Does anyone else have thoughts that run the lines of, "What would the world be like without..." (fill in the blank) and preoccupy yourself for long periods of time trying to figure out what the world would actually be like without that thing?
I do it all the time. Things like ball-point pens, computers, spiders (wonder out loud in front of lots of people what would happen if there were no spiders in the world. Someone unfailingly says, "We would be overrun by bugs, you idiot. What a stupid thing. A world without spiders." It bothers me so badly.)
Anyhow, I was wondering aimlessly the other day on the aforementioned, "What would the world be like without..." and I filled in the blank with 'shadows'. And I tried and I tried to imagine a world without shadows, but I can't. I'd look at things and it turns out that the smallest things I look at are affected by shadows. You can't even tell they're there unless you think about them. Like this picture: the shadows are there. You don't think about them. But when you do notice them, you still can't imagine the picture without them.
I don't even really know what a world without shadows would mean. Maybe one less dimension or no sun or something. It just interested me, but I am still absolutely clueless.
3 comments:
Actually, by most definitions, shadows and darkness are more or less synonymous. If that's the case, then not having shadows would mean not having darkness....which would mean that either everything would have to transparent (or translucent at least, I guess) or there would have to be an infinite amount of light sources to shine light everywhere.
That would be really weird.....
I don't know of Scripture that supports me off of the top of my head, but I've heard that God's glory will be like the noonday sun (I know that in the Bible, possibly Isaiah?) and that darkness hides from him (or is that just from "How Great is Our God?"). So (in theory at least, until support is found) the new heaven/earth/Jerusalem will be without darkness. That boggles my mind. Now I've got to go search for all of those Scriptures...
Ha! That'll teach me to post without validating what I say. How embarrassing.
The whole "noonday sun" thing comes from Psalm 37:6, and it is referencing what God will do to our righteousness. (I tried to link the verse, but it wasn't working for some reason. Sorry.)
I also did numerous searches for no darkness, and God's glory lighting everything up - all to no avail. So I decided to look in Revelation, starting in the 21st chapter (b/c that's where the new heaven/earth/Jerusalem are described). Here's what I found. (from the ESV)
And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has not need of sun or moon to shine on it, of the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kinds of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day - and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, not anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. (vv 22-27)
And this, from the 22nd chapter:
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. (vv1-5)
So it doesn't explicitly say that there will be no darknes, just that there will be no night and that we will need no source aside from God to be our light. I would think this would eliminate darkness. I can't imagine what God must look like! I tremble to think, but truly desire to know. I feel like Hwin in "Horse and His Boy" when she says to Aslan that she would rather be eaten by him than fed by anyone else. He was that awe-inspiring. Oh I know God will far-surpass that, and if I really had the foggiest idea of who He really was it would revolutionize that way I lived my life and talked to others about Him.
Anyone have other thoughts on shadows on the new heaven/earth/Jerusalem?
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