Chapter 6

Marking Time

The Fourth Day

FOR SEASONS

According to Jewish tradition, God created the Earth in the Fall season, which is why Roshashana (the new year) is celebrated in the Fall. So when God instituted the Passover, He gave them a new reckoning of the New Year in the Spring (Ex. 12:2), which the pagan world already observed at the vernal equinox. Heliocentrists explain the seasons of the Earth as a result of the tilt of the Earth's axis as it orbits the Sun. Geocentrists explain it as the Sun's spiral in orbit around the Earth (see the illustration). Since the canopy provided a greenhouse environment, the Earth wouldn't have experienced seasonal changes of temperature and weather as we have today.

According to Dr. Baugh, under the crystalline ice canopy, when the Bible says the stars were "set" (Gen. 1:17) in heaven, the Hebrew word, nathan 0;*1, means enhanced. His theory postulates that the stars were visible during the daytime as well as the night time because the canopy acted like a magnifying glass which increased their visibility. The movement of the constellations would provide the first millennium inhabitants of the Earth with a celestial calendar to mark off their seasons.

The zodiac and the constellations would provide regular patterns of movement that could be charted to mark time. It is common archaeological knowledge that the ancients of the postdiluvian cultures kept close watch of the stars to determine the times for planting and harvesting. As sea navigation developed, the stars became the chief means of plotting their course. If the antediluvians could observe the stars during the day, then the information gleaned would most certainly have been passed on from Noah and his sons who knew the former world. History shows an immediate knowledge of astronomy by the Sumerians (also part of the Chaldean and Babylonian culture) who were the first of the early civilizations to flourish.

FOR DAYS AND YEARS

The Celestial Calendar

With the sun rising and setting against the backdrop of the visible stars, and the moon's wax and wane, the system to measure time was complete. The sunrise and sunset provided daily reckoning; the phases of the moon provided monthly reckoning; the sun's path against the stars provided yearly reckoning; and, even, the changing constellations provided reckoning of the centuries and millennia. That first generation lived long enough to study the stars and the cosmos and witness their changes.

The antediluvian (and the post-diluvian ancient) year was not the same as it is today. It is apparent that the progression of the year had a solar circle, and not an ellipse. All the ancient cultures - the Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Chinese, and the Hebrews to name just a few - originally had calendars of 360-day years. All of them eventually adjusted their calendars to account for 365 and a quarter-day years. The ancient calendars were divided into 12, 30-day months, with each day equaling one degree of the solar circle. From ancient times, circles have always been divided into 360 degrees. This division of the circle has its origin in man's observance of the Earth's shadow crossing the moon in an even 30 day period. The changing of the seasons, as seen in the trees and fauna, would reveal 12 lunar cycles of the moon. Hence a 360 day year, and the division of circles into 360 degrees. It is because of this our daily reckoning of a 24 hour period is a doubling of 12, and the 60 minute hour is a doubling of 30. The earliest clocks were sundials which were circles divided into degrees with a style that cast a shadow on the degrees. This is also why the longitude and latitude of the Earth are measured in minutes and seconds.

The path that the Sun, Moon, and planets follow around the Earth is called the Ecliptic. The Zodiac are the 12 constellations found in a 16 degree belt (on both sides of the Ecliptic) around the Earth. Each constellation of the Zodiac fits within a rough 30 degree interval of the 360 degree Ecliptic circle, corresponding to the 30 day cycles of the moon. This is why astrologers say that the moon, planets, or the sun are "in" a certain constellation of the Zodiac. When they say the sun is in a certain constellation, they mean that the sun rises in a certain constellation. Today the Ecliptic is tilted 23 and a half degrees from the celestial equator, which is merely Earth's equator extended into outer space. In other words, our view of the pole star (Polaris, today in the Little Dipper) is 23 and a half degrees from the Ecliptic axis. Consequently, the Sun appears higher in the sky during the summer, and lower to the horizon in the winter. Likewise, the constellations of the Zodiac are seen higher in the sky during the summer and lower to the horizon in the winter.

The Pole Star, Thuban

It is commonly believed amongst secular astronomers that Thuban, the third star in the tail of the constellation Draco, was the pole star as far back as 3,000 BC (5,000 years ago) [4]. But, according to them, subsequent precession of the equinoxes has now moved the pole star to the tail of Ursa Minor (the Little Dipper), on Polaris. It is noteworthy that the great pyramid of Giza built by Cheops (around 2150 BC) was planned and built around the ancient pole star, Thuban [5]. According to Roman philosopher Seneca, the pole star was once in the Big Dipper before it moved to the Little Dipper. The pole star was in the Big Dipper as late as 500 BC when Hindu astronomical tablets recorded its position [6]. What this means is that the antediluvians, as well as the postdiluvian ancients, beheld the constellations in different positions. The illustration of the Sphinx demonstrates how the northern hemisphere would have looked with Draco in the center of the northern skies. As can be seen, the tail of Draco wraps around the Little Dipper. Draco is Greek meaning "dragon," which is a symbol of the Devil (Rev. 20:2) who was at the center of the antediluvian world, controlling all the ungodly, and trying to strangle the godly.

Astronomers say that the gravitational pull of the Sun and the Moon causes a slight bulge at the Earth's equator, which causes the Earth to wobble on its axis like a top. This causes the axis to move its point in a circle in the opposite direction of the Sun's ecliptical path. This is why the pole star has changed throughout history. Because of this, the Sun, at the time of the vernal equinox, passes from one zodiacal sign to the next about every 2,170 years. When this wobble is completed, after 25,560 years, it is called a Great Year. Their calculations say that the Sun rise of the vernal equinox was in the constellation Taurus the Bull around 4,000 BC, which is the time of Creation. The bull is a symbol of judgment, which came quickly with Adam's expulsion from the garden. Around 1953 BC, the vernal equinox precessed into Aries the Ram, which is the time of the Patriarchs, followed by the Mosaic dispensation. The ram is a symbol of sacrificial atonement, which Moses codified. Around AD 220 the precession moved to Pisces the Fishes, which is a symbol of Christ and the Church. Around 2375 AD, it will precess into Aquarius the Water bearer, which is a symbol of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This is what New-Agers mean by the coming of the Age of Aquarius (although they say it is peace by man's efforts). They tend to round off the numbers to fit the millennia: Taurus, 4,000 BC-2,000 BC; Aries, 2,000 BC-1 AD; Pisces, 1 AD-2,000 AD, which is why this coming millennial turn is cause for great excitement.

Josephus states that the Great Year of precessional wobble lasted 600 years long (Antiquities 1, 3:9), of which the antediluvians were able to observe since they had a average life span of 800 years. How could this be if it takes about 25,000 years for this circle to be complete? A study of mythologies around the world reveals that the ancients believed that the precession had a beginning, and was not always so. This beginning was considered a judgment of God. A study by South Australia's governmental astronomer, George F. Dodwell [7], compiled 66 ancient astronomical observations on the path of the ecliptic in relation to the Earth's equator. He plotted the information on a graph with a timeline and concluded that an "unhinging" of the ecliptic occurred in 2345 BC, which is the time of the Flood. Other researchers have come up with similar findings, which show that the ecliptic originally followed the equator before the Flood. Since the ecliptic was not angled at creation, the Earth's axis was lined up with the Ecliptical axis so that the Sun, Moon, planets and zodiac would have been seen above the horizon. Noah and his sons would have passed this information on to the postdiluvian ancients, whose remembrance would be kept in their myths. That early world needed the astronomical knowledge for their celestial calendar since the new weather patterns were different. They needed to know when the seasons would change for planting and harvest.

The precessional wobble also explains the difference in vegetation and climates of antiquity. The Earth's atmosphere acts as a giant magnifying glass. When the moon rises early in the evening or the sun sets at night, they are both magnified in appearance compared to when they are at their zenith. As discussed earlier in this chapter on the seasons as understood from either heliocentric or geocentric points of view, the seasons change depending on the angle that the sunlight hits the Earth. If the angle is direct, the atmosphere allows short electromagnetic waves to hit the Earth. One could say that the Earth would be microwaved and heated for summer. With more angle of the sun's rays, short light waves are reflected and the longer waves, hence cooler waves barely heat the Earth and we have winter. This wobble is why the climates have changed over history. With the pole star in Ursa Major, the sunlight would be diffracted differently on the Middle East. Hence during the time of the Wilderness Wandering the spies could bring back one cluster of grapes that had to carried on a staff between two men (Num. 13:23), and now, 3,000 years later, the land is a desert.

Music from Heaven

Dr. Baugh suggests that the canopy would heighten the radio pulses that come from radio stars. We have the technology today to record these sounds emitted from these stars. He reports:

Since he believes that the ice canopy was crystalline, then the electromagnetic waves emitted from these radio stars would amplify the music like an old time crystal radio (see the illustration). This would be heard in the atmosphere, and would be absorbed by the Earth causing the trees and vegetation to resonate as well. He further believes that this would be the stimulus for the mist to water the Earth mentioned in Genesis 2:6.

Dr. Baugh believes that the ice canopy had the hydrogen compressed into a near metallic characteristic. The light of the sun would have caused a gentle pink glow in the atmosphere, unlike the blue coloration that we know today. At sunrise and sunset there would have been a vivid pink coloration to the sky and at midnight it would be a magenta pink. Because of the dissipation of light around the globe, the Earth would never be totally dark. He doesn't believe that the moon was the lesser light that ruled the night. He believes that the canopy spreading the light of the sun is what the biblical record refers to. Perhaps. But it is just as acceptable to assume the record refers to the moon. It is interesting to note that he points out that pink light encourages optimal plant growth. With vegetation already created the day before, the plants had one day of blanket light from the first day of creation, and now this pink light from the sun's filtration through the ice canopy. If he is right, it is fitting that our singing Lord who spoke and sang our creation into existence, would also fill the Earth with music in a system that provides optimal health!

How Great Thou Art!

The sun and the moon were made before the stars. We may assume that all the planets and satellites of our system were created at this time too. As much as we enjoy science fiction as entertainment, we as biblical believers need to remember that there are no known planets in the universe that have ever been found outside of our own planetary system [9]. Within our system there are nine planets and our sun. Our moon is one of forty three known satellites. The nine planets (named after pagan gods) are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. The satellites orbiting the planets are listed on the Planetary Chart. Mars has two, Jupiter has sixteen, Saturn has seventeen, Uranus has five, Neptune has two, and Pluto has one satellite.

The whole backdrop of the cosmos is an awesome statement to the grandeur and glory of our living God. The infinite, omnipresent Creator has given us an inkling of how big He is. The Earth which is the centerpiece of creation is a tiny planet of almost 8,000 miles in diameter. Jupiter is an impressive 88,000 mile in diameter - about ten times larger than the Earth. Our sun is over 860,000 miles in diameter - about 100 times larger than Jupiter. Yet our sun is a tiny star (see the illustration) in comparison to Betelgueuse, in the shoulder of Orion, which is 433,000,000 miles in diameter - about 500 times larger than our sun [10]. And that star is one of millions in galaxies upon galaxies. All this vast creation is still a handful in the Lord's hand. The most incredible demonstration of God's love for mankind is in his limiting Himself in being born as the man, Christ Jesus. A speck of dust in the vast cosmos. All for our sake! It's just because of the awesome size of the universe that secular science fiction assumes that there are other planets in space. That may be, but at this point there are none known to mankind.

And the awesome act of the infinite God becoming the finite man Jesus was done for our planet alone. If there are other planets with life, they too, were cursed because of man on Earth. But this is unlikely.