[dropcap]I[/dropcap]f Enoch and Elijah were taken into outer space and respectively 3017 BC and 849 BC we are faced with a problem. How could these two men still be living thousands of years later?
Even if judgment day were this year, that would make them 5024 and 2856 years old respectively. Here is where Albert Einstein comes into play.In October 1971 J.C. Hafele and Richard E. Keating placed four cesium-beam atomic clock abroad commercial airlines and flew twice around the world in opposite directions, then compared the clocks against those of the United States Global Observatory.
The results were astounding and confirmed Einstein’s theory of time dilation.
The clocks on the airplane flying east, though just minutely, had moved slower than the clocks on the earth. This experiment was repeated in 2005 by the National Physical Laboratory in the United Kingdom and received similar results.
Scientist have figured out a mathematical formula to calculate just how much slower time would go for a near light speed traveler in comparison to those remaining on Earth.
t’=t √(1-[ V2/c2])
Where: t’ = dilated time (shortened time in space)
t = stationary time (normal time on earth)
V= Velocity (speed in relation to the speed of light)
C= speed of light
According to Einstein’s theory, if Enoch was picked up in 3017BC, and travelled for only six hours and fifty five minutes, at a velocity of 99.99999999999876% of the speed of light, he would return to an earth that had aged 5024 years. Millennia would have passed on the earth but he would only be a few hours older.
Round this number up one sees that 5024 years on earth would equal 00.079% of one year in space travelling at the above speed.
Do a little more math and one can see that 00.079% of one year equals six hours and fifty five minutes.
Now, lets Elijah. He lived for a long time after Enoch, ministering up until approximately 849BC.
According to this formula, if he were taken out on a whirl wild trip of the universe, travelling at the same speed at Enoch, he could return to our time, 2856 years later, in only three hour and fifty six minutes.
APPLICATION
I wonder if all these two prophets are doing now is zipping around space at the speed of light, waiting to come back to earth. Funny thought. The key to the time conversation is movement at the speed of light.
The Bible says that a day (1440 minutes) is a thousand years. If there is travel (forward movement), according to Einstein, a day (in heaven) is equal to 17,433 years on earth.
It took Michael, the angel, 21 days to reach Daniel with a response from God, because he was fighting Satan in the heavenlies.
So, for Michael, it was only about 0.0083 minutes (0.498 seconds, or 498 milliseconds) for non-movement, and 17,433 times faster if there was movement.
Travelling from heaven to earth and fighting Satan indicates forward movement, so Michael handled Satan in no time at all, in our earth time.
Many people like to predict the timing of the tribulation, or the last week of Daniel, and when Jacob’s trouble might start.
While we do have the Hebrew calendar to follow, and other signs, God has his own clock.
Regarding the tribulation period, when God says he will “shorten the time for sake of the elect,” we have no clue what amount of earth time he means.
For those expect to spend 7 years in heaven during the tribulation, as a result of rapture, do not bother to pack your bags. You will be back in no time at all.
7 earth years may only be 59.760 seconds in heaven.
Many think, in the next life, eternity will be long time, and will be boring.
It seems that it will have the opposite effect. For most of eternity, it will seem like we just arrived
In the theory of relativity, time dilation is an actual difference of elapsed time between two events as measured by observers either moving relative to each other or differently situated from gravitational masses.
An accurate clock at rest with respect to one observer may be measured to tick at a different rate when compared to a second observer’s own equally accurate clocks. This effect arises neither from technical aspects of the clocks nor from the fact that signals need time to propagate, but from the nature of spacetime itself.
A case of time dilation in action is that astronauts return from missions on the International Space Station (ISS) having aged less than the mission control crew that remained on Earth. Such time dilation has been repeatedly demonstrated for instance by small disparities in atomic clocks on Earth and in space, even though both clocks work perfectly (it is not a mechanical malfunction). The laws of nature are such that time itself (i.e. spacetime) will bend due to differences in either gravity or velocity – each of which affects time in different ways.
In theory, and to make a clearer example, time dilation could affect planned meetings for astronauts with advanced technologies and greater travel speeds. The astronauts would have to set their clocks to count exactly 80 years, whereas mission control – back on Earth – might need to count 81 years.
The astronauts would return to Earth, after their mission, having aged one year less than the people staying on Earth. What is more, the local experience of time passing never actually changes for anyone. In other words, the astronauts on the ship as well as the mission control crew on Earth each feel normal, despite the effects of time dilation (i.e. to the traveling party, those stationary are living “faster”; whilst to those stood still, their counterparts in motion live “slower” at any given moment).
With technology limiting the velocities of astronauts, these differences are minuscule: after 6 months on the ISS, the astronaut crew has indeed aged less than those on Earth, but only by about 0.007 seconds (nowhere near the 1 year disparity from the theoretical example). The effects would be greater if the astronauts were traveling nearer to the speed of light (approximately 300,000 km/s), instead of their actual speed – which is the speed of the orbiting ISS, about 7.7 km/s.
Time dilation is caused by differences in either gravity or relative velocity. Both factors are at play in the case of ISS astronauts (and are actually opposing one another).
So? Why not be happy be happy with whatever little we have by the grace of God?
