17 -- SCIENCE & BELIEFS
Scientists believe 400 million
years ago, there
were only two continents: Laurasia in the north and Gondwanaland in the
south separated by the Tethys Sea. North America had broken away
from Europe 200 million years later, followed by South America
splitting
away from Africa in another 100 million years, giving rise to the
Atlantic
Ocean.
The world is growing with molten rocks arising from
earth's
core to form plates. Flowing from ocean into continent, these plates
cause
earthquakes and volcanic eruptions; flowing outwards from a continent,
they widen North America four inches a year. Land was composed of
rocks and deserts without soil. After millions years of ecosystem,
rocks
and dead plants finally turned into soil.
Marsupial mammals were all over the world 80
million years
ago but restricted now to Australia after being gradually replaced by
placental
mammals in other parts of the world. Obviously, with the world growing
in size and changing in temperature, a species must change its habits,
adapting to environment for survival - bringing forth the evolution
theory.
The first Java man was discovered living 1.9
million years
ago while the first African was found living 100,000 years ago. Through
evolution, observation and learning from one another, homosapiens could
use tools and fire 80,000 years ago. Then they were found worldwide
30,000
years ago with hunters and gatherers sharing food and spreading
worldwide.
About ten thousand years ago, farming was
developed and
privately owned to support a small group of people. Since there were
droughts
and floods, farmers learned to share their produce, forming alliances
with
other communities through marriages or friendship in different
villages.
Then, in hard time, a South East Asian wife would go first to stay with
her relative far away while her husband would go later on to another
relative’s
village without adding heavy burden onto the same group of distant
relatives.
Civilizations began in the Nile Valley and
Mesopotamia
about six thousand years ago with sheep and horses first domesticated
in
Zagros Mountains. Around 3000 BC, writing was
invented
by Sumerians and by Egyptians. When Mesopotamia was under the
military
reign of Sargon of Agade in 2370 BC, there were
granaries
built for food storage and redistribution. However, with military men
and
noblemen to feed, it had caused empires great problems in years of
droughts
and floods, which might last from a few months to a few years. So
fell many ancient empires during the long years of famines.
Besides,
fertile land could become poor land under intensified farming of one
crop.
Even the land needs a rest every seventh year. Farmers could not stay
on
for generations in same area while farming should also be spreading all
over the world.
Often, a violent volcanic eruption on ocean
floor causes
extremely warm water air coming up, turning into terrible El
Niño,
a violent hurricane, bringing severe flooding to one region. Then the
next
hurricane becomes dry as La Niña, bringing severe draught,
famine
and forest fires to other regions. In 1450, there were four years of
crop
failures in Mexico brought by the effects of the horrible hurricane
couple,
Niño-Niña in addition to a locust plague.
In 1769, ten million people died of starvation
in India
within two years. One hundred years later, the drought in China
had
starved to death 13 million people while another 70 million had been
severely
affected. Then in 1972, Kenya, South Brazil, and the western coast of
South
America were severely flooded while Asia, Middle East, Australia, and
America
had drought. The following year due to the effects of the hurricane
couple:
Niño-Niña, Mississippi had heavy flooding like the
western
coast of South America and Europe just in contrast to South Africa that
got the drought later.
Through out history, nature has been killing
people and
animals alike in extremely large scale with draught and starvation.
School
children must learn emergency skills to survive in long-term adversity,
conquering natural disaster with home gardening, preserving seeds for
fast
growing fruit and legumes like tomatoes, peas and beans in pots.
Usually, air moves from high-pressure area to
low-pressure
area producing local winds. The summer sun heats up oceans with
warm
air carrying water vapour, rising up as monsoon blowing from
high-pressure
to low-pressure regions: bringing summer rain in Asia but dry winter
there
with air moving from land to the ocean.
The spinning motion of the Earth produces three
kinds of
wind:
1. Trade Winds blow clockwise in the north and
anti-clockwise in the south from 30o Latitude towards the
Equator
and from east to west caused by the spinning of the earth. These
winds go faster near the Equator.
2. Prevailing Westerly Winds with warm air rising
up from oceanic Equator over 30o Latitude north and south
respectively,
drop quietly at Horse Latitudes to blow up to 60o Latitude.
3. Polar Easterly Winds blow gently down to 60o
Latitude north or south respectively. Upon meeting the prevailing
westerly winds, they shift in direction to circle around the earth at
the
poles.
Scientists have instruments to measure and predict an
abnormal
weather of the ocean where the underwater volcanic eruption has
started.
Can scientists in the near future use something like a rocket to shoot
at the passages of el Niño and la Niña to control the
atmospheric
pressure in eliminating severe floods, droughts and great forest
fires?
With advance science, animals can now be cloned
from a
breast cell. Adult cell cuts short the life of a cloned animal for
carrying
the donor’s age with it further, that was shown in the cloned sheep
Dolly
born on July 5, 1996 at Roslin Institute with arthritis in January 2002
and progressive lung disease in February 2003. However, can a
soul
be cloned along in genes? According to the report of Texas
A&M
University in 2002, cloned pets lost the adult behaviour and
personality
of the original pets. Scientists haven’t got the power in transferring
or duplicating the soul of the old body into the cloned body.
Where
does the ignorant soul of a cloned animal come from and what does birth
mean to different kinds of peoples?
Australian aboriginal people believe in spirits entering
pregnant women’s wombs before their babies could be born. So, a spirit
must depart from somewhere first as death before it can come alive
elsewhere
as Jesus Christ had left heaven to be born on earth.
According to African tribal belief, a person is
composed
of numerous souls of former lives and of the spirits of parents fused
into
the body by God.
What does numerous souls mean - the combine learning of
former lives developing into a character? What is parental spirit? An
embryo
starts learning during the gestation period with feeling influenced
much
by the habits of parents that people can indeed react through the
reflect
arcs of the nervous system with learnt habits, bypassing the thinking
process.
Christians believe in the Holy Ghost entering them as
in apostles, bringing them the gift of speech in foreign tongues. Thus,
a person is composed of numerous souls with God’s words carved in
conscience
as well. In fact, Hinduism includes all these sayings, regarding
the root chakra of a human body as genes, revealing the characters and
life of parents. The womb chakra reveals the talents of previous life
as
natural instinct. The solar plexus reveals the ego and the free will of
a person that plans actions. The heart chakra reveals personal ambition
and goal on earth. The throat chakra reveals personality with speech
and
attitude. The brow chakra integrates knowledge, intuitions and weird
dreams
into power of reasoning in sensing the truth. The crown chakra is
memory,
being the spiritual body in light form with character as soul like
software
that can be separated from its computer hardware to travel in dreams
without
the body.
Speaking of a soul departing in light form, it
mentions
in 2 Kings 2:11, Elisha had seen ‘Elijah taken onto a chariot of
horses
of fire; carried up by a whirlwind into heaven.’ Obviously, some
people
can see ghosts or can feel ghosts around while others can see ghosts in
their dreams. Ghosts take the form of personal characters.
God gives prophets the power of resurrecting
people as
says in Ezekiel 37:4–6, ‘Prophesy upon these bones ... I will cause
breath to enter into you, and you shall live.’ Have any one
resurrected
besides the one resurrected by Jesus Christ?
In a car accident in 1984, Arkansas,
20-year-old Terry
woke up from coma 19 years later, on June 12, 2003 at Stone County
Nursing
Center. This demonstrates the undying love of parents and the
care
of society upon a person in coma, bringing a departed soul back to
earth.
I also know a widow with four children, worked
as chef
in Los Angeles, laid in coma for fifteen hours after a car accident.
Waking
up with broken neck and shoulder, she told people the wait station over
the gate looked like a costume party. When the doorkeeper couldn’t find
her name in his book, she was told that her time hadn’t come yet.
He kicked her bottom hard that she returned to life with the purpose of
serving her children continuously. Her health had been restored after a
$1.5 million surgery.
What is God's role on earth to different
religions?
In African tribal belief, God doesn’t involve with human
affairs as people don’t involve in judging ants’ affairs. Only
God’s
servants, the demi-gods, human ancestors, may inflict bad lucks upon
people:
ignoring obligations to relatives would cause the anger of ancestors to
induce illness and bad luck upon oneself. Similarly, Jesus assures
Christians
that God would send us a Comforter, the Holy Ghost, to guide us
spiritually.
The Chinese also believe being guided by conscience especially in
crucial
moment. No matter religious or not, people often pray in their critical
moment; God’s advice will come then in correct timing to write in human
hearts. Many people do meditation too, trying to connect with God.
Israelis
have received the Ten Commandments to be observed. So God’s role
on earth is teaching humanity in conscience, sending us messengers to
reinforce
righteousness, wiping out ignorance in our nature.
Certainly, God is pleased with ancestors,
parents, gurus
and saints being honoured for their good deeds as our role models.
Personally,
I find the offering of flowers, plants and fruits could be much better
than incense and candles as cloudy smoke causes the depletion of fresh
air and difficulty in breathing. Unhealthy gifts have little meaning
since
Jesus says in St. John 4:23 ‘worship the Father in spirit and in
truth.’
So, we have to understand which theory or principle is true.
The Pope in 1632 put Galileo into Inquisition
for believing
in Copernican theory that the earth is in motion and it is not the
center
of the universe. Nowadays, the Pope admitted that Inquisition was
wrong.
Likewise, should Christians still believe in the Trinity Doctrine
without
judgment while it was against Jesus’ words said in John 14:28 that "the
Father is greater than I am."
Having morality alone will bring people
pessimism without
hope due to the endless forgiveness of sins or bribery of judgement,
leading
to victims' eternal suffering from mental to physical sicknesses with
will
to die, to become nothingness. God's righteousness must last
forever
to protect every creature in the universe as says in Isaiah 52:6 “the
heavens shall vanish away like smoke ... but my salvation shall be
forever,
and my righteousness shall not be abolished. (66:3) He
that
kills an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrifices a lamb, as if he
cut off a dog's neck.”
Buddhism talks about eighteen levels of
hell or
wait stations. With the soul of baby coming from reincarnation, where
to
be born may depend on former behaviour as in which grade and which
school
a soul should be sent. Even Jesus Christ was told where to be
born.
Thus human fate comes from a righteous saint's judgement at wait
station:
to reincarnate either as a person or other being since a body without
an
incarnated spirit is stillborn or dead. If people don't fulfil
their
duty on earth assigned by conscience, can they die in peace with no
further
judgement?
Jesus talks about the wait station or
underworld
in Luke 16:20-26, giving the parable of a beggar Lazarus and a
rich
man. The soul of Lazarus went to stay with Abraham in heaven while the
rich man's soul was tormented with thirst in underworld. Lazarus could
not go to give the rich man even a drop of water. So there is no such
thing
as death for a soul in any religion but a wait station or judgement or
reincarnation.
A soul learning through the medium of a body will never
die. God has kept even the souls of devils alive with imprisonment as
stated
in St. John's Revelation 20:7 that ‘When the thousand years are
expired,
Satan shall be loosed out of his prison.’ None of the soul of
weakling or criminal can die even after committing suicide.
It also states in Ezekiel 33:11, God
has no pleasure
in the death of the wicked; but the wicked turn from his way and
live.
Thus, death doesn't let anyone escape self-judgment without doing
penitence.
We are bound to learn justice and behaviour on earth. Well,
besides
observing law without doing evils, how should men live to satisfy the
judges,
society or Mother Nature?
Chinese Taoism is somewhat a scientific
way of talking
about human body with instincts, feelings, imagination and free will
designed
for learning to live according to nature, hygiene, proper diet,
breathing
and impartial attitude to reach immortality. People must avoid
extremities
not just in food quantity such as fat, protein, salt and sugar but in
exercise
and in strategy, balancing pros and cons in theories as
keeping positive
and negative ions in atoms to maintain a harmonious living in
universe.
God definitely gives each nation some
specialities and
culture for the co-operation of all nations in trade and in
entertainment.
Our First Nations are famous for Eskimo Kayaks, native totem posts,
canoes,
and potlatches in giving expensive gifts away to guests. It is also
getting
popular for people to enjoy classical music, Latin dance, African drum,
and Chinese cooking. Truly, yoga from India is also very popular in
developing
flexibility and good postures, helping in relaxation, breathing and
healing.
So can touch therapy with acupuncture removing tumours since ancient
days
as laser surgery does in modern day. Thus, Jehovah tells Israelis in
Ezekiel
47:22, “and to the strangers ... they shall have inheritance with
you
among the tribes of Israel.” Likewise, Jesus also says that people
should learn from the Good Samaritan to be blessed. People must
understand
the importance of having land and ocean alike for life without
prejudice
against others’ customs.
The knowledge of God is so great, how can a
mortal messenger
understand what God says such as a tree will bear forth different kinds
of fruit each month without personal experience? Therefore, a
messenger
of God can hardly deliver one-billionth of God's message to mankind
without
audience's mis-understanding. It takes the collective knowledge of all
messengers in much later time to know God's plan and predictions
without
making mistakes. Thus, Hindus absorb all sensible theories into
Hinduism.
God has planned a salvation for Eve and her
descendants
that they may triumph over Satan in bruising his head as says in Genesis
3:15. Has He processed His plan successfully step by step in
teaching
us to examine the differences between the good and the bad without
falling
ignorantly into Satan's tricks?
Charting historical events of the changes in
society, from
aristo-cracy to democracy, from ignorance into wisdom and
understanding,
from jealousy into compassion, from domination into service provider,
we
can understand that the educational process is going on smoothly as God
has planned. People are learning to protect their environment and to
share
land with wildlife without dominating over them. Peace may finally come
with work for all creatures in the future.