Contact Dan Curry if you wish at 812-564-9421 to discuss fundamental physics principles and values in the Bible.
July 5th, 1687: Newton Publishes His Gravitational Conclusion!
'Christmas Baby' Isaac Newton, an Englishman b. 25 Dec, 1642 - 27 Mar, 1726. Born so early and small that his mother said he could fit into a quart mug. Grew to be such an intellectual giant that few scientists are named in the same breath as him. God revealed much to him as he questioned and experimented. For example, he helped develop calculus. He quantified the force of gravity and developed a formula that described its behavior. He was sometimes envied but highly respected even in his own time.
He is said to have purposefully lived his whole life as a virgin, devoted to his studies. He acknowledged God throughout his life, found the existence of God to be utterly obvious, but had some strange ideas about the nature of Jesus. He was reputedly thought a difficult man by some of his peers, yet he did much. He was a scholar, a scientist, an alchemist, a theologian, and even a politician. Strangely, when working for the English government, he was a key figure in hunting down pesky British coin counterfeiters, and put a lot of effort into the task! But perhaps his strongest work for God was incidental, in that the value of the Gravitational Constant seems to have perhaps been custom designed by God and Jesus to advertise the source of Creation!
Before Science came along people got a greater portion of their explanations from the Bible....from scripture. It was believed that if you got the answer from scripture, you got the answer from God! And God was considered an incomparably weighty authority on all subjects. But, Science grew stronger and more authoritative in the public eye and soon enough they were considered by many to be the chief source of true information on a great many fronts. And if there was a conflict between what God seemed to be saying in scripture and what Science seemed to have discovered, it came to be as time wore on that many Christians would sheepishly close their Bible and turn away in embarrassed silence, having been corrected in their understandings by the powerful voice of Science. But, here is a fact: where a Scientist finds truth, a Scientist has found a truth about God or something God has done or made, etc. Despite all of the noise to the contrary God the Father really did create it all - and us all - choosing to do so through His Son Jesus. And the Biblical scriptures actually are completely reliable though they are not concerned in too many instances with scientific information, but rather focus on the sad lessons of human history as we try repeatedly to be our own master instead of acknowledging God the Father as the source of it all. And the Bible also focuses upon spiritual teachings directly from God.
How are all things held together? That is a fair question, right? What holds material things together? The Christian scriptures say it is Jesus of Nazareth. The Bible says that Jesus 'holds all things together'. Here is how it puts it in Colossians 1:15 - 17, varying slightly from one translation to another:
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
End Quote. NIV translation
Jesus....whom scripture also refers to as 'the WORD'. Of course the Bible is also 'the Word'. In fact, Christians believe that the words of the Bible are actually a form of the presence of Jesus. Those 66 BOOKS of the Protestant Bible, or those 73 Books of the Catholic Bible (and there are other Bibles with other numbers of books, but these 2 serve the most Christians by far) are a form of Jesus. They are the words of God. It is a little mysterious. But we are told that Jesus is the WORD, and we believe it. Science, using their aggregate voice were that somehow available, would most likely say that what holds everything together is 'GRAVITATIONAL ATTRACTION'. Matter attracts matter, they might say. This mutual attraction between atoms is what holds matter together. And this attraction has been termed Gravity by those in Science.
But here is a true mathematical oddity...an unlikely 'coincidence' if you will: there is a scientific constant, designated by a large letter 'G', which is called the Gravitational Constant. Normally a Christian thinks (I believe) that God Almighty is the true most rightful owner of the title " capitol 'G' ", but Science has awarded this designator to the Gravitational Constant. It is a value associated with the power of attraction of matter for matter, and the number most commonly used has changed many times over the decades. But one frequently accepted value for it, even during times within this 21st century, has been 6.673 as shown below on this chart that was posted on, and borrowed from, a Wikipedia article concerning the Gravitational Constant.
So how odd is it that of all the possible numerals that could ever have happened to describe the magnitude of the force that holds all things together (according to Science) the numbers 66 and 73 should be the first 4 numerals of the Gravitational Constant used by Science during so many of our recent years, including our space-traveling years? It looks like it might even have been used during the year of our first moon landing, 1969, which required a pretty sound understanding of the effects of the force of gravity. Again, there are 66 books in the Protestant bibles (which about 900 million Christians use.) There are 73 books in the Catholic bibles (which about 1.2 billion Christians use.) And to the Christian, the Bible is the WORD, and Jesus is the WORD, and in some mysterious manner the two are actually one and the same, and scripture clearly and plainly states that it is Jesus that holds all things together in this Creation. And through some hugely ironic twist of fate what appears to have been one of the most widely used values for the Gravitational Constant contains, front and center, the particular pair of two digit numerals describing the number of books inside of the two most widely used forms of the Christian Bible?
Even the number 74, which also follows the number 66 in several examples in the chart above, has a very special significance in Judeo-Christian scripture. The story behind that number is that it was anciently thought that to approach God Almighty physically, should He choose to appear in your vicinity, was instant death. His Holiness was supreme in power and purity, and not to be approached closely. But when God at Mt. Sinai gave Moses the first Covenant to present to His newly chosen people, the Hebrews, He called for a group of them (Moses and his brother Aaron from the tribe of Levi, Nadab and Abihu (the first two sons of Aaron by Elisheba, a wife from the tribe of Judah) and 70 elders from among the people - so 74 specially chosen persons in total, to walk up to the top of Mt. Sinai and physically approach Him closely so that they could literally see Him with their eyes. Only Moses from all among that group was allowed to approach even more closely that day, but due to Moses' presence among them and Moses' favor with God the others were allowed, even invited by God, to come close enough to actually view God from what was formerly thought a deadly near distance. It says that God stood in front of them upon a sort of sky blue pavement, the color of lapis lazuli.
An Example of Lapis Lazuli, A Gemstone Used Since Ancient Times.
So, the number 74 was given a special connection to God in this instance...perhaps you could say it is the number reminding us of those regular persons who can approach God closely without fear because One that God favors so very much is their leader and is in their midst, and for His sake God gives them allowances they would not otherwise obtain, and you know I speak of Jesus. (see Exodus 24:1 thru 9 for above details)
It is probably further worth noting, for those who feel this is all more likely coincidence than design, that the Jews followed the Old Covenant teachings given by God to Moses. It was a covenant that, by their own admission in various preserved documents and writings, man was unable or disobediently unwilling to faithfully follow. In some senses God ended that 'Mosaic Age' and began the 'Bible Age' of Christianity by using the Roman Army to effectively erase the ancient and venerated nation of Israel from the political map and send His chosen Jewish people wandering for nearly 1,900 years before Israel was politically formed once again in 1948 A.D. And this 'erasure' if you will of the Old Covenant and transition into the New Covenant, or 'Bible and Holy Spirit Age', began with Jesus' ministry, and then, 40 years later, the siege of Jerusalem in April or May some sources say of 66 A.D. (the Christians fled Jerusalem just in time to escape most of this!) and that protracted military campaign and siege which followed ended with the suicide of over 800 of the last hold-out Jewish fighters and their families on the top of the Israeli hill-top fortress called Masada. The Jews took turns killing each other just as the Romans finished a huge dirt ramp up to the top of Masada that allowed them to penetrate into and capture the Masada fortress. That happened in April (16th?) A.D. 73. So the erasure of the ancient Mosaic nation of Israel - that ancient 'Mosaic Law practicing' Old Covenant nation of Israel - which is one functional transition marker to the Christian age, the Bible Age - took place between the years A.D. 66 and A.D. 73. Observe those numbers: 66 and 73. Again, 66 books in the Protestant Bibles and 73 books in the Catholic Bibles....and 66 and 73 are the book-end years for the destruction of the ability to diligently adhere to the sacrifices proscribed by the Mosaic Covenant. (No temple remained on Mt. Zion to perform sacrifices at, for one thing! It was thoroughly destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. Mosaic Law demanded certain sacrifices be performed at that temple at certain times each year.)
One can again claim that this too is coincidence...you can nearly always claim coincidence...but doesn't it seem reasonable to conclude that our All Powerful Holy Father seems to be quite cognizant of those numbers, 66 and 73, and to purposely plot them into the story line of human history? Or should we call it the 'story line of human inadequacy'? They are two numbers that quite particularly associate with 'the Word', and Jesus who is God's one and only true Son and mankind's only allowable given Savior, (John 14:6. Jesus' words, not mine, though I believe Him)this same Jesus is also called 'the Word', even in holy scripture (John 1:1-5.)
If God invented and built the Creation (and honestly, how much evidence of that truth can we reasonably ask for before it becomes obvious that we just don't want that to be the truth because of the other facts that must then realistically be faced? God does have standards of speech and behavior for us, and not everyone wishes to be bound by such things. Many people may feel more comfortable in their skin if they can plausibly claim that there is only WEAK or better yet NO evidence for God) but again, if God invented and built the Creation, then all of what constitutes real/true/genuine 'science' is merely a studying of a portion of the tools, structures, guiding forces and methodology which He chose to emplace within the structural fabric of that Creation. Real science can never be in conflict with God Almighty...He owns it! We merely sniff with curiosity but nearly hopeless ignorance at the edges of all that He has done. And some people, in their impudence, ill-advisedly try to write Him out of His own script. How will that go over on the day of their judgement before His righteous and zealous Son Jesus?
We are very well advised to fear and honor the Father and the Son and God's Holy Spirit. There is so much evidence that They are the true authors of all that we are and all that we see. I feel that no other religion on Earth can even begin to make such claims with so very much evidence to back it up. Yet God leaves just enough room for doubt that the wicked can ignore the evidence, that they can continue in their wickedness with some hope that they will get away with it. God gives us just enough rope to hang ourselves if we stubbornly insist upon doing so, yet He allowed His very own Son Jesus to die for us if we repent and seek the undeserved mercy obtained through His brutal and unjust murder on the cross (though God bent it to His purposes, allowing it to instead be a sufficiently holy sacrifice to atone - through grace alone - for the formerly sin besmeared but now repentant followers of His Son.)
Don't be misled by this world and its standards. Those standards honestly and truly are not God's standards. Seek God's truth from the true source: God's Word to us, and through prayer that the Holy Spirit will guide us all. That is a true and powerful Spirit that proceeds forth from the Father and works among us to convict our conscience and to strengthen our determination for self reform and evangelism and for loving our neighbor. None of us can make it to Heaven on merit, but none of us are allowed to not try hard. Don't miss the last and only boat! Act! Or if you're back-slidden...then reform..it is a process I repeatedly have to put myself through and yet even still without great success. But I still encourage you to persevere towards an eternal future with the One who died for us, and His even greater Father, and the Holy Spirit, with all who dwell in Heaven. I encourage you! May others encourage me.
If you liked this article you may also like article 41a here on the Deeds of God website at http://deedsofgod.com . Thank you. Daniel Curry. 812-564-9421