May 17 is known as Ascension Thursday (the 40th day of Easter). It is the day many Christians observe Christ's ascension into heaven, though some will do it on the following Sunday. The day means many things to Christians, including the idea that Christ will also one day descend from heaven in his return.
What intrigues me about the ascension of Christ is not only what it tells me about the ancient world and its "scientific" knowledge of the universe, but also what it tells me about many Christians today.
As to the former, while ancient "science" is not really science, one may call it that loosely in that it is an ancient perspective on the structure of the universe. This comes out clearly in many places, but especially in Acts 1:9-11, which records the ascension of Christ in these words:
When he had said this, as they were watching, he [Jesus] was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."
This perception of the universe lasted for millennia.
Earth is below and most likely understood to be a disc by many of the ancients. Above it is the firmament (Genesis 1:6-7), a solid dome that holds back the waters of heaven, the same waters that are said to flood the earth in Noah's day (Genesis 7:11). The firmament provides a structure for the universe, a barrier to heaven (which is above it), and the planets move across it.
Imagine "The Truman Show."
The ancient Christian theologian Augustine, for example, affirmed that this firmament was a solid dome in response to philosophers arguing that there is no way for water to stay in the sky since it is too heavy. Augustine was convinced, however, that even without a firm dome God could keep water in the sky if he wanted to since he could do anything. "If God ever wished oil to remain under water," argued Augustine, "it would do so" ("The Literal Meaning of Genesis" 2.2). Likewise, I'm sure the same could be said about Jesus standing on a cloud at his ascension.
This idea of heaven above was easily incorporated into the later Ptolemaic system of the universe, named after Claudius Ptolemy (c. C.E. 90-168). According to this revised view, the universe was a set of nested spheres along which the planets rotated around the earth (geocentered). This system stuck around for a long time.
Medievals understood this view of the universe to have a theological message. The earth is not so much the center of the universe in the Ptolemaic system as much as it is the bottom. Like earlier ancient models, to move up in the spheres is to leave earth and move toward perfection in heaven. Christ leaving his throne in heaven for earth is not a journey to the center of the universe, but a condescension of Christ to live in the margins at the bottom of the universe.
This was a sign of his love for humans.
Christ's ascension and return mentioned in Acts made sense in this up-and-down universe; it was not like anyone had ever been to space. This was eventually challenged, however, when the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) introduced the heliocentric view, namely that the earth and the planets move around the sun (helio).
There were many implications for Copernicus' position. To reject the idea of heaven as above runs counter to the record of Acts and it could put Jesus' return into question, particularly since Acts says his return will happen the same way as he left.
Copernicus' discovery took a long time to be accepted, especially because of the theological significance of the earlier views. In fact, a 1999 Gallup poll showed that 18 percent of Americans were still geocentric at the turn of the millennium.
So where did Christ go when he ascended? Did he really move into the sky on a cloud? Did he hide up there and wait for the disciples to leave before disappearing another way? When he returns will he come from space? Does he wave to the International Space Station on his way back? As one of my students responded: "You're right, I do imagine heaven above like that, as if Wile E. Coyote's spirit ascends into the clouds."
You get the point.
How should Christians understand the ascension of Christ? Those who are aware of the difficulties of the ascension in the known universe allegorize it and treat it as a metaphor. Others stick to the script. "The Jesus Film" project, for example, has Jesus ascending into the sky at the end of the movie and that is actually closer to the biblical story, which does not indicate any sense of implied allegory.
This means that many modern Christians who read the accounts of the ascension and predictions of Christ's return in literal terms are actually thinking about the universe like ancient peoples. Perhaps there is an unacknowledged disconnect. Maybe contemporary Christians do not imagine a firmament above since they are aware of space and galaxies, but when it comes to how they describe Christ's ascension and return, they are absolutely ancient.
They may play with their iPads, but they are thinking like a generation writing on clay tablets. They may read the news about future trips to other planets, but imagine our planet in such foreign terms that it might as well be an alien world.
As an historian, I'm curious as to how different Christian beliefs will be in the next century. Many already know how young earth creationism is challenged by discoveries in the last 200 years and some are becoming aware of the challenges of neuroscience to long-standing theological conclusions about human nature. Yet I think that many professional or avid lay theologians miss the discussions that have to occur in lesser-challenged ideas, like the ascension and return of Christ.
These are simply the ups and downs of doing Christian theology.
Follow Brandon G. Withrow on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bwithrow
This is condescending rubbish. Your tone is sneering while trying to maintain a facade of objectivity. It's transparent. You also present an either/or fallacy. If you believe that Jesus was taken up, you must see the world as ancient people's. I believe it's possible he was taken up, though I don't know how. Aliens? Who knows. The thing I've realized is that when you look around at the world, there are crazy, unexplained things happening everyday. If these were in the Bible, people would laugh and scoff. "A man who became a tree??? Yeah right!!" Google tree man. There are Indian "holy men" who spend days underground, apparently dead, and rise again. There are so many bizarre things that happen all the time -- so that's why I keep an open mind, and think, hey, who knows, it's possible -- and I don't see the world as ancients do. It appears to me that you, however, do see the world as a scientific materialist, excluding anything miraculous.
Isaiah 46:9-10 'I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.'
So not only does the God of the Bible know all things, but He has chosen to make known to us, through the Bible, what is still to come! In fact, even more than that, the God of the Bible CHALLENGES any so-called 'gods' to do the same!!!
Isaiah 41:21-23 “Present your case,” says the LORD. “Set forth your arguments,” says Jacob’s King. “Bring in your idols to tell us what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome.
1. False Bible teachers would be money hungry. They would be smooth talkers, have many followers, and slur the Christian faith (2 Peter 2:1-3) See some at: Fakemessiah.com
2. Homosexuality would be increasingly evident at the end of the age (2 Timothy 3:3)
3. Earthquakes would be in diverse places (Matthew 24:7)
4. Stress would be part of living (2 Timothy 3:1)
5. Many wars would erupt (Matthew 24:6)
6. People would forsake the Ten Commandments as a moral code, committing adultery, stealing, lying, and killing (Matthew 24:12)
7. There would be a cold religious system, in denying God's power (2 Timothy 3:5)
8. Men would substitute fantasy in place of Christian truth (2 Timothy 4:4). This is so evident at Christmas when the birth of the Savior is lost behind the myth of Santa Claus.
9. Deadly diseases would be prevalent (Matthew 24:7). The worldwide increase in AIDS deaths is almost inestimable. Over 160,000 Americans die of cancer each year.
10. The fact that God once flooded the earth (the Noahic flood) would be denied (2 Peter 3:5-6). There is a mass of fossil evidence to prove this fact, yet it is flatly ignored by the scientific world because of its uncanny implication.
I'm sure you think I am going to Hades, but you are merely putting words in your God's mouth, which is something a Christian is never, ever supposed to do. It's all fine and dandy to read scripture, but please do not tell me everyone else on Earth is evil, everyone except for you and your small community of like-minded individuals.
Having a personal relationship with God means we should include God in our daily lives. We should pray to Him, read His word, and meditate on verses in an effort to get to know Him better. We should pray for wisdom (James 1:5), which is the most valuable asset we could ever have. We should take our requests to Him, asking in Jesus' name (John 15:16). Jesus is the one who loves us enough to give His life for us (Romans 5:8), and He is the one who bridged the gap between us and God.
The understanding of the ascension revolves around the word "parousia".
παρουσ-ία , ἡ, (πάρειμι)
A. presence, of persons, δεσπότου, etc., A.Pers. 169, etc. ; ἀνδρῶν π., = ἄνδρες οἱ παρόντες, E.Alc.606 ; πόλις μείζων τῆς ἡμετέρας π., = ἡμῶν τῶν παρόντων, Th.6.86 ; παρουσίαν μὲν οἶσθα . . φίλων, ὡς οὔτις ἡμῖν ἐστιν, i.e. that we have no friends present to assist us, S.El.948 ; of things, “κακῶν” E.Hec.227, Ar.Th.1049 ; “ἀγαθῶν” Pl.Grg.497e : abs., παρουσίαν ἔχειν, = παρεῖναι, S.Aj.540 ; “τὰ τῆς τύχης . . κοινὰς [ἔχει] τὰς παρουσίας” D.Prooem.39 ; “αὐτὸ τὸ ἀγαθὸν [αἴτιον] τῇ π. τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῦ ἀγαθὰ εἶναι” Arist.EE1217b5, cf. Pl.Phd. 100d, etc.
2. arrival, ἡμῶν κοινόπουν π. S.El.1104, cf. E.Alc.209, Th.1.128 ; “εἰς Ἰταλίαν” D.H.1.45 ; esp. visit of a royal or official personage, βασιλέως, etc., PTeb.48.14 (ii B. C.), IPE12.32A85 (Olbia, iii B.C.), etc.; of a god, IG42(1).122.34(Epid.).
3. occasion, v.l. in S. El.1251.
4. π. τισὶ ποιεῖσθαι entertain them on their official visits, OGI139.9 (Philae, ii B.C.).
5. in NT, the Advent, Ev.Matt.24.27, al.
6. Astrol., situation of a planet at a point on the zodiac, “ἤτοι κατὰ παρουσίαν ἢ κατὰ συμμαρτυρίαν” Vett.Val.49.26.
II. substance, property, “ὡς . . ἔχομεν παρουσίας”
Funny, in the Biblical context, "heaven" literally means "sky". Check Strong's Concordance and look at the Greek.
The sky is certainly up and not a spiritual concept.
It is NO coincidence that Revelation 17:10 speaks of these world-powers, "...five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space." At the writing of Revelation, Rome was still a world-power. The Apostle John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, tells us that Rome is the 6th world-power, and there is one more to come. The 7th world-power will be the beast system, the kingdom of the antichrist. This diabolical New World Order is quickly forming now (i.e., a universal religious view, global centralized government, a one-world economic system, a cashless society, etc.).
In what possible way is a "new world order" forming?
I do have an issue with the interpretation of this text "Above it is the firmament (Genesis 1:6-7), a solid dome that holds back the waters of heaven"
The word that the author has chosen to use "firmament" is not the best translation for the word rā·qî·a‘ in hebrew. The literal translation is expanse which is defined as "an uninterrupted space or area". Not sure if the author is correct here. Just throwing it out there. Debaters seeking truth are welcome to reply.
Even ancient people had empirical evidence that nothing like a solid dome is in the sky. That is, look at the moon on a clear night ... nothing observable obscures it. This hypothetical "solid dome" would have needed to be outside of the stars.
God's kindgom is invisible (i.e., supernatural ... not empirically observable).
"[T]he ancient Hebrews...believed that the heavens were held up by a dome (raqiya or firmament) that arched over the land and that water surrounded the land. The firmament was perceived as a solid, metal-like structure that could be hammered and shaped (as in Job 37:18: "Can you, like him, spread out the skies, hard as a molten mirror?" [All biblical quotes are from the Revised Standard Bible, Zondervan, 1981]). The surface of the firmament is solid enough that God can walk on it (as in Job 22:14: "Thick clouds enwrap him, so that he does not see, he walks on the vault of heaven"). The Sun, Moon, and stars were attached to the firmament, which means that these heavenly bodies circled Earth beneath the firmament and, hence, were part of a geocentric universe. Further support for the idea of a solid sky and a geocentric solar system is found in Revelation 6:13–16: "and the stars of the sky fell to the Earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale; the sky vanished like a scroll that is rolled up." Stars were regarded as small, bright objects rather than massive suns hugely larger than Earth. They could fall on Earth because they were below the firmament, a solid object that, if rolled aside, would reveal the throne of God...."
http://ncse.com/creationism/general/creationevolution-continuum
Man is born with a universal belief in a supreme Being; no tribe has yet been discovered that lacks this. They know that some Being creates and controls.
Rom. 2:15, "Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another." The existence of God is written in the human conscience.
Acts 17:23, "For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To the Unknown God." Conscience told them that there was a God though they did not know Him personally.
Some atheists may claim that their conscience does not tell them about God.
It is doubtful if a genuine atheist can be found for at best they are men who have stilled conscience by blatant unbelief.
Some men are so blind that they may deny the existence of the sun in the sky but that does not alter the fact that the sun exists, rises and sets each day.
None are so blind as those who refuse to see. The honest man will find that the inner still small voice says that God exists and is alive today.
Men deny the existence of God not because they cannot find Him but because they are afraid to face the responsibility of being accountable to Him alter death.
There have been some recent farfetched claims by evolutionists of “new discoveries.”1 At best, these “new discoveries” are just more theories. Ten researchers can look at the same information and come up with ten different conclusions.
Researchers at Oregon State University admit that there still exists an “enormous wealth of undiscovered sea life.”2 Mankind has just begun to discover God's wondrous creation. Evolutionists don't know anything, except that they hate the Bible. Evolutionists and the Bible-rejecting teachers who teach it, speak of fable as fact, speculation as science and garbage as Gospel. If evolutionists were honest in their hearts, they would teach what they do know instead of what they do not. They do know that they don't know, but they aren't honest enough to admit it. There is one thing that every evolutionist will soon one day discover—they were wrong!
The tool God gives us is a sound mind. Christian faith is based on fact—not fiction. Josh McDowell, a leading Christian apologist, says, “My heart cannot rejoice in what my mind rejects.” Sharing our faith doesn't mean we are unreasonable or irrational. Rather, we offer the historical, trustworthy testimony of Scripture. Such evidence includes:
The fact of the resurrection – Not only did the risen Christ show Himself to His doubting disciples; He also “appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time” (1 Cor. 15:6). The resurrection is indeed a concrete, historical fact.
Christians have one of two choices:
1.) Accept the Bible as true, in which case you need to accept a flat disc world with a vault of heaven above it.
2.) Treat such things as metaphor, in which case it could all be metaphor; even the existence of Christ himself.
You can either cling to an obviously false myth as if it were true, or treat it as a story, thus not holy, divine or magical.
You could pick some point in-between, but that is called "picking and choosing", which is hypocritical.
http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/false.html
http://www.tektonics.org/af/earthshape.html
This is a perfect example.
One of the links you provided is virus-infected, and blocked. Not exactly a reliable source. The other one is an apologetics website, where they twist scripture to fit their beliefs, instead of taking an objective look at it.
Semitic cosmology is VERY clear, and it is roughly the same as the Egyptian and Persian cosmology.
The Earth is a flat disc, surrounded by an ocean, covered by a bronze dome, the stars hang from that dome, the sun and moon orbit within that dome, the birds fly inside the dome (that was a bizarre justification on that website- birds can't fly inside metal? since when?) and there is an ocean of water OBOVE the dome.
When it rains, doors open up in the metal dome letting the water fall out.
This, by the way, explains the flood. A global flood is impossible with our spherical Earth, but very possible with a flat earth covered with a dome, and submerged in water to the top of it.
Heaven was LITERALLY above the Earth, on top of the dome.
You could reach it from a ladder.
You could reach it from a tall tower.
Come on, do some ACTUAL research, not just websites designed to echo your beliefs back to you.
Google the phrase "Biblical Cosmology" then click "images".
Don't reckon so. That was `a likely story' 2000 years ago, leading to the obvious question `OK, Mr Acolyte, where did you bury the body?'
The book of leviticus and the Jewish sacrificial system shows that the BLOOD has the LIFE/SOUL in it and was used as a symbol for a death that we deserved. This shed blood of Christ became the eternal Once and Only sacrifice, a life for a life , a creator for a creation...that would satisfy the just requirement of God for making all things ( not just man, but also the things in the heavenly) New in Christ into an eternal state. Colossians 1:20.
After this body of flesh and bones was resurrected by the power of God, it "went" beyond the universe, beyond created things...and was glorified ....
Christ after his ascension blinded Paul by his presence, and had John in the book of revelation in awe.
As regards his coming again to judge the living and the dead, we are told by him it will be as obvious as lightening in the sky that is from east to west. Peter describes it like the flood of Noahs day when the elements of our solar system will be shaken and the sky will fly away . 2 Peter 3:10-13
Shalom
It's made all the difference on Sundays, these last 2000 years.