevitably to lead to the next. His studies of crystals led him to consider the mysteries of life. The studies of life led him into the problem and the solution of fermentation, which he stubbornly and accurately held to be accomplished by microscopic beings – microbes. This study brought him to grips with the advocates of spontaneous generation or the theory that living things arose from inanimate matter. Men had ceased, since the time of the Italian scientist Fransico Redi, to believe in the spontaneous generation of such creatures as grubs, maggots, tapeworms and mice, but it was still held possible that the microbes came out of inanimate organic materials” (Ibid, page 108).

“Pasteur died on September 28, 1895. He summed up his philosophy as follows: ‘I am utterly convinced that Science and Peace will triumph over ignorance and war, that nations will eventually unite not to destroy but to edify, and that the future will belong to those who have done the most for the sake of suffering humanity’” (page 108).

We could discuss other examples such as the popular story that in Christopher Columbus’ time people still thought the earth was flat. Yes we have learned a great many things. The world we live in is not the same as it once was. We have cured many diseases. New discoveries are opening before us every day. We can rearrange and duplicate matter into many forms, but can we create, truly create? Can we really solve all of our own problems?

Two parallel movements developed in western society over the last 500 – 700 years. One was Protestantism and the other was secularism. They both came about as a result of two parallel events. One was the Reformation and the other was the Renaissance. They both saw the Catholic Church at one time or another as the “big bad wolf” and the cause of all the barbarism and repression during the Dark Ages, a time that had gripped the western world ever since the fall of the Roman Empire. This theme will recur in the next few chapters, but it is imperative to state that no matter what story you tell about how backward people were in the Dark Ages, what they said the Bible says is not really what the Bible says. There is much more to this modern world view that is compatible with the scriptures than the average person realizes. However most people, at least in North America and Europe seem ready to abandon the Bible, or relegate it to childhood fables with moral lessons only.

Though many people over the course of centuries have made advancements in the studies of chemistry, light, heat, electricity, motion and molecular theory; all these branches of science were essentially fused into one by Albert Einstein’s theories of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. And what was the end result? Atomic Weapons! Einstein himself did not invent the bomb. In fact, “Albert Einstein regretted the atomic bomb. He had hoped that its force would be demonstrated to representatives of the Japanese Government, without the necessity of dropping this deadly device on the Japanese people – but this was not to be. He hoped that atomic power would be used for the benefit of mankind” (Ibid, page 147).

It definitely was Einstein’s work that set the stage for its development however. The American “Public Broadcasting Service” or PBS television network ran “Path to Nuclear Fission: The Story of Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn” on Monday, June 5, 2006. The show not only described how Otto Hahn is officially given credit for the discovery of nuclear fission, it also gave the untold portion of the story. Hahn, a chemist, (along with his assistant) had been able to turn Uranium into Barium in the lab and he didn’t know how or why until his friend Meitner, a physicist, advised him. She was the one who realized the now famous E=mc2 formula could explain what happened. In Hahn’s experiment some of the Uranium atoms had split leaving Barium and Krypton behind. Meitner actually coined the phrase “nuclear fission” to describe the process. Meitner and her assistant, Otto Frisch, “quickly understood that fission would create a large amount of energy, and balanced nuclear equations indicated additional neutrons would be produced. They calculated the energy associated with pushing the two positively charged nuclear fragments apart to be approximately 200 million electron volts (MeV) per uranium atom. By comparison, the most energetic chemical reactions release approximately 5 eV per atom” (http://www.chemcases.com/nuclear/nc-03.htm).

And what was the end result of that great discovery? The previously unheard of but now commonplace “weapons of mass destruction”. Otto Hahn went on to win the Nobel Prize. Lise Meitner’s contribution faded out of the spotlight. On Hahn’s tombstone the formula for nuclear fission is inscribed. On Meitner’s, the message written is “A physicist who never lost her humanity.”

Let’s take a look at Revelation 13:13, 14 “He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.” The first time I ever looked at this text, atomic weapons came to my mind as the obvious fulfillment. Now an astute Bible student will immediately note that the text refers to fire “coming down” and that a mushroom cloud goes up as an atom bomb explodes. Let me defend my position by noting that there is such a thing as what I like to call “Multi-level prophecy”. That is, Bible prophecies that have been fulfilled more than one way at more than one time, because different meanings can be drawn out of them to suit different situations.

An example would be our previous text, Daniel 12:4. During the early 1800’s there was a great revival throughout the Christian world. The book of Daniel, which for so long had remained mysterious, was being unlocked like never before. People “ran to and fro” by cross-referencing Daniel with other parts of the Bible and their study of history. As they realized just how incredibly accurate the prophecies were, their “knowledge” of Daniel’s prophecies was increased, which led to their increased interest in spiritual things. That is an equally valid fulfillment that some people still argue is the right way to look at the aforementioned verse. My take is they’re both right, each in their respective times.

So even though Revelation 13:13, 14 has much more to say that is beyond the scope of this book; (I’ll give you a hint, the last half of this chapter refers to the rise and fall of the United States) for the purposes I have in mind here, the “great signs” are the advances in technology that have led the vast majority of us to think we no longer need God and the “fire coming down” is atomic weapons. What will be the end result? One great deception at the end of time! Daniel 12:1 comments a little further by saying “At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, Every one who is found written in the book.”