This is beautiful and fascinating video was created by Ron Miller, a former art director for NASA: he digitally superimposed scale images of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune over the same landscape, showing us how big the other planets would appear if they were as far away as the earth’s moon is from us. (By the way, if the sun were shown from this distance, we’d be completely enveloped within it – a little too close for comfort. …And, if Jupiter really were as far away as the moon, we’d be experiencing tides several HUNDRED times greater than we do now – among many other unpleasant effects!)
Now, this obviously cannot happen – this video is an intellectual and artistic exercise, not reality, and Jupiter isn’t effected one bit by our seeing it in this new way. But, it enhances our understanding of the truth of our existence and of our relationship to Jupiter and the rest of the Solar System in many different ways.
And so to does looking at the Holy Scriptures from different points of view enhance our understanding of The Faith: we see new things, and have a fuller and more comprehensive appreciation of our relationships with each other and with God.
And so, when some say there is only one way to interpret the scriptures, beware! They are claiming that there is only one perspective (and it is always their current perspective) that is valid in interpreting the Bible. No others matter, they will say, and will often claim that even thinking of examining the scriptures in ways other than their own is sinful.
Claiming that one’s own perspective is the one and only “right” one is a case of seeking to make one’s own views unchallengeable. It does not allow any room for doubt, for error, or for growth. Doing so makes it impossible to develop a greater appreciation of the beauty and awesome and ever changing vastness of God’s Creation, or of our faith.
So, keep things in perspective: things always change, and there is always more to learn. This is a good thing, and is part of God’s plan for us.
Amen.
Extracts from this were presented as a “Message for All Ages” at ARK Community Church, Dalton MA, February 28, 2016.
Copyright (c) 2016, Allen Vander Meulen III, all rights reserved. I’m happy to share my writings with you, as long as proper credit for my authorship is given. (e.g., via a credit that gives my full name and/or provides a link back to this site – or just email me and ask!)
The Here and the Hereafter 
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