Q: In Matthew 24:29, Jesus appears to base a statement on the mistaken belief that the moon produces its own light, and that the stars are lights held in place by a firmament only a few miles above our heads.
A: Using a similar approach, everyone who has ever used the term moonstruck believes that lingering under moonbeams makes you crazy, and everyone who has ever used the terms sunrise and sunset believes in geocentrism, and everyone who has used the term shooting star equates a meteor with a star, and everyone who has referred to skyscrapers believes in a solid sky-barrier which can be scraped, and everyone who speaks about the worldwide web believes that the earth is flat, and everyone who calls a jellyfish a jellyfish must be mistaken about the nature of both jelly and fish. Nothing is necessarily implied in the language in this verse other than that Jesus expected events to happen which, to their observers on earth, would fit this description. Plus, the content here is clearly based on Isaiah 13:10. (It mostly /is/ Isaiah 13:10!) Jesus is citing it to convey that He and Isaiah are on the same page, so to speak -- the Day of the Lord that Isaiah foresaw, and the events Jesus describes here in Matthew 24:29-31, are the same thing.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
A: Using a similar approach, everyone who has ever used the term moonstruck believes that lingering under moonbeams makes you crazy, and everyone who has ever used the terms sunrise and sunset believes in geocentrism, and everyone who has used the term shooting star equates a meteor with a star, and everyone who has referred to skyscrapers believes in a solid sky-barrier which can be scraped, and everyone who speaks about the worldwide web believes that the earth is flat, and everyone who calls a jellyfish a jellyfish must be mistaken about the nature of both jelly and fish. Nothing is necessarily implied in the language in this verse other than that Jesus expected events to happen which, to their observers on earth, would fit this description. Plus, the content here is clearly based on Isaiah 13:10. (It mostly /is/ Isaiah 13:10!) Jesus is citing it to convey that He and Isaiah are on the same page, so to speak -- the Day of the Lord that Isaiah foresaw, and the events Jesus describes here in Matthew 24:29-31, are the same thing.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
