Thinking Out Loud

March 13, 2018

8 Things in Christianity Which are Not Dealbreakers

…It is my argument that often – far too often – conservative Christians become identified with issues that, while important, do not make or break our faith. This creates extremely volatile situations (from a human perspective) as believers’ faith ends up having a foundation which consists of one of these non-foundational issues. When and if these issues are significantly challenged, our faith becomes unstable. I have seen too many people who walk away from the faith due to their trust in some non-essential issue coming unglued. That is why I write this post…

C. Michael Patton

Five years ago, Michael Patton presented a list of Eight Things that Do NOT Make or Break Christianity. I tried to find a link at their current site, Credo House, but was unsuccessful. I believe it’s important to review a list like this from time to time; even to have the courage to say, “I’m an agnostic on that particular issue.”

Non Deal-breakers

  1. Young Earth Creationism
  2. The authorship of the Pastoral Epistles
  3. The inerrancy of scriptures
  4. Whether the flood covered the entire earth
  5. The character witness of Christians
  6. The inspiration of Scripture
  7. The unity of Christianity
  8. The theory of evolution

Ultimately, it’s the death and resurrection of Jesus that matters. It’s a better place to begin, and if the conversation has gone down one of the above rabbit holes, it’s the best place to return.

Did anything miss the list?Remember, we’re talking about issues within the realm of the Bible or the realm of doctrine. If you think so, leave a comment or email or send a direct message on Twitter.

November 5, 2017

When Science and the Bible Contradict

The one where the astronauts come back from the International Space Station and tell you that they didn’t see the floodgates of heaven…

So I was flipping through the pages of an old Bible I haven’t used in at least a couple of decades and I found the above photocopied sheet sitting between two of the pages. I remember it clearly, but have no idea as to the source. From a scientific perspective, most of what’s in this image is just plain wrong. Did people once believe this? Is this someone’s concept of what they might have believed if they had owned King James Version Bibles? (Kinda like that drawing — see below — where someone takes the description of the ideal woman in Song of Solomon and shows what it would like literally?)

But what if you’re a kid in some previous era’s version of high school and based on the Bible, this is your model of what the world looks like, and modern science is trying to tell you it’s not true?  Or what if your Bible talks about “the rising of the sun” and suddenly you’re being told that the sun doesn’t arise at all but in fact the earth is revolving?

Surely that’s the end of Christianity then and there, right?
Apparently not. Christianity survived the destruction of such misplaced beliefs. And certain verses weren’t excised from the text, either.

The life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is bigger than science. It’s bigger than all the objections that people can raise.


Above: Some portions of scripture should not be taken literally. This was drawn in 1978 by artist Den Hart and appeared at The Wittenburg Door, a Christian satire magazine.

 

April 24, 2015

Damascus Road Blinding Light Identified

Filed under: Christianity — Tags: , , , — paulthinkingoutloud @ 6:50 am

Some stories are just so… unique; they deserve more than just a mention on a link list; they deserve their own space…

Falling meteor may have changed the course of Christianity

The early evangelist Paul became a Christian because of a dazzling light on the road to Damascus, but one astronomer thinks it was an exploding meteor

NEARLY two thousand years ago, a man named Saul had an experience that changed his life, and possibly yours as well. According to Acts of the Apostles, the fifth book of the biblical New Testament, Saul was on the road to Damascus, Syria, when he saw a bright light in the sky, was blinded and heard the voice of Jesus. Changing his name to Paul, he became a major figure in the spread of Christianity.

William Hartmann, co-founder of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, has a different explanation for what happened to Paul. He says the biblical descriptions of Paul’s experience closely match accounts of the fireball meteor seen above Chelyabinsk, Russia in 2013.

Hartmann has detailed his argument in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science (doi.org/3vn). He analyses three accounts of Paul’s journey, thought to have taken place around AD 35. The first is a third-person description of the event, thought to be the work of one of Jesus’s disciples, Luke. The other two quote what Paul is said to have subsequently told others…

…[click the headline above to continue reading]…

Not content to just leave it at that, the article also goes on to describe the nature of Paul’s blindness and subsequent healing:

Paul was also blinded, with one account blaming the brightness of the light. A few days later, “something like scales fell from his eye and he regained his sight”. Our common idiom for suddenly understanding something stems from this description, but Hartmann says the phrase can be read literally. He suggests that Paul was suffering from photokeratitis, a temporary blindness caused by intense ultraviolet radiation.

“It’s basically a bit of sunburn on the cornea of the eye. Once that begins to heal, it flakes off,” says Hartmann. “This can be a perfectly literal statement for someone in the first century who doesn’t really understand what’s happening.” The UV radiation at Chelyabinsk was strong enough to cause sunburn, skin peeling and temporary blindness.

So here’s today’s question: Do “discoveries” like this minimize or undermine the Biblical account for you, or are you content to simply see this as possibly the means through which God worked or even reinforcing the validity of the Bible narrative?

March 23, 2013

8 Secondary Issues To Core Christian Belief

…It is my argument that often – far too often – conservative Christians become identified with issues that, while important, do not make or break our faith. This creates extremely volatile situations (from a human perspective) as believers’ faith ends up having a foundation which consists of one of these non-foundational issues. When and if these issues are significantly challenged, our faith becomes unstable. I have seen too many people who walk away from the faith due to their trust in some non-essential issue coming unglued. That is why I write this post…

C. Michael Patton

This week, Michael Patton presented a list of Eight Things that Do NOT Make or Break Christianity.

  1. Young Earth Creationism
  2. The authorship of the Pastoral Epistles
  3. The inerrancy of scriptures
  4. Whether the flood covered the entire earth
  5. The character witness of Christians
  6. The inspiration of Scripture
  7. The unity of Christianity
  8. The theory of evolution

Again you’re encouraged to read the entire article. There’s also a follow up piece that ran a few days later that captures the spirit of the discussion.

November 21, 2012

Wednesday Link List

Try to have your link suggestions in by 8:00 PM EST Monday.

May 30, 2012

Wednesday Link List

They didn’t talk about this at seminary: A Russian Orthodox priest blesses the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft on the launch pad at the Russian leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The rocket is set to head to the International Space Station on December 15, with US, Italian and Russian astronauts on board.

  • I don’t spend a lot of time tracking Roman Catholic theology or books, but I was intrigued the other day to see this title: 100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura. Here’s how they introduce the subject.
  • Members of an Anglican Church in Virginia are paying a high price their convictions about same-sex marriage, but 90% of them decided they had to take a stand.
  • Meanwhile, in Canada, a group of breakaway Anglicans are launching their own college.
  • And speaking of higher education; if you flunked Biblical Greek in Bible College and failed Biblical Hebrew in seminary, you get one more chance: Two villages in Israel are trying to revive the Aramaic language, with help from a TV station in Sweden.
  • Be among the first to watch this 2.5 minute preview of the movie Hanged on A Twisted Cross, The Life, Convictions and Martyrdom of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
  • Jamie the Very Worst Missionary is coming home from the field. “Aww;” my wife said, “Now what will she be the worst at?” Here’s her husband’s version of it, and here’s Jamie’s.
  • BDBO posts an announcement from Benny Hinn about the restoration of the relationship with his former wife; along with a link to an article suggesting some news may be premature.
  • A disturbing news story about a high school girl who couldn’t attend a state leadership event because the non-denominational service provided wasn’t up to the standard of her Roman Catholic mass, gets dissected at Get Religion by a Lutheran who admits her denomination would react the same way — all this on a blog that was established to confront bias in religious reporting. Sorry, but exclusivity is one of the primary marks of a cult.
  • One of the pastors at Cross Point gave an amazing sermon on Sunday, comparing listening to and obeying God with listening to your guide when you’re river rafting. Hope it’s available online soon.
  • John Dyer looks at the three major issues arising from the use of “Bible apps” on smartphones during worship services.
  • LGBT Discussion Link of the Week: A pastor shares a Twitter conversation with someone who wants to diminish his church’s orthodoxy on the basis of this one issue.
  • Monday night I watched an amazing lecture by Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis. Later that night, I discovered that the program I watched, Only One Race, is available at the ministry’s video on demand page.
  • Police in Indiana arrested a 55-year old Christian Reformed pastor who had placed cameras in the women’s restroom.
  • Meanwhile, a California pastor and his associates are facing a range of charges including assault, child abuse, kidnapping  and torture following a disciplinary action involving a 13-year old at a Bible study.
  • After a bad review from Tim Challies, Ann Voskamp takes the high road, leading TC to admit he sometimes lacks sensitivity, but One Thousand Gifts fails to earn the Challies seal of approval.
  • Just ’cause you’re talking about an individual, doesn’t mean it’s bad: Floyd and Sally McClung want encourage positive gossip.
  • 99.99% of everything at Lark News is fiction, but the story of the pastor whose Tweets destroyed his reputation is so totally believable.
  • if you want to avoid having your blog posts copied to other blogs, just have a blog where you write everything in lower case. most of us will keep our distance, except for a few type a people who will go through and capitalize where needed. mark oestreicher, this means you.
  • Okay, so if you’re part of ‘prayer cloth’ culture, today’s closing picture is a bit irreverent — and a bit dated — but…

November 4, 2011

Those Pesky Bible Contradictions

I really enjoy the beginning of a new month because I get to mine the archives of a past series of posts here at T. O. L.  You see, I won’t repeat anything that isn’t at least a year old and a lot of work went into this one, originally published 11/11 last year…

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Ever seen this picture before?

It’s hard to miss it if you were to look recently at atheist or agnostic blogs or websites. It’s a graph of alleged Bible contradictions. It originates with Project-Reason.org and can be seen in detail by clicking this link, and then enlarging the magnification in your .pdf viewer.

But as a commenter at Fight the Faith points out, some of them are a bit of a stretch:

Want to point out that some of these don’t make much sense. For instance:

#359. Is all scripture inspired by God? 2tim 3:16 ≠ 1cor 7:12, 7:25

2 Timothy 3:16 is, indeed, about scripture being inspired by god. 1 Corinthians 7:12 and 7:25, however, are about when it’s OK to divorce your spouse.

Which is what we expect is the case with many others in the list.

Often, people will say, “The Bible is full of contradictions;” but then when you ask them to name one, they can’t. Of course, others take a more scholarly approach, which is why we were excited to find the website, Contradicting Bible Contradictions. Pay a visit and click on the numbered, item-by-item look at these textual conflicts listed in the links on the right side of the page in groups of ten.

On another website, Bible Answers Today, we read:

Yes, I know that people had stated that they have found contradictions in the Bible. However, if you look at the Bible as a whole, and the context in which these “contradictions” occur, you will find that these so called contradictions are not contradictions at all.

Sometimes it is interesting to see how atheists and Christians alike deal with the seeming imperfections of an inerrant book. On the Christian side, we tend to consign difficulties to the realm of “mystery” or “the deeper things of God.” We remind each other that “we see through a glass darkly.”

Those answers, when spoken by someone who views the world through the eyes of faith are quite satisfying. But they don’t sit well with the broader population. This comment at Science Blogs – Pharyngula is interesting:

Hey, wait a minute, I have a book here by someone called Norman Geisler who assures us that god’s word is perfect. He has a ready answer for every “seeming” contradiction found throughout the Bible… I can’t help thinking that maybe if the Lord had been more careful in writing his word, apologists like Geisler, William Lane Craig, etc. wouldn’t be necessary (they’d be out of a job). But as the Lord, whose ways are indeed mysterious, has seen fit to write a book that is, among other things, full of contradictions, apologists are an absolute necessity…So an infallible and omniscient god evidently needs the help of fallible apologists… Interesting.

Of course it’s actually true in a sense. God does, in fact, choose to work hand-in-hand with his created beings. He creates a variety of animals, but asks Adam to name them. An interesting partnership, don’t you think?

Here’s something from the blog Best Dog Health Center (seriously…the things you find on Google Blog Search!) where I’ve added some emphasis:

There is a classic example of “contradiction” in Proverbs 26; 4 -5: ” vs. 4: Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. vs. 5: Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.” What’s the answer then to this glaring contradiction? It is found in Ecclesiastes 3;7 “…a time to keep silence, and a time to speak…”. The thing we have to remember is that while there may be many “contradictions” in the Bible there are no untruths. The contradiction is actually in our minds in our understanding of the Bible and not in the Bible itself.

Dave at the blog The Bible: Contradicition or Confirmation has this written on the masthead which appears on every blog page:

Taking a look at the would be contradictions some say are in the Bible There are well over 200 so called contradictions in the Bible. I have had the chance over the years to take a close look at many of them. I must say, thus far I have found that none of them hold water.

L.J. Kim at City Fellowship Community Church in downtown New York has a good attitude toward all this:

Not-having contradictions doesn’t actually “prove” that it’s true…does it? I don’t believe in the Book of Mormon, and I don’t agree with Marx’s communist manifesto, but I have no problem with the claim that they do not contradict themselves… It would be silly to try to disprove communism by looking for contradictions…

Some people seem bent on finding Bible contradictions so that they can say that God isn’t real… But if I were to forge a make-believe history, it would be easy enough to make sure there were no self-contradictions. ”Star Wars” is a made-up story without contradictions…

But what about ________ ? Isn’t that a contradiction you ask? The Bible has two kinds of apparent contradictions…

Real accounts of historical events, even when they’re accurate can have “apparent” contradictions. One person said he came home from LA, another person said he drove home from the airport, yet another says he took a cab. Contradictions? Not necessarily… They’re all describing the same event. So if you’re into crime drama’s, one eyewitness account of a homicide might say that the person’s brains were blown out, another says he was shot, and the coroner’s report says he died of asphyxiation… These can all be accurate accounts of the same event…

The other kind of apparent contradiction is the kind that asks us to look more closely, to think more deeply… In order to save your life you must first lose it. In order to really live, one must take up the Cross…

Sometimes the only approach is to sit down with someone and deal with each individual objection, one by one, as in this post at Frances and Friends:

For instance, there are several seemingly contradictory Passages about what happens when men gaze upon the Face of God, etc. St. John 1:18 says, “No man has seen God at any time” and Exodus 33:20 says, “And God said, You cannot see My Face: for there shall no man see Me, and live.” Yet, in Genesis 32:30 it says, “And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face.” Further, Exodus 33:11 says, “And the LORD spoke unto Moses face to face, as a man speaks unto his friend.” Which is correct?

What most of us fail to realize is that the word “seen” or “see” also means “to comprehend” or “to understand.” So, the Verse in St. John does not contradict the Verses in Genesis and Exodus at all. What John was saying was that no man has ever comprehended or understood everything about God – not at any time. We use the same kind of terminology in our conversations today. For instance, we will explain something to someone and then say, “Do you see?” But we don’t really mean “see,” as to look with the natural eye. We simply mean, “Do you understand? Do you comprehend?” So there is clearly no contradiction here.

I post that, knowing it was written by Jimmy Swaggart, a man whose life was at times one giant contradiction. (Yes, I could have left that author information out, but chose not to.) It’s a valid answer to the particular question, and a valid response to how we can deal with these things if we’re provided the necessary context.

I’ve heard it said that of all the alleged contradictions in the Bible, most are about numbers, measurements, the location of cities etc.; and only two have a bearing on doctrine, theology, or anything that actually matters to the study of Christianity.

How far do you go if you’re determined to write off the Bible? In Psalms it uses the phrase, “From the sun’s rising…” and we could argue that the sun doesn’t actually rise, but the earth rotates. But is the phrase invalid if we still continue to use it in the year 2011?

I’m told my grandmother’s contemporaries used a rather strange phrase, “looking for the hair in the egg.” It means approaching the situation determined that there are difficulties and problems beforehand. It’s not about whether or not there is actually a “hair in the egg;” whatever that means, but about the attitude with which people approach certain aspects of life.

I don’t think any chart of “Bible contradictions” is sufficient to sway me from a book which is like no other. The Jewish approach to scripture was to consider it a jewel, like a large, rare diamond that refracted the light differently each time it was examined. That’s the kind of book it is.

I like to think of the scriptures in terms of those 3D pictures they often sold at shopping mall kiosks before Christmas. You would stare and stare, and then suddenly another image would come into view. Only with the Bible there are multiplied images waiting to be discovered.

I’m sorry if that defies logic and reasoning, but you can’t un-convince me of the reality of my faith.

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time changeHere in North America, Daylight Saving Time 2011 ends Saturday night, or more correctly, Sunday morning, November 6th at 2 AM. You were going to get up then anyway, right?  To get a drink of water.  Or something. If you’re reading this on Sunday morning,  you might still make it to church!

October 31, 2011

An Indescribable Universe

I am very thankful to the publishers who saw fit to send me manuscript editions — collector’s items to be sure — of books not yet published; but today I am reviewing a book that is available in two very different editions, however, the manuscript copy I have possibly resembles neither.

This is rather critical, since the book, or more correctly books in question rely heavily on an amazing set of pictures; and I have no idea what the page layout is of each, though I can make some basic assumptions. 

The book(s) under review are titled Indescribable: Encountering the Glory of God in the Beauty of the Universe by Louie Giglio and Matt Redman.  The simpler of the two is a 192-page paperback edition, retailing at $14.99 U.S.  The second, the one you’d really want to own, is the 224-page, full-color hardcover illustrated edition, retailing at $24.99 U.S.

The book(s) take on a subject as big as all the universe, and I believe are based somewhat on the extremely popular Indescribable video which forms part of Passion Talk DVD series, and which EMI-Christian Music Group is offering for a limited time for only $7.99 U.S. in recognition of the book’s release.

The authors had me at the introduction; quoting Paul Hawken:

Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every thousand years.  No one would sleep that night, of course… We would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory of God.  Instead, the stars come out every night and we watch television.

The book also highlights the subtleties of scripture that we often miss.  In a chapter outlining the behavior of different types of stars, Matt Redman, a worship song composer and worship leader notes:

Literally every place the Hubble Space Telescope has looked, it has found something fantastic. Making one splendor-filled discovery after another, this instrument is turning out to be one of the world’s best worship leaders, introducing us to scenes of such compelling majesty that to bow low before our Maker is the only fitting response.

In I Corinthians we read, “The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another, and the stars and other; and star differs from star in splendor.” (15:41)

There are a number of similar passages where you say to yourself, ‘I’ve never thought about that particular scripture verse that way.’   It’s now easy for me to understand the popularity of the DVD series, and Indescribable in particular.  This is a book that would make an excellent gift for anyone, but could be especially helpful to a skeptic, and especially formative to a younger individual.

January 19, 2011

Wednesday Link List

Enjoy this week’s links; there’s ice cream at the end!

  • You Give Me Your Shows and I’ll Give You Mine Department:  Canada’s Christian television network, CTS has put together a reciprocal deal with Robert A. Schuller’s American Life Network to share programming and media platforms.  Currently a limited list of CTS programs are available on the NRB Network.  Read more at BDBO.
  • Tattooed Pastor Department:  Jay Bakker has a new book out, Fall to Grace (Faithwords) which Tony Jones reviews at Take and Read.
  • Read This One For the Gipper Department:  Here’s another book review, this one for The Faith of Ronald Reagan by Mary Beth Brown, reviewed by Darrell Dow.
  • Biting The Hand That Feeds Them Department:  The Feed-a-Friend program in downtown Houston, Texas is now being required to purchase a $17/day permit from the city to carry out its mission of feeding the homeless.  The group is trying to avoid an us-versus-them mentality.
  • Killing Me Softly Department: Dee at Wartburg Watch takes a trip down memory lane profiling a not-yet-published book by Irishman Charlie Boyd, and reminds us of The Jesus Movement, Arthur Blessitt, Larry Norman, The Late Great Planet Earth, the Shepherding Movement, Calvary Chapel, and so many other times and places worth remembering.
  • Big Bang Theory Department:  If your tastes run to quantum physics, Michael Belote’s recent posts at Reboot Christianity might be just what you’re looking for, starting with the most recent, Schrodinger’s Christianity. (This makes a good forward for your science-type friends. Spoiler: Our souls are like quantum particles.)
  • Ministry Copycat Department:  We all know of churches which offer conferences and seminars for pastors to learn how the big guys do it.  The seminars aren’t free; the churches are basically selling their expertise.   Now comes word that one megachurch actually charges a fee just to see the wording of their staff job descriptions. Yikes!
  • Dialing for Doctrine Department: At The Arminian Blog (caption line: Theology in the Dutch Reformed Tradition of Jacob Arminius) comes this article about inconsistencies among Southern Baptist Calvinists when it comes to missions.
  • Glass Houses Department: We all have a public persona and a private persona, but what really goes on behind the closed door of our houses when it’s just us and the fam?  It’s a question worth considering in the light of this homespun article by Trey Morgan listing ten things you’d notice if you were a guest. Not sure why I’m attracted to this article, but after reading it, I feel I’ve already spent time with Lea, Trey and the boys.
  • Church Plant Withers Department:  This is a link to Jamie Arpin-Ricci’s blog, selected because it takes you to all four parts of Jason Coker’s blog where he describes the final days of the Ikon church plant in San Diego.  Or you can also get there from David Fitch’s blog along with much additional analysis. The similarities between Jason’s experience in southern California and my own experience with Transformation Church an hour east of Toronto are rather striking.
  • Authors of Confusion Department: Keith Brenton lists some indicators of bad theology in a December piece I missed earlier, How To Spot False Teaching.
  • Higher Education Department: At my own alma mater, The University of Toronto, a couple of local churches and ministry organizations are lending support to a Jesus Awareness Week. Oh, to be a student again, and be part of the events.
  • Interfaith Dialog Department:  Mark Galli at Christianity Today suggests that step one in starting the conversation with people of other faiths actually lies in evangelizing ourselves.
  • Truth is Stranger Than Cartoons Department:  We leave this week with two, count ’em two links to the blog American Jesus.  The first is a 40-second mystery video about church pageantry and formality gone wrong.  The second link gets you an explanation for the picture which appears below.  See ya in seven days with more links.

February 23, 2009

Keys to Taking Your Quantum Leap

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , — paulthinkingoutloud @ 3:51 pm

a.k.a. Christianity and Quantum Physics

Keys to Taking Your Quantum Leap
Written by David Van Koevering
Wednesday, 20 August 2008 23:12
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Years ago, as a young scientist and inventor, I worked with Dr. Bob Moog and together we gave the music world the first performance keyboards called Moog synthesizers. I learned to work with electrons and photons – tiny elements that are so small they can’t be seen! Yet these invisible elements cause all electronic devices to work. This project caused me to ask the question, “Is there more to our universe than what I can perceive through my senses?”
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My search to learn more about physical reality and how it works led me to discover that quantum physics identifies a large part of our universe to be non-physical. I began to realize that the universe is greater than science has discovered, or can explain. Through quantum physics and spiritual revelation, the Holy Spirit confirmed keys to understanding physical reality. As you read this article, allow the Holy Spirit to let you hear more than I say.
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There is a Non-Physical Reality

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My studies in quantum mechanics led me to the works of Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, and others. Here I learned that everything we see is part of a vast ocean of infinitesimally small subatomic particles. Under certain conditions, these subatomic structures also take on the properties of invisible waves. When I learned that these waves, or particles which make up all matter, cause that matter to blink into existence by being observed by the experimenter, I was shaken to my core.
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How could it be that these invisible elements, which make up all matter, can be changed from particles to waves by how they are observed? This reality is beyond our human consciousness and our five senses. Or is it? All of these particles and/or waves appear to be connected. How can it be that every atomic and subatomic element is hooked up? Is this invisible world a part of the spiritual realm?
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I suppose the duality of matter being waves or particles and how quantum mechanics attempts to explain this revolutionary idea changed me forever. It caused me to do my own research, which led to the convergence of quantum mechanics and my personal spiritual revelation. I was about to take a quantum leap!
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1 Corinthians 1:28 says, “…God (has) chosen…things which are not (the invisible) to bring to nought things which are (the visible).” This Scripture makes sense only when you understand it at the atomic and subatomic level.
Everything is made up of atoms, which are frequencies of energy. These frequencies of energy are the voice of Jesus causing all things to be! Atoms are made up of subatomic particles, and subatomic particles are made up of superstrings (which are toroidal vortices of energy). Superstrings are tiny donut shaped packets of energy that spin at a frequency – or sing as in a pitch.
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None of this is real in this dimension because they exist only in a state of possibilities until someone observes them. Then, at that observation, the potential becomes a thing – a particle or a wave. This quantum wave collapse, caused by observation, is called popping a qwiff. This is your first step to taking a quantum leap. You can see or observe a God qwiff (something God shows you that is not yet real in this dimension) and, by observing or popping that qwiff, cause that potential to become your reality. Be careful what you see; you are going to get it! Be careful what you say; you will get that, too!
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Light is Slowing Down

The spiritual realm operates above the speed of light. The physical realm – this dimension – has been shaped to its current limits by the falls of both Lucifer (see Luke 10:18) and man in the Garden of Eden (see Genesis 3:7). When man fell, the speed of light slowed down. In the beginning, when God spoke the universe into existence, His entire bandwidth of glory was made physical. From His glory (all frequencies) and His voice (all frequencies expressed) all light, energy, and matter became.
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It is believed that the speed of light is 186,000 miles per second. Physicist Barry Setterfield, mathematician Trevor Norman, and Canadian mathematician Alan Montgomery have measured light and proven that the speed of light is slowing down.
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That means that light may have been ten to thirty percent faster in the time of Christ; twice as fast in the days of Solomon; and four times as fast in the days of Abraham. My friend Chuck Missler says, “That would imply that the velocity of light was more than ten million times faster prior to 3,000 B.C. This possibility would also alter our concepts of time and the age of the universe. The universe might actually be less than 10,000 years old!” That sounds like a quantum leap to me!
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Before the fall, God had created one realm from gravity waves to His glory. This present human realm is up through the electromagnetic spectrum to the speed of light. The interesting point about the speed of light slowing down is that when Lucifer (the bearer of light) rebelled in Heaven and was cursed and cast down – and I believe cast down from the frequencies of God’s glory – he lost his bandwidth and fell down from his spiritual consciousness. In the Garden of Eden, when mankind sinned, was cursed in the fall downward, and lost upper bandwidth and spiritual consciousness, light slowed down even more.
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Other Biblical events suggest that the cosmos lost bandwidth. Noah’s flood is such an example. Light slowed down to cause just the right frequencies for the rainbow (see Genesis 9:12-17). At Nimrod’s Tower of Babel, mankind lost the upper bandwidth to communicate (see Genesis 11:7).
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Jesus Himself told His disciples that they will get their upper bandwidth back. In John 16:13 He said, “..when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth…and He will show you things to come.” Jesus is saying, “I want to show you your future. You can know My will and My plan for your life, although right now, you don’t have the upper bandwidth to see or observe it. But when the Spirit of truth comes, He will give you the upper bandwidth to see things to come!”
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Here is a quantum leap for someone: If you know something coming from your future, let’s say a vision, a revelation, a desire, or even a creative idea, that information has to move faster than the speed of light to reach you. You can and must know your God-given assignment. Information flowing from your future possibilities is waiting for you to see – to observe – and call those things that are not as though they are. The quantum leap of knowing your purpose and assignment is waiting as a God qwiff for you to pop!
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Matter is Frequency Being Spoken by Jesus

When God spoke and all the frequencies of His glory became manifest, the cosmos became! From the tiniest vibrating superstring that is causing or singing the atoms that make up the table of 103 elements, all the way through everything the Hubble telescope sees, are the vibrating frequencies of Jesus’ voice.
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Colossians 1:16-17 says, “For by Him all things were created that are in Heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible… He is before all things, and in Him all things consist (exist or are sustained).” The phrase “He is before all things” means that He is outside of our time. Jesus said to John the Revelator that He was and is the Alpha (beginning) and Omega (ending). Jesus is outside our concept of time in His eternal now and is causing all things to be.
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When we consider creation and all things eternal, our false concepts regarding time and matter limit our understanding. Receive the concept that Jesus is outside of our time and calendar, looking in. He is observing. He is sustaining all things in this nanosecond (one billionth of a second) and is singing the frequencies or vibrations of your body. If He didn’t, you would dissolve! Your electrons, particles, and subatomic structures are blinking in and out of existence. You think you are a solid object, but quantum mechanics has confirmed that all subatomic particles – the stuff you are made of – are blinking in and out of this reality.
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Enoch was walking so closely with God in the Spirit that “he was not, for God took him” (see Genesis 5:24). Jesus simply stopped blinking Enoch into this realm! How close are you to Jesus Christ? How far away is your healing, your deliverance, or your miracle? He is close, for in Him you live and move and have your being.
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In the next nanosecond, He sustains you or sings your frequency set. Understand that your healing or miracle is within the next nanosecond! In the blink of a nanosecond, He can cause your healing. Observe your healing, your miracle, your deliverance, and be filled with all Truth by observing the future God has for you. Take that quantum leap!
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When we understand that we are being created in Christ by His causing, or by Him singing our song, our intimacy with Him will change. His song of creation was not something He did 16 billion years ago. He is causing you now! Because the speed of light has slowed down, because we have our upper bandwidth back, and because He is sustaining us every nanosecond, the act of creation is happening now! Take your quantum leap into His eternal now.
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All Matter Has Memory – Your Words are Being Recorded

As a scientist and inventor, I have developed various memory retrieval systems. In the 1970s, I developed a laser optical music system to store sounds on silver oxide film and play the sounds back with keyboards, using modulated light beams. I was amazed when I found the Scripture in Joshua 24:27 that says, “And Joshua said unto all the people, ‘Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which He spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest you deny your God.'”
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Was this Old Testament quantum physicist saying that matter has memory? Is this man, who called for and observed the sun standing still in the heavens, telling us that the stone is listening? This is the man who sounded a frequency that cancelled the frequencies of matter in the walls of Jericho, thereby dissolving their atomic lattice structure with his shout and song. Did this man say the rocks are listening?
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Jesus said the same thing. Joshua said the stone could record, and Jesus said in Luke 19:40 that the stones would cry out. Habakkuk 2:11 says, “For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.” I came to understand that all matter has memory. The Bible says that matter can record and it will play back. How can these things be?
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As I studied both quantum theory and Scripture, revelation came. I learned that Gerald Feinberg, a physicist at Columbia University, named a certain subatomic particle, that he found in Einstein’s math, after the Greek word tachys, meaning “swift.” He called this superluminal particle a tachyon. This particle moved faster than light!
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The tachyon is not looked upon favorably by physicists. If tachyons can be proven to exist and anything that moves faster than light can be found, scientists will have to explain how something can appear before its cause. For instance, if a scientific test was set up to look for this elusive faster-than-light tachyon, and the computer started at 12:00 noon counting forward through the test sequence, the test result wouldn’t be at 12:01 or later. It would show the effect before the cause at 11:59 or earlier. Scientists don’t have computers that count backwards and don’t accept results that appear before the cause.
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But wait. Two thirds of your Bible got to mankind before the event or cause! All prophecy is the result of facts before the event. All creativity comes before the actual physical reality! What is a vision? What is a word of knowledge? It is seeing, knowing, getting information before the causation. There is no other source of creativity than the Holy Spirit. All truth comes to man through the only source of truth we have, and that is the Holy Spirit. When you see your future, you are getting information faster than the speed of light through a means of streaming superluminal particles. The barrier of light speed is bridged from this subluminal realm to the higher bandwidth of the superluminal realm by the Holy Spirit.
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Something like Gerald Feinberg’s tachyon exists in all matter. It is just above, or faster than the speed of light. We know it’s there because we find the results of such in the very fact of prophecy, or in the concept of words of knowledge, and even our Bible itself. These are proofs that the potential and possibilities of future promises or information is flowing to us. The superluminal tachyon-like connector exists!
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That faster-than-light particle in all matter receives and remembers or records photons that shine on matter as in the photoelectric effect. Modulated photons go into all matter, reside in the vortex of superluminal faster-than-light particles, and knock electrons out. This photoelectric effect is how my modulated light musical instruments worked in the 1970s. That is how CD players and DVD players work now.
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Today, it is not difficult to believe that matter has memory, because most of us have tiny memory sticks or memory cards that record or store information from our cameras and computers. Information flowing into matter and recalling it is commonplace. Photons from all light sources reflect from your body and off your belongings. Those information carrying photons go into all matter, including walls, your ring, and your watch. This information – even what we say and think – is modulating or moving through the connectedness of all atomic structures. This modulated photon goes in and electrons come out. That is why Joshua said, “This stone has heard.” Every word, action, and deed done in the flesh has been recorded.
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This is where yesterday went! It is all recorded in matter and will someday be played back. This is how evil and curses reside in places or things. Even though matter has recorded everything, your prayer in the name of Jesus can take the effect of Christ’s blood – His blood that is eternal and beyond time – and cancel out all evil, sin, and past sin’s memory from matter. Oh, that is a quantum leap for many! You can speak to and erase from places all curses and evil in Jesus’ name.
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Have you fixed your past? Have you removed all curses? Have you blessed the things you own? Have you blessed your house, office, car, belongings, money, computer, and phone? Are those things and places free from your past actions, words, and thoughts? You or someone else can speak a blessing or curse on your things. Somebody is about to take a quantum leap!
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Seeing Your Future as God Sees it is Quantum Faith

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Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is the substance. It is the invisible substance from which your physical world was and is being created by Jesus Christ. Annette Capps said, “God used faith substance and word energy to create the universe. He spoke and the vibration (sound) of His words released (caused) the substance that became the stars and planets.”
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God’s future potential and all the promised possibilities constantly flow through the Holy Spirit into you. Noise on my circuit limits my ability to hear His voice and see His future for me. The noise in my inner man is not always sin; my noise can be my gift, my ability, even that special way I am put together and wired. I can become so busy-noisy that I am out of phase with God’s voice and vision for me.
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As I get quiet and become still, I can hear and see what God’s future is for my reality. Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God…” My future comes from God’s possibilities and potential. I pop God’s qwiffs and my reality is! What an awesome quantum leap!
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Creating Protected Places: Is Your Home Protected?

When we understand that matter has memory and that every good or evil action, word, or thought is recorded, it is our responsibility to remove, purge, and release evil memory. I’m also talking about evil memory that came to you through things you inherited. What about evil acts and words that were spoken over you? Or evil artifacts that are in many homes and places? Imagine what evil is recorded in public places, courthouses, jails, even schools, and the stuff in these places!
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The Passover in the book of Exodus, chapter 12, is the story of a protected place. The blood of the Passover lamb was not put on the firstborn child. It was not applied to a person. Rather, the blood was put on the side posts and upper door posts of a place. Anoint your home, your office, your car, even public places in the name of Jesus. The Passover was an event where the children of God looked forward to their Messiah and His blood for deliverance and protection. By anointing your places and belongings with oil in the name of Jesus, you can protect them and connect our Savior’s timeless blood over your places. What a quantum leap!
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Elsewhen Teaching: Where Yesterday Went and Tomorrow Comes From

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Elsewhen is the title of my book. This is an interesting word. Elsewhere means over there, or a place out of town, or out there somewhere. Elsewhen is your consciousness out of time here and into God’s upper bandwidth of cosmic consciousness. It is to disconnect from things of this realm and become connected to ideas, visions, and input that comes directly from your Savior, Designer, and Creator.
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Elsewhen is the experience of knowing without having to learn or push yourself to know. It is to so behold Jesus Himself, that you comprehend the root of wisdom through the Holy Spirit.
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You herein have come to understand that there is a non-physical reality from which this universe and everything in it flows. Jesus Himself is causing your body, your spirit, and everything you have to blink into your reality. Light is slowing down and there is upper bandwidth and knowledge through the Holy Spirit. All the things of life and their purpose for you and your assignment are frequencies being spoken by Christ Himself at this very nanosecond.
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Matter has memory, and you can change everything that has been recorded by what you observe, by the words you declare, or by the curses you remove and release in the name of Jesus. You can create protected places by anointing with oil and speaking blessings with your words of faith. Where will you start? What quantum leaps have come up in your spirit? You have been given a new elsewhen cosmic consciousness. Pop those God qwiffs and cause upper bandwidth to change your reality.
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David Van Koevering, President and Founder
Elsewhen Research www.elsewhen.com
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GLOSSARY OF TERMS:

electromagnetic spectrum — Function: noun: the entire range of wavelengths or frequencies of electromagnetic radiation extending from gamma rays to the longest radio waves and including visible light
super string — Function: noun: one of the main objects of study in a branch of theoretical physics called string theory. There are different string theories, the most recent version being M-theory. A string is an object with a one-dimensional spatial extent, unlike an elementary particle which is zero-dimensional.
toroidal — Function: adjective: Shaped like a doughnut (science and technology)
band·width — Function: noun
1 : a range within a band of wavelengths, frequencies, or energies; especially : a range of radio frequencies which is occupied by a modulated carrier wave, which is assigned to a service, or over which a device can operate
2 : the capacity for data transfer of an electronic communications system <graphics consume more bandwidth than text does>; especially : the maximum data transfer rate of such a system <a bandwidth of 56 kilobits per second>
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David Van Koevering is a writer, minister, motivational speaker, quantum physicist and inventor. His current teachings, “The Physics of Worship” and “The Science of God Sounds” are changing lives worldwide. His life’s work has demonstrated his gifts as a visionary, technologist, futurist and inventor. He is respected internationally for his 30-year contribution to the development and marketing of advanced technology that has forever changed the music industry. As a visionary, he often saw future products and technology more clearly than others, including his competitors. His gift is the insight to see, and by this observation to cause, and then define and communicate what he sees to others. By doing so, those things that were not, became as though they were, and reality changed. He truly has proved with his life’s work and success that he understands where yesterday went and tomorrow comes from.
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