Two lights

[Omar_Little]

Hide it under it a bushel? No!

[Yllaria]

@Teachtru

Is anyone here aware of the two lights that God has presented to mankind?

There’s the light at the end of the tunnel. Then, after the train hits, there’s the light that you float toward.

[snerk the antichrist coming by sea. good one.]

[Larry_Borgia]

David Lowry knows what you all mean.

“Someone please tell me that it’s not a train.”

[blondebear]

The blue light is my baby and the red light is my mind.

[Patch]

@Teachtru

Is anyone here aware of the two lights that God has presented to mankind?

tl;dr

[foolsguinea]

Are you aware of the Two Trees presented to Elfkind? Would you like your own copy of the Silmarillion to read?

…No, I’m sorry, that’s just where my mind went. Carry on.

[foolsguinea]

There is a longer version of the OP in the now-closed MPSIMS thread:

Is anyone aware of the two lights presented by God to mankind?
When these two lights are revealed to you, your life will be transformed.

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=18941632#post18941632

[foolsguinea]

@Annadroid

Technically, the moon reradiates the energy. I sponges up radiation from the sun and stars and reradiates its own version. And yes, it is very temperature specific. This is why there is a slight reddish tinge to the light from the moon. Low temp is red, then higher is orange, yellow, white, and then very high temp is blue.
The people that wrote the Bible would not know that, however.

That sounds fake, but OK. (Not the heat colors part, I know that part.) Isn’t the bulk of visible moonlight basically reflection?

[kayaker]

This little light of mine

[Alessan]

@foolsguinea

Are you aware of the Two Trees presented to Elfkind? Would you like your own copy of the Silmarillion to read?

…No, I’m sorry, that’s just where my mind went.

Mine too.

Nerds.

[MrDibble]

@andros

Also, I suppose I’ve had more than two lights in haggis. A plucky little dish.

What you did there? I see it.

Took some guts to make that pun.

[Pooter]

@kayaker

Jesus Christ, you’re not coming back, are you?

John 16:10
10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;

[Ethilrist]

@iiandyiiii

Your mom has two lights.

Headlights, that is.

A little gaffer’s tape oughta take care of that. Or wear a heavier coat.

[kaylasdad99]

@Miller

Yeah, I got a light. Your butt and my face!

No, wait, I meant match. And it’s my butt, and your…

You know what? Never mind.

Where’s the “like” button on this damn thing?

[Riemann]

@Teachtru

Is anyone here aware of the two lights that God has presented to mankind?

Is this the creationist of internet legend who almost discovered the Sun, overcompensating?

One of the most basic laws in the universe is the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This states that as time goes by, entropy in an environment will increase. Evolution argues differently against a law that is accepted EVERYWHERE BY EVERYONE. Evolution says that we started out simple, and over time became more complex. That just isn’t possible: UNLESS there is a giant outside source of energy supplying the Earth with huge amounts of energy. If there were such a source, scientists would certainly know about it.

“A creationist discovers the sun … almost”

Creationist almost discovers gravity

[Some_Call_Me.Tim]

@wolfpup

Depends on how technically picky one wants to get. The moon, like any object not at absolute zero, emits blackbody radiation proportionate to its blackbody temperature, in this case an average of 270.7°K. Humans can’t see this radiation directly and I doubt that’s what the Bible was referring to as the “lesser light”, but still, it’s there.

Since you brought up the theme of being technically picky…

Kelvins are an absolute measure, it’s nonsensical to label them as degrees.

Besides, didn’t we already have ‘do you know better than NASA’ in this thread? Your NASA cite doesn’t refer to Kelvins as having degrees.

[Mijin]

@Kimstu

I think everyone here understands that difference. The point is that there’s nothing in the biblical reference to the moon as “a light” that equates to any kind of claim about the ultimate source of the light received from the moon.

So mocking the biblical reference to the moon as “a light”, just because the moon is not “luminous” in the modern physical sense of “light-emitting”, is rather silly. The moon is in fact a bright object from which we receive light, which appears to be all that the text is saying.

Well the moon is sometimes a bright object depending on its phase. Sometimes it’s a new moon.
Given that, it seems strange to describe it as a light that rules the night (especially in a context that implies like the sun lights the day), and stranger too why it wasn’t just made to be a light-emitting object…

[wolfpup]

@Some_Call_Me.Tim

Since you brought up the theme of being technically picky…

Kelvins are an absolute measure, it’s nonsensical to label them as degrees.

Besides, didn’t we already have ‘do you know better than NASA’ in this thread? Your NASA cite doesn’t refer to Kelvins as having degrees.

Allow me, then, to nitpick with renewed vigor!

You are incorrect. It isn’t “nonsensical” to label Kelvin units as degrees because that’s exactly what they were called – and denoted as such with the degree symbol – until the 13th General Conference on Weights and Measures which redefined the usage in 1967. Until then °K was the accepted usage, as in this old paper or this more recent one, both of which use your alleged “nonsensical” notation. Moreover, the Rankine scale is also an absolute measure exactly analogous to the Kelvin scale, and still uses the “degree” nomenclature and symbol.

Finally, there’s a difference between sloppy typography, of which I was guilty as charged, and a fundamental error in physics regarding the emission of radiation from the moon.