On November 12, 1799 Andrew Ellicott, an American surveyor, cartographer, astronomer, and mathematics professor, saw the first recorded instance of the Leonids meteor shower from a ship off the Florida Keys. This annual event is enhanced every 33 years by the appearance at the same time of the comet Tempel-Tuttle. Sometimes as many as a thousand meteors have been reported during one of these showers. Ellicott reported in his journal: About two o’clock in the morning I was called up to see the shooting of the stars (as it is vulgarly termed), the phenomenon was grand and awful, the whole heavens appeared as if illuminated with sky rockets, flying in an infinity of directions, and I was in constant expectation of some of them falling on the vessel. They continued until put out by the light of the sun after daybreak. This phenomenon extended over a large portion of the West India islands and was observed as far north as St. Marys where it appeared as brilliant as with us.
Unfortunately, according to The History Blog, from which I got the above quote, Ellicott’s journal entry is regularly attributed to his great-grandson, Andrew Ellicott Douglass, an astronomer, physicist, and archaeologist. The blog seems to indicate that this error occurs more online than anywhere else, yet another warning about believing everything you see online.
People have that problem theologically too. Supposedly, Adam’s sin has passed its guilt down to all of us. While it is true that because of Adam’s sin, we now have sin in the world and experience its effects and temptations, Adam’s sin is his own, not mine or yours. God has made that clear for thousands of years. The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself Ezek18:20.
Despite a complete theological system that pervades the majority of Protestant denominationalism, God says that my sins are not passed to my children nor my father’s sins to me. I have had someone say to me that it only applies to Adam, not my own father. So tell me, what about Cain, Abel, and Seth? If the father’s sin does not pass to the son, then Adam’s sin certainly should not have passed to them, right? I have yet to have one to agree to that.
It doesn’t really matter that Andrew Ellicott’s journal entries are sometimes attributed to his great-grandson. It matters a whole lot if his sins were. My Bible says they weren’t. Too many times we see passages that tell us that someone has chosen—notice that word—to follow in the sins of their ancestors, most notably, He walked in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, beginning in 1 Kings 16:26 and continuing throughout the history of Israel. Still the sin was theirs, and only because they chose to follow the ways of that wicked king, not because his were imputed to them by God “just because.”
Look at those meteor showers whenever you get a chance to. Marvel at the awesomeness of a God who could create such a thing, but also remember those Ellicotts and the equally awesome fact that we have a just and merciful God who will not give you credit for someone else’s righteousness, but, more important, will not blame you for someone else’s sins.
And if you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man's work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear:1Pet1:17
Dene Ward
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