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#einstein — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #einstein, aggregated by home.social.

  1. Nobel Prize for Physics 1921 to Albert #Einstein for the discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.
    My personal exploitation setup during #POTA activation.
    #hamradio #amateurradio #draußenfunker

  2. Nobel Prize for Physics 1921 to Albert #Einstein for the discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.
    My personal exploitation setup during #POTA activation.
    #hamradio #amateurradio #draußenfunker

  3. Nobel Prize for Physics 1921 to Albert #Einstein for the discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.
    My personal exploitation setup during #POTA activation.
    #hamradio #amateurradio #draußenfunker

  4. Nobel Prize for Physics 1921 to Albert #Einstein for the discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.
    My personal exploitation setup during #POTA activation.
    #hamradio #amateurradio #draußenfunker

  5. Nobel Prize for Physics 1921 to Albert #Einstein for the discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.
    My personal exploitation setup during #POTA activation.
    #hamradio #amateurradio #draußenfunker

  6. Sunday service 2026 May 3 Experiences of religion

     

    Spring seemed to have arrived properly this last week.

    It’s really lovely to have you all with us. Very lovely to have Jonathan and Rachel Edwards from Winton meeting, and Rachel will be talking to us, giving words of encouragement a bit later.

    It’s so good, isn’t it, to be together as a family, a family in Christ, so that we can praise God and thank Him for His creation and for everything that He’s done for us. And of course, most importantly, to remember what Jesus has done and what he is still doing for us day by day. Because it’s because of him that we’re here now. And it’s because of his sacrifice that we have hope in the future.
    And we know that he is here with us in this hall, because he said that whenever 2 or 3 people gather in his name, he’s there in the midst of us.

    So he may have lived 2000 years ago, but he is alive today in this year 2026.

    May our singing, may our meeting of the Bible and remembering Jesus in bread and wine give Jesus and his God the honour they deserve.

    So, dear God, now we simply put this meeting into Your Hands. May we feel Your presence here with us today and throughout the week and always.
    In the name of our loving lord Jesus, we offer this our service to You now, Amen.

    Julian has had a stroke, which has affected his right arm. He is now at home with support from the family, coming to terms with his new situation. They are managing their change circumstance with fortitude, and they’re not doing too badly. Regular physiotherapy sessions at home, the care review is scheduled for next week. They send their love and best wishes to everyone.

    Belanwa Methode from our Anderlecht ecclesia is feeling much better and recovering after a recent heart attack and spell in hospital. We do hope to have a service again on Saturday, 16 May at the house church in Anderlecht.

    Jane reports that the family of her brother-in-law in Australia are facing a very difficult time; he is facing a major operation in May, which will be life-changing. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.

    John Launchbury from Portland, USA, had a major heart surgery last Monday. By Wednesday, he was sitting up in bed and had actually been out of bed moving around, having had most of the tubes removed. This weekend, they hope that he’ll be able to return home. – We pray for him and his family at this difficult time.

     

    With our song “Give thanks” we gave thanks to our Most High God, from whom we all receive those blessings from Mother Earth.

    Next, we listened to the reading talking of the time when Jacob, the 3rd patriarch, son of Isaac and Rebekah, went out from Beer-sheba to go to Haran.

    Coming to a certain place, he made it his resting-place for the night, for the sun had gone down; and he took one of the stones which were there, and putting it under his head, he went to sleep in that place.

    And he had a dream, and in his dream he saw steps stretching from earth to heaven, and the angels of God were going up and down on them. And he saw Jehovah by his side, saying that He is the Lord, the God of Abraham his Father, and the God of Isaac. This God said to Jacob:

    “13 … I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14 and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.” (Genesis 28:13-15 ASV)

    And Jacob, awaking from his sleep, said,

    “16 …Surely Jehovah is in this place; and I knew it not. 17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” (Genesis 28:16-17 ASV)

    And early in the morning, Jacob took the stone which had been under his head, and put it up as a pillar and put oil on it. And he gave that place the name of Beth-el (house of God), but before that time the town was named Luz.  Then Jacob took an oath and said,

    “20… If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, and Jehovah will be my God, 22 then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” (Genesis 28:20-22 ASV)

    Our speaker today wants to think about the experiences of religion,

     as I’m sure you know, means to tie fast. It’s a binding between God and man, and I want to try to explore how long or short that finding is.

    We’re told God is in heaven. Isaiah chapter 66 begins:

    Thus says the Lord, heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where is the house that ye build unto Me? And where is the place of My rest? (Isaiah 66:1)

    The first mention is in Genesis chapter one, quoting the authorised version.

    “1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. …

    “6  And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which [were] under the firmament from the waters which [were] above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.” (Genesis 1:1, 6-8 AV)

    I understand that the firmament was a word made up in the 17th century. The NIV uses the words “expanse ” and “sky,” and the NLT says it’s a space called “sky.”

    In 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 2, Paul talks about some caught up to the third heaven, and this is often explained as the first heaven being the atmosphere and the clouds at 1 to 3 miles above the surface of the earth.

    Planes fly about 6 to 7 miles high. So, these days, it’s within touching distance.

    The second head is the planets, stars and galaxies.

    Abraham was promised that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. He could probably see about 3.000 stars, so he was promised a huge family. In the universe in total, there are about 8.000 stars bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.
    But there are actually thought to be 200 million trillion steps, 200.000 million, million, million stars in the universe. So he was promised an amazingly large family.

    The third heaven is the final sphere, God’s dwelling place.

    The Hebrew word means to be lofty. And looking at the Greek word for heaven, strong offers by explanation happiness, power, and eternity.

    The physical space was finite, and beyond the material world was the spiritual space of God. The physical world was subject to death and decay, but the heavens were eternal, spiritual, and better than the earth. And the planets and stars were pointers to the religious heaven of God.

    Up to the Middle Ages, the cosmos was believed to have had the Earth at the centre of everything, surrounded by concentric spheres of the moon, the sun, planets and stars.

    Art aimed to represent the spiritual order beyond the material world and portrayed heaven in pictures comprising a light blue background with flat, out-of-proportion figures, often in gold, referencing the sky and the sun.

    But art in the 13th century developed a new way of seeing heaven. And even a pope encouraged a change of style to incorporate linear perspective, which made a sort of medieval virtual reality. Which was thought to have the power to convert unbelievers to the Christian faith by making heaven more believable.

    Science took up the reins of the shift a couple of hundred years later, with Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton, who were all on the side of God. To them, the new astronomy reflected the glory of God the Father, Whose power and order in the universe supported their faith in Christianity’s eternal salvation, whose domain is the Kingdom of heaven.

    Firstly, Copernicus suggested that the Earth went round the sun so that the Earth, including us, was no longer at the centre of everything. Newton’s big idea was that gravity, the gravity that makes an apple fall to the ground, also keeps the moon orbiting the Earth and planets orbiting the sun. So space everywhere is ruled by the same physical laws. This continuity between terrestrial and celestial realms, by this continuity, Newton famously united the heavens and the earth. The physical space could go on forever. So there was no room left over for heaven as a superior alternative domain.

    Newton tore a hole in the social fabric that we’ve been … we’re struggling to comprehend, and reverberate still in the war between science and religion.

    Einstein replaced Newton’s cosmology with space-time, and this has been developed into hyperspace, which I don’t understand, but is described as nothing but space curled up into patterns.

    At the start of our universe, space had no structure, formless and empty darkness, to quote Genesis chapter. It was simple and uniform, like a blank piece of paper. Then, as time proceeded, the paper crinkled up into ever more elaborate structures, eventually giving rise to the complexities of today. So, perhaps this is God as the origami artist.

    The new understanding of space impacts on who we think we are in space today is an arena to be mapped and measured. If heaven isn’t special, are we special?

    Are we in conglomeration with molecules?

    Christadelphians and other fundamental Christians and even New Age proponents do not accept this poor, demoralising, reductionist world.

    But, I don’t think there is a war between science and religion. Science has furthered our understanding of the physical world. And as we’ve mentioned, it greatly enhanced the promise of Abraham.

    But God doesn’t need to live in heaven. He is everywhere. Acts chapter 17 verses 27 and 28 say He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being.

    Jesus often spoke about the Kingdom of heaven, or the Kingdom of God.

    In the road spray, he taught us to ask

    They Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

    Asking for the divide between God and man to be dissolved.

    The Kingdom of heaven is still the domain of human salvation, the righteousness of God replacing the sin of the world through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

    Today, the expression “a thin place” is used to describe a place in time where space, the space between heaven and earth, grows thin and the sacred and the secular seem to meet.

    This is what I mean by the experience of religion.

    The Bible is full op people being touched by God, often in a vision or a dream. I picked a few examples showing how people felt about God drawing near to them. We’ve read about Jacob and his ladder experience in Genesis chapter 28. And his conclusion was

    How awasome is this place?
    This is none other than the House of God. This is the gate of heaven.

    Then in the New Testament, I think of Mary.

    My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour.

    After Jesus’ resurrection, the couple on the road to Emmaus expressed their vivid feelings.

    When are our hearts burning within us? While he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us.

    In our 21st-century lives, a thin place offers a sense of peace or a feeling of awe, where we feel our connection with God more strongly.

    Some people feel it in wonderful landscapes. Others in a quiet place, or listening to music, or appreciating a work of art, or a moment in daily life, like opening the door onto a sunny morning.

    I expect lots of people find the giving of thanks and taking the bread and wine a thin place.

    As we’re about to remember Jesus’ sacrifice, may you know Jesus, your saviour.

    May I know Jesus, my saviour. Thank you.

    Thank you, Rachel, for those lovely words. It’s almost impossible, isn’t it, to imagine the extent of the universe, the cosmos, and to think that God is both filling that. But also, as you said, so close to every one of us now. And you have brought us beautifully to the centre point of our meeting, to think about Jesus, who said about himself, and I’m doing this remembering Jesus would one day see the angels ascending on himself, the Son of man. So just as Jacob saw the connection between heaven and earth, wo we see heaven and earth coming together in Jesus, our lord.

    Before we share the bread and wine, we’re going to sing another hymn. And this time it’s going to be ” Praise the Lord” 174, which reminds us of the depths of the love that has been poured out on us in the sacrifice of Jesus.

    Who his love will not remember?
    Who can cease to sing his praise?

    He can never be forgotten, thoughout heav’n’s eternal days.

    We thank You Father,
    we come before You at this time to give our thanks and praise for all the blessings You bestow on us.

    We thank You for the love that You show towards us because You loved us so much.
    You gave your only son.
    We come now to remember the love that Your son, our lord, showed not only to You, but to us and the whole world also, in that he fullfilled Your word to the very end.

    As we pass these emblems of our lor’s love and great sacrifice to one another, we again give our thanks for the Plan that You have for all people that believe in You.

    We ask that we may soon see the return of our lord and that we can therefore be brought closer to You, our eternal Father.

    We ask that You be with us all and that You will hear this prayer through our lord and saviour’s name. Amen.

    Together we sing a Christian hymn based on Joachim Neander’s German-language hymn “Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren”, published in 1680.: When we look down from a lofty mountain grandeur,

    O Lord my God! when I in awesome wonder
    consider all the works thy hand hath made,
    I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,
    thy power throughout the universe displayed:

    Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee,
    how great thou art! How great thou art!
    Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee,
    how great thou art! How great thou art!

    *

    [youtube youtube.com/watch?v=wX8CyJwvyB]

    *

    We finish our Sunday service with prayer:

    Let us pray, Lord God Heavenly Father,

    we put oour minds to places where we just can’t comprehend Your dwelling place, the sky above the stars above the sun and moon, places You hold in the Palm of Your Hand.
    Yeah, beyond our wildest imagination,

    Yeah,

    we come to You in prayer, whether we are gathered in this room, whether we are sat in our various homes across different countries worshipping and praising You now and we know You’re in our presence. You are hearing these very words now. That’s amazing and we are in such actual majesty and splendour and Your power and glory in our presence now.

    It is humbling and we pray tha what we have done this morning just a litle bit goes towards chewing as a sweet smell. As pleasing and acceptable we are mindful of the clouds above. And in our lives, we feel the rains pouring down at us sometimes and the stresses and strains and struggles of life.
    Oh, too much.
    And there’s no sunshine, and there’sno brightness. There’s nothing to look forward to. Then the clouds break. And the blue sky above is always there. The sun is always there. And the same with You, that well, whatever our situation, whatever our circumstances, whatever our troubles and problems and strains and anxiety, You are therejust above it all. And we can come to You in our prayers, or we can seek strength and guidance. As we face another week we know that You are ina principle of hearts and minds. And You control everything, and You planeverything for us. So guide our ways. Help us take our hand and lead us as Yougo towards another week.
    So we thank You for so much, we thank You for Your blessings, for Your kindness, for Your love.

     

    Rate this:

    #13Century #2Corinthians122 #3Heaven #Acts172728 #Astronomy #Atmosphere #BelanwaMethode #BethElBeitElBethelHouseOfGod #CelestialRealm #Copernicus #DreamOfJacob #Earth #Einstein #Expanse #ExperiencesOfReligion #Firmament #Galileo #Genesis11 #Genesis168 #Genesis281315 #Genesis281617 #Genesis282022 #Gravity #HouseChurchOfAnderlecht #IsaacNewton #Isaiah661 #JacobYaAqov3rdPatriarchSonOfIsaacRebekah #JoachimNeander #JohnLaunchbury #JulianBaseley #KingdomOfGod #KingdomOfHeaven #MiddleAges #RachelEdwards #Science #Sky #StarAstronomy #TerrestrialRealm #Universe
  7. Sunday service 2026 May 3 Experiences of religion

     

    Spring seemed to have arrived properly this last week.

    It’s really lovely to have you all with us. Very lovely to have Jonathan and Rachel Edwards from Winton meeting, and Rachel will be talking to us, giving words of encouragement a bit later.

    It’s so good, isn’t it, to be together as a family, a family in Christ, so that we can praise God and thank Him for His creation and for everything that He’s done for us. And of course, most importantly, to remember what Jesus has done and what he is still doing for us day by day. Because it’s because of him that we’re here now. And it’s because of his sacrifice that we have hope in the future.
    And we know that he is here with us in this hall, because he said that whenever 2 or 3 people gather in his name, he’s there in the midst of us.

    So he may have lived 2000 years ago, but he is alive today in this year 2026.

    May our singing, may our meeting of the Bible and remembering Jesus in bread and wine give Jesus and his God the honour they deserve.

    So, dear God, now we simply put this meeting into Your Hands. May we feel Your presence here with us today and throughout the week and always.
    In the name of our loving lord Jesus, we offer this our service to You now, Amen.

    Julian has had a stroke, which has affected his right arm. He is now at home with support from the family, coming to terms with his new situation. They are managing their change circumstance with fortitude, and they’re not doing too badly. Regular physiotherapy sessions at home, the care review is scheduled for next week. They send their love and best wishes to everyone.

    Belanwa Methode from our Anderlecht ecclesia is feeling much better and recovering after a recent heart attack and spell in hospital. We do hope to have a service again on Saturday, 16 May at the house church in Anderlecht.

    Jane reports that the family of her brother-in-law in Australia are facing a very difficult time; he is facing a major operation in May, which will be life-changing. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.

    John Launchbury from Portland, USA, had a major heart surgery last Monday. By Wednesday, he was sitting up in bed and had actually been out of bed moving around, having had most of the tubes removed. This weekend, they hope that he’ll be able to return home. – We pray for him and his family at this difficult time.

     

    With our song “Give thanks” we gave thanks to our Most High God, from whom we all receive those blessings from Mother Earth.

    Next, we listened to the reading talking of the time when Jacob, the 3rd patriarch, son of Isaac and Rebekah, went out from Beer-sheba to go to Haran.

    Coming to a certain place, he made it his resting-place for the night, for the sun had gone down; and he took one of the stones which were there, and putting it under his head, he went to sleep in that place.

    And he had a dream, and in his dream he saw steps stretching from earth to heaven, and the angels of God were going up and down on them. And he saw Jehovah by his side, saying that He is the Lord, the God of Abraham his Father, and the God of Isaac. This God said to Jacob:

    “13 … I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14 and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.” (Genesis 28:13-15 ASV)

    And Jacob, awaking from his sleep, said,

    “16 …Surely Jehovah is in this place; and I knew it not. 17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” (Genesis 28:16-17 ASV)

    And early in the morning, Jacob took the stone which had been under his head, and put it up as a pillar and put oil on it. And he gave that place the name of Beth-el (house of God), but before that time the town was named Luz.  Then Jacob took an oath and said,

    “20… If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, and Jehovah will be my God, 22 then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” (Genesis 28:20-22 ASV)

    Our speaker today wants to think about the experiences of religion,

     as I’m sure you know, means to tie fast. It’s a binding between God and man, and I want to try to explore how long or short that finding is.

    We’re told God is in heaven. Isaiah chapter 66 begins:

    Thus says the Lord, heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where is the house that ye build unto Me? And where is the place of My rest? (Isaiah 66:1)

    The first mention is in Genesis chapter one, quoting the authorised version.

    “1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. …

    “6  And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which [were] under the firmament from the waters which [were] above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.” (Genesis 1:1, 6-8 AV)

    I understand that the firmament was a word made up in the 17th century. The NIV uses the words “expanse ” and “sky,” and the NLT says it’s a space called “sky.”

    In 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 2, Paul talks about some caught up to the third heaven, and this is often explained as the first heaven being the atmosphere and the clouds at 1 to 3 miles above the surface of the earth.

    Planes fly about 6 to 7 miles high. So, these days, it’s within touching distance.

    The second head is the planets, stars and galaxies.

    Abraham was promised that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. He could probably see about 3.000 stars, so he was promised a huge family. In the universe in total, there are about 8.000 stars bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.
    But there are actually thought to be 200 million trillion steps, 200.000 million, million, million stars in the universe. So he was promised an amazingly large family.

    The third heaven is the final sphere, God’s dwelling place.

    The Hebrew word means to be lofty. And looking at the Greek word for heaven, strong offers by explanation happiness, power, and eternity.

    The physical space was finite, and beyond the material world was the spiritual space of God. The physical world was subject to death and decay, but the heavens were eternal, spiritual, and better than the earth. And the planets and stars were pointers to the religious heaven of God.

    Up to the Middle Ages, the cosmos was believed to have had the Earth at the centre of everything, surrounded by concentric spheres of the moon, the sun, planets and stars.

    Art aimed to represent the spiritual order beyond the material world and portrayed heaven in pictures comprising a light blue background with flat, out-of-proportion figures, often in gold, referencing the sky and the sun.

    But art in the 13th century developed a new way of seeing heaven. And even a pope encouraged a change of style to incorporate linear perspective, which made a sort of medieval virtual reality. Which was thought to have the power to convert unbelievers to the Christian faith by making heaven more believable.

    Science took up the reins of the shift a couple of hundred years later, with Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton, who were all on the side of God. To them, the new astronomy reflected the glory of God the Father, Whose power and order in the universe supported their faith in Christianity’s eternal salvation, whose domain is the Kingdom of heaven.

    Firstly, Copernicus suggested that the Earth went round the sun so that the Earth, including us, was no longer at the centre of everything. Newton’s big idea was that gravity, the gravity that makes an apple fall to the ground, also keeps the moon orbiting the Earth and planets orbiting the sun. So space everywhere is ruled by the same physical laws. This continuity between terrestrial and celestial realms, by this continuity, Newton famously united the heavens and the earth. The physical space could go on forever. So there was no room left over for heaven as a superior alternative domain.

    Newton tore a hole in the social fabric that we’ve been … we’re struggling to comprehend, and reverberate still in the war between science and religion.

    Einstein replaced Newton’s cosmology with space-time, and this has been developed into hyperspace, which I don’t understand, but is described as nothing but space curled up into patterns.

    At the start of our universe, space had no structure, formless and empty darkness, to quote Genesis chapter. It was simple and uniform, like a blank piece of paper. Then, as time proceeded, the paper crinkled up into ever more elaborate structures, eventually giving rise to the complexities of today. So, perhaps this is God as the origami artist.

    The new understanding of space impacts on who we think we are in space today is an arena to be mapped and measured. If heaven isn’t special, are we special?

    Are we in conglomeration with molecules?

    Christadelphians and other fundamental Christians and even New Age proponents do not accept this poor, demoralising, reductionist world.

    But, I don’t think there is a war between science and religion. Science has furthered our understanding of the physical world. And as we’ve mentioned, it greatly enhanced the promise of Abraham.

    But God doesn’t need to live in heaven. He is everywhere. Acts chapter 17 verses 27 and 28 say He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being.

    Jesus often spoke about the Kingdom of heaven, or the Kingdom of God.

    In the road spray, he taught us to ask

    They Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

    Asking for the divide between God and man to be dissolved.

    The Kingdom of heaven is still the domain of human salvation, the righteousness of God replacing the sin of the world through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

    Today, the expression “a thin place” is used to describe a place in time where space, the space between heaven and earth, grows thin and the sacred and the secular seem to meet.

    This is what I mean by the experience of religion.

    The Bible is full op people being touched by God, often in a vision or a dream. I picked a few examples showing how people felt about God drawing near to them. We’ve read about Jacob and his ladder experience in Genesis chapter 28. And his conclusion was

    How awasome is this place?
    This is none other than the House of God. This is the gate of heaven.

    Then in the New Testament, I think of Mary.

    My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour.

    After Jesus’ resurrection, the couple on the road to Emmaus expressed their vivid feelings.

    When are our hearts burning within us? While he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us.

    In our 21st-century lives, a thin place offers a sense of peace or a feeling of awe, where we feel our connection with God more strongly.

    Some people feel it in wonderful landscapes. Others in a quiet place, or listening to music, or appreciating a work of art, or a moment in daily life, like opening the door onto a sunny morning.

    I expect lots of people find the giving of thanks and taking the bread and wine a thin place.

    As we’re about to remember Jesus’ sacrifice, may you know Jesus, your saviour.

    May I know Jesus, my saviour. Thank you.

    Thank you, Rachel, for those lovely words. It’s almost impossible, isn’t it, to imagine the extent of the universe, the cosmos, and to think that God is both filling that. But also, as you said, so close to every one of us now. And you have brought us beautifully to the centre point of our meeting, to think about Jesus, who said about himself, and I’m doing this remembering Jesus would one day see the angels ascending on himself, the Son of man. So just as Jacob saw the connection between heaven and earth, wo we see heaven and earth coming together in Jesus, our lord.

    Before we share the bread and wine, we’re going to sing another hymn. And this time it’s going to be ” Praise the Lord” 174, which reminds us of the depths of the love that has been poured out on us in the sacrifice of Jesus.

    Who his love will not remember?
    Who can cease to sing his praise?

    He can never be forgotten, thoughout heav’n’s eternal days.

    We thank You Father,
    we come before You at this time to give our thanks and praise for all the blessings You bestow on us.

    We thank You for the love that You show towards us because You loved us so much.
    You gave your only son.
    We come now to remember the love that Your son, our lord, showed not only to You, but to us and the whole world also, in that he fullfilled Your word to the very end.

    As we pass these emblems of our lor’s love and great sacrifice to one another, we again give our thanks for the Plan that You have for all people that believe in You.

    We ask that we may soon see the return of our lord and that we can therefore be brought closer to You, our eternal Father.

    We ask that You be with us all and that You will hear this prayer through our lord and saviour’s name. Amen.

    Together we sing a Christian hymn based on Joachim Neander’s German-language hymn “Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren”, published in 1680.: When we look down from a lofty mountain grandeur,

    O Lord my God! when I in awesome wonder
    consider all the works thy hand hath made,
    I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,
    thy power throughout the universe displayed:

    Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee,
    how great thou art! How great thou art!
    Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee,
    how great thou art! How great thou art!

    *

    [youtube youtube.com/watch?v=wX8CyJwvyB]

    *

    We finish our Sunday service with prayer:

    Let us pray, Lord God Heavenly Father,

    we put oour minds to places where we just can’t comprehend Your dwelling place, the sky above the stars above the sun and moon, places You hold in the Palm of Your Hand.
    Yeah, beyond our wildest imagination,

    Yeah,

    we come to You in prayer, whether we are gathered in this room, whether we are sat in our various homes across different countries worshipping and praising You now and we know You’re in our presence. You are hearing these very words now. That’s amazing and we are in such actual majesty and splendour and Your power and glory in our presence now.

    It is humbling and we pray tha what we have done this morning just a litle bit goes towards chewing as a sweet smell. As pleasing and acceptable we are mindful of the clouds above. And in our lives, we feel the rains pouring down at us sometimes and the stresses and strains and struggles of life.
    Oh, too much.
    And there’s no sunshine, and there’sno brightness. There’s nothing to look forward to. Then the clouds break. And the blue sky above is always there. The sun is always there. And the same with You, that well, whatever our situation, whatever our circumstances, whatever our troubles and problems and strains and anxiety, You are therejust above it all. And we can come to You in our prayers, or we can seek strength and guidance. As we face another week we know that You are ina principle of hearts and minds. And You control everything, and You planeverything for us. So guide our ways. Help us take our hand and lead us as Yougo towards another week.
    So we thank You for so much, we thank You for Your blessings, for Your kindness, for Your love.

     

    Rate this:

    #13Century #2Corinthians122 #3Heaven #Acts172728 #Astronomy #Atmosphere #BelanwaMethode #BethElBeitElBethelHouseOfGod #CelestialRealm #Copernicus #DreamOfJacob #Earth #Einstein #Expanse #ExperiencesOfReligion #Firmament #Galileo #Genesis11 #Genesis168 #Genesis281315 #Genesis281617 #Genesis282022 #Gravity #HouseChurchOfAnderlecht #IsaacNewton #Isaiah661 #JacobYaAqov3rdPatriarchSonOfIsaacRebekah #JoachimNeander #JohnLaunchbury #JulianBaseley #KingdomOfGod #KingdomOfHeaven #MiddleAges #RachelEdwards #Science #Sky #StarAstronomy #TerrestrialRealm #Universe
  8. Sunday service 2026 May 3 Experiences of religion

     

    Spring seemed to have arrived properly this last week.

    It’s really lovely to have you all with us. Very lovely to have Jonathan and Rachel Edwards from Winton meeting, and Rachel will be talking to us, giving words of encouragement a bit later.

    It’s so good, isn’t it, to be together as a family, a family in Christ, so that we can praise God and thank Him for His creation and for everything that He’s done for us. And of course, most importantly, to remember what Jesus has done and what he is still doing for us day by day. Because it’s because of him that we’re here now. And it’s because of his sacrifice that we have hope in the future.
    And we know that he is here with us in this hall, because he said that whenever 2 or 3 people gather in his name, he’s there in the midst of us.

    So he may have lived 2000 years ago, but he is alive today in this year 2026.

    May our singing, may our meeting of the Bible and remembering Jesus in bread and wine give Jesus and his God the honour they deserve.

    So, dear God, now we simply put this meeting into Your Hands. May we feel Your presence here with us today and throughout the week and always.
    In the name of our loving lord Jesus, we offer this our service to You now, Amen.

    Julian has had a stroke, which has affected his right arm. He is now at home with support from the family, coming to terms with his new situation. They are managing their change circumstance with fortitude, and they’re not doing too badly. Regular physiotherapy sessions at home, the care review is scheduled for next week. They send their love and best wishes to everyone.

    Belanwa Methode from our Anderlecht ecclesia is feeling much better and recovering after a recent heart attack and spell in hospital. We do hope to have a service again on Saturday, 16 May at the house church in Anderlecht.

    Jane reports that the family of her brother-in-law in Australia are facing a very difficult time; he is facing a major operation in May, which will be life-changing. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.

    John Launchbury from Portland, USA, had a major heart surgery last Monday. By Wednesday, he was sitting up in bed and had actually been out of bed moving around, having had most of the tubes removed. This weekend, they hope that he’ll be able to return home. – We pray for him and his family at this difficult time.

     

    With our song “Give thanks” we gave thanks to our Most High God, from whom we all receive those blessings from Mother Earth.

    Next, we listened to the reading talking of the time when Jacob, the 3rd patriarch, son of Isaac and Rebekah, went out from Beer-sheba to go to Haran.

    Coming to a certain place, he made it his resting-place for the night, for the sun had gone down; and he took one of the stones which were there, and putting it under his head, he went to sleep in that place.

    And he had a dream, and in his dream he saw steps stretching from earth to heaven, and the angels of God were going up and down on them. And he saw Jehovah by his side, saying that He is the Lord, the God of Abraham his Father, and the God of Isaac. This God said to Jacob:

    “13 … I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14 and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.” (Genesis 28:13-15 ASV)

    And Jacob, awaking from his sleep, said,

    “16 …Surely Jehovah is in this place; and I knew it not. 17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” (Genesis 28:16-17 ASV)

    And early in the morning, Jacob took the stone which had been under his head, and put it up as a pillar and put oil on it. And he gave that place the name of Beth-el (house of God), but before that time the town was named Luz.  Then Jacob took an oath and said,

    “20… If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, and Jehovah will be my God, 22 then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” (Genesis 28:20-22 ASV)

    Our speaker today wants to think about the experiences of religion,

     as I’m sure you know, means to tie fast. It’s a binding between God and man, and I want to try to explore how long or short that finding is.

    We’re told God is in heaven. Isaiah chapter 66 begins:

    Thus says the Lord, heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where is the house that ye build unto Me? And where is the place of My rest? (Isaiah 66:1)

    The first mention is in Genesis chapter one, quoting the authorised version.

    “1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. …

    “6  And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which [were] under the firmament from the waters which [were] above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.” (Genesis 1:1, 6-8 AV)

    I understand that the firmament was a word made up in the 17th century. The NIV uses the words “expanse ” and “sky,” and the NLT says it’s a space called “sky.”

    In 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 2, Paul talks about some caught up to the third heaven, and this is often explained as the first heaven being the atmosphere and the clouds at 1 to 3 miles above the surface of the earth.

    Planes fly about 6 to 7 miles high. So, these days, it’s within touching distance.

    The second head is the planets, stars and galaxies.

    Abraham was promised that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. He could probably see about 3.000 stars, so he was promised a huge family. In the universe in total, there are about 8.000 stars bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.
    But there are actually thought to be 200 million trillion steps, 200.000 million, million, million stars in the universe. So he was promised an amazingly large family.

    The third heaven is the final sphere, God’s dwelling place.

    The Hebrew word means to be lofty. And looking at the Greek word for heaven, strong offers by explanation happiness, power, and eternity.

    The physical space was finite, and beyond the material world was the spiritual space of God. The physical world was subject to death and decay, but the heavens were eternal, spiritual, and better than the earth. And the planets and stars were pointers to the religious heaven of God.

    Up to the Middle Ages, the cosmos was believed to have had the Earth at the centre of everything, surrounded by concentric spheres of the moon, the sun, planets and stars.

    Art aimed to represent the spiritual order beyond the material world and portrayed heaven in pictures comprising a light blue background with flat, out-of-proportion figures, often in gold, referencing the sky and the sun.

    But art in the 13th century developed a new way of seeing heaven. And even a pope encouraged a change of style to incorporate linear perspective, which made a sort of medieval virtual reality. Which was thought to have the power to convert unbelievers to the Christian faith by making heaven more believable.

    Science took up the reins of the shift a couple of hundred years later, with Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton, who were all on the side of God. To them, the new astronomy reflected the glory of God the Father, Whose power and order in the universe supported their faith in Christianity’s eternal salvation, whose domain is the Kingdom of heaven.

    Firstly, Copernicus suggested that the Earth went round the sun so that the Earth, including us, was no longer at the centre of everything. Newton’s big idea was that gravity, the gravity that makes an apple fall to the ground, also keeps the moon orbiting the Earth and planets orbiting the sun. So space everywhere is ruled by the same physical laws. This continuity between terrestrial and celestial realms, by this continuity, Newton famously united the heavens and the earth. The physical space could go on forever. So there was no room left over for heaven as a superior alternative domain.

    Newton tore a hole in the social fabric that we’ve been … we’re struggling to comprehend, and reverberate still in the war between science and religion.

    Einstein replaced Newton’s cosmology with space-time, and this has been developed into hyperspace, which I don’t understand, but is described as nothing but space curled up into patterns.

    At the start of our universe, space had no structure, formless and empty darkness, to quote Genesis chapter. It was simple and uniform, like a blank piece of paper. Then, as time proceeded, the paper crinkled up into ever more elaborate structures, eventually giving rise to the complexities of today. So, perhaps this is God as the origami artist.

    The new understanding of space impacts on who we think we are in space today is an arena to be mapped and measured. If heaven isn’t special, are we special?

    Are we in conglomeration with molecules?

    Christadelphians and other fundamental Christians and even New Age proponents do not accept this poor, demoralising, reductionist world.

    But, I don’t think there is a war between science and religion. Science has furthered our understanding of the physical world. And as we’ve mentioned, it greatly enhanced the promise of Abraham.

    But God doesn’t need to live in heaven. He is everywhere. Acts chapter 17 verses 27 and 28 say He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being.

    Jesus often spoke about the Kingdom of heaven, or the Kingdom of God.

    In the road spray, he taught us to ask

    They Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

    Asking for the divide between God and man to be dissolved.

    The Kingdom of heaven is still the domain of human salvation, the righteousness of God replacing the sin of the world through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

    Today, the expression “a thin place” is used to describe a place in time where space, the space between heaven and earth, grows thin and the sacred and the secular seem to meet.

    This is what I mean by the experience of religion.

    The Bible is full op people being touched by God, often in a vision or a dream. I picked a few examples showing how people felt about God drawing near to them. We’ve read about Jacob and his ladder experience in Genesis chapter 28. And his conclusion was

    How awasome is this place?
    This is none other than the House of God. This is the gate of heaven.

    Then in the New Testament, I think of Mary.

    My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour.

    After Jesus’ resurrection, the couple on the road to Emmaus expressed their vivid feelings.

    When are our hearts burning within us? While he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us.

    In our 21st-century lives, a thin place offers a sense of peace or a feeling of awe, where we feel our connection with God more strongly.

    Some people feel it in wonderful landscapes. Others in a quiet place, or listening to music, or appreciating a work of art, or a moment in daily life, like opening the door onto a sunny morning.

    I expect lots of people find the giving of thanks and taking the bread and wine a thin place.

    As we’re about to remember Jesus’ sacrifice, may you know Jesus, your saviour.

    May I know Jesus, my saviour. Thank you.

    Thank you, Rachel, for those lovely words. It’s almost impossible, isn’t it, to imagine the extent of the universe, the cosmos, and to think that God is both filling that. But also, as you said, so close to every one of us now. And you have brought us beautifully to the centre point of our meeting, to think about Jesus, who said about himself, and I’m doing this remembering Jesus would one day see the angels ascending on himself, the Son of man. So just as Jacob saw the connection between heaven and earth, wo we see heaven and earth coming together in Jesus, our lord.

    Before we share the bread and wine, we’re going to sing another hymn. And this time it’s going to be ” Praise the Lord” 174, which reminds us of the depths of the love that has been poured out on us in the sacrifice of Jesus.

    Who his love will not remember?
    Who can cease to sing his praise?

    He can never be forgotten, thoughout heav’n’s eternal days.

    We thank You Father,
    we come before You at this time to give our thanks and praise for all the blessings You bestow on us.

    We thank You for the love that You show towards us because You loved us so much.
    You gave your only son.
    We come now to remember the love that Your son, our lord, showed not only to You, but to us and the whole world also, in that he fullfilled Your word to the very end.

    As we pass these emblems of our lor’s love and great sacrifice to one another, we again give our thanks for the Plan that You have for all people that believe in You.

    We ask that we may soon see the return of our lord and that we can therefore be brought closer to You, our eternal Father.

    We ask that You be with us all and that You will hear this prayer through our lord and saviour’s name. Amen.

    Together we sing a Christian hymn based on Joachim Neander’s German-language hymn “Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren”, published in 1680.: When we look down from a lofty mountain grandeur,

    O Lord my God! when I in awesome wonder
    consider all the works thy hand hath made,
    I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,
    thy power throughout the universe displayed:

    Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee,
    how great thou art! How great thou art!
    Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee,
    how great thou art! How great thou art!

    *

    [youtube youtube.com/watch?v=wX8CyJwvyB]

    *

    We finish our Sunday service with prayer:

    Let us pray, Lord God Heavenly Father,

    we put oour minds to places where we just can’t comprehend Your dwelling place, the sky above the stars above the sun and moon, places You hold in the Palm of Your Hand.
    Yeah, beyond our wildest imagination,

    Yeah,

    we come to You in prayer, whether we are gathered in this room, whether we are sat in our various homes across different countries worshipping and praising You now and we know You’re in our presence. You are hearing these very words now. That’s amazing and we are in such actual majesty and splendour and Your power and glory in our presence now.

    It is humbling and we pray tha what we have done this morning just a litle bit goes towards chewing as a sweet smell. As pleasing and acceptable we are mindful of the clouds above. And in our lives, we feel the rains pouring down at us sometimes and the stresses and strains and struggles of life.
    Oh, too much.
    And there’s no sunshine, and there’sno brightness. There’s nothing to look forward to. Then the clouds break. And the blue sky above is always there. The sun is always there. And the same with You, that well, whatever our situation, whatever our circumstances, whatever our troubles and problems and strains and anxiety, You are therejust above it all. And we can come to You in our prayers, or we can seek strength and guidance. As we face another week we know that You are ina principle of hearts and minds. And You control everything, and You planeverything for us. So guide our ways. Help us take our hand and lead us as Yougo towards another week.
    So we thank You for so much, we thank You for Your blessings, for Your kindness, for Your love.

     

    Rate this:

    #13Century #2Corinthians122 #3Heaven #Acts172728 #Astronomy #Atmosphere #BelanwaMethode #BethElBeitElBethelHouseOfGod #CelestialRealm #Copernicus #DreamOfJacob #Earth #Einstein #Expanse #ExperiencesOfReligion #Firmament #Galileo #Genesis11 #Genesis168 #Genesis281315 #Genesis281617 #Genesis282022 #Gravity #HouseChurchOfAnderlecht #IsaacNewton #Isaiah661 #JacobYaAqov3rdPatriarchSonOfIsaacRebekah #JoachimNeander #JohnLaunchbury #JulianBaseley #KingdomOfGod #KingdomOfHeaven #MiddleAges #RachelEdwards #Science #Sky #StarAstronomy #TerrestrialRealm #Universe
  9. Sunday service 2026 May 3 Experiences of religion

     

    Spring seemed to have arrived properly this last week.

    It’s really lovely to have you all with us. Very lovely to have Jonathan and Rachel Edwards from Winton meeting, and Rachel will be talking to us, giving words of encouragement a bit later.

    It’s so good, isn’t it, to be together as a family, a family in Christ, so that we can praise God and thank Him for His creation and for everything that He’s done for us. And of course, most importantly, to remember what Jesus has done and what he is still doing for us day by day. Because it’s because of him that we’re here now. And it’s because of his sacrifice that we have hope in the future.
    And we know that he is here with us in this hall, because he said that whenever 2 or 3 people gather in his name, he’s there in the midst of us.

    So he may have lived 2000 years ago, but he is alive today in this year 2026.

    May our singing, may our meeting of the Bible and remembering Jesus in bread and wine give Jesus and his God the honour they deserve.

    So, dear God, now we simply put this meeting into Your Hands. May we feel Your presence here with us today and throughout the week and always.
    In the name of our loving lord Jesus, we offer this our service to You now, Amen.

    Julian has had a stroke, which has affected his right arm. He is now at home with support from the family, coming to terms with his new situation. They are managing their change circumstance with fortitude, and they’re not doing too badly. Regular physiotherapy sessions at home, the care review is scheduled for next week. They send their love and best wishes to everyone.

    Belanwa Methode from our Anderlecht ecclesia is feeling much better and recovering after a recent heart attack and spell in hospital. We do hope to have a service again on Saturday, 16 May at the house church in Anderlecht.

    Jane reports that the family of her brother-in-law in Australia are facing a very difficult time; he is facing a major operation in May, which will be life-changing. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.

    John Launchbury from Portland, USA, had a major heart surgery last Monday. By Wednesday, he was sitting up in bed and had actually been out of bed moving around, having had most of the tubes removed. This weekend, they hope that he’ll be able to return home. – We pray for him and his family at this difficult time.

     

    With our song “Give thanks” we gave thanks to our Most High God, from whom we all receive those blessings from Mother Earth.

    Next, we listened to the reading talking of the time when Jacob, the 3rd patriarch, son of Isaac and Rebekah, went out from Beer-sheba to go to Haran.

    Coming to a certain place, he made it his resting-place for the night, for the sun had gone down; and he took one of the stones which were there, and putting it under his head, he went to sleep in that place.

    And he had a dream, and in his dream he saw steps stretching from earth to heaven, and the angels of God were going up and down on them. And he saw Jehovah by his side, saying that He is the Lord, the God of Abraham his Father, and the God of Isaac. This God said to Jacob:

    “13 … I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14 and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.” (Genesis 28:13-15 ASV)

    And Jacob, awaking from his sleep, said,

    “16 …Surely Jehovah is in this place; and I knew it not. 17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” (Genesis 28:16-17 ASV)

    And early in the morning, Jacob took the stone which had been under his head, and put it up as a pillar and put oil on it. And he gave that place the name of Beth-el (house of God), but before that time the town was named Luz.  Then Jacob took an oath and said,

    “20… If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, and Jehovah will be my God, 22 then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” (Genesis 28:20-22 ASV)

    Our speaker today wants to think about the experiences of religion,

     as I’m sure you know, means to tie fast. It’s a binding between God and man, and I want to try to explore how long or short that finding is.

    We’re told God is in heaven. Isaiah chapter 66 begins:

    Thus says the Lord, heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where is the house that ye build unto Me? And where is the place of My rest? (Isaiah 66:1)

    The first mention is in Genesis chapter one, quoting the authorised version.

    “1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. …

    “6  And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which [were] under the firmament from the waters which [were] above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.” (Genesis 1:1, 6-8 AV)

    I understand that the firmament was a word made up in the 17th century. The NIV uses the words “expanse ” and “sky,” and the NLT says it’s a space called “sky.”

    In 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 2, Paul talks about some caught up to the third heaven, and this is often explained as the first heaven being the atmosphere and the clouds at 1 to 3 miles above the surface of the earth.

    Planes fly about 6 to 7 miles high. So, these days, it’s within touching distance.

    The second head is the planets, stars and galaxies.

    Abraham was promised that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. He could probably see about 3.000 stars, so he was promised a huge family. In the universe in total, there are about 8.000 stars bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.
    But there are actually thought to be 200 million trillion steps, 200.000 million, million, million stars in the universe. So he was promised an amazingly large family.

    The third heaven is the final sphere, God’s dwelling place.

    The Hebrew word means to be lofty. And looking at the Greek word for heaven, strong offers by explanation happiness, power, and eternity.

    The physical space was finite, and beyond the material world was the spiritual space of God. The physical world was subject to death and decay, but the heavens were eternal, spiritual, and better than the earth. And the planets and stars were pointers to the religious heaven of God.

    Up to the Middle Ages, the cosmos was believed to have had the Earth at the centre of everything, surrounded by concentric spheres of the moon, the sun, planets and stars.

    Art aimed to represent the spiritual order beyond the material world and portrayed heaven in pictures comprising a light blue background with flat, out-of-proportion figures, often in gold, referencing the sky and the sun.

    But art in the 13th century developed a new way of seeing heaven. And even a pope encouraged a change of style to incorporate linear perspective, which made a sort of medieval virtual reality. Which was thought to have the power to convert unbelievers to the Christian faith by making heaven more believable.

    Science took up the reins of the shift a couple of hundred years later, with Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton, who were all on the side of God. To them, the new astronomy reflected the glory of God the Father, Whose power and order in the universe supported their faith in Christianity’s eternal salvation, whose domain is the Kingdom of heaven.

    Firstly, Copernicus suggested that the Earth went round the sun so that the Earth, including us, was no longer at the centre of everything. Newton’s big idea was that gravity, the gravity that makes an apple fall to the ground, also keeps the moon orbiting the Earth and planets orbiting the sun. So space everywhere is ruled by the same physical laws. This continuity between terrestrial and celestial realms, by this continuity, Newton famously united the heavens and the earth. The physical space could go on forever. So there was no room left over for heaven as a superior alternative domain.

    Newton tore a hole in the social fabric that we’ve been … we’re struggling to comprehend, and reverberate still in the war between science and religion.

    Einstein replaced Newton’s cosmology with space-time, and this has been developed into hyperspace, which I don’t understand, but is described as nothing but space curled up into patterns.

    At the start of our universe, space had no structure, formless and empty darkness, to quote Genesis chapter. It was simple and uniform, like a blank piece of paper. Then, as time proceeded, the paper crinkled up into ever more elaborate structures, eventually giving rise to the complexities of today. So, perhaps this is God as the origami artist.

    The new understanding of space impacts on who we think we are in space today is an arena to be mapped and measured. If heaven isn’t special, are we special?

    Are we in conglomeration with molecules?

    Christadelphians and other fundamental Christians and even New Age proponents do not accept this poor, demoralising, reductionist world.

    But, I don’t think there is a war between science and religion. Science has furthered our understanding of the physical world. And as we’ve mentioned, it greatly enhanced the promise of Abraham.

    But God doesn’t need to live in heaven. He is everywhere. Acts chapter 17 verses 27 and 28 say He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being.

    Jesus often spoke about the Kingdom of heaven, or the Kingdom of God.

    In the road spray, he taught us to ask

    They Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

    Asking for the divide between God and man to be dissolved.

    The Kingdom of heaven is still the domain of human salvation, the righteousness of God replacing the sin of the world through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

    Today, the expression “a thin place” is used to describe a place in time where space, the space between heaven and earth, grows thin and the sacred and the secular seem to meet.

    This is what I mean by the experience of religion.

    The Bible is full op people being touched by God, often in a vision or a dream. I picked a few examples showing how people felt about God drawing near to them. We’ve read about Jacob and his ladder experience in Genesis chapter 28. And his conclusion was

    How awasome is this place?
    This is none other than the House of God. This is the gate of heaven.

    Then in the New Testament, I think of Mary.

    My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour.

    After Jesus’ resurrection, the couple on the road to Emmaus expressed their vivid feelings.

    When are our hearts burning within us? While he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us.

    In our 21st-century lives, a thin place offers a sense of peace or a feeling of awe, where we feel our connection with God more strongly.

    Some people feel it in wonderful landscapes. Others in a quiet place, or listening to music, or appreciating a work of art, or a moment in daily life, like opening the door onto a sunny morning.

    I expect lots of people find the giving of thanks and taking the bread and wine a thin place.

    As we’re about to remember Jesus’ sacrifice, may you know Jesus, your saviour.

    May I know Jesus, my saviour. Thank you.

    Thank you, Rachel, for those lovely words. It’s almost impossible, isn’t it, to imagine the extent of the universe, the cosmos, and to think that God is both filling that. But also, as you said, so close to every one of us now. And you have brought us beautifully to the centre point of our meeting, to think about Jesus, who said about himself, and I’m doing this remembering Jesus would one day see the angels ascending on himself, the Son of man. So just as Jacob saw the connection between heaven and earth, wo we see heaven and earth coming together in Jesus, our lord.

    Before we share the bread and wine, we’re going to sing another hymn. And this time it’s going to be ” Praise the Lord” 174, which reminds us of the depths of the love that has been poured out on us in the sacrifice of Jesus.

    Who his love will not remember?
    Who can cease to sing his praise?

    He can never be forgotten, thoughout heav’n’s eternal days.

    We thank You Father,
    we come before You at this time to give our thanks and praise for all the blessings You bestow on us.

    We thank You for the love that You show towards us because You loved us so much.
    You gave your only son.
    We come now to remember the love that Your son, our lord, showed not only to You, but to us and the whole world also, in that he fullfilled Your word to the very end.

    As we pass these emblems of our lor’s love and great sacrifice to one another, we again give our thanks for the Plan that You have for all people that believe in You.

    We ask that we may soon see the return of our lord and that we can therefore be brought closer to You, our eternal Father.

    We ask that You be with us all and that You will hear this prayer through our lord and saviour’s name. Amen.

    Together we sing a Christian hymn based on Joachim Neander’s German-language hymn “Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren”, published in 1680.: When we look down from a lofty mountain grandeur,

    O Lord my God! when I in awesome wonder
    consider all the works thy hand hath made,
    I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,
    thy power throughout the universe displayed:

    Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee,
    how great thou art! How great thou art!
    Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee,
    how great thou art! How great thou art!

    *

    [youtube youtube.com/watch?v=wX8CyJwvyB]

    *

    We finish our Sunday service with prayer:

    Let us pray, Lord God Heavenly Father,

    we put oour minds to places where we just can’t comprehend Your dwelling place, the sky above the stars above the sun and moon, places You hold in the Palm of Your Hand.
    Yeah, beyond our wildest imagination,

    Yeah,

    we come to You in prayer, whether we are gathered in this room, whether we are sat in our various homes across different countries worshipping and praising You now and we know You’re in our presence. You are hearing these very words now. That’s amazing and we are in such actual majesty and splendour and Your power and glory in our presence now.

    It is humbling and we pray tha what we have done this morning just a litle bit goes towards chewing as a sweet smell. As pleasing and acceptable we are mindful of the clouds above. And in our lives, we feel the rains pouring down at us sometimes and the stresses and strains and struggles of life.
    Oh, too much.
    And there’s no sunshine, and there’sno brightness. There’s nothing to look forward to. Then the clouds break. And the blue sky above is always there. The sun is always there. And the same with You, that well, whatever our situation, whatever our circumstances, whatever our troubles and problems and strains and anxiety, You are therejust above it all. And we can come to You in our prayers, or we can seek strength and guidance. As we face another week we know that You are ina principle of hearts and minds. And You control everything, and You planeverything for us. So guide our ways. Help us take our hand and lead us as Yougo towards another week.
    So we thank You for so much, we thank You for Your blessings, for Your kindness, for Your love.

     

    Rate this:

    #13Century #2Corinthians122 #3Heaven #Acts172728 #Astronomy #Atmosphere #BelanwaMethode #BethElBeitElBethelHouseOfGod #CelestialRealm #Copernicus #DreamOfJacob #Earth #Einstein #Expanse #ExperiencesOfReligion #Firmament #Galileo #Genesis11 #Genesis168 #Genesis281315 #Genesis281617 #Genesis282022 #Gravity #HouseChurchOfAnderlecht #IsaacNewton #Isaiah661 #JacobYaAqov3rdPatriarchSonOfIsaacRebekah #JoachimNeander #JohnLaunchbury #JulianBaseley #KingdomOfGod #KingdomOfHeaven #MiddleAges #RachelEdwards #Science #Sky #StarAstronomy #TerrestrialRealm #Universe
  10. Sunday service 2026 May 3 Experiences of religion

     

    Spring seemed to have arrived properly this last week.

    It’s really lovely to have you all with us. Very lovely to have Jonathan and Rachel Edwards from Winton meeting, and Rachel will be talking to us, giving words of encouragement a bit later.

    It’s so good, isn’t it, to be together as a family, a family in Christ, so that we can praise God and thank Him for His creation and for everything that He’s done for us. And of course, most importantly, to remember what Jesus has done and what he is still doing for us day by day. Because it’s because of him that we’re here now. And it’s because of his sacrifice that we have hope in the future.
    And we know that he is here with us in this hall, because he said that whenever 2 or 3 people gather in his name, he’s there in the midst of us.

    So he may have lived 2000 years ago, but he is alive today in this year 2026.

    May our singing, may our meeting of the Bible and remembering Jesus in bread and wine give Jesus and his God the honour they deserve.

    So, dear God, now we simply put this meeting into Your Hands. May we feel Your presence here with us today and throughout the week and always.
    In the name of our loving lord Jesus, we offer this our service to You now, Amen.

    Julian has had a stroke, which has affected his right arm. He is now at home with support from the family, coming to terms with his new situation. They are managing their change circumstance with fortitude, and they’re not doing too badly. Regular physiotherapy sessions at home, the care review is scheduled for next week. They send their love and best wishes to everyone.

    Belanwa Methode from our Anderlecht ecclesia is feeling much better and recovering after a recent heart attack and spell in hospital. We do hope to have a service again on Saturday, 16 May at the house church in Anderlecht.

    Jane reports that the family of her brother-in-law in Australia are facing a very difficult time; he is facing a major operation in May, which will be life-changing. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.

    John Launchbury from Portland, USA, had a major heart surgery last Monday. By Wednesday, he was sitting up in bed and had actually been out of bed moving around, having had most of the tubes removed. This weekend, they hope that he’ll be able to return home. – We pray for him and his family at this difficult time.

     

    With our song “Give thanks” we gave thanks to our Most High God, from whom we all receive those blessings from Mother Earth.

    Next, we listened to the reading talking of the time when Jacob, the 3rd patriarch, son of Isaac and Rebekah, went out from Beer-sheba to go to Haran.

    Coming to a certain place, he made it his resting-place for the night, for the sun had gone down; and he took one of the stones which were there, and putting it under his head, he went to sleep in that place.

    And he had a dream, and in his dream he saw steps stretching from earth to heaven, and the angels of God were going up and down on them. And he saw Jehovah by his side, saying that He is the Lord, the God of Abraham his Father, and the God of Isaac. This God said to Jacob:

    “13 … I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14 and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.” (Genesis 28:13-15 ASV)

    And Jacob, awaking from his sleep, said,

    “16 …Surely Jehovah is in this place; and I knew it not. 17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” (Genesis 28:16-17 ASV)

    And early in the morning, Jacob took the stone which had been under his head, and put it up as a pillar and put oil on it. And he gave that place the name of Beth-el (house of God), but before that time the town was named Luz.  Then Jacob took an oath and said,

    “20… If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, and Jehovah will be my God, 22 then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” (Genesis 28:20-22 ASV)

    Our speaker today wants to think about the experiences of religion,

     as I’m sure you know, means to tie fast. It’s a binding between God and man, and I want to try to explore how long or short that finding is.

    We’re told God is in heaven. Isaiah chapter 66 begins:

    Thus says the Lord, heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where is the house that ye build unto Me? And where is the place of My rest? (Isaiah 66:1)

    The first mention is in Genesis chapter one, quoting the authorised version.

    “1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. …

    “6  And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which [were] under the firmament from the waters which [were] above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.” (Genesis 1:1, 6-8 AV)

    I understand that the firmament was a word made up in the 17th century. The NIV uses the words “expanse ” and “sky,” and the NLT says it’s a space called “sky.”

    In 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 2, Paul talks about some caught up to the third heaven, and this is often explained as the first heaven being the atmosphere and the clouds at 1 to 3 miles above the surface of the earth.

    Planes fly about 6 to 7 miles high. So, these days, it’s within touching distance.

    The second head is the planets, stars and galaxies.

    Abraham was promised that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. He could probably see about 3.000 stars, so he was promised a huge family. In the universe in total, there are about 8.000 stars bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.
    But there are actually thought to be 200 million trillion steps, 200.000 million, million, million stars in the universe. So he was promised an amazingly large family.

    The third heaven is the final sphere, God’s dwelling place.

    The Hebrew word means to be lofty. And looking at the Greek word for heaven, strong offers by explanation happiness, power, and eternity.

    The physical space was finite, and beyond the material world was the spiritual space of God. The physical world was subject to death and decay, but the heavens were eternal, spiritual, and better than the earth. And the planets and stars were pointers to the religious heaven of God.

    Up to the Middle Ages, the cosmos was believed to have had the Earth at the centre of everything, surrounded by concentric spheres of the moon, the sun, planets and stars.

    Art aimed to represent the spiritual order beyond the material world and portrayed heaven in pictures comprising a light blue background with flat, out-of-proportion figures, often in gold, referencing the sky and the sun.

    But art in the 13th century developed a new way of seeing heaven. And even a pope encouraged a change of style to incorporate linear perspective, which made a sort of medieval virtual reality. Which was thought to have the power to convert unbelievers to the Christian faith by making heaven more believable.

    Science took up the reins of the shift a couple of hundred years later, with Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton, who were all on the side of God. To them, the new astronomy reflected the glory of God the Father, Whose power and order in the universe supported their faith in Christianity’s eternal salvation, whose domain is the Kingdom of heaven.

    Firstly, Copernicus suggested that the Earth went round the sun so that the Earth, including us, was no longer at the centre of everything. Newton’s big idea was that gravity, the gravity that makes an apple fall to the ground, also keeps the moon orbiting the Earth and planets orbiting the sun. So space everywhere is ruled by the same physical laws. This continuity between terrestrial and celestial realms, by this continuity, Newton famously united the heavens and the earth. The physical space could go on forever. So there was no room left over for heaven as a superior alternative domain.

    Newton tore a hole in the social fabric that we’ve been … we’re struggling to comprehend, and reverberate still in the war between science and religion.

    Einstein replaced Newton’s cosmology with space-time, and this has been developed into hyperspace, which I don’t understand, but is described as nothing but space curled up into patterns.

    At the start of our universe, space had no structure, formless and empty darkness, to quote Genesis chapter. It was simple and uniform, like a blank piece of paper. Then, as time proceeded, the paper crinkled up into ever more elaborate structures, eventually giving rise to the complexities of today. So, perhaps this is God as the origami artist.

    The new understanding of space impacts on who we think we are in space today is an arena to be mapped and measured. If heaven isn’t special, are we special?

    Are we in conglomeration with molecules?

    Christadelphians and other fundamental Christians and even New Age proponents do not accept this poor, demoralising, reductionist world.

    But, I don’t think there is a war between science and religion. Science has furthered our understanding of the physical world. And as we’ve mentioned, it greatly enhanced the promise of Abraham.

    But God doesn’t need to live in heaven. He is everywhere. Acts chapter 17 verses 27 and 28 say He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being.

    Jesus often spoke about the Kingdom of heaven, or the Kingdom of God.

    In the road spray, he taught us to ask

    They Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

    Asking for the divide between God and man to be dissolved.

    The Kingdom of heaven is still the domain of human salvation, the righteousness of God replacing the sin of the world through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

    Today, the expression “a thin place” is used to describe a place in time where space, the space between heaven and earth, grows thin and the sacred and the secular seem to meet.

    This is what I mean by the experience of religion.

    The Bible is full op people being touched by God, often in a vision or a dream. I picked a few examples showing how people felt about God drawing near to them. We’ve read about Jacob and his ladder experience in Genesis chapter 28. And his conclusion was

    How awasome is this place?
    This is none other than the House of God. This is the gate of heaven.

    Then in the New Testament, I think of Mary.

    My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour.

    After Jesus’ resurrection, the couple on the road to Emmaus expressed their vivid feelings.

    When are our hearts burning within us? While he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us.

    In our 21st-century lives, a thin place offers a sense of peace or a feeling of awe, where we feel our connection with God more strongly.

    Some people feel it in wonderful landscapes. Others in a quiet place, or listening to music, or appreciating a work of art, or a moment in daily life, like opening the door onto a sunny morning.

    I expect lots of people find the giving of thanks and taking the bread and wine a thin place.

    As we’re about to remember Jesus’ sacrifice, may you know Jesus, your saviour.

    May I know Jesus, my saviour. Thank you.

    Thank you, Rachel, for those lovely words. It’s almost impossible, isn’t it, to imagine the extent of the universe, the cosmos, and to think that God is both filling that. But also, as you said, so close to every one of us now. And you have brought us beautifully to the centre point of our meeting, to think about Jesus, who said about himself, and I’m doing this remembering Jesus would one day see the angels ascending on himself, the Son of man. So just as Jacob saw the connection between heaven and earth, wo we see heaven and earth coming together in Jesus, our lord.

    Before we share the bread and wine, we’re going to sing another hymn. And this time it’s going to be ” Praise the Lord” 174, which reminds us of the depths of the love that has been poured out on us in the sacrifice of Jesus.

    Who his love will not remember?
    Who can cease to sing his praise?

    He can never be forgotten, thoughout heav’n’s eternal days.

    We thank You Father,
    we come before You at this time to give our thanks and praise for all the blessings You bestow on us.

    We thank You for the love that You show towards us because You loved us so much.
    You gave your only son.
    We come now to remember the love that Your son, our lord, showed not only to You, but to us and the whole world also, in that he fullfilled Your word to the very end.

    As we pass these emblems of our lor’s love and great sacrifice to one another, we again give our thanks for the Plan that You have for all people that believe in You.

    We ask that we may soon see the return of our lord and that we can therefore be brought closer to You, our eternal Father.

    We ask that You be with us all and that You will hear this prayer through our lord and saviour’s name. Amen.

    Together we sing a Christian hymn based on Joachim Neander’s German-language hymn “Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren”, published in 1680.: When we look down from a lofty mountain grandeur,

    O Lord my God! when I in awesome wonder
    consider all the works thy hand hath made,
    I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,
    thy power throughout the universe displayed:

    Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee,
    how great thou art! How great thou art!
    Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee,
    how great thou art! How great thou art!

    *

    [youtube youtube.com/watch?v=wX8CyJwvyB]

    *

    We finish our Sunday service with prayer:

    Let us pray, Lord God Heavenly Father,

    we put oour minds to places where we just can’t comprehend Your dwelling place, the sky above the stars above the sun and moon, places You hold in the Palm of Your Hand.
    Yeah, beyond our wildest imagination,

    Yeah,

    we come to You in prayer, whether we are gathered in this room, whether we are sat in our various homes across different countries worshipping and praising You now and we know You’re in our presence. You are hearing these very words now. That’s amazing and we are in such actual majesty and splendour and Your power and glory in our presence now.

    It is humbling and we pray tha what we have done this morning just a litle bit goes towards chewing as a sweet smell. As pleasing and acceptable we are mindful of the clouds above. And in our lives, we feel the rains pouring down at us sometimes and the stresses and strains and struggles of life.
    Oh, too much.
    And there’s no sunshine, and there’sno brightness. There’s nothing to look forward to. Then the clouds break. And the blue sky above is always there. The sun is always there. And the same with You, that well, whatever our situation, whatever our circumstances, whatever our troubles and problems and strains and anxiety, You are therejust above it all. And we can come to You in our prayers, or we can seek strength and guidance. As we face another week we know that You are ina principle of hearts and minds. And You control everything, and You planeverything for us. So guide our ways. Help us take our hand and lead us as Yougo towards another week.
    So we thank You for so much, we thank You for Your blessings, for Your kindness, for Your love.

     

    Rate this:

    #13Century #2Corinthians122 #3Heaven #Acts172728 #Astronomy #Atmosphere #BelanwaMethode #BethElBeitElBethelHouseOfGod #CelestialRealm #Copernicus #DreamOfJacob #Earth #Einstein #Expanse #ExperiencesOfReligion #Firmament #Galileo #Genesis11 #Genesis168 #Genesis281315 #Genesis281617 #Genesis282022 #Gravity #HouseChurchOfAnderlecht #IsaacNewton #Isaiah661 #JacobYaAqov3rdPatriarchSonOfIsaacRebekah #JoachimNeander #JohnLaunchbury #JulianBaseley #KingdomOfGod #KingdomOfHeaven #MiddleAges #RachelEdwards #Science #Sky #StarAstronomy #TerrestrialRealm #Universe
  11. NATIO

    youtube.com/watch?v=yf0oamK_-SI

    Instead of providing human rights, protections, nationalism has locked the world into an escalation trap, at a time we need to cooperate more than ever. ...

    #Nationalism #Fascism #HumanRights #Nasions #Disease #Einstein #NationState #Future #Politics #Civilization

  12. A quotation from Einstein

    Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.
     
    [Wer es unternimmt, auf dem Gebiet der Wahrheit und der Erkenntnis als Autoritat aufzutreten, scheitert am Gelachter der Gotter.]

    Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
    Essay (1953-05-23), “Aphorisms for Leo Baeck [Neun Aphorismen], No. 8, Essays Presented to Leo Baeck on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday (1954) [Einstein Archives 28-962]

    More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/einstein-albert/206/

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #einstein #alberteinstein #divinepunishment #ego #gods #hubris #judge #judgment #knowledge #laughter #pride #truth

  13. A quotation from Einstein

    Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.
     
    [Wer es unternimmt, auf dem Gebiet der Wahrheit und der Erkenntnis als Autoritat aufzutreten, scheitert am Gelachter der Gotter.]

    Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
    Essay (1953-05-23), “Aphorisms for Leo Baeck [Neun Aphorismen], No. 8, Essays Presented to Leo Baeck on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday (1954) [Einstein Archives 28-962]

    More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/einstein-albert/206/

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #einstein #alberteinstein #divinepunishment #ego #gods #hubris #judge #judgment #knowledge #laughter #pride #truth

  14. A quotation from Einstein

    Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.
     
    [Wer es unternimmt, auf dem Gebiet der Wahrheit und der Erkenntnis als Autoritat aufzutreten, scheitert am Gelachter der Gotter.]

    Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
    Essay (1953-05-23), “Aphorisms for Leo Baeck [Neun Aphorismen], No. 8, Essays Presented to Leo Baeck on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday (1954) [Einstein Archives 28-962]

    More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/einstein-albert/206/

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #einstein #alberteinstein #divinepunishment #ego #gods #hubris #judge #judgment #knowledge #laughter #pride #truth

  15. A quotation from Einstein

    Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.
     
    [Wer es unternimmt, auf dem Gebiet der Wahrheit und der Erkenntnis als Autoritat aufzutreten, scheitert am Gelachter der Gotter.]

    Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
    Essay (1953-05-23), “Aphorisms for Leo Baeck [Neun Aphorismen], No. 8, Essays Presented to Leo Baeck on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday (1954) [Einstein Archives 28-962]

    More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/einstein-albert/206/

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #einstein #alberteinstein #divinepunishment #ego #gods #hubris #judge #judgment #knowledge #laughter #pride #truth

  16. A quotation from Einstein

    Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.
     
    [Wer es unternimmt, auf dem Gebiet der Wahrheit und der Erkenntnis als Autoritat aufzutreten, scheitert am Gelachter der Gotter.]

    Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
    Essay (1953-05-23), “Aphorisms for Leo Baeck [Neun Aphorismen], No. 8, Essays Presented to Leo Baeck on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday (1954) [Einstein Archives 28-962]

    More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/einstein-albert/206/

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #einstein #alberteinstein #divinepunishment #ego #gods #hubris #judge #judgment #knowledge #laughter #pride #truth

  17. A quotation from Einstein

    The majority of the stupid is invincible and guaranteed for all time. The terror of their tyranny, however, is alleviated by their lack of consistency.
     
    [Die Majorität der Dummen ist unüberwindbar und für alle Zeiten gesichert. Der Schrecken ihrer Tyrannei ist indessen gemildert durch Mangel an Konsequenz.]

    Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
    Essay (1953-05-23), “Aphorisms for Leo Baeck [Neun Aphorismen], No. 5, Essays Presented to Leo Baeck on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday (1954) [Einstein Archives 28-962]

    More about this quote: wist.info/einstein-albert/8350…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #einstein #alberteinstein #concentration #distraction #focus #folly #fools #humancondition #humannature #inconsistency #majority #stupidity

  18. A quotation from Einstein

    The majority of the stupid is invincible and guaranteed for all time. The terror of their tyranny, however, is alleviated by their lack of consistency.
     
    [Die Majorität der Dummen ist unüberwindbar und für alle Zeiten gesichert. Der Schrecken ihrer Tyrannei ist indessen gemildert durch Mangel an Konsequenz.]

    Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
    Essay (1953-05-23), “Aphorisms for Leo Baeck [Neun Aphorismen], No. 5, Essays Presented to Leo Baeck on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday (1954) [Einstein Archives 28-962]

    More about this quote: wist.info/einstein-albert/8350…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #einstein #alberteinstein #concentration #distraction #focus #folly #fools #humancondition #humannature #inconsistency #majority #stupidity

  19. A quotation from Einstein

    The majority of the stupid is invincible and guaranteed for all time. The terror of their tyranny, however, is alleviated by their lack of consistency.
     
    [Die Majorität der Dummen ist unüberwindbar und für alle Zeiten gesichert. Der Schrecken ihrer Tyrannei ist indessen gemildert durch Mangel an Konsequenz.]

    Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
    Essay (1953-05-23), “Aphorisms for Leo Baeck [Neun Aphorismen], No. 5, Essays Presented to Leo Baeck on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday (1954) [Einstein Archives 28-962]

    More about this quote: wist.info/einstein-albert/8350…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #einstein #alberteinstein #concentration #distraction #focus #folly #fools #humancondition #humannature #inconsistency #majority #stupidity

  20. A quotation from Einstein

    The majority of the stupid is invincible and guaranteed for all time. The terror of their tyranny, however, is alleviated by their lack of consistency.
     
    [Die Majorität der Dummen ist unüberwindbar und für alle Zeiten gesichert. Der Schrecken ihrer Tyrannei ist indessen gemildert durch Mangel an Konsequenz.]

    Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
    Essay (1953-05-23), “Aphorisms for Leo Baeck [Neun Aphorismen], No. 5, Essays Presented to Leo Baeck on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday (1954) [Einstein Archives 28-962]

    More about this quote: wist.info/einstein-albert/8350…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #einstein #alberteinstein #concentration #distraction #focus #folly #fools #humancondition #humannature #inconsistency #majority #stupidity

  21. A quotation from Einstine

    The majority of the stupid is invincible and guaranteed for all time. The terror of their tyranny, however, is alleviated by their lack of consistency.
     
    [Die Majorität der Dummen ist unüberwindbar und für alle Zeiten gesichert. Der Schrecken ihrer Tyrannei ist indessen gemildert durch Mangel an Konsequenz.]

    Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
    Essay (1953-05-23), “Aphorisms for Leo Baeck [Neun Aphorismen], No. 5, Essays Presented to Leo Baeck on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday (1954) [Einstein Archives 28-962]

    More about this quote: wist.info/einstein-albert/8350…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #einstein #alberteinstein #concentration #distraction #focus #folly #fools #humancondition #humannature #inconsistency #majority #stupidity

  22. Below the Mesh

    The light year is a bookkeeping unit that has been promoted, by repetition and by the poverty of better language, into a cosmic speed limit. Both halves of that sentence are wrong in slightly different ways. A light year measures the distance a photon covers in one orbit of Earth around the Sun, and it measures that distance against the stage on which photons and Earths and Suns appear. We treat that stage as the bedrock of reality because every instrument we have ever built reports back from inside it. Our instruments cannot, by their nature, report from anywhere else. A fish with sophisticated sonar maps the reef in exquisite detail and concludes the reef is all there is. The water is invisible because the water is the medium of seeing.

    Physics has been quietly telling us for about thirty years that we are the fish. The reef is spacetime. The water is something else.

    Start with what general relativity gets right, because any honest argument has to begin there. Einstein’s field equations predicted the bending of starlight around the Sun in 1919, the slow precession of Mercury’s orbit, the precise timing signals that let a phone in a pocket know where it stands on the planet’s surface, the gravitational waves LIGO caught in 2015 from two black holes colliding a billion light years away, and the shadow of the supermassive black hole at the center of M87 that the Event Horizon Telescope imaged in 2019. No theory in the history of science has paid off more predictions with more accuracy. General relativity is correct about what it describes.

    Notice the hedge. General relativity is correct about what it describes. It describes spacetime as a smooth four-dimensional manifold with curvature determined by mass and energy. The question of where that manifold comes from, or what it is made of, sits outside the theory’s jurisdiction, and Einstein himself acknowledged as much. His equations assume the stage and then tell you how the stage bends. They offer no theory of the stage.

    This is the crack through which everything interesting is currently flowing.

    Juan Maldacena, working at Harvard in 1997, published a paper that is arguably the most important theoretical physics result since the Standard Model. He showed that a particular kind of gravitational universe, one with a specific negative curvature called Anti-de Sitter space, is mathematically equivalent to a quantum field theory living on its boundary. Everything that happens in the volume can be reconstructed from information encoded on the surface. Gravity, in this setup, stops being fundamental and becomes a holographic projection of something simpler happening in lower dimensions. The interior of the universe is a rendered image. The pixels sit on the edge.

    Mark Van Raamsdonk, at the University of British Columbia, took Maldacena’s correspondence and pushed it somewhere Maldacena had not. In a 2010 essay that won first prize in the Gravity Research Foundation contest, Van Raamsdonk showed that if you dial down the quantum entanglement between two regions of the boundary theory, the corresponding regions of spacetime in the interior pull apart. Reduce the entanglement further, and the spacetime between them thins, stretches, and finally tears. Spatial distance, in this picture, is a measurement of how strongly two regions of the underlying quantum substrate are entangled with each other. The gap between Earth and Andromeda functions as a readout rather than as an empty stretch of pre-existing room. It is what weak entanglement looks like when the universe renders it as geometry.

    A careful reader will note that the mathematics of this correspondence is most securely established in universes with negative cosmological curvature, which is called Anti-de Sitter space. Our universe has positive curvature, which is called de Sitter. Whether the same entanglement-as-geometry relationship carries over into the kind of cosmos we actually live in is one of the most active open questions in the field. Most theorists working on the problem believe the principle generalizes. Nobody has yet proven it, and the first person who does will earn a Nobel Prize within the decade.

    Leonard Susskind at Stanford and Maldacena again, in 2013, proposed that this goes further still. Their ER=EPR conjecture argues that any two particles that share quantum entanglement are connected, at the substrate level, by a microscopic wormhole. The entanglement is the wormhole, seen from the rendered side. The wormhole is the entanglement, seen from the substrate side. They are the same object described in two languages.

    Sit with what this means. If the geometry we measure is an output rather than an input, then the speed of light is a property of the output layer. It is the maximum rate at which information can propagate through the rendered image. Nothing in the substrate logic requires that the shortest path between two points in the image correspond to the shortest path between the data that produced them. Two pixels on opposite edges of a screen can sit adjacent on the memory bus behind the screen. The cable does not run across the glass.

    This is where the writer in me wants to stop being careful, because careful has produced about a century of stalemate on the interstellar question, and careful is not what the moment calls for.

    Here is the argument I want to make. The reason we have found no aliens, the reason the sky is quiet when statistics suggest it should be noisy, is that any civilization clever enough to cross the gulfs between stars figured out the gulfs were not the real problem decades into their investigation. Such a species stops building faster rockets. The engineering attention shifts toward entanglement itself. What looks from our side like interstellar travel, to them, becomes an exercise in editing the source code of distance.

    I cannot prove this. I can argue it is consistent with what the physics now permits. A civilization that learned to manipulate the entanglement structure of its local vacuum would not need to cross four light years to reach Proxima Centauri. It would rewrite the entanglement between here and there and reduce the rendered distance. Travel becomes a matter of reconfiguring the substrate relationship between the departure point and the destination. The ship does not move. The geometry moves around the ship, because the geometry was always a consequence of a deeper relational fact that the civilization has learned to set directly.

    That leap is not a small one and deserves to be named. Reading the entanglement structure of the vacuum is a measurement problem that current physics is making genuine progress on. Writing to that structure with enough precision to change a macroscopic distance is a different problem, and nothing in the current mathematics guarantees the two are connected by a practicable engineering path. My argument is that the theoretical door exists, which is a stronger claim than it was in 1990 and a weaker claim than saying a key has been cut.

    This is not quite the Alcubierre drive, though it shares a family resemblance. Miguel Alcubierre’s 1994 paper in Classical and Quantum Gravity showed that general relativity permits a metric in which a bubble of space contracts in front of a ship and expands behind it, carrying the ship between points faster than light without the ship ever locally exceeding the speed of light. The original solution required negative energy densities we cannot produce. Erik Lentz at Gottingen in 2021 and Alexey Bobrick and Gianni Martire that same year published soliton solutions in peer-reviewed journals showing the negative energy requirement could be relaxed or eliminated. The energy budgets in these revised solutions remain astronomical, running from planetary to stellar mass-energy depending on geometry, configured with exotic precision we do not currently know how to impose. The door Alcubierre described is no longer obviously locked. Calling it merely heavy undersells the problem, and leaving it locked oversells the physics.

    The substrate argument goes deeper than Alcubierre because it does not require you to manipulate the metric from inside the metric. It suggests the metric is downstream of something else, and that something else is where the leverage actually sits. Alcubierre is a clever exploit within the rendered layer. Substrate engineering is a rewrite at the source.

    The intergalactic problem forces this issue whether we want it forced or not. The universe is expanding, and the expansion compounds with distance. Every galaxy currently more than about sixteen billion light years from Earth is receding faster than light can close the gap between us. The cosmological event horizon is not an engineering problem, and no rocket, fusion drive, or antimatter drive solves it. The space between us and those galaxies grows faster than any signal we send can cross it. Those galaxies are leaving the observable universe in real time, and nothing that respects the rendered geometry can catch them.

    If there is any answer to intergalactic travel at all, the answer lives below the mesh. The rendered layer disqualifies itself. You either work beneath the rendering or you accept that the Local Group is the edge of forever.

    I think the rendering can be worked beneath. I think the physics of the last thirty years has been quietly assembling the vocabulary for how. The holographic principle, emergent spacetime, ER=EPR, entanglement geometry, the soliton warp metrics, the loop quantum gravity spin networks that discretize the substrate into countable units of area and volume. What looks at first like a crowd of unrelated speculations turns out, under pressure, to be a single converging picture in which what we call space is a high-level description of something relational, informational, and combinatorial happening at a scale we have not yet learned to address directly.

    The skeptic will say this is all mathematical machinery with no experimental handle, and the skeptic is right about the second half of that sentence and wrong about the first. Mathematical machinery without experimental handle is exactly what general relativity was in 1915. It took four years to get the eclipse data that confirmed it. The Higgs boson was a mathematical necessity for forty-eight years before CERN found it. The gap between a coherent theoretical framework and the instrument that tests it runs sometimes a decade and sometimes a century. Silence from the apparatus is a statement about the apparatus, not about the theory waiting for it.

    The question I opened with, the one a correspondent put to me, asked whether we are thinking about spacetime correctly or whether we need to change our thinking. An honest answer splits the question in half. We are thinking about spacetime correctly for the layer we live in and incorrectly for the layer that produces it. A light year remains a good unit for measuring our prison. It is a useless unit for describing the door.

    Every generation of physics has had to accept that the last generation’s bedrock was someone else’s floorboards. Newton’s absolute space became Einstein’s curved manifold. Einstein’s curved manifold is becoming, in front of our eyes, a holographic projection of an entangled quantum substrate. The pattern is consistent. The bedrock keeps turning out to be a floor. There is always something underneath.

    I suspect, and I am willing to say it in public because a blog post is the right venue for saying what a journal article cannot, that the civilizations we have been listening for are silent for reasons that have little to do with their absence. Radio waves are a rendered-layer phenomenon. Any species that figured out the rendering would have less reason to keep leaking signal through the old substrate the same week they learned what the water was. The Fermi question has other candidate answers, from the Great Filter to rare-Earth biology to the simulation hypothesis, and each of those deserves the serious treatment it has already received elsewhere. What I am offering is one more candidate the physics of the last thirty years has made more plausible than it was in Fermi’s original framing. If we want to find them, we are going to have to learn what they learned. We are going to have to stop asking how fast we can cross the reef and start asking what the water is.

    The reef is beautiful. I have spent a lifetime admiring it. The water is where the answers live.

    #einstein #galaxy #geometry #gravity #ideas #investigation #knowing #lightYears #math #mesh #newton #science #stalemate #tech #timeTravel #universe #water
  23. Nice going Einstein.

    And other things Albert’s mom would say every time he messed up.

    #AlbertEinstein #einstein

  24. Nice going Einstein.

    And other things Albert’s mom would say every time he messed up.

    #AlbertEinstein #einstein

  25. Nice going Einstein.

    And other things Albert’s mom would say every time he messed up.

    #AlbertEinstein #einstein

  26. Nice going Einstein.

    And other things Albert’s mom would say every time he messed up.

    #AlbertEinstein #einstein

  27. Nice going Einstein.

    And other things Albert’s mom would say every time he messed up.

    #AlbertEinstein #einstein

  28. People believe #Maxwell and #Einstein are the greatest physicists. But I think they are no match to Tesla.

    #Tesla understood #electromagnetic #EM waves better than most physicists during his time. He was an electrical engineer who did not use the vocabulary of physicists. He did most of his experiments without using equations from Maxwell or Einstein because none of them actually reflects reality.

    His Colorado Springs documents can be found here:

    archive.org/details/nikolatesl

    #physics

  29. I use music and a ProTools example to illustrate the difference between duration and time. I even invoked the debate between Bergson and Einstein in 1922.

    philosophics.blog/2026/04/02/w

    Time doesn't exist. It's merely a useful heuristic that humans use for social structure. Duration is more intrinsic. Physics has created a space-time map and confused it with the underlying terrain.

    #philosophy #physics #time #duration #blog #podcast #Einstein #Bergson #debate #music #metaphor #social #ClaudeAI

  30. Here is the ultimate problem of #Maxwell, #Schrodinger, and #Einstein. All of them assumed a single charge moving in an electromagnetic #EM field. Schrodinger and Einstein used Maxwell's single charge assumption. In reality, say on the surface of metal, charges interact with each other. #Lorenz tried to solve the two charges case but failed. Schrodinger used a "charge density", not a charge and applied Maxwell's equations. Einstein used Maxwell's equations by ignoring the assumption. #physics

  31. Exposición sobre la reflexión de Albert Einstein acerca del socialismo y la sociedad

    📰 Título original: kurimanzutto.com

    🤖 IA: No es clickbait ✅
    👥 Usuarios: No es clickbait ✅

    Ver resumen IA completo: killbait.com/es/exposicion-sob

    #cultura #socialismo #einstein #exposición

  32. Heng Yang, a M.S. student in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics at #UPenn came to #Atlanta to visit #GeorgiaTech and his old physics instructor, yours truly, from when we were both at the #UniversityOfArizona. We got coffee, checked out the campus, and visited #Einstein.