The Hubble and the Bible

I’m sitting here writing while looking at an astronomical photo of a spiral galaxy of bluish color with a white center. To its right side and lower in altitude, around 4 o’clock to the blue galaxy, is a smaller (more distant) yellowish barred-spiral galaxy. Scattered all around the closer one are many stars, as well as other galaxies more distant than the barred-spiral, and their aspects are edge-on and horizontal, vertical, and other angles. A beautiful spectacle!

Any viewer of this photo would say that it is a real image. It certainly looks real. Is it the actual place in the universe? No, it is an image of that place. In other words, I am not standing in the presence of those galaxies, looking at them. The Hubble space telescope wasn’t even in the presence of those galaxies. But it had the capability of powerfully zooming in enough to make extremely distant objects appear visible, and real.

The Biblical account of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is the only extant description of what happened there so many thousands of years ago. None of us were there; we weren’t even thought of by our first parents. There wasn’t even a written language to record the events that took place at that time.

But what we have is a photograph in writing of how the human race began. The Eden story not a myth. It’s not a fable or a fairy tale. The record of that episode in Earth’s history was passed down accurately from father to son from Adam, himself, to Amram to Moses, who wrote it down from all of posterity. That written account is just as trustworthy as the photo of the universe, which I must trust was made accurately of real, live cosmic objects.

Adam was created and given this planet to reign as its king. But to begin that great work, he was given a smaller area of land to govern, which as he developed and perfected it, it would expand into a larger and larger empire until it filled the whole world. Why is that so hard to believe? The Bible account is realistic.

Although surrounded by innumerable species of animals, Adam felt lonely for someone his equal. That’s also realistic. So the Lord God made woman and introduced her to her life mate. Adam was perfectly happy with this new addition to his life. Realistic? Very. They were both naked because technology did not exist, and they were not embarrassed because they were perfectly innocent and pure. Realistic? Yes.

It’s the simple story of real people and a real origin of our world today. It’s so simplistic that the intellectual will balk at it as not complicated enough to be true. But, intellectuals aren’t happy people, and the pursuit of happiness is our divine right. If we find ourselves not being intellectual, let’s be glad. And let’s put our faith in God’s word, the Bible.

We don’t need a knowledge of evil. We can’t handle it. We become like the evil we are looking at. All we need is a knowledge of good, plain and simple. Righteousness will be our wisdom and exaltation by all those around us who are suffering because they attempted to study evil. They will praise us because we somehow escaped the misery that plagues them in body, mind, and soul.

Let’s let the Bible stories not only find a home in our intellect, but also in our consciences and hearts and lives. Let’s demonstrate what Moses and Paul said, “Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me…Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” “But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” (Deut. 4:5,6;1Cor. 1:30).