Category Archives: Bible Study

The Bible and Science – Potential Energy

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Ephesians 1:19  His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.glory 3.1

Ephesians 2:6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (NIV)

In science we recognize that energy can take several forms. It is understood that energy is potential_kineticrequired for you to have power and to do work. One type of energy is gravitational potential energy. Its formula is P.E. = mgh. The “m” is mass, the “g” is gravitational pull and “h” is height; these are multiplied together to give you a value for energy. So for any object the higher it is above the ground the more energy the object has. (Please note how high you are.)

Question: If I am seated with Christ in Heavenly places and have all this potential energy why can’t I use it or it do me any good? Answer: God has given that potential to me (you) and it is there for my (your) use but I (you) move down from that higher energy state to a lower one by my (your) actions or thoughts!

∞God forgive me when I lower my potential from where you have put me; help me to keep my mind set on You.

Note: There is nothing you can do or say (except making Jesus Lord and Savior) to get you in that seat.

http://www.tutorvista.com/physics/potential-energy-changing-to-kinetic-energy

Comparison of Psalm 14 and 53

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Is there a deep spiritual significance to having two nearly identical Psalms in the Bible?  – No, not that I could find but I think it is kind of neat. They appear in two different parts or books within Psalms. The first “book” goes from #1 to # 41 and the second “book” is #42 to #72. The books end with “Amen and Amen” and #72 announces, “This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse.”

Psalm 14For the director of music. Of David. 1 The fool says in his heart,  “There is no God.”They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
there is no one who does good.

2 The Lord looks down from heaven
on all mankind
to see if there are any who understand,
any who seek God.
3 All have turned away, all have become corrupt;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.

4 Do all these evildoers know nothing?

They devour my people as though eating bread;
they never call on the Lord.
5 But there they are, overwhelmed with dread,
 for God is present in the company of the righteous.
6 You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor,
    but the Lord is their refuge.

7 Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the Lord restores his people,
let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!

 Psalm 53

For the director of music. According to mahalath. Amaskil of David.

1 The fool says in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and their ways are vile;
there is no one who does good.

2 God looks down from heaven
on all mankind
to see if there are any who understand,
any who seek God.
3 Everyone has turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good,
not even one.

4 Do all these evildoers know nothing?

They devour my people as though eating bread;
they never call on God.
5 But there they are, overwhelmed with dread,
where there was nothing to dread.
God scattered the bones of those who attacked you; you put them to shame, for God despised them.

6 Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When God restores his people,
let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!

You have to wonder if David changed the music with #53?  Did the change from Jehovah (Lord) in #14 to Elohim (God) change how it was sung or were they for different types of worship services or a special occasion? Jehovah means “The Eternal” and Elohim means “Supreme God” of the two I would think that Psalm 14 might be the more formal one.

I am guessing Psalm 52 and 53 were written after 1 Samuel 22 when Doeg the Edomite killed the priest. I think that time period would have given David a lot of inspiration to write several psalms. (Please see the blogs on David, LORD, When Psalms Were Written and Jacob/Israel )  There is also a study on Psalm 60 and 108.

New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

The Bible and Science – Infrared Light

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Matthew 5:15-17 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (NIV 1984)

This beautiful metaphor needs to be a guiding principle in our lives so we can be the witness that will lead people to Jesus. But you really do shine with a type of light/EM wavelength! On the EM spectrum, it is just before visible light and is known as infrared EMSpec(which means before red). You know it better as the heat lamps in your favorite fast food place that keep your French fries/chips warm. Now our eyes are not designed to see this wavelength of energy but we are always emitting them (of course that depends on how close to red light they are). Spy movies and “CSI” shows have highlighted the technology we now use to “see” people through walls using infrared light; the hotter you are the brighter you glow.

jesus at doorIt makes you wonder about the pictures of saints with halos? FYI – Christians were not the first to put halos on religious people, it would seem to look at Wikipedia that it probably started in the Orient. It makes you wonder how the idea to start doing that happened? Could it be that someone could actually see an infrared glow!

Father help us to glow brightly so the world will see You.

Jesus at the Door was taken at the Museum on the Campus of Houston Baptist University.

The Bible and Science – Light #3

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Luke 11:34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. (NIV1984)

Light is produced when electrons in atoms get extra energy and jump into a higher energy level than they normally belong but due to the pull of the nucleus it comes back to its normal level. When it drops back it has to give up the extra energy and it is lost as an electromagnetic wave. Different elements will produce their own special color of light/EM wave; this is one-way chemists know what is in a sample they are testing. The Greek word here for light is related to our word phosphorous and photo.

We are like those electrons when we take God’s energy and “jump” out of our comfort zone; we light the world up. Since everyone in the Body of Christ is not the same (element) our “lights” will look different. Another great picture here is that God will pull you back where you belong to get you ready for the “next time.”

If “eyes as lamps” makes you think of super-heroes with glowing eyes I don’t think you are Dynamo5alone. (see Light #2 on eyes) I have taught this verse before, as to how you look at things make a difference; like you always finding the positive or negative in something. But lamps light things up and since your body is what is full of light we need to reverse that idea. What we choose to look at and put in front of our eyes is “fueling” our lamps and that is what fills us with light.

Father, help us fuel our lamps with your fuel so we can go light up your world.

superhero pic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Dynamo_(comics)

The Bible and Science – Light #2

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* Matthew 6:22b – If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. (NIV)

The only reason we see light is because of little receptors in our eyes called cones and rods. (They get their name from their shape.) The cones allow us to see colors while the Schematic_of_the_human_eye_enrods are responsible for black and white vision. Unless an object glows, the way we see it is by light reflecting off of it to our eyes. The light enters our eye, and the wavelengths of energy are focused on the receptors of our retina. The cones and rods are stimulated and pass the message to our brain by the optic nerve. In the brain, the message is decoded, and we “see” the image. The eye is designed to have the light hit the retina in the area of the eye called the Fovea; there is actually a higher concentration of cones in this area while the rods are more concentrated just outside of this area. The famous “apple of the eye” is the cornea.

The cones come in three types red, green, and blue. Now if that sounds familiar it should because they are the three colors that power our televisions and color monitors. RGB additive colorsNow, these three colors of light can be overlapped to produce all other colors of LIGHT in what is known as an additive process. (Light and color pigments do not combine the same way and yield different results.)

Visible (white) light is a combination of colors, but each individual color is its own particular wavelength, which translates into a specific energy. We depend on white light for many things, but the individual colors are also important. Our knowledge of colored light and pigments is expanding but we know that humans do react to colors.  There is evidence that they can affect our mood and how we feel while looking at various colors of light.

Interestingly, the triune of red, green, and blue light (energy) will give you white light while the same triune of colors in a physical material, like crayons, will give you a dark color. I have never really gotten black it is usually a dark brown color.

I like the comparison of light and the church; the church needs a blend of people (energy) to shine forth God’s glory. Just like it takes the colors of the rainbow to give you pure, white light.

Father, let us use our energies in Your Church so You will get the glory.