Shine on, harvest moon 5/10/13
Sir,
Davina Owen (Letter, 1/10/13) asks why, if the moon was created by God to give us light at night, we have little or no moonlight for half of any given month?
The amount and quality of the light we receive from the moon obviously varies according to the moon's phases. The different phases are necessary to enable the moon to fulfil its primary purpose of helping to divide time but whatever the phase some light falls upon the earth, except at the point when the new moon occurs.
It hardly needs to be said that we do not generally require bright light during the night. However in His kindness God has designed things so that we are provided with extra moonlight at one important time of the year. Near the end of September we have the 'Harvest Moon' in the Northern Hemisphere, a full moon so-named because at that time many crops ripen and farmers used to rely on the moonlight to enable them to gather in their harvest late into the evening. The Harvest Moon is unique because the time difference between moonrises on successive evenings is much shorter than average and for several nights in a row the moon rises at or near sunset.
In His wisdom God has also provided that cloud is present at certain times. If cloud occurs at night then it must obscure the moon to some degree and perhaps altogether. However cloud is necessary for temperature regulation and precipitation.
The biblical teaching on creation is wholly consistent with the facts which have been established by science whereas the theory of evolution is not: it is "science falsely so called" (1 Timothy 6:20). True science is observable, testable and repeatable. False science tries to explain the origin of the moon, deliberately dismissing the testimony of Scripture: true science actually put men on the moon. Evolution is really a religion, as some of its more candid advocates admit.
Rev. David Blunt
17 Knockline
Isle of North Uist