The Light of the Moon, pt. 2

         How many of you have kids? How many of you have kids who actually listen to you? Probably not many. It has always been a thought entertained by the youth that they know more than their parents or the adults around them. That also applies to the general society: 'We know, unlike the ancients, that the earth is globular, that the sun is orbited by the earth, of the germ theory of disease, and that religions are tools of oppression!' But it was already understood thousands of years ago that the earth was not flat, which is contrary to the popular legend that it was only discovered in the days of European seafaring, the Bible having recorded this thousands of years previously (Job 26:10)¹. The stars and constellations (Job 38:31 referring to Orion and the Pleiades) were studied and named and their movements observed. Both climate (Matthew 16:2,3 among others) and the circulation of the waters were discussed. The earth, rather than discussed in mythological terms such as resting on the back of Atlas or on tortoises is said to hang upon nothing (Job 26:7). In biblical times, a germ theory of disease is to my knowledge never stated but they did make use of quarantines and had pioneered methods of sanitation and diagnosis of disease, whether infectious or not infectious (Leviticus 13-15 among others). They had methods for treating bone fractures, an advanced code of laws that we can see from the notes here integrated plenty of scientific knowledge especially medical and nutritional, and engaged in much commercial activity including traveling to the remote parts of the known world. They were not imbeciles like popular history suggests.

         Only a small few of my generation admire the contributions of Newton, Leibnitz, Kant, Jefferson, or Luther or can even identify what the great men of history are known for. One thing is certain: independent of the fact that many things considered revolutionary discoveries in their time are now commonly known, that is, if those things we took for granted that great men spent their lives discovering were no longer with us, this generation would be remarkable in its complete helplessness and incompetence at managing a society. We would await a Newton or Leibnitz to arrive to discuss basic mathematical laws, that would in turn allow us to restore all the machines that we lost the ability to operate by failing to answer basic problems of engineering. Novel diseases would arise and eliminate large portions of the population for failing to apply the sciences of van Leeuwenhoek, Lister, Pasteur, and Fleming. We would not even come close to mastering the construction of dams, something the humble beaver is innately gifted in, and nor would we be able to construct a simple aqueduct.

         In short, this great generation we have before us that hates the elder generation and religion, that mocks prior generations as flat-earthers and fundamentalists, except for the discoveries of but less than one hundred men throughout the last 500 years, most of whom were Christians, would reveal a pervasive incompetence at maintaining even the most basic aspects critical to managing a society. Were we left to rely on the men we have running our society today, civilization would no longer be possible.

1. For additional material, http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-c015.html