Nice. Thanks for pointing that out. I do love how the Bible deals with names--the depth and poetry of it.
I won't go as far as to say that people need to learn the original language (Hebrew & Greek) to appreciate the Bible, but I think there is a purpose why God chose to reveal His scripture within those language & culture, and there's a lot of new depths you can appreciate if you do know them.
Thanks for thinking (in response to my comment elsewhere on the Following Jesus Substack) that this might catch my interest, as it most certainly does! I'm always a bit concerned for clean discernment when reading things like this, that observations like these seem too esoteric or lofty, and God forbid - Gnostic, false and misleading. But you've made no secret heretical fabrications in these ultimately rather plain (though wonderous) observations. I like your poem quite a lot, but honestly would have missed much of it's meaning without the elaboration, so thanks for that. Definitely fun stuff for word and number nerds! 😂
I forgot to mention, this article and your poem reminded me of when I was a little kid, sticking my face up against the color tube TV to look closely at the Red, Green and Blue pixels that formed the images. Good times lol
I understand the concern. Some of my colleagues whom I shared the idea with (including the one who posted the meme that inspired this whole article) did caution me not to "overspiritualize" things in the Bible that it's never meant to say, because it might veer into baseless mysticism or, worse, syncretism.
Personally, I tend to be skeptical towards esoteric or lofty teachings as well, so I made sure that I'm not "creating" extra-Biblical doctrine with these ideas. Instead, I want it to help us deepen the way we perceive and experience nature, and God's providence.
And glad I'm not the only one who does that with the TV as a kid. Parents used to yell at me for doing that because they're concerned it might ruin my eyesight, haha
Ah the power of the Word. Always bright for those with the proper eyes. It always puzzled me how people cannot see the miracle of life, consciousness and the intelligibility of reality and not identify it as fundamentally divine.
Some people claim that scientific discoveries and observations, and our ability to dissect natural laws, challenge the existence of God.
But my pastor once remarked, if you take a piece of music and analyze its harmonies, chord progressions, etc.--or dissect a novel for its literary devices, themes and characterization--does that challenge the existence of their composer/author?
Even scientists cannot postulate and explain fully, how neutrons and protons work in its wondrous mechanism, why, how atoms sticks to together, unless scientists believes bible is the truth word of God (Yeshua) the answer is Yahweh created Psalm 8:3 KJV
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
What a wonderful powerful creator Yah with omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent Jesus who created heavens by works of HIS fingers, imagine that. Just his fingers, he mathematically made everything (matrix) there a Hebrew word for that. Could it be that Hebrew letters are the blue print of Heavens; just a thought. 😄 great writing ✍️ thanks for sharing.
"Could it be that Hebrew letters are the blue print of Heavens; just a thought."
It's certainly plausible thought. I once watched a YouTube video on Old Testament studies, and the teacher was talking about how God had chosen to reveal Himself in Hebrew first. The teacher/scholar then encourages the students to learn Hebrew.
His analogy was, "Let's say you're married to a person of a non-English background. Even if they can speak English perfectly well, wouldn't you want to learn their mother tongue to understand them better?"
I can't say I've succeeded in that endeavour (learning new languages at this age is hard), and some people are wary of gematria and numerology being too close to occultism. However, I believe that if the interpretation helps us gain a deeper appreciation for the Lord and His works (and not lead to heresy), it should be alright.
Here's another convergence between Hebrew gematria, scientific fact, and theological symbolism I've observed. It's fascinating:
Thank you for your contributing answerable thoughts. I totally agree with Gematria and numerology could associate to closely to occultism, but mostly glad I am able to gain deeper understanding of its Biblical Hebrew meaning and understanding, only the Holy Spirit guides me to understanding scriptures as such. Thank you for the link on to observe fascination of Hebrew meaning of the following The chemical formula for water, H2O, has a molar mass of 18.
In Hebrew, the word for life, chai (חי), has a gematrical value of 18, based on two alphabets: chet (ח, representing 8) and yod (י, representing 10).
Whether by coincidence or by design, I thought this is a fascinating parallel.
I wonder if you may help me on this one ‘Bara’ meaning the beginning in reference to Genesis chapter one. Interestingly, Aleph an important derivative to ABBA, then Bara (beginning of creation) an interesting closed proximity of letters to ‘B’ .. to the creation, may be I am over spiritualising.
"I wonder if you may help me on this one ‘Bara’ meaning the beginning in reference to Genesis chapter one. Interestingly, Aleph an important derivative to ABBA, then Bara (beginning of creation) an interesting closed proximity of letters to ‘B’ .. to the creation, may be I am over spiritualising."
Thank you. This is interesting. I never thought of that, and I'll give it a check.
As for over spiritualizing... well, my view on that is - where the line of thought leads to is more important than whether or not it's "too spiritual." Whether the understanding we gain from the insights are consistent to what has been taught by the rest of the Scripture, instead of adding new "theology", or contradicting it.
Otherwise, I think the desire to see more of God and His glory--whether in nature, in history, or even in the pages of the Scripture--is a good thing.
I’m not a physicist but I sometimes study physics for fun (hoping to write a hard sci fi epic one day). One of the wildest things I’ve learned is that if the fundamental forces of nature were even mildly different from their current values, we would not be able to exist. The universe seems high tuned and we have no idea why.
This understanding has led me to pondered questions like “does the universe really exist for us to live in it?” And “are we really just an extension of the space and time, existing to experience itself?”
If there ever is/was a Devine creator, this is the strongest evidence for their existence that I’ve encountered.
I'm not a physicist myself (my background is chemistry), but I found out about the concept QCD while researching colour spaces for research on colorimetry. I don't admit to understand much about the quantum, but the little I know about are truly awe-inspiring.
Your questions about the universe are very significant questions about the human existence. I think, on one hand, we all want our lives to matter. But on the other hand we want the answer to be true, not just wishful thinking.
If this article helps you get closer to the answer you're looking for, I'm very honoured.
A popular author wrote about love languages, describing how different people "speak" their love for another person. The author showed how someone can feel unloved because that person's partner speaks a different love language. More importantly, he woke many of us up to the fact that our own love language is not the only one, and therefore each of us is in danger of being misunderstood and/or misunderstanding the emotional signals we all exchange.
God loves each of us, but he knows we are each unique, with different life experiences and different love languages. You have powerfully shared one of God's infinite number of love languages in a way seldom available to those who reason as deeply as you. A message for today, written by a scientifically educated person of this era.
I'm very grateful that God allowed me to discover these facts to witness Him. As someone who likes learning in general, but also have a naturally low attention span, I've never been able to keep up with a sustained reading.
Spending so much time poring over volumes upon volumes of exposition, studying particular branches of theology and differentiating ideas from various schools of thoughts is not something I'd find appealing. But I'm glad He is still willing to find ways to help me connect to Him, even if my way of processing theology might misalign with the types of exposition and apologetics I often hear.
It took reading widely rather than narrowly to write the essay you did.
It's not that your attention span was low, but that you were guided away from the narrow education that results from reading too deeply from only one well.
It seems that we think along the same lines. I'm currently trying to write a book concerning a lot of the things that you are talking about. Yours is a great read!
I am in awe of how you combine science, poetry, and the Bible! This was such a fascinating read. I always like to say that the universe is one giant portrait God painted of Himself because you can see His character by looking at His creation. For instance, I like to think pandas show God's humor, and creatures such as the diving bell spider show His creativity. - Sydney :)
The Fe made me think of the Hebrew word for soil and red. Humus, human, adam. We are Earthlings made of iron dust - the red of our blood.
Nice. Thanks for pointing that out. I do love how the Bible deals with names--the depth and poetry of it.
I won't go as far as to say that people need to learn the original language (Hebrew & Greek) to appreciate the Bible, but I think there is a purpose why God chose to reveal His scripture within those language & culture, and there's a lot of new depths you can appreciate if you do know them.
Thanks for thinking (in response to my comment elsewhere on the Following Jesus Substack) that this might catch my interest, as it most certainly does! I'm always a bit concerned for clean discernment when reading things like this, that observations like these seem too esoteric or lofty, and God forbid - Gnostic, false and misleading. But you've made no secret heretical fabrications in these ultimately rather plain (though wonderous) observations. I like your poem quite a lot, but honestly would have missed much of it's meaning without the elaboration, so thanks for that. Definitely fun stuff for word and number nerds! 😂
I forgot to mention, this article and your poem reminded me of when I was a little kid, sticking my face up against the color tube TV to look closely at the Red, Green and Blue pixels that formed the images. Good times lol
Thanks for visiting & commenting!
I understand the concern. Some of my colleagues whom I shared the idea with (including the one who posted the meme that inspired this whole article) did caution me not to "overspiritualize" things in the Bible that it's never meant to say, because it might veer into baseless mysticism or, worse, syncretism.
Personally, I tend to be skeptical towards esoteric or lofty teachings as well, so I made sure that I'm not "creating" extra-Biblical doctrine with these ideas. Instead, I want it to help us deepen the way we perceive and experience nature, and God's providence.
And glad I'm not the only one who does that with the TV as a kid. Parents used to yell at me for doing that because they're concerned it might ruin my eyesight, haha
Glad to hear your assessment because traps do exist. I think you’re on the right course.
Ah the power of the Word. Always bright for those with the proper eyes. It always puzzled me how people cannot see the miracle of life, consciousness and the intelligibility of reality and not identify it as fundamentally divine.
I know right?
Some people claim that scientific discoveries and observations, and our ability to dissect natural laws, challenge the existence of God.
But my pastor once remarked, if you take a piece of music and analyze its harmonies, chord progressions, etc.--or dissect a novel for its literary devices, themes and characterization--does that challenge the existence of their composer/author?
Mind blowing in the best of ways.
I must read this a few more times.
Even scientists cannot postulate and explain fully, how neutrons and protons work in its wondrous mechanism, why, how atoms sticks to together, unless scientists believes bible is the truth word of God (Yeshua) the answer is Yahweh created Psalm 8:3 KJV
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
What a wonderful powerful creator Yah with omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent Jesus who created heavens by works of HIS fingers, imagine that. Just his fingers, he mathematically made everything (matrix) there a Hebrew word for that. Could it be that Hebrew letters are the blue print of Heavens; just a thought. 😄 great writing ✍️ thanks for sharing.
Thanks for reading!
Also,
"Could it be that Hebrew letters are the blue print of Heavens; just a thought."
It's certainly plausible thought. I once watched a YouTube video on Old Testament studies, and the teacher was talking about how God had chosen to reveal Himself in Hebrew first. The teacher/scholar then encourages the students to learn Hebrew.
His analogy was, "Let's say you're married to a person of a non-English background. Even if they can speak English perfectly well, wouldn't you want to learn their mother tongue to understand them better?"
I can't say I've succeeded in that endeavour (learning new languages at this age is hard), and some people are wary of gematria and numerology being too close to occultism. However, I believe that if the interpretation helps us gain a deeper appreciation for the Lord and His works (and not lead to heresy), it should be alright.
Here's another convergence between Hebrew gematria, scientific fact, and theological symbolism I've observed. It's fascinating:
https://substack.com/@evangel108/note/c-139755866
Thank you for your contributing answerable thoughts. I totally agree with Gematria and numerology could associate to closely to occultism, but mostly glad I am able to gain deeper understanding of its Biblical Hebrew meaning and understanding, only the Holy Spirit guides me to understanding scriptures as such. Thank you for the link on to observe fascination of Hebrew meaning of the following The chemical formula for water, H2O, has a molar mass of 18.
In Hebrew, the word for life, chai (חי), has a gematrical value of 18, based on two alphabets: chet (ח, representing 8) and yod (י, representing 10).
Whether by coincidence or by design, I thought this is a fascinating parallel.
I wonder if you may help me on this one ‘Bara’ meaning the beginning in reference to Genesis chapter one. Interestingly, Aleph an important derivative to ABBA, then Bara (beginning of creation) an interesting closed proximity of letters to ‘B’ .. to the creation, may be I am over spiritualising.
"I wonder if you may help me on this one ‘Bara’ meaning the beginning in reference to Genesis chapter one. Interestingly, Aleph an important derivative to ABBA, then Bara (beginning of creation) an interesting closed proximity of letters to ‘B’ .. to the creation, may be I am over spiritualising."
Thank you. This is interesting. I never thought of that, and I'll give it a check.
As for over spiritualizing... well, my view on that is - where the line of thought leads to is more important than whether or not it's "too spiritual." Whether the understanding we gain from the insights are consistent to what has been taught by the rest of the Scripture, instead of adding new "theology", or contradicting it.
Otherwise, I think the desire to see more of God and His glory--whether in nature, in history, or even in the pages of the Scripture--is a good thing.
I’m not a physicist but I sometimes study physics for fun (hoping to write a hard sci fi epic one day). One of the wildest things I’ve learned is that if the fundamental forces of nature were even mildly different from their current values, we would not be able to exist. The universe seems high tuned and we have no idea why.
This understanding has led me to pondered questions like “does the universe really exist for us to live in it?” And “are we really just an extension of the space and time, existing to experience itself?”
If there ever is/was a Devine creator, this is the strongest evidence for their existence that I’ve encountered.
Great read.
Hi Ash, thanks for dropping by.
I'm not a physicist myself (my background is chemistry), but I found out about the concept QCD while researching colour spaces for research on colorimetry. I don't admit to understand much about the quantum, but the little I know about are truly awe-inspiring.
Your questions about the universe are very significant questions about the human existence. I think, on one hand, we all want our lives to matter. But on the other hand we want the answer to be true, not just wishful thinking.
If this article helps you get closer to the answer you're looking for, I'm very honoured.
And best wishes on your hard sci fi epic.
This was excellent! I appreciated how it had both breadth and depth. I learned a lot. Thank you.
Thank you for commenting!
As a (former) researcher, I do try my best not to make ungrounded claims and/or associations when dissecting patterns and symbols.
Even if they are not always empirically verifiable, I do think they need to follow a grounded framework of logic, and not just vibes.
I adore this balance process and hope I embody it in my own work. I'm glad we've been able to connect over this platform! :)
A popular author wrote about love languages, describing how different people "speak" their love for another person. The author showed how someone can feel unloved because that person's partner speaks a different love language. More importantly, he woke many of us up to the fact that our own love language is not the only one, and therefore each of us is in danger of being misunderstood and/or misunderstanding the emotional signals we all exchange.
God loves each of us, but he knows we are each unique, with different life experiences and different love languages. You have powerfully shared one of God's infinite number of love languages in a way seldom available to those who reason as deeply as you. A message for today, written by a scientifically educated person of this era.
Thank you.
Thank you for the thoughtful comment.
I'm very grateful that God allowed me to discover these facts to witness Him. As someone who likes learning in general, but also have a naturally low attention span, I've never been able to keep up with a sustained reading.
Spending so much time poring over volumes upon volumes of exposition, studying particular branches of theology and differentiating ideas from various schools of thoughts is not something I'd find appealing. But I'm glad He is still willing to find ways to help me connect to Him, even if my way of processing theology might misalign with the types of exposition and apologetics I often hear.
It took reading widely rather than narrowly to write the essay you did.
It's not that your attention span was low, but that you were guided away from the narrow education that results from reading too deeply from only one well.
It seems that we think along the same lines. I'm currently trying to write a book concerning a lot of the things that you are talking about. Yours is a great read!
This is a beautiful illustration of how creation and science meet to reveal the wonder of the Divine Creator. ❤️
I am in awe of how you combine science, poetry, and the Bible! This was such a fascinating read. I always like to say that the universe is one giant portrait God painted of Himself because you can see His character by looking at His creation. For instance, I like to think pandas show God's humor, and creatures such as the diving bell spider show His creativity. - Sydney :)
So very good Leah. Restacking!
Thank you so much!