No menu selected

The Case for Cosmic Geocentricity

Published: 11 July 2011
Written by Dean Davis
1 Comment
Categories: Biblical Cosmology

 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world 

to put to shame the wise.

(1 Corinthians 1:27)

 

In this post I am doing two things: linking you to a new article about cosmic geocentricity, and reminding you of an important biblical truth that you’ll need to keep in mind as you read it: God is a God who tests all people, including his own.

A few words on both points.

Concerning the article, it is, as you will soon see, a LONG excerpt from my book, In Search of the Beginning: A Seeker’s Journey to the Origin of the Universe, Life, and Man. It gave me great pleasure  to write this exposition and defense of biblical cosmology. But it also gave me a huge jolt: Somewhere along the way I realized that the Bible really does teach “radical cosmic geocentricity,” the idea that the Earth is not only the center of the universe, but also that it sits unmoving at the center, with the (quite logical) result that the moon, the sun, the planets, the stars, the galaxies—the universe itself—are all, in one way or another, revolving around the Earth!

Have I lost you yet? If not, then you are a bold spirit who might as well take next step: Read the article linked to this blog. But—and this is important—read it in a very special way. Read it as if you were reading the Bible for the very first time. Read it having checked all your high school or college training in physics and astronomy at the door. Read it as if the Creator himself might have something to say, not only about how to go to heaven, but also about how the heavens go. Read it this way, and I think you’re in for quite a surprise.

Which brings me to my second point:  God tests all people, including his own.

The Bible says so. It says that the world is a pretty strange place, where truth always coexists with lies and error; a place where God, in a mysterious display of his sovereignty, allows “the wise” to fall into gross foolishness (and to get paid handsomely for it!), even as he causes the “foolish,” through a God-given love of the truth, to discover the wisdom that leads to eternal life. A strange world indeed, and one that clearly puts all men—and their love of “true truth”–to the test!

Discerning saints understand this. They understand that even now they are being tested with respect to many articles of the faith. Will they stay faithful to biblical teaching on creation, the historicity of Adam, original sin, divine wrath and judgment, redemption through (faith in) Christ alone, the sanctity of human life, the sanctity of marriage, gender roles and relations, sexual purity, and the proper (and limited) role of human government. It is isn’t easy, for like Shimei of old, who railed at poor persecuted king David, “the wise” of this world continually gnash their teeth upon biblically faithful saints, decrying their narrowness, bigotry, arrogance, ignorance, and hate. In short, their foolishness.

So again, God does indeed put men to the test, men of the Kingdom included. Among other things, this means that he is pleased to attach a real cost to the knowledge and enjoyment of his revealed truth; to see if we are willing to purchase his precious wisdom with the cherished (but much inflated) currency of our social acceptability. Speaking personally, I delight in this way of God. So long as my motives are not infected with secret pride, I find that I love being “out there” for the Lord, being a fool for Jesus. Maybe that’s because he loved being a fool for his God . . . and for me.

But back to geocentricity. After I studied it for a couple of years; after I tried honestly and objectively to understand biblical teaching on this subject; after I was shocked to find living Christian brothers—way brainier than I—who had enthusiastically embraced it; after I had wracked my brain trying to grasp Einstein, Relativity Theory, and Big Bang cosmology; after I discerned that only God knows the truth about the structure of the universe; and after I realized that dogmatic modern Copernicanism is indeed yet another instance of fallen man raising up “high things” against the truth of God and Christ; after all that, I became a geocentrist.

But alas, so far it hasn’t flown very well with my creationist brothers. Out of love, I will not name names or mention ministries. Let’s just say that I have yet to find a single major creationist leader (and I know a few) who is willing seriously to probe this subject with me, let alone publish an article or carry my book.

I believe I understand why: They think it would destroy their ministry. After toiling for years, they have, at long last, won a certain measure of credibility for recent creation. Why wreck things now by exploring the possibility that the Earth lies at the center of the universe? Why expose themselves—and Christ’s Church—to charges of abject ignorance? Why get lumped in with the nut-cases who believe that the Earth is flat, or that it sits on the back of a cosmic turtle? In short, why be a fool in the eyes of the world?

Well, here is my answer: We should open up this discussion—and be willing to look like fools—because (so far as I can tell) cosmic geocentricity is indeed the teaching of Scripture. And if it is the teaching of Scripture, then it is profitable: profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; profitable for laying bare the corrupt foundation of modern secular cosmology; profitable for a final, devastating challenge to cosmic evolutionism; profitable for advancing the cause of true science; profitable for making men wise unto salvation; profitable for strengthening the saint’s confidence in the divine inspiration of the Bible; and profitable for so mightily unveiling the power, wisdom, inscrutability, and beauty of God that the saints are left flat on the floor, weeping and shouting for joy at all the glory they have seen.

So, believing all this, I here give you my article on geocentricity. To be honest, it contains very little that is original with me, but much that I have lovingly and gratefully pilfered from my fellow-geocentrists. I do hope, however, that it is well-written, so much so that it will win you to an honest, open-hearted investigation of this truly fascinating and important theme.

And now, having invited you to read the article, let me conclude by asking one more favor: Never forget that for some wise and wonderful reason it pleases our heavenly Father to test his people concerning their love of the truth, and to reserve the sweetest morsels of that truth, not for the wise and prudent, but for babes: for dear, courageous children who are unashamed to be fools for Jesus.

Twitterpated!

Published: 4 June 2011
Written by Dean Davis
No comments
Categories: Devotionals

TWITTERPATED!

” . . . and he brought her to the Man.” 

Genesis 2:22

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of officiating at the marriage of Aaron Nelson and Ashley Gates. Here is my sermon, a meditation on the Mystery of Marriage and the Truth about Twitterpation!

———–

Aaron, Ashley, I’m pretty sure you’ve both seen the Disney classic, Bambi. But just in case, let me introduce my remarks today by describing a memorable and beloved scene from that movie.

Bambi the deer, Thumper the rabbit, and Flower the skunk are assembled before Friend Owl. Suddenly, out of nowhere, two bluebirds appear, fluttering madly about in the air.

“What’s the matter with them?” asks Flower.

“Yeah, why are they acting that way?” asks Thumper.

“You don’t know?” says Friend Owl. “Why, they’re twitterpated!”

“Twitterpated!” cry the three befuddled friends.

“Yes, twitterpated. Nearly everybody gets twitterpated in the springtime. You’re walking along, minding your own business. You’re looking neither to the left, nor to the right, when all of a sudden you run smack dab into a pretty face. Wooo-hooh! You begin to get weak in the knees. Your head’s in a whirl. And then you feel light as a feather, and before you know it, you’re walking on air. And then you know what? You’re knocked for a loop, and you completely lose your head!

“Gosh,” says Thumper, “that sounds awful!”

“Appalling!” says Flower.

“Terrible!” says Bambi.

But friend owl isn’t done.

“And that ain’t all. It could happen to anyone. It could even happen to you.”

“Oh no, it’s not gonna happen to me!” says Thumper.

“Me neither!” said Flower.

“Me neither,” said Bambi.

Famous last words!

Read More

A Wall of Fire

Published: 30 May 2011
Written by Dean Davis
No comments
Categories: Testimony

A WALL OF FIRE

For I will be a wall of fire all around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.

Zechariah 2:5

 

This is an excerpt from a Memorial Day article by Fox News correspondent Chris Stirewalt. The brave men he writes about became a wall of fire around their fellow Marines. Hundreds were saved.

_____

Marine Lt. Gen. John Kelly delivered a speech to the Semper Fi Society — a group for former active duty Marines — in St. Louis on Nov. 13, 2010, just four days after his son, Lt. Robert Kelly, USMC, was killed by an IED in Afghanistan.

Kelly delivered his speech despite his grief and never spoke of the loss of his son, but the general chose to close with the story of Jon Yale and Jordan Haerter, two young Marines who had been under his command in Ramadi, Iraq.

In the span of six seconds on April 22, 2008, Yale and Haerter acted to stop a dump truck loaded with 1,000 pounds of explosives and driven by a suicide bomber from entering the Marine compound. If the suicide bomber had made it through the gates, hundreds of Marines would have surely been killed. But he didn’t, because these men did their duty.

In making his recommendations for the Navy Cross for the two Marines, Kelly had been able to review the recordings from security cameras made just before the blast destroyed them.

Here’s how Kelly described it:

“You can watch the last six seconds of their young lives. Putting myself in their heads, I supposed it took about a second for the two Marines to separately come to the same conclusion about what was going on once the truck came into their view at the far end of the alley. Exactly no time to talk it over, or call the sergeant to ask what they should do. Only enough time to take half an instant and think about what the sergeant told them to do only a few minutes before: ‘Let no unauthorized personnel or vehicles pass.’

‘The two Marines had about five seconds left to live.

“It took maybe another two seconds for them to present their weapons, take aim, and open up. By this time, the truck was halfway through the barriers and gaining speed the whole time. Here, the recording shows a number of Iraqi police, some of whom had fired their AKs, now scattering like the normal and rational men they were — some running right past the Marines.

“They had three seconds left to live.

“For about two seconds more, the recording shows the Marines’ weapons firing non-stop — the truck’s windshield exploding into shards of glass as their rounds take it apart and tore in to the body of the SOB who is trying to get past them to kill their brothers, American and Iraqi, bedded down in the barracks, totally unaware of the fact that their lives at that moment depended entirely on two Marines standing their ground.

“If they had been aware, they would have known they were safe, because two Marines stood between them and a crazed suicide bomber. The recording shows the truck careening to a stop immediately in front of the two Marines. In all of the instantaneous violence, Yale and Haerter never hesitated. By all reports and by the recording, they never stepped back. They never even started to step aside. They never even shifted their weight. With their feet spread shoulder width apart, they leaned into the danger, firing as fast as they could work their weapons.

“They had only one second left to live.

“The truck explodes. The camera goes blank. Two young men go to their God.

“Six seconds. Not enough time to think about their families, their country, their flag or about their lives or their deaths, but more than enough time for two very brave young men to do their duty, into eternity. That is the kind of people who are on watch all over the world tonight for you.”

When Christ Seems to be an Enemy (2)

Published: 26 May 2011
Written by Dean Davis
No comments
Categories: Quintessential Quotes

WHEN CHRIST SEEMS TO BE AN ENEMY (2)

 A dimly burning wick he will not extinguish.

Isaiah 42:3

Though, for a time, you may doubt the mercy of Christ to yourself, take care not to wrong the work of his Spirit in you heart.

Just as Satan slanders Christ to us, so he slanders us to ourselves. If you were not so much as a dimly burning wick, then why do you not renounce your interest in Christ, and disclaim the covenant of grace? This you dare not do.

Why do you not give yourself up wholly to other pleasures? This your spirit will not allow.

And where do these restless groanings and complaints come from?

In this appears Christ’s care to you, that he has given you a heart in some degree sensitive. He might have given you up to hardness, security, and profaneness of heart—of all spiritual judgments, the worst.

So lay your present state alongside the offices of Christ to sinners such as yourself, and do not despise the consolation of the Almighty, nor refuse your own mercy. Cast yourself into the arms of Christ, and if you perish, perish there. If you do not, you are sure to perish. If mercy is to be found anywhere, it is there.

The signs of a bruised heart carry in them a report, both of our affection to Christ, and of his care to us. The eyes of our souls cannot be towards him unless he has first cast a gracious look upon us. The least love we have to him is but a reflection of his love first shining upon us.

Christ suffered in his own person whatever he calls us to suffer, so that he might the better learn to relieve and pity us in our sufferings.

In his desertion in the garden and on the cross, he was content to be without that unspeakable solace which the presence of his Father gave; both to bear the wrath of the Lord for a time for us, and likewise to know the better how to comfort us in our greatest extremities.

God sees fit that we should taste of that cup of which his Son drank so deep, that we might feel a little what sin is, and what his Son’s love was.

But our comfort is that Christ drank the dregs of the cup for us, and will succor us, so that our spirits may not utterly fail under the little taste of his displeasure that we may feel.

He became not only a man, but also a curse, a man of sorrows, for us. He was broken that we should not be broken; he was troubled, that we should not be desperately troubled; he became a curse, that we should not be accursed.

Whatever may be wished for in an all-sufficient comforter, all is to be found in Christ, in him who first loved us, and—while we were yet sinners—gave himself for us.

Richard Sibbes (1577-1635) The Bruised Reed

When Christ Seems to be an Enemy

Published: 25 May 2011
Written by Dean Davis
1 Comment
Categories: Quintessential Quotes

WHEN CHRIST SEEMS TO BE AN ENEMY

 A dimly burning wick he will not extinguish.

Isaiah 42:3

Christ may act the part of an enemy a little while, as Joseph did, but it is to make way for acting his own part of mercy in a more seasonable time. He cannot restrain his bowels of mercy long. He seems to wrestle with us, as with Jacob, but he supplies us with hidden strength to prevail at length.

Faith pulls off the mask from his face, and sees a loving heart under contrary appearances. At first he answered the woman of Canaan, who was crying after him, not a word. Then he gave her a denial. After that he gave an answer tending to her reproach, calling her a dog, as being outside the covenant. Yet she would not be so beaten off, for she considered the purpose of his coming.

As his Father was never nearer him in strength to support him than when he was furthest off in the sensing of his favor and comfort, so Christ is never nearer to us in power to uphold us than when he seems most to hide his presence from us. The influence of the Sun of righteousness pierces deeper than his light.

In such cases, whatever Christ’s present bearing is towards us, let us oppose his nature and office against it. He cannot deny himself, he cannot but discharge the office his Father has laid upon him. The Father has undertaken that he shall not extinguish a dimly burning wick; and Christ has also undertaken to represent us to the Father, appearing before him for us, until he presents us blameless before him with exceeding joy.

The Father has given us to Christ, and Christ will surely give us back the Father again.

Richard Sibbes (1577-1635), The Bruised Reed