Tag: astronomy

Is there a physical demonstration of the majesty of the Lord? Does God have integrity? Will God go back on His words, or change His words because of reverse psychology, or reminder of ‘good works done by man’, or playing the favouritism card, or bias on the basis of skin colour, or being born in Asia or Europe or Africa or the Americas(indigenous native Americans), or by praising Him in a sycophantic manner not rooted in spirit and truth based on evidence, and other forms of logic and factors employed by man in prayers.

Leviticus 19:33–34 (The “Native-Born” Commandment)

“When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”

While this verse specifically addresses resident aliens/foreigners (gerim), many of these non-native residents worked as hired labourers or servants in Israelite households.

Related Laws for Servants & Household Members

• Equal Inclusion in Sabbath Rest:
  • Exodus 20:10 / Deuteronomy 5:14: The Sabbath commandment explicitly states that enslaved workers, hired servants, and resident aliens must be given the exact same rest as household family members.
• Equal Treatment for Poor Hebrew Servants:
  • Leviticus 25:39–40: If an Israelite falls into poverty and becomes a servant, the Law mandates: “Do not make them work as a slave. They are to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you; they are to work for you until the Year of Jubilee.”
• Inclusion in Sacred Feasts:
  • Deuteronomy 16:11: In the Feast of Weeks, household servants and foreign residents are instructed to rejoice alongside sons, daughters, and family members as equals in celebration.
• Prohibition Against Oppressing Workers:
  • Deuteronomy 24:14–15: “Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.”

John 13:34–35

• “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

The Old Testament commanded loving one’s neighbour as oneself (Leviticus 19:18). Jesus’ commandment was “new” because it raised the standard of love: believers are instructed to love others “as I have loved you”—modelling their love after Christ’s sacrificial, self-giving example.

The “strength” of a law(commandment) refers to its effectiveness, authority, and ability to influence behaviour within a society. In legal philosophy and jurisprudence, the strength of a law is measured across three primary dimensions:

1. Legal Enforceability (Coercive Power)

A law derives immediate operational strength from the state’s capacity to enforce it and punish non-compliance.

• Sanctions & Penalties: Clear consequences (fines, imprisonment, civil liabilities) deter violations.
• State Monopoly on Force: The government possesses the official authority and resources (police, courts, regulatory bodies) to compel adherence.
• Weakness point: If a law is technically on the books but never enforced, it loses its functional strength and becomes a “dead letter.”

2. Institutional Legitimacy & Clarity

A law’s structural strength depends on how well it is drafted and integrated into the broader legal system.

• Procedural Validity: A law is stronger if created strictly through recognised, constitutional processes.
• Clarity & Predictability: Vague or ambiguous laws are structurally weak because courts may strike them down, and citizens cannot easily predict how to comply.
• Higher Authority Alignment: A statute must align with higher-ranking laws, such as a country’s constitution or international treaties. If it conflicts, it can be invalidated.

3. Social Legitimacy & Moral Authority

A law is strongest when citizens obey it voluntarily because they believe it is fair and necessary, rather than purely out of fear of punishment.

• Alignment with Norms: Laws that reflect a society’s shared ethical values enjoy widespread compliance.
• Public Perception: When citizens perceive the legal system as unbiased and legitimate, compliance rates rise significantly.
• Weakness point: Laws that lack social backing (such as Prohibition in the US during the 1920s) face massive non-compliance, pushing the state to rely entirely on costly coercion.

A law reaches its maximum strength when it is procedurally sound (clearly written and constitutional), socially accepted (seen as fair and moral), and effectively backed by reliable enforcement.

Did the physical universe come into existence 13.8 billion years ago, as a result of the Big Bang, or was it created by God? This is a fundamental question that has to be answered, before there can be a discussion about the laws of an entity whose existence is under question/debate. There is abstraction, and there is objective reality. There has been no currently living human being that can provide incontrovertible evidence, such as video, photographs, and or audio, that God exists. About 30 years ago, a Dutch person said to me that if God exists why did He let so many people die during the second world war; An estimated 70 million to 85 million people died during World War II, representing roughly 3% of the world’s 1940 population. Civilian casualties significantly outnumbered military deaths.

Casualty Breakdown

• Civilians: ~50 million to 55 million (includes 19–28 million deaths from war-related famine and disease, as well as 6 million Jews and millions of others targeted in the Holocaust).
• Military: ~21 million to 25 million (includes around 5 million prisoners of war who died in captivity).

When considering the existence of God in conjunction with disasters and evil being perpetrated, then the question of free will being possesses by human being should also be addressed, in conjunction with what God said in Isaiah 45: 5-7; I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting, people may know there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things. Scripture presents a dual perspective: humankind possesses genuine moral agency and choice, yet these choices exist alongside God’s supreme sovereignty and humanity’s fallen nature.

While the modern philosophical term “free will” does not explicitly appear in the Bible, scripture consistently teaches that people make real decisions for which they are held morally responsible. At the same time, it outlines clear limits to that freedom.

1. Evidence for Choice & Moral Responsibility

Scripture assumes throughout that human beings can choose between options, particularly regarding obedience, repentance, and faith.

• A Direct Choice Offered:
  • Deuteronomy 30:19: “I have set before you, life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live.”
  • Joshua 24:15: “Choose this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
• Responsibility for Sin: God repeatedly holds people accountable for their actions. In Ezekiel 18:20, scripture states, “The soul who sins shall die… The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.”
• Voluntary Offerings: The Old Testament frequently refers to “freewill offerings” (e.g., Leviticus 22:18), which were sacrifices given purely out of voluntary desire rather than by commandment.
• Universal Invitation: Passages like Revelation 22:17 (“let the one who desires take the water of life without price”) and 2 Peter 3:9 (“not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance”) imply that the offer to turn to God requires a genuine human response.

2. Biblical Limits on Human Free Will

While humans have the ability to choose according to their desires, scripture teaches that human choices are not completely unbound.

• The Bondage of Sin: The Bible describes fallen humanity as morally impaired or bound by a sinful nature/spirit(spirit of death).
  • Jesus states in John 8:34: “Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”
  • Romans 6:17–18 echoes that people are either “slaves to sin” or “slaves to righteousness.”
  • In this view, a person can choose what they desire, but without divine intervention, their natural desires lean away from God (Romans 8:7–8).
• The Need for Divine Initiative: Scripture indicates that no one can choose God entirely on their own merit.
  • John 6:44: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”
  • Ephesians 2:1–5: Describes people as “dead in trespasses,” requiring God to make them spiritually alive before they can respond.

3. Divine Sovereignty vs. Human Agency

A major theme in the Bible is the interplay between God’s ultimate control (sovereignty/predestination) and human agency. Biblical writers often portray both working simultaneously without contradiction:

• Genesis 50:20: Joseph tells his brothers, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” The brothers exercised their own wills to commit a sinful act, yet God orchestrated the outcome for His overarching purpose.
• Proverbs 16:9: “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”
• Proverbs 21:1: “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.”
• Acts 2:23: Peter explains that Jesus was killed according to “the definite plan and foreknowledge of God,” yet he tells the crowd that they were responsible for putting Him to death.

Historically, different Christian traditions interpret these scriptures in distinct ways:

1. Arminian / Free Will view: Emphasises verses about universal invitations and human choice, arguing that God gives everyone “prevenient grace” so they have the genuine free power to accept or reject salvation.
2. Reformed / Calvinist view: Emphasises verses about divine sovereignty and human depravity, arguing that while humans make voluntary choices, their wills are corrupt until God sovereignly regenerates them (giving them a new heart to choose Him).

Scripture teaches that humans have an active, responsible will to make real choices, but that this will is spiritually constrained by sin and operates beneath the overarching sovereignty of God. Jesus Christ taught believers how to pray in Matthew 6: 9-10; “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your WILL be done, on earth as it is in heaven. If God created the physical universe, with the inherent force of gravity exerted by cosmic bodies, and quantum mechanics (the motions of all physical bodies, in space and time), then the physical manifestation of the works of the hand of the Creator is mind-boggling, MAJESTIC. Ephesians 2: 8-9; For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. Isaiah 26:10; But when grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and do not regard the MAJESTY of the Lord. Grace is not for all people. The integrity of God is addressed in Isaiah 55: 8-11; “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the Sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Physical universe, cosmic web, galaxies, black holes, stars, planets (rocky planets and gas giants), asteroids, and comets. All of these bodies are under the Heaven.

Isaiah 45: 5-7; I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God.
I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting people may know there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.

Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”

Other Related Verses

• Psalm 50:12: “If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.”
• Job 41:11: “Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.”

Everything under Heaven belongs to God

Asteroid 101955 Bennu is classified as an Apollo asteroid—a category of near-Earth objects whose orbits cross Earth’s orbit as they travel around the Sun.

Orbital Layout & Path

• Orbit Shape: Bennu travels in an elliptical path with an average distance from the Sun of about 1.13 Astronomical Units (AU).
• Earth Crossing: At its closest point to the Sun (perihelion), Bennu moves inside Earth’s orbit (around 0.90 AU). At its farthest point (aphelion), it swings out past Earth toward Mars (around 1.36 AU).
• Orbital Period: It completes one full trip around the Sun every 1.2 years (about 437 days), meaning its position relative to Earth changes continuously.

Distance & Periodic Flybys

• Variable Distance: Depending on where both Earth and Bennu are in their respective orbits, the distance between them ranges from a few hundred thousand kilometres up to over 300 million kilometres. Currently, Bennu is roughly 280 million kilometres (1.88 AU) away from Earth.
• Close Approaches: Bennu makes a relatively close approach to Earth roughly every 6 years. Its next major close flyby will occur on September 23, 2060, when it passes within about 750,000 kilometres (466,000 miles) of Earth—roughly twice the distance from Earth to the Moon.

Analysis of the 120-gram sample collected from asteroid 101955 Bennu by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission (returned to Earth in September 2023) revealed crucial findings about the origins of our solar system and the precursor ingredients for life:

1. Key Ingredients for Life

• Organic Carbon and Nitrogen: The sample contains unusually high concentrations of carbon and organic compounds.
• Amino Acids & Nucleobases: Scientists identified 14 of the 20 amino acids used by life on Earth, along with all five nucleobases (adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine, uracil) essential for storing genetic information in RNA and DNA.
• Chirality (Handedness): The amino acids present are an equal mixture of “left-handed” and “right-handed” molecules. Because Earth life almost exclusively uses left-handed amino acids, this demonstrates that extraterrestrial organics started as balanced mixes before life emerged on Earth.

2. Evidence of an Ancient Ocean World

• Hydrated Clay Minerals: Around 80% of the sample’s minerals contain water locked inside their interior structures, formed when melted ice reacted with dust billions of years ago.
• Evaporite Salts & Water-Soluble Phosphates: Researchers detected magnesium-sodium phosphate, carbonates, halite, and sylvite. These salt crusts indicate that Bennu’s parent body hosted salty, liquid-water brines that dried up over time—similar to hydrothermal environments or ocean crusts on Earth.

3. Mixed Galactic Origins

• Presolar Stardust: The samples contain pristine “presolar grains” created by dying stars before our solar system formed 4.5 billion years ago.
• Diverse Assembly: Bennu’s parent body was a “rubble pile” assembled from materials across different regions—high-temperature solids formed close to the Sun, cold icy material from the outer solar system, and organic matter from interstellar space.

4. Rapid Space Weathering

• Scanning reveals micro-craters and tiny splashes of impact-melted rock caused by micrometeorite bombardments and solar radiation, showing that asteroids without atmospheres weather faster than previously predicted.

The findings strongly support the hypothesis that asteroids like Bennu delivered essential organic precursors and water to early Earth, creating the environment necessary for life to form. However, interestingly enough we have the Holy Spirit speaking through the Psalmist in Psalm 24 verse 1, The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Furthermore, in the scripture quoted at the head of this article, Isaiah 45 verse 7, the Lord stated through prophet Isaiah, that He created light and darkness (was the Lord talking about the Big Bang, and dark matter, dark energy, and black holes? I suppose the only witness to that would be any entity that was present 13.8 billion years or more ago.).

Luke 13 verses 1-5; Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

John 9:1–3 (NIV)

1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.

2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

Context

In ancient Jewish culture, it was a widespread assumption that severe physical suffering or disabilities were a direct divine punishment for specific personal or ancestral sins.

When the disciples saw the man, they treated his condition as a theological debate: Was it his fault, or his parents’? Jesus rejected that premise entirely. By clarifying that neither party was to blame for the blindness, He challenged the idea that every misfortune is tied to personal sin and shifted the focus from cause to purpose—using the man’s situation to reveal God’s healing power. The Holy Spirit did state through prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 45 verse 7, that He brings prosperity and disaster. Are there parallels between scriptures and physical cosmology? In any case, there is free will, and freedom of expression, be it that of an atheist, or a religious bigot/zealot, or a naturalist, or that of an intelligent designer, or an evidence-based(faith) realist world/universe view. Just keep an open mind.