Australian fires. African locusts. Worldwide plague. Do we live in Biblical times or what? If the world really is ending, we thought it was time to prepare properly for Armageddon. By, you know, reading the damn thing. The Bible, that is. (Go back to the beginning here.)
Yesterday we got trees and fruit, and it was good. Let’s see what we have in store for us as Creation moves into its fourth day.
Genesis 1 King James Version (KJV)
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. 20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
Genesis 1 New International Version (NIV)
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning — the fourth day. 20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning — the fifth day.
Now we’re getting somewhere. The stars at night are big and bright, on the fourth day of creation! Our friends know that we’re an astronomy nut, and we’re really never happier than when we’re under a dark, star-filled night cruising through the constellations with the use of a telescope of our own construction.
And it’s for that reason that we’re actually not more thrilled about God’s decision here to mar our view of the heavens with his two “great lights,” the sun and the moon. Sure, we love a warm sunny day as much as the next person, but that pesky moon, particularly when it gets near full, just spoils the view of distant galaxies and star clusters.
Boo. Give us a deep dark with a magnificent Milky Way anytime. We’re also quite fond of whales, fish, and birds, and we really ought to be doing more to make sure that they stick around.
We know that it’s difficult to think about things like climate change when you are stuck inside your house day after day, awaiting the harbingers of doom in the form of a stomach ache, a dry cough, and an elevated temperature. But let’s not lose sight of the fact that once this pandemic is over, we really shouldn’t go back to our previously profligate polluting ways and doom the planet for our flying and swimming friends.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on March 28, 2020 at 12:00
