|
... II. The Framework ...
values
paradoxes
|
Religion also uses large numbers. For example, consider the New Jerusalem,
as recorded in Revelations 21:16-17, where it says:
"And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large
as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed,
twelve thousand furlongs. The length and breadth and
height of it are equal. And he measured the wall thereof,
an hundred and fourth and four cubits, according to the
measure of a man, that is, of the angel."
The footnote for this reference says that a furlong is the same as a Greek stadia, and a Greek stadium
is 607 English feet. This means the city is a cube with 1,398.5 miles
on a side ([12,000 x 607]/5,280). Note that the International Space Station flies at an altitude of
between 212.5 and 262.5 miles, which is about 1/6th the height of the
city as described in Revelations.
However, if there are a space-elevator at each corner of the city, then this
description is feasible (although there would not be much
living above 10 miles without habitation units). Calculations by Dr. Desmond Penny2.5
show that by locating a satellite at 44,000 miles elevation
'the cable would float around with the earth, hanging vertically, and every part of the cable and the satellite
would be in geosynchronous orbit!' So what happens if the
satellite is at 1,398.5 miles elevation? According to the encyclopedia the troposphere is the first 10 miles,
then the stratosphere is the next 20 miles, then the mesosphere
is the next 20 miles, then the thermosphere is the next 250 miles, then the exosphere is the next 2,000 miles,
which takes us out to about 2,250 miles and includes the
1,398.5 mile high top of The New Jerusalem. For reference, Mount Everest is 29,040 feet in elevation
(5.5 miles high).
The bottom line is that John the Revelator's description of the vertical axis of
the New Jerusalem seems hard to mesh with known science
unless it is a space elevator or a space mirror. Even his description of the height of the wall around the
city is hard to understand, but it certainly is feasible. After all 144 cubits
is 210 feet at 17 1/2 inches per cubit or 222 feet at 18 1/2 inches per cubit. With all of the United States
concern about border control, it is possible to imagine a 14 story
(15 feet per story) fence around the United States. However, most economists, many other scientists, and
virtually all taxpayers would consider this type of fence an economic
impossibility.
The horizontal axes are something else. There are not many places on the face
of the planet where there can be a 1,398.5 mile by 1,398.5
mile entity, and call it a city or a place. Imagine the New Jerusalem were centered in the United States.
It is interesting to take a map, as shown in Figure 15, and show what
area is covered by a square centered over the United States. It goes from Saskatoon, Canada to the
southern tip of Texas and from Salt Lake City to Washington D.C.
|
timedex
infinite grid
-047-
|
