You Can Know You Have Eternal Life
#33 – God’s Standard for Mankind (17)
Meteorology points to Inspiration
by Jim Mettenbrink

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     Ancient pagans were generally theists, i.e., they had a sense that powers greater than themselves controlled their world.  However, their religion was manmade, principled by human fickleness and desire.  Since man has the great desire to live on and on, the ancient religions were focused upon living another year.  Although, basically a fertility religion involving the most hideous of sensual practices, the primary focus was survival via pleading for good crops – reproduction and food.  Of course pleading with the weather gods for the right amount of sun and rain was imperative.
     All ancient societies had a storm or lightening god.  The people thought the storm god threw missiles of lightening to earth as punishment or an expression of his dissatisfaction.  The Greeks had more of a naturalistic belief.  Aristotle’s argument – lightening was the exhalations of the earth – breathing darts of fire.
     Regarding rain, the Greeks believed that clouds were thick air.  They did not associate rain as causing streams but rather that fallen rain changed into earth.  Aristotle asserted that the mountains soaked up the air which in turn became ground water.  Some thought rain was the result of magical incantations.  Today we recognize these “ancient” beliefs as laughable, even though it was not until the17th century until the common concept of rainfall was declared to be a false science.  French scientists Perrault and Mariotte were the first to set forth the correct understanding of rain and the water cycle.
     The Old Testament gives us the evaporation principle in the form of Hebrew poetry.  Solomon wrote about 950 BC, “
All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full, to the place where the rivers come, to there it returns again” (Ecclesiastes 1:7).  In the 8th century BC, the prophet Amos also stated the evaporation principle.  “...that calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth...” (Amos 5:8}.  “He who builds His layers in the sky, And has founded His strata in the earth;  Who calls for the waters of the sea, And pours them out on the face of the earth-The Lord is His name.” (Amos 9:9).
     What does the Bible say about lightening?  God in answering Job stated “
Who has divided the watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightening of thunder, to cause it to rain on a land...?” (Job 38:25-26, written between 2000-1600 BC).  About 1000 BC, the Psalmist wrote “He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightening for the rain...” (Psalms 135:7).  These passages show a clear relationship between lightening and rain and the water evaporation - rain cycle.  Nowhere else in recorded history do we have such statements.  Why?  We can only conclude that this knowledge was revealed to the writers through inspiration of God.

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      © Jim Mettenbrink; used by permission. rev.04xx-04xx
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