Time...its used to justify evolution. It's used to demean Christianity to a myth. Our minds are good at thinking about something in the moment and believing that long ages can change things contrary to natural God given laws, or in the case of Christ, make things seem less relevant and pushed into categories of myths and legends, rather than fact.
For the someone who is reading this at a good middle age of 40 +, you already realize how the saying "time flies" is even more relevant to you, than it was in your 20's. Go back to your youth and it seemed like the 6 years of grade school lasted forever. Six years, now, flies by as if it was only a couple of years.
What prompted this post was a recent hospital visit with my great uncle at the ripe old age of 96. A World War II veteran and strong in the faith. He's one of many people to whom I can look to as an example of Christ, not by teaching me things, but showing me things in just how they live . He made the comment at one point in our conversation that at his age, 5 years go by like 1 year used to.
So I could take this in the direction of life is short-whether you live to be a ripe old 96 like my uncle or you die much younger, its still small in eternal terms. However, I wish to take it from my original premise of just how long has it been since Christ and I will do so, using my uncles almost centennial age to do so.
At 96 years old he has lived almost 5% of the total years since Christ was here. Born in 1922, he could have as a small child ran across someone born in 1822, if they were a centennial. That hypothetical person, could have crossed paths with someone from the late 1700's. Perhaps even a few of our founding fathers.
So just two full generations of men who lived to be 100 years old or older and you are reaching back as far as the mid to late 1700's as to who these men could have known as a whole. That's around > 12% of the total years since Christ.
So going back just 5 generations of men who lived to be at least 100 in a family unit starting from today, assuming that each had a child at age 50 (not normal, but just to see the possibility) the last man could easily say and be right, that his great-great grandpa fought in the Revolutionary War. Yes, highly unlikely a scenario, but possible, which shows us that time can be very relative depending on how you are looking at it.
Using the similar scenario, starting with the death of Christ, a man who was a 10 year old child and saw the crucifixion and lived to be 100, and each generation after had a child at age 50, we could get into AD 200 and the person could say their grandfather saw Christ crucified.
Hypothetically if we could take just 20 men, who lived to be 100 + years old (one is dying and the other is being born), we could go all the way back to the birth of Christ. A long time for sure, but in perspective, not as long as it might seem, when you consider someone can reach age 100 or older. Rare still, but it does happen.
So what's the point? Depending on perspective and just how long and short 100 years really seem, Christ crucified hasn't been as long ago as one might imagine when they normally think of time. Of course, another 1000 years and someone may begin to balk at even what I have given here, but even then, it's all about perspective. That would just be 10 more men crossing the line of death and birth who lived to be 100 years or older. Interesting I think.
For the someone who is reading this at a good middle age of 40 +, you already realize how the saying "time flies" is even more relevant to you, than it was in your 20's. Go back to your youth and it seemed like the 6 years of grade school lasted forever. Six years, now, flies by as if it was only a couple of years.
What prompted this post was a recent hospital visit with my great uncle at the ripe old age of 96. A World War II veteran and strong in the faith. He's one of many people to whom I can look to as an example of Christ, not by teaching me things, but showing me things in just how they live . He made the comment at one point in our conversation that at his age, 5 years go by like 1 year used to.
So I could take this in the direction of life is short-whether you live to be a ripe old 96 like my uncle or you die much younger, its still small in eternal terms. However, I wish to take it from my original premise of just how long has it been since Christ and I will do so, using my uncles almost centennial age to do so.
At 96 years old he has lived almost 5% of the total years since Christ was here. Born in 1922, he could have as a small child ran across someone born in 1822, if they were a centennial. That hypothetical person, could have crossed paths with someone from the late 1700's. Perhaps even a few of our founding fathers.
So just two full generations of men who lived to be 100 years old or older and you are reaching back as far as the mid to late 1700's as to who these men could have known as a whole. That's around > 12% of the total years since Christ.
So going back just 5 generations of men who lived to be at least 100 in a family unit starting from today, assuming that each had a child at age 50 (not normal, but just to see the possibility) the last man could easily say and be right, that his great-great grandpa fought in the Revolutionary War. Yes, highly unlikely a scenario, but possible, which shows us that time can be very relative depending on how you are looking at it.
Using the similar scenario, starting with the death of Christ, a man who was a 10 year old child and saw the crucifixion and lived to be 100, and each generation after had a child at age 50, we could get into AD 200 and the person could say their grandfather saw Christ crucified.
Hypothetically if we could take just 20 men, who lived to be 100 + years old (one is dying and the other is being born), we could go all the way back to the birth of Christ. A long time for sure, but in perspective, not as long as it might seem, when you consider someone can reach age 100 or older. Rare still, but it does happen.
So what's the point? Depending on perspective and just how long and short 100 years really seem, Christ crucified hasn't been as long ago as one might imagine when they normally think of time. Of course, another 1000 years and someone may begin to balk at even what I have given here, but even then, it's all about perspective. That would just be 10 more men crossing the line of death and birth who lived to be 100 years or older. Interesting I think.