In the summer of 2005, I watched a series of videos called, "A Course In Physics For the Non-Scientific Mind." The last talk was called, "toward a theory of everything." In it, the speaker talked about the attempts to unite Einstein's theory of general relativity with quantum mechanics. Apparently, the subject of gravity is at the heart of the dilemma of finding a theory of everything. If I recall correctly, he may have even said that it isn't 100% known what gravity truly is. Then, in 2012, a friend introduced me to the Thunderbolts Project, and their
YouTube channel. It is a group of scientists who have impressive evidence to show that electricity is more fundamental to the operation of the universe than gravity. This brings most of our previous understandings of the universe, and much of science, into question.
The discovery of gravity is credited to Sir Isaac Newton, and is considered the beginning of the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. Why this is so revolutionary is that in the former centuries of western civilization, knowledge was considered the property of the institutionalized Christian religion. After all, if all knowledge ultimately comes from the mind of God, and the pope is the supposed vicar of Christ (according to Roman Catholic teaching), then those who presented ideas that brought the established worldview into question were censored, if not prosecuted. Newtown's discovery is seen as proof that man can acquire knowledge independently of any institution. This has paved the way for a movement that has grown increasingly hostile toward all dynamics of Christianity, if not all religion in general, and is becoming an institution in and of itself that asserts to be the source of all knowledge.
The ironic thing is, Newton was not the first person to disseminate knowledge about gravity. For the purpose of this post, I am going to define gravity as that principle by which the balance of the universe is maintained. That is, each body in the universe influences every other body, and is balanced with it. Not only each body, but each particle of matter in the universe attracts and influences every other particle of matter in the universe. With that, the subject of gravity was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, 700 years before the birth of Christ. "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?" Isaiah 40:12. The answer is God, the giver of natural law. To put it in a strict sense, the laws of nature are really just the habits of the Creator; the manifestations of his power.
And speaking of his power, it is written, "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day." Genesis 1:14-19. Up to this time the Creator himself had provided light for the earth. Now, the sun and moon would continue the task. It may seem puzzling as to why God waited till the fourth day to create the sun and moon. The answer lies in the water covering the earth.
It has already been noted in the previous post that each step of creation was preparatory for the next, in the only orderly manner in which it could be accomplished. And it is beyond coincidence to me that this order was understood by the writer of Genesis independently of it being revealed to him by the Spirit of God. After all, who would have understood the role of atmospheric pressure back then if it had not been revealed to them from above? So, God started with the foundation, just as any builder would do today. The foundation was all completed on the first day as the solid part of the earth covered by water. Since the water had no atmospheric pressure upon it, a large portion of it assumed a vapor form covering the earth several miles deep. And by the weight of this vapor atmosphere, the remaining water at the earth's surface would come under sufficient pressure at this point to liquify. It has already been stated that water will not remain in liquid form except under certain pressure/temperature ranges. Water vapor is lighter than air. Water molecules therefore have a higher escape velocity than air molecules. By escape velocity I mean that speed of the molecular movement at which it may escape earth's gravity, and travel outward into space.
Prior to the creation of the sun, earth's gravity was the only binding influence upon the water vapors covering the earth. Thus, earth's gravity was sufficient to retain its water vapor. Had the earth been in the region of the sun at this time, the great counter-influence of the sun's gravity would have markedly reduced earth's gravity upon itself, reducing earth's pulling influence on its surface water vapor. This vapor could then have sufficient escape velocity to leave earth, and travel toward the sun just as helium gas still does today. We can see then that had such been the case, the earth would have lost all of its water to the sun. Under the reduced gravitational pressure, all the water would have burst into vapor upon its creation, and could have escaped the earth. So the Creator waited, and injected a heavier air atmosphere into the vapor cover around the earth. This air atmosphere being heavier than the water vapor, produced by its weight an atmospheric pressure upon the waters, sealing it to the earth in liquid form. In this form, water becomes heavier than air, and lays at the bottom of the air atmosphere as a water covering over the earth's surface. The escape velocity of air molecules is less than that of water vapor molecules, sufficiently so, that though attracted to the sun after its creation on the fourth day, yet would not escape, but would expand greatly in its height above the earth in a balanced equilibrium between the gravity of earth and the sun. "Bless the LORD, O my soul: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain." Psalm 104: 1-2.
As the sun and moon were created, and set in their respective places in relation to the earth, and the other planets, several things would have occurred. The sun's gravity would have pulled the planets, and their satellites into orbit about it. And together, the sun, and its planets continued their orbital course as a unit within the galaxy. That course is different today, than it was at first, but that is another subject of a future post. The earth's heavy gravitational pull upon its atmosphere, and its dense cloud cover was reduced significantly by the combined counter-attractions of the gravities of the sun, moon, and other planets. The atmosphere would have weighed much less than it had before. It would have expanded to its full height above the earth, much higher than it is now. In such a greatly expanded state, it could have absorbed a great portion of the the heavy cloud cover as contained humidity. The clouds would have been light, and much higher in the atmosphere than they are now.
During the course of learning this, there were some who implied that the dividing of the waters associated with the creation of the firmament resulted in a vapor canopy above the atmosphere. And, that this contributed to the uniform tropical climate of the earth at that time. The problem with that hypothesis, apart from the fact that the Bible doesn't give any evidence of it, is that such water would have been drawn to the sun due to the escape velocity of its molecules. Also, such a canopy (if it could have remained) would have blocked the sunlight from shining on the air molecules, and producing a blue sky. Would you want to live under a perpetually grey sky with no sunlight? The fact is, there is another reason for the climate of the earth at that time that will also be addressed in a future post.
A final note regarding the firmament. Up until the fourth day, the firmament was restricted to the space beneath the water vapor cover. But now that the atmosphere had expanded to its full volume, the term firmament took on a greater meaning that just the atmosphere. As it is written, "let there be lights in the firmament of heaven." For the first time, the firmament was to extend outward from earth beyond its atmosphere, to the now open and visible heavens to now include these lights, and the other planets of our solar system.
So on the first day, the foundation was laid with elements, light, and temperature. The second day introduced air to support life. The third day shows an organization of material in order for vegetation to grow as a food supply. And the fourth day is a finishing up of the environment to make it ideal for habitation. As being someone who works in construction, this order of operation comes across as being completely sensible. Although that was not my field of occupation at the time I first read these passages, the effect of it was still felt within me. It was like, wow! God does things the way we do. And, it was that realization that made His being something beyond, and apart from being some self-generated idea.