An astrophysicist has revealed why he believes the coming total solar eclipse is an excellent opportunity for Christians to share their faith.
According to Space.com, the sun will disappear behind the moon during the Aug. 21, eclipse, creating a twilight that will persist during the day. Meanwhile, the temperature will drop pretty rapidly, as light streams emerge in the sky.
With all that in mind, Jeff Zweerink, a scientist and Christian apologist with the group Reasons to Believe, an organization that works to show that “reason and scientific research” actually back up the “truth of the Bible” and God, told The Christian Post that he’s been anticipating this total solar eclipse for nearly a decade.
“God has made a pretty spectacular creation for us to live in,” Zweerink told the outlet, before going on to say that the reliability of creation and nature offers up an opportunity for Christians to share their faith.
In fact, nature is so reliable that some events can be pinpointed eons before they unfold. It is that reliability that Zweerink called “a very biblical principle,” noting that “God’s reliability” shows through to “how creation behaves.”
“From a scientific perspective, the first big experimental test of Einstein’s theory of general relativity explicitly codifies the idea that the laws of physics are constant throughout the universe,” he explained. “And if that were not the case, we would not be able to do science and understand how far away are things, and how old are things, and how do they operate, how do galaxies form, and what are neutrons, stars, and black holes. We just couldn’t do that because what we do here doesn’t have any relation as to what goes on out in the universe.”
In the end, Zweerink said that the eclipse is an excellent opportunity for Christians to talk about the gospel by engaging in conversations surrounding the physics and science that will be going on during it.
As Faithwire previously reported, some Christians have been issuing warnings about the total solar eclipse, saying that it could somehow be tied to biblical prophecy or might serve as a warning of sorts to America.
READ: Is the Coming Total Solar Eclipse a Prophetic, End Times Warning From God?
Christian Today has more on what some are speculating:
But it’s not only sky-watchers who are getting excited about it. The upcoming eclipse is also causing a stir among Christians who are watching for signs of the end times prophesied in the Bible.
There are several verses in the Bible that prophecy about the sun turning dark, for example Matthew 24:29 in which Jesus says the sun will be darkened after the tribulation, and in Revelation 6:12 which talks about the sun becoming ‘black as sackcloth of hair’ and the moon becoming ‘like blood.’
Zweerink, though, told The Christian Post that he’s not too convinced that the eclipse is related to the end times, explaining that these events unfold every two years and that — despite being interesting opportunities to view scientific phenomena and talk about faith — total solar eclipses aren’t all that unique.
(H/T: Christian Post)