Thomas Edison and the light bulb - was God rooting for him?

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Ian
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Re: Thomas Edison and the light bulb - was God rooting for h

Post by Ian » Sun Oct 25, 2015 4:43 am

Going back to Thomas Edison, here`s an interesting angle on a disadvantage of the invention of electricity:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ORpV2gQo1I from minute 6, for a minute or so.

I`m tempted to go out the front door and lick the soil!

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robbyyoung
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Re: Thomas Edison and the light bulb - was God rooting for h

Post by robbyyoung » Sun Oct 25, 2015 3:04 pm

Ian wrote:I`ve read varying figures for how many failures/dead ends Thomas Edison had before he invented the first commercially viable light bulb - from 1,000 to 10,000 times. Either way, an awful many!
My question is this:
The light bulb has of course proven immeasurably beneficial to Mankind. Notwithstanding the fact that he was not a professing Christian, was God rooting for Edison during his (what must have seemed to him endless) experimentation?
Was He on his side?
I`d rather leave out now as to why I should want to ask such a question. I`m interested to know your thoughts though. Thanks
Hi Ian,

I'm reminded of the passage in Exodus 31:3:
and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship
Noteworthy, which I'm sure we all know, God is indeed involved with the inventions of mankind, as it relates to HIS calling of specific individuals; vs.2 "See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah". However, we also know that God's mercy generally extends to all of humanity, for example, the Tower of Babel and the ingenuity granted to build such a structure.

Therefore, God allows or permits man to use the knowledge and skills inherent to his nature, which is given by God, to invent. However, when God specifically calls a man/woman to exercise this knowledge, it is indeed good and has a purpose within His redemptive work. I don't think Edison's inventions has anything to do with God's redemptive storyline, especially if he was not a believer, so therefore God was not directly sanctioning Edison's work, although God was indirectly responsible for permitting the knowledge to be obtained. Again, His mercy rest on the righteous/unrighteous alike.

God Bless.

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Paidion
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Re: Thomas Edison and the light bulb - was God rooting for h

Post by Paidion » Sun Oct 25, 2015 8:16 pm

Again, notice how USEFUL Edison's inventions were:

1. The phonograph.
2. The first commercially practical incandescent light bulb.
3.The first electric motor to operate on 110-120 volt lines.
4. The carbon telephone transmitter "button".
5. The means to send mutiple telegraph messages over a single line.
6. A system of wireless telegraph.
7. The first motion picture camera.
8. The first "talking" motion picture.

It's just too bad that his attempt to operate kitchen gadgets on the power from women's voices, wasn't successful.
That could have really cut down on electricity bills.
Paidion

Man judges a person by his past deeds, and administers penalties for his wrongdoing. God judges a person by his present character, and disciplines him that he may become righteous.

Avatar shows me at 75 years old. I am now 83.

dizerner

Re: Thomas Edison and the light bulb - was God rooting for h

Post by dizerner » Sun Oct 25, 2015 8:40 pm

The Bible sums up the non-spiritual progress of humans with: "many will rush here and there, and knowledge will increase." Sounds about right.

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Ian
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Re: Thomas Edison and the light bulb - was God rooting for h

Post by Ian » Mon Oct 26, 2015 12:06 pm

The folks over at Reasons to believe will have approved of Thomas Edison`s strivings:

"Humans are the only life-forms on Earth who have the ability to understand and experiment in science. Science has made agriculture much more productive than in biblical times and has developed electricity and machinery, which have vastly improved our quality of life. We believe that this is part of subduing and ruling creation and, thus, is a manifestation of the image of God."

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TK
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Re: Thomas Edison and the light bulb - was God rooting for h

Post by TK » Mon Oct 26, 2015 5:11 pm

In regard to what like was like w/o electric light, I recently read a fascinating book called "At Day's Close- Night in Times Past." I found it very interesting as it explained in detail with how people dealt with sundown in the old days, the dangers of total darkness, etc.

It was typical to go to bed soon after dark, then have a period of wakefulness from say midnight to 2 am, at which time people would partake in quiet activities like darning, reading, or even visiting neighbors (and of course romantic interludes). Then they went to back to bed until daylight. Per the author this is actually how we are "wired" to sleep and likely explains why I wake up and lay there for about an hour every night before falling back to sleep.

The amazon link is here:
http://www.amazon.com/At-Days-Close-Nig ... 0393329011

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Paidion
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Re: Thomas Edison and the light bulb - was God rooting for h

Post by Paidion » Mon Oct 26, 2015 10:03 pm

Well, until I was 18 years of age, I had first-hand experience of going without electricity in my parents' home. Not only did we have no electricity, but we had no motors—no car, no machines of any kind. My father was a subsistence farmer who did all of his farm work with horses and horse-drawn equipment.

Our lighting at night was provided by kerosene lamps, though later we added one Aladdin lamp to the table on the main floor. It is my guess that most of you do not know what an Aladdin lamp is. Well, it's a special kind of kerosene lamp with a round wick, above which is an ash mantle that glows brightly when the fire of the wick heats it. This lamp throws about as much light as a 60 watt light bulb.

I never heard of anyone with no electricity staying up from 12 midnight to 2 A.M. My father went to bed at 9:00 P.M. sharp, and arose at 6 A.M. to go out and milk the cows (by hand) and feed the animals. He was back in the house for 8:00, at which time my mother had breakfast on the table. After breakfast, the strained milk was placed in a hand separator to separate the cream from the skim milk. The cream was stored in large cream cans and sold (though some of it was churned into butter and butter milk. We all loved drinking butter milk). Most of the skim milk was used to feed the calves and the dogs.

I feel as if I have spanned ages during my life time. Beginning in the pioneer age, I passed through several stages and ended up in the computer age.
Paidion

Man judges a person by his past deeds, and administers penalties for his wrongdoing. God judges a person by his present character, and disciplines him that he may become righteous.

Avatar shows me at 75 years old. I am now 83.

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