I looked back last year at this time, too – I find these things fascinating! I’ve got two days – maybe I can do a “look back” for December 2015, before it’s over!
Time, Reduxe – Creation 101: Part 3 (December 2014)
In 2013, to get some idea of time, I looked up some past events that happened tears before the time I was writing the essay. Let’s do that again – in December of 2014 – and I hope you see my point.
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One hundred years ago, in 1914, the World Series finished in October, with the “Miracle Braves” – Boston’s National League team – winning their first World Championship. They started from last place on the Fourth of July to their first pennant, then beat the reigning champs, Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics, in a clean sweep, 4 games to none. Mr. Mack was so upset at his team for losing to what he considered a lesser team, and for the demands that his players were making so that they wouldn’t jump to the upstart Federal League, that he broke up his first dynasty. The Mackmen would start 7 straight seasons of being in dead last place before he was able to build another competitive team in the mid-1920’s. On December 31st, Colonel Jacob Ruppert and Cap Huston bought the New York Yankees for $460,000.
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In 1914, the most significant event happening, of course, was the outbreak of World War I in August. While it would be more than two more years before the United States got officially into it, “The War To End All Wars” had already been causing massive death tolls never seen before in the history of the world. On December 17th, the Austrians beat the Russians in Limanova, Poland, while Serbian troops celebrated they recent conquest of Belgrade. In the Middle East, Great Britain declared Egypt a protectorate, while the Turkish authorities in Tel Aviv drove out the Jews from that city. On December 25th, Christmas Day, the legendary “Christmas Truce” took place on the battlefields of WWI between British and German troops. Instead of fighting, soldiers exchanged gifts and played soccer.
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On December 21st, the first feature-length silent film comedy “Tillie’s Punctured Romance” was released, starring Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand & Charles Chaplin.
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Two hundred years ago, in December of 1814, the “War of 1812” finally ended, with the Treaty of Ghent being signed on December 24th. The Battle of New Orleans, the last battle of the war, happening after the treaty was signed took place on January 8th, 1815.
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One thousand years ago? In 1014, Pope Benedict VIII crowned Henry II king of the Holy Roman Empire. In July, 1014, the Battle of Strumitsa-valley took place, where the Byzantines under Basil II destroyed the Bulgarian armies. It’s also known as the Battle of Kleidion.
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Two thousand years ago? In 14 AD, a young man in the village of Nazareth, in “Galilee of the Gentiles”, was probably working quietly with His father, Joseph, learning his trade as a carpenter. On August 19th, Caesar Augustus died. A month later, Tiberius took over as Roman Emperor. Forget about the Pax Romana in Germany – Roman general Germanicus (so named because of his military victories in the area of Northern Europe called Germania) began a 2-year crusade against the German tribes there.
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Three thousand years ago? In the 980’s BC, the first known pants were worn in Western China. In Egypt, Osorkon the Elder succeeded his father Amenemope as king. In Israel, David had ruled Judah only from 1010 to 1002, but ruled all of United Kingdom of Israel from 1002 until his death in 970. This would have been later in David’s reign, so we’re in the era of his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah the Hittite. Since Solomon began to reign in 970 BC, and historical evidence puts his birth in 992 (which makes sense, because he was a young man of 22 when he asked God for wisdom to rule the people), Solomon was a young boy in the 980’s. The revolt of Absalom could place in the early 980’s, but more likely took place in the 970’s because much is made of the fact that David is an older man at the time.
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I could go on, but let’s get to the point of all this – which is that time is a really strange thing. Not just in an Albert Einstein Special Relativity sense, but also in the sense in which our perception of it distorts our comprehension of it. For example, I am regularly told by students that the reason they don’t know about something is because “it happened before they were born.” Now, that takes in a lot of history, since most of my high school students are too young to remember 9/11. There is some validity to that complaint, especially when it concerns events that are not so famous and everyday activities. But it should not be accepted as an excuse for not knowing about most of the significant events of the past. Most of my favorite movies were made before I was born – like “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington”, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Casablanca”, and nearly all the Three Stooges shorts. Should I not be familiar with those because I wasn’t alive (or aware of them) until many years after they were released. Many of the baseball players I know about – that are important to the history of baseball – played before I was born. Should I not be familiar with the careers of Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, Pete Alexander, Christy Mathewson, and Connie Mack, all of whom were dead before I was alive? Should I not know about all the great scientists, like Newton, Kepler, Pascal, and Galileo, because they died hundreds of years ago? And should I not know about people in the Bible because “they weren’t around when I was alive?” Of course not!
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What I’m saying is this: evolutionists think they understand the concept of deep time, but how can they? The concept of “millions of years ago” is incomprehensible – no living human has any perception of what that means. How do I know about any of the things above that I didn’t actually observe? Only through the testimonies of those who DID witness them. Or, in the case of movies, they can be observed now (most of the time) exactly how they were originally made.