Heaven found in Orion!

[Darcy]

OK, so this is old news. But yesterday was the first I'd heard of it. Apparently, there is a large empty space in the Orion Nebula. It is some kind of cavern that is more beautiful than anything we can comprehend. Or so the story goes. The visiting preacher at church yesterday thinks we've found heaven. In trying to track down any info on this, I came up short. Except for This sermon. Here is almost word-for-word what the preacher said yesterday:

Quote:Astronomers have turned their telescopes on the northern part of the universe and have discovered in the Nebula of the constellation of Orion, a great empty place, most unusual in the heavens. It has been described as a heavenly cavern so gigantic that the mind of man cannot comprehend it and so brilliantly beautiful that words cannot adequately describe it. All astronomers agree that there is a huge opening in Orion, which is, perhaps, 16 trillion 740 billion miles in diameter. The diameter of the earth's orbit around the sun is 186 million miles, which in itself is incomprehensible to man; yet the opening into this heavenly cavern of Orion is 90 thousand times as wide! In other words, there could be 30 thousand solar systems, like our own, with suns and planets, scattered across the opening in the North and still there would be room to spare. But surpassing the immensity of the size of this opening, its exquisite beauty and luminous colors are unlike any that are upon earth. Professor Learkin of Mt. Lowe Observatory gives the following description:

"These photographs reveal the opening and interior of a cavern so stupendous that our entire solar system would be lost therein. I have watched it since the days of youth in many telescopes of many powers but never dreamed that the central region is the mouth of a colossal cave. Pen of writer and brush of artist alike are lifeless and inert in any attempt to describe this interior. For the depths of the Orion Nebula appear like torn and twisted objects and river masses of shining glass, irregular pillars, columns of stalactites in glittering splendor and stalagmites from the mighty floor. The appearance is like that of light shining and glowing from behind the clear walls of ivory and pearl, studded with millions of diamonds shining stars. "

There must be some reason why all this grandeur is lavished upon this one spot in the heavens. The colors are a hue peculiar to the Orion, and studded around the opening so that they appear as a pavement of starry sand. No wonder astronomers (many of them not religious) relate that they seem to feel as if they were in some Almighty presence while scanning this part of the Heavens and become speechless before this great outburst of grandeur extending for trillions of miles through space.

It seems that everywhere across the internet whenever this is brought up, everyone quotes the same person, a Mr. Learkin of Mt. Lowe Observatory:

Quote:"The interior of the cavern is so stupendous that our entire solar system would be lost therein. I have watched it since the days of youth in many telescopes of many powers, but I never dreamed that the central region is the mouth of a colossal cave.

The pen of a writer and the brush of an artist would be lifeless and inert in any attempt to describe this interior; for the depth of the Orion nebula appears like torn and twisted objects and river masses of shining glass, irregular pillars, columns of stalactites in glittering splendor and stalagmites from the mighty floor.

The appearance is like that of light shining and glowing behind the clear walls of ivory and pearl, studded with millions of diamonds like shining stars."

"The colors are a hue peculiar to the Orion and studded around the opening so that they appear as a pavement of starry sand.

No wonder the astronomers (many of them not religious), say they feel as if they were in some Almighty "Presence" while scanning this part of the heavens and become speechless before this great outburst of grandeur extending for trillions of miles through space."

Upon finding a discussion on a UFO forum (ha!), I discovered a quote by Ellen White (of Seventh Day fame) on the subject. But that's as far as I've gotten. I can't find pictures or any scientist's quotes on this "cavern" that is supposedly in Orion. Where in the world did this story come from? Is it based in a real astronomy discovery? Or some fundy's fantasies? I would love any info anyone has on this. Has anyone heard this story before?

[Darcy]

Interesting sidenote: that visiting "pastor" yesterday pretty much plagerized the entire sermon I linked to above. Yes he did. Even quoting the old hymn at the end.

[Darcy]

I just found a quote by Jack chick in a publication called "Sabotage" where he promotes this myth. Why am I not surprised?

[C_Fresh]

(09-05-2011 03:00 PM)Darcy Wrote:  I just found a quote by Jack chick in a publication called "Sabotage" where he promotes this myth. Why am I not surprised?

I was going to say that I thought I'd seen something in a Chick publication about this.

[steve95054]

Too bad Orion is in the South....lol.

Also, North, South, East and West are determined by the rotation of our planet, and are actually somewhat arbitrary. So .... where exactly is "galactic North", and how do we know?

Not to mention, these are probably the same people who will insist that Rev. describes "Heaven" as a literal city descending to the literal new earth as the literal new Jerusalem. (I'm not saying whether that's actually what it describes or not. I'm just saying that these people will insist that it is.) So....if this is the Heaven that is going to descend...good luck getting all that space to fit on earth.

[Darcy]

Orion's in the south? lol! There goes that theory. Now I'll have to go outside and look tonight because I can't remember. (Been too smokey to see the stars lately though.....)

[Natalie]

Oh, hell. I hate these stupid theories. Like Hell is in the center of the Earth.

Let's just assume that were so. Okay. Then, given the right technology, some day, mankind could probably go there, so then what happens when you die? I mean, wouldn't that sort of take away the whole surprise of it all?

People want real evidence to support their beliefs, but that's not what faith is.

[Annie Moose]

(09-15-2011 10:56 PM)Natalie Wrote:  Let's just assume that were so. Okay. Then, given the right technology, some day, mankind could probably go there, so then what happens when you die? I mean, wouldn't that sort of take away the whole surprise of it all?

People want real evidence to support their beliefs, but that's not what faith is.

Exactly! That's what I always think. Either heaven (or hell, for that matter) are entirely supernatural (by which I literally mean "beyond the natural", so entirely outside of the natural/physical world), or... it just doesn't work!

[SpaceGhost]

Nat pretty much sums it up for me...

"Oh, hell. I hate these stupid theories. Like Hell is in the center of the Earth."

Lies, lies and more lies...all to validate their weak and sickly egos. It's stuff like this that invalidates Christianity as something that people who can't make it anywhere else...PREACH.

[exOBCstudent]

(09-15-2011 10:56 PM)Natalie Wrote:  Oh, hell. I hate these stupid theories. Like Hell is in the center of the Earth.

Let's just assume that were so. Okay. Then, given the right technology, some day, mankind could probably go there, so then what happens when you die? I mean, wouldn't that sort of take away the whole surprise of it all?

People want real evidence to support their beliefs, but that's not what faith is.

Oh they've got a tall tale for that one also! When I was little they played a tape from Art Bell called "The Sounds Of Hell" which they hoped would scare us to death. As a kid for some reason I found the tape funny and was actually laughing out loud while everyone else was looking at me like I was insane! I thought for sure it sounded fake but they all gave me VERY sinister looks.

Interestingly enough there has NEVER been another tape like that one since. Huh...wonder why that is?