Yesterday’s Solar Eclipse was potentially seen by 31 million people who live in “the path of totality.”
Since Florida was not greatly impacted we watched on TV as NASA and excited newscasters tracked it from Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico, to Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.
The experience provided a refresher in science. We were reminded several times that the Sun is 400 times larger than the Moon, but it also 400 times father away. “The Moon is approximately 240,000 miles from Earth, while the Sun is 93 million miles away. Yet from our view on Earth, the Sun and the Moon appear to be about the same angular size.”
Pundits and their guests often spoke about the majesty and magnitude of the universe and the awesomeness of the eclipse. But for Bible Believers it was a reminder of the majesty and glory of our Awesome God who created the Sun, the Moon, Earth, and all the celestial bodies.
Dr. Hugh Ross, an Astrophysicist and Creationist, saw the solar eclipse as a wonderful opportunity to combine faith and science, “The Bible says the heavens declare the glory of God, but not that many people have actually seen the heavens in a sufficient way to see the glory,” Ross opined in an interview with Guideposts.org. He further explained that eclipse-watchers, especially those in big cities, will be able to see stars and planets much clearer during the event when the moon totally blocks the sun.
“One of the things I’m looking forward to is people who live in Chicago, or Los Angeles, or New York, with this eclipse, instead of seeing 100 stars in the sky, they’re going to see 12,000 stars in the sky. They’re going to see the Milky Way, and the thing I’ve noticed over my career is when people have that first time glimpse of what’s really up there, they’re struck with awe and they have a spiritual experience.”
The solar eclipse further validates Intelligent Design as believed by many scientists today. This eclipse has been precisely predicated and tracked from city to city down to the very minute and second of totality.
TV anchors were already talking about the next eclipse in North America in 2024. In fact, it will be on August 23, our wedding anniversary. It will begin in Greenland and continue its path to Canada. In the U.S. it will be visible in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
Regarding the accuracy of future eclipses Virginia Tech astrophysicist Nahum Arav says that we can pinpoint exactly when and where they will happen. “There is no ambiguity, as we know exactly where it will land,” said Arav.
In 2045 there will be a solar eclipse that crosses a significant portion of the continental U.S. said Arav. That year, a solar eclipse will darken skies in parts of the U.S., Haiti, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana, Suriname and Brazil.
The reason scientists speak with such certainly is because our universe has design and order to it. It operates on unchanging laws on which we can depend. If there was no Designer, how could that happen? If there was no Intelligence ordering the universe, how could we predict these events with such precision? If there was no Creator, how did the Sun and Moon originate? Random chance? If so, how do we explain the laws of the universe on which we can depend?
Dr. Ross said that it was study of astronomy that led him to become a Believer.
“I realized the universe had to have a beginning, and where there’s a beginning, there must be a beginner,” Ross says. He spent time studying the works of philosophers like Immanuel Kant and Descartes and religious texts like the Qur’an and the Hindu Vedas before finding answers to his questions in the Bible.
“We’re people who have left academia so that we can actually integrate across all of the scientific disciplines and show people how the book of nature establishes the reliability and accuracy of the book of scripture,” Ross explains.
R. L. Solberg, an author, apologist, and professor of theology said it well when he posted this reminder on his facebook page. “An eclipse is a cosmic reminder that the universe is not a random collection of matter and events that happened by chance. The cosmos is so finely tuned that we can know precisely where every heavenly body will be 200 years from now, down to the minute. These events remind us that the universe is not an accident, and neither are we. God made both, and He is in control. (Genesis 1:1)”
Indeed Albert Einstein was right when he wrote, “Everyone who is seriously committed to the cultivation of science becomes convinced that in all the laws of the universe is manifest a spirit vastly superior to man, and to which we with our powers must feel humble.”
–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman
ThePreachersWord 
Ken, if you have never seen a total eclipse in person in your lifetime, go this year and position yourself in Canada or Greenland. We were at 100 percent here in Dayton. We gathered with most of our children and grandchildren and were all amazed at so many things. It brought so many bible passages to greater meaning. “God who dwells in unapproachable light ” now has more meaning. With just 1% of the sun unblock the light was powerful, you still could not look at the eclipse with your eyes. When the sun was totally covered the rays of the sun shooting out from behind the moon was spectacular but it was dark. As soon as the first light of the sun appeared darkness scattered, and with 1/10 of the sun it was totally light again.
I reflected on the 3 hours of darkness from the 6th hour to the ninth, that was experienced on the day that the SON died, And the passages in Joel and Acts 2 where the sun was darken, and the moon was turn to blood.
The greater thing was to see my grand children in awe of God and his creation.
It was more evidence of what my heart has always believed, there is a God, He is alive, in Him we live and we survive. From dust our God created man, He is our God, the great I AM.
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Amen! 🙂
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