Dick and Mike and All.
Hi, Fellers!
Having listened in growing impatience to the pair of you going at it hammer and tongs re this spherical, protective shell of water vapor that once protected the entire surface of the Earth against UV rays up to the time of the Noahic Flood, I feel compelled to barge in with my own two cents' worth!
I think, after listening to both sides of your argument, that you're both partly right and both partly wrong to varying degrees in your arguments. However, I often am, too, so I'll leave that lie right there!
You probably already know, Dick, that I also have considerable respect for Colonel James Churchward and that I agree with many of his concepts regarding Mu. In fact I've recently written an article which I hope vindicates and restores some of his allegedly "outmoded thinking" upon this subject - although I don't subscribe to his notion of one single, huge continent in the Pacific. However, he was only a fallible human being, just like the rest of us, so I don't discount all of his theory on Mu just because of this one dubious aspect of it. I also have a heap of respect for both of your views on various scientific matters, as you're probably aware! (Hence my request for your opinion, Dick, upon a certain subject, to which, incidentally, I'm still looking forward to a response! )
However, I feel I must cast my vote with Mike in regard to the encircling bubble or "shell" of water vapor around the antediluvian Earth, not merely because it's hinted at in the Bible - which, although I too am a Christian, like you, Mike, I don't necessarily take 100% literally, since it was written down by "fallible men" - but simply because it makes a lot of common-sense! The Bible makes mention of the ancient patriarchs as living tremendously lengthy life-spans, approaching a millennium in most cases. This even included Noah (or Utnapishtim, depending on your particular persuasion) since he lived 500 years under this canopy, and a further 490 years after it collapsed at the beginning of the "Deluge".
After that, the world gradually became more and more suffused and saturated with UV radiation from the Sun, with the consequence of a recorded steady decline in longevity for all lifeforms - a problem that is still shortening our potential lifespans to this day. I recall reading in a British medical journal a good few years ago, how, following a good deal of medical and physiological research, medical experts had come to a general concensus regarding human longevity. They could find no discernible reason why the human body and its organs shouldn't be able to keep on functioning perfectly well for at least eight to ten times longer than they currently do before finally aging and dying.
Apparently, they felt that we were all falling far short of our built-in DNA "USE BY" date! The "culprit" was subsequently identified as excessive ultra-violet radiation - which not only damaged our organs, and our blood, and ruined our metabolism, but was very highly carcinogenic to all mammalian forms of life! Now, I don't profess to know all about the Creator God of the Jewish faith, but I do believe that there was - and still is - some great Creative Intellect behind the formation of the entire Universe (or even the Multiverse!) and to me that "Intellect" is simply, for want of a less contentious title, "God"!
Don't ask me to prove this to you - just look up at the starry sky and the world of nature all around you, and ask yourself how all this could come into being by an incredibly fantastic chain of mere chemical and physical accidents! Or, if you find the concept of a Creator God too hard to swallow - why not simply substitute the title of "Mother Nature", instead? What I'm getting at is that it all boils down to the same basic thing. The Universe was NOT an accident, nor was all the life it contains!
It even comes with its own set of "Operating Rules" and "Mechanisms", which were clearly set in place at the time of its Creation! So one can thus say that all the so-called "Laws of Nature and Physics" are the Manufacturer's Operating Laws, laid down at the foundation of the Universe by this Supreme Creative Intellect - whoever He (or She) might be! Christians, Hebrews and Moslems can all regard their various Holy Books as Operators' Manuals - even though, in my view, the human transcribers made a pretty poor fist of them all ! I don't know quite how this carries over into the Vedic or Buddhist faiths, but I suspect there are many parallels. But perhaps Dharma Dean may be able to shed a little Puranic light on this?
Anyhow, all that aside. What I personally believe is that the human species (which is very probably scattered all across the Universe) were the Creator's latest "Favorite Project" hence His special safety- provisions for them (viz the protective Water Vapor Canopy, among many other privileges) prior to them falling right out of His favor as a collective species - but possibly only on this particular planet.
You may wonder why I don't include ALL mammals under this "Special ProtectionAct"? Well, you may have pondered, like I did, why the rest of the mammals come equipped with furry coats - even in tropical regions? The answer was a while coming, but I finally got it. Their pelts provide excellent protection against UV radiation! It's a scientific truth, supported by the fact that baby mammals in the wild are kept in the darkness of the mother's den, (or inside her POUCH here in Oz) not only until they can walk and run, but also until they have grown a coat of proper fur! Even young tropical birds that usually lie in open nests with their upper surfaces exposed to the sun, still grow a covering of fluff which provides shade from the sun's UV light whilst their true feathers develop!
Man has had to solve the problem for himself by learning how to make artificial covers for his skin. We naked-skinned humans, however, are still collectively out of favor it seems, judging by the rapidly-rising incidence of cancers - especially those of the skin! Also our industrial pollution of the Earth's upper atmosphere with poisonous chemical byproducts is now depleting what little screening we have left in the ozone layer! Maybe it's time we Hollow Earthers made some real concerted efforts to convince Science about the hollow earth, so that all Man's technological resources, including NASA's, can then be directed toward locating the entrances to this Inner Earth in which we ourselves believe, and where we obviously BELONG!
Regarding our own "group belief" in the existence of an Interior World within our Earth and all the other planets. Perhaps this belief might be a good example of something very akin to a religion - "A faith in something as yet unseen and unproven"? So maybe those among us who tend to scorn "religions" as such, ought to take another look at themselves from this particular standpoint!
Incidentally, while I think of it. How do you guys think that the Earths' crustal cavities were able to hold all that water which, according to the Bible exploded forth as "The Fountains of the Deep" ? According to the Deluge report it was higher than the tallest mountain peaks by some 15 cubits! That's an awful lot of water for mere crustal aquifers to hold ! Has anyone ever considered that this water might have once filled the ENTIRE hollow center of the Earth? After all, we have no actual knowledge of just how recently the hollow interior became habitable to land-dwelling life-forms, do we? And, come to think of it, when the waters finally did subside, where did they drain away TO? Let's remember all the additional water that fell as torrential rain when the "Waters ABOVE the Firmament" collapsed! Sure, much of it must have remained to form the world oceans - but what happened to all the more than 50% remainder?
Maybe somebody can furnish a clue on that one? As to the assorted varieties of "colored glasses" you both mention; "Churchward", "Scripture", and even "Cater" colored-glasses - I find this a really hilarious concept, and find myself wondering what sort of colored-glasses I view things through? Hopefully, plain "Rose-colored"ones! Anyhow, it was a great argument while it lasted, fellers, and it certainly helped me to get my own ideas into some semblance of order!
As for myself. I absorbed all that Darwinian Evolution and Orthodox Science garbage in my youth, and when I finally "Got Saved" and began to believe in God and the Bible, in my early fifties, I absorbed all of that, too. So I was in a sort of "No Man's Land" for a few years, but finally I decided to abandon whole swathes of what I'd read in the Bible (but not everything, thankfully!) and began to use my own common sense instead. Thus I can now accept the concept of a Creative Intellect in whose mental image, at least, we appear to be fashioned, and that He still watches the lunatic antics of His latest creation with much interest - and, I suspect, with a great deal of amusement! As far as I'm concerned, we are all entirely free-agents and may conclude whatever we like - so long as we don't get too nasty about it!
We Hollow Earthers are all quite different individuals - as is evident from what we say, and write about, and - Yes! - Even ARGUE about! But at least we are bonded together in a common cause, and that's all that really matters. I believe we should all feel free to air our views regarding our own concepts of the Hollow Earth and planets - just as these two guys have done over 33 pages of the last Digest copy No.443 ! (I'm scared to look back into No. 442, now!)
But what about all those others in the silent majority out there in Cyberspace? Let's hear from some of YOU, too! You might have something revolutionary to toss into the discussion, without even realizing it! So don't be coy! Have your say! Nobody is going to mock you or try to put you down - but you might just find yourself starting a whole brand new topic rolling! So how about it, people ! Don't just SIT there - COME ON DOWN! There's tons of room left on the soap-box!
Best Regards to All!
Gerry