ARA Review by dublinwriter of The Biblical Clock

[dublinwriter]

[Following is an OnlineBookClub.org ARA Review of the book, The Biblical Clock.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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One has to wonder about the world sometimes. Christianity tells us that the Son of God was born two thousand years ago and yet science says that earth itself is 39 to 40,000 years BCE, depending upon whom you listen to. One has to ask why did Christ appear then, just when he did?

The story opens in Acre with a massacre and a survivor called Isaac, a scholar of sorts. Different approaches to the lifespan of the earth throughout Isaac’s life put the age at 6,800 in 1300 BCE, but Isaac himself had his own ideas about the age and he backed his claims with visions of angels.

The book moves to Russia and the sale of ‘unicoms’ (medieval manuscripts) to a Jewish library. Should “antique curse” be ancient curse? Through the work of Kaplan in our modern age and the manuscript of Isaac our world appears to be 13.8 billion years old. Kabbalistic writings also encouraged these findings but they were at odds with Christian thinkers.

The book again shifts time perspective and introduces Rabbi Luria, a mystic. With his knowledge passed down, there seems to be a set of laws before reaching the ‘end of days’.
Once again we are moved to a view of the Hubble telescope, Hubble having been mentioned earlier, and the conflict between science and religious beliefs.

We are again dragged in time to 1060 and a study of the moon and the planets, water, rocks and fossils. Next we find ourselves in England where a writer called Gosse is attempting to unravel the secrets of the universe. We next move to the arguments of Rebbe in the US who spoke so knowledgeably about the stars and the Torah and of God.

Moving to part 2 of the book arguments are made that to God a day is measured different - a day in God’s life could equal a thousand years - and perhaps this is why there is such a discrepancy between scientific thinking and religious beliefs. Next we see the work of prophets like Isaiah and the conflicts that existed in their times.

Yet again we’re brought into time periods of history where knowledgeable men try to forecast the ‘end of days’. England, the time of Solomon, Roman rule. British Columbia again. War journalism (something I’ve had training in). Words of the modern era: “climate change” and places like Israel (a place I’ve visited). Russian aggression ( we’ve all seen examples of that in recent days in Ukraine). Part 2 finishes with a deadly war with heavy casualties and the building of a third wall in Jerusalem.

Part 3 argues that science and religion are in harmony with one another like two horses pulling the same cart. We next see a biblical clock related to Adam and Eve’s fall from grace and we see that we might be given the opportunity to reverse the original sin of Adam and Eve in the end of days and to live happily ever after in the Kingdom of God - with God.
4 out of 5

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