Expansion Of The Universe

[kafka]

I'm reading an interesting book called "How Old is the Universe" written by the Vanderbilt university astronomer. Very impressive. He maps out the whole history of how astronomers got to the figure 13.7 billion years old.

From him I've learned for the first time the nature of the expansion of the universe which is a difficult concept. And strangely the literal and figurative expressions of the Sacred Authors are hauntingly accurate even in terms of science, like the author of Psalm 103 (104):

{103:2} you are dressed with light like a garment, while you stretch out heaven like a tent.

or Isaiah:

{40:22}. . . He extends the heavens as if they were nothing, and he spreads them out like a tent, in which to dwell.

{42:5} Thus says the Lord God, who created the heavens and expanded it . . .

{44:24} . . . I am the Lord, who makes all things, who alone extends the heavens, who makes the earth firm. And there is no one with me.

but should I be surprised? No since all Sacred Scripture is inspired by God and so inerrant and infallible in all its parts, including scientific assertions.

Edited December 12, 2010 by kafka

[Miss Hepburn]

Hi kafka,
I am so surprised no one has posted here- I was enthusiastic to come back this morning and read.

This is one of my interests- quantum physics, the Universe
- anything to know and undersand the Lord more and His brilliant creation.
And you are right, it's all in the Bible.

Miss Hepburn

[kafka]

[quote name='Miss Hepburn' timestamp='1292253593' post='2192531']
Hi kafka,
I am so surprised no one has posted here- I was enthusiastic to come back this morning and read.

This is one of my interests- quantum physics, the Universe
- anything to know and undersand the Lord more and His brilliant creation.
And you are right, it's all in the Bible.

Miss Hepburn
[/quote]
Hi Miss Hepburn.

I'm working on an original Catholic commentary on the seven days of Creation. I think I've come up with some good insights, but I have to brush up on my science for the commentary. That is one of the reasons I'm reading that book on "How Old is the Universe." But I love astronomy, astrophysics, etc. too and I want to show people how pregnant with meaning the seven days of Creation in Genesis truly are in the age of modern science and even forever. I'm fighting against this idea that Scripture is isolated to the past, naive, simplistic, etc.

The stretching of heaven out like a tent figure in Isaiah above is far from naive, it is rather precise and elegant. When the galaxies were consoladated after the original unfolding of the universe (tents unfold too ) the space in between galaxies literally stretches, the author in that book I'm reading likes to use the figure, "stretches like taffy" but the stretching out of a tent is just as fitting. The reason us humans or anything else on earth or in the galaxy doesnt stretch is because everything in a galaxy is held together by the attraction of it's center, keeping it stabalized as a set, thus protecting if from the stretching of matter beyond the galaxy which is not powerful enough to effect it.

Plus a tent is curved, just like the universe.

But then we have to ask the question how did a Sacred Author living in the past before the advent of modern science come up with such a precise metaphor? The answer has to be inspiration. So for my seven days of Creation commentary I wrote an entire apologetics section, citing Magisterial documents and applying cold hard faith and reason in order to explain why I interpreted it the way I did, and also to try and solve something of the mystery of inspiration. I know I havent come up with all the answers, but we as an entire Church will get there eventually.

The bottom line is Sacred Scripture is inspired by God and so it shall never fail or pass away, in any age and even forever. It is profound, complex, pregnant with meaning, mystical, true, precise, accurate, inerrant, infallible. . . Sinful and fallen human persons (including myself) are the ones who err and often fail to see the reality of what Sacred Scripture is expressing.

Edited December 14, 2010 by kafka

[Miss Hepburn]

I applaud you.

...but he who does boast, let him boast of this, that he knows and understands me, so saith the Lord.

[kafka]

[quote name='Miss Hepburn' timestamp='1292295341' post='2192636']
I applaud you.

...but he who does boast, let him boast of this, that he knows and understands me, so saith the Lord.


[/quote]
yeah hey? Writing about God's word is like pointing to the Genius, and saying here He is. I mean it is absurd, all flesh is grass. There is no way any one person or perhaps even the collective whole of the Church will ever know the entire truth of Sacred Scripture. It is better simply to be a child and friend of the Father, in Jesus.

But still it is a good thing for men to write commentaries on Sacred Scripture (as long as they good ) because knowledge helps a person turn toward God.

[Miss Hepburn]

[quote name='kafka' timestamp='1292296945' post='2192641']
yeah hey? Writing about God's word is like pointing to the Genius, and saying here He is. [/quote]

The Genius of geniuses, the Scientist of all scientists, the Most Brilliant in the entire Universe.
The One that created science. itself.
Yup.