Newton believed that the ancient civilizations lied about their past in order to be seen as the oldest, most advanced and greatest of all the nations. The only book written by Newton and published posthumously was his Chronology of the Ancient Nations where he shows the only history of the world worth trusting is the Hebrew chronology in the Old Testament.
Likewise, when Albert Einstein died in Princeton, New Jersey on April 18, 1955, he was helping the extraordinary Russian chronologist Immanuel Velikovsky (1895 -1979). Einstein and Velikovsky were friends, both living in Princeton. Velikovsky, similar to Newton, believed that the Bible's chronology of the world is the only historical record that can be trusted. Velikovsky reconciled biblical chronology with mainstream archeology and Egyptian chronology in his wonderfully written and extremely readable Ages in Chaos (modern reprints are three volumes). Einstein worked with Velikovsky on his book Worlds in Collision, a study of the history of cosmic cataclysms that affected the earth during the second millennium B.C. (think "The Ten Plagues"). The two greatest scientists during the last five hundred years of western civilization, Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, both possessed a deep interest in biblical chronology and chaotic cosmology.
But why should this be of interest to you? For this reason: In an age when secular scientists and pagan historians tell you that there is "no way the Bible is true," familiarity with the works of Newton and Velikovsky might open your eyes to the possibility that the ones who may be actually duped about the history of the world are those who have accepted the chronologies of the ancient kingdoms at face value. According to Velikovsky and Newton--and Einstein considered both these men superior scientists--the actual history of the world is found in the Bible, for the ancient civilizations all exaggerated their antiquity for reasons of national vanity.
Velikovsky believed that humanity has suffered a collective amnesia on the subject of catastrophes such as the flood, the plagues, etc.... In reaction to the oft repeated near-destruction of human civilization since creation, deep scars have been left on the human psyche. We forget because we want to forget. Although the solar system has been settled for 2,700 years, Velikovsky points out there is only a 700 year cycle in the human collective consciousness. A world that forgets past cataclysms is a dangerous world indeed.
Velikovsky's fear was that in the twenty-first century, the one in which we live, the world will suffer a re-enactment of catastrophe, only this time it won't be the planets or the cosmos that bring the disaster. We're the ones in possession of the means of our own destruction. According to Velikovsky, Newton and Einstein, the world has never been in a steady state of evolution. The world was created, has suffered cataclysmic events throughout ancient history, and will face additional cataclysms in the future.
The ancient prophet said, "Prepare to meet thy God." (Amos 4:12). If you are wondering who He is, He is the God of the Bible, the Creator of the Universe, the One who in love for screw-ups like us, came to earth to be our Savior. If you swallow the unintentional lies of the modern historians who seek to discredit the Bible, you may think yourself too smart and too intellectual to trust the God "who made the world and everything in it, who is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in any temple made with human hands" (Acts 17:24).
Before rejecting the Bible as untrue, you might ponder the effect on you.
11 comments:
Wade,
I think you’re preaching to the choir.
How old did Eve look when Adam said, “This is it!”? (Genesis 2:23 Living)
I believe Adam meant WOW!
If God made Eve look like an adult when she was one minute old, He could make a rock look trillions of years old the same way.
This is fascinating!
Wade,
The danger of holding up a particular author of a Biblical Chronology is that many have made assumptions in arriving at their chronological timeline that shows they have "cooked the books" to arrive at their conclusions. Bishop Ussher's Chronology of the OT is just one such example. It would seem to me after beginning to read Newton's "The Chronicles of ancient kingdoms" around the <203> page mark, that Newton has the same error as Ussher and more recently Dr Floyd Jones concerning the length of time that Israel resided in Egypt. It seems to me that the Exodus 12:40-43 declaration that Israel spent 430 years in the land of Egypt has been discounted as being unreliable and the New Testament based miss interpretations of the duration of their time in Egypt such as Ussher's and Dr. Floyd Jones' have been accepted as being true and beyond doubt..
The chronology of Ephraim's descendants found in 1 Chronicles 7:20-27 showing that there were ten descendant generation of Ephraim's born in Egypt during the 430 years of their time in Egypt is ignored and the abbreviated chronology for Levi's descendants has been accepted as being complete.
Be that as it may be, we have to be careful to qualify our acceptance of another person's Biblical chronology when errors of assumptions are obvious and even presented as "sound" reasoning as to why they are correct in their conclusions.
There are a number of anomalies that find their way into every generated Chronology of the Bible that makes it difficult for curious people to accept on face value what is claimed by the chronologists. Dr Floyd Jones provided in his doctorate dissertation on the Chronology of the OT a list of Chronologists who claims that Adam was created within the time range of 5,501 to 3,836 BC.
Perhaps we should not be pointing the finger at the "modern historians" but at ourselves for this confusion, when we "Christians" rush to provide solutions to "apparent" time frame anomalies found within the Bible to cement the signposts into a firmer foundation of our own making.
In research on this matter, I find I must accept that there are many foundational miss understandings in the theological constructs as to how God's redemption plan for mankind will play out over time and that it is better to believe God's word than to find the answer for myself. Let us remember that when Eve was posed the dilemma as to whether or not God's word was true by the serpent that she attempted to find the answer on her own instead of simply beginning a conversation with God on the question raised to establish the truth of the matter and destroy the wedge that was placed between her/"mankind" and God back in the Garden of Eden.
God's promise is that we, the righteous, will inherit the earth and like Abraham, we must accept God's promise to Abraham and believe by enmeshing ourselves within God's Love for us.
Graham Hancock has been pushing this for ages. One of the problems is the fact that historians are more dogmatic than scientists, who are terribly dogmatic. If one does not adhere to their orthodoxy, forget it. I've photographed petroglyphs in Monument Valley which depict Celtic or Viking long-boats. Such things cannot be allowed because they challenge general consensus. It's not just Biblical history being denigrated. Try trying to be an advocate for the diffusion theory of cultural contact, trying to connect ancient contacts with the "New World". I've been fascinated in this for at least 35 years. Today, it is much more difficult to even discuss the subject. Good scholars like Berry Fell are now completely discredited because they dared challenge the status quo.
Tom Ross,
You make an excellent point.
For example, the Hebrew "day" could represent an "age" or "1,000 years" (which is almost never literal as in the English "it's raining cats and dogs"). I am not advocating a particular biblical chronology, only that biblical chronology is worthy of one's respect.
Thanks for the excellent comment.
SJ Reidhead,
You, sir, hit the bulls eye.
Rex,
May be preaching to the choir, but sometimes the sopranos and tenors fall asleep! :)
other than the Mormon claims concerning pre-Columbian settlers from Israel in the Americas, I was not aware of any actual discoveries of pre-Columbian European settlements other than the Norse ruins found in Newfoundland.
I suppose graphics found have suggested the possibility of such settlements,
but there is not much publicly known about this . . . there is much conjecture on television about ancient civilizations having contact with the Americas, but there is precious little actual verification,
other than the Norse site, of course. Still, it's interesting, this kind of conjecture.
Excellent post Wade. Velikovsky was the object of ridicule by the academic establishment way back then and still is today. And yet some of his ideas have been shown to be true, namely the surface temperature of the planet Venus, and radio waves from the planet Jupiter.
Steady state and slow change over vast amounts of time is almost an article of faith in the scientific community and they don't take kindly to guys upsetting their apple cart so to speak.
One recent and peer reviewed discovery is the presence of vast quantities of water locked up under tremendous pressure in the rock mantle of the Earth 400-600 kilometers down.
For me the discovery gave new meaning to the Genesis 7:11 passage. I'm one of the few theological liberals who both rejects the evolutionary paradigm and believes the Old Testament accounts of cataclysm with regard to global flood and the Exodus.
speaking of 'history',there is some report of the State of Oklahoma wanting to ban AP history courses,
but I'm not sure exactly why . . . if anyone knows more about this, I could use some links that explain it, and thank you if you can help
Its obvious that people have difficulty grasping and accepting the idea that God existed for an eternity of unknown duration before He decided to create the things that we perceive. Also, He was totally content in His manifest glory without mankind and created us for His own pleasure. The arrogant "scientist" of today cannot create anything "ex nihilo". Try this - go into your front yard and grab one blade of green grass. Look at it closely - its only one simple blade of grass....right? My promise - I will bow down and worship the Person who can create one blade of green grass "from nothing".
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