1. Consider:
Galileo said:
"Here it is appropriate to convey certain cautions to all who intend to undertake observations of this sort, for in the first place it is necessary to prepare quite a perfect telescope, which will show all objects bright distinct, and free from any haziness..."-What is an instrument we use to observe and understand spiritual truth?
-How do we perfect our spiritual instruments of discovery?
-How are our spiritual discovery methods similar to Galileo's discoveries of the stars?
-What instruments of truth seeking does Galileo use? What about Campanella in expressing the different points of view? *see below
2. Word Study:
Instrument
3. Read:
The Starry Messenger by Galileo (Volume 8, pages 325-355) (If you are not interested in the details of what he found don't worry about understanding them all, just read to understand the methods he used to discover truth)
Arguments for and against Galileo by Tommaso Campanella (Volume 8, pages 356-364)
Receiving a Testimony of Light and Truth by Dieter F. Uchtdorf
4. Discover:
Learn about anything that interests you as you read such as:
Stars - how they give light and in what ways they may testify of Christ
Galileo - more about his life and what he went through to share truth
Telescopes - how they work and what principles we can learn from them
Whatever else you want to know more about!
Next week we will have a star party (Thanks, John for the reading and activity suggestion!) We will decide on the time when we meet.
*Note some of the methods for accepting truth (some are more reliable than others):
Reasoning (logic, thinking through it)
Romanticism (It brings out your higher feelings)
Empiricism (Through the senses - scientific method)
Revelation (Through the Spirit from God)
Aestheticism (It is beautiful)
Credentialism (We trust someone with more knowledge, authority or credentials than us)
Fraternalism (Our circle of friends says it is true)
Traditionalism (It is how our culture does it)
5. Question:
Write a discussion question on the comments below
The sky is AMAZING to look at--during the day & at nighttime! My question is, are all of the planets important to our galaxy, or did Heavenly Father and Jesus just want to over-do it a little--just because they're amazing like that?
ReplyDeleteThe people at the time of Galileo believed in false things. Similarly, Galileo had the wrong idea about a few things as well. What things do we think we know, but don't? Can we know what we don't know?
ReplyDeleteMy question is: The sun is a Celestial body, the clouds are a Terrestrial body. Sometimes Terrestrial things cloud us from the more important Celestial things. Similarly, Galileo went out and searched for the Celestial things and no matter how many Terrestrial clouds tried to confuse him he always kept his eye on the light. And like Galileo we too can keep our eyes on a light, “The Light of Christ” but what keeps us from keeping our eyes on “The light of Christ” all the time?
ReplyDeleteSo few people nowadays don't see much of the stars. Whenever people find time to look at the sky, they can barely see any stars, thanks to pollution. Do you think people, society would be different if some people actually saw the full glory of the stars?
ReplyDeleteI feel like I don't know very much...and especially compared to Heavenly father (And sis Bates ;))
ReplyDeleteI don't. Heavenly Father keeps giving us more and more information as the years and centuries have passed, just like with the stars they could only see a few at first and then they broaden there vision.
So my question is is God the only one who can give us more information and see more clearly?
There were many supporting ideas for Gailieo's hypothesis, and many against, with sources of the bible for both.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like we can just pick and choose supporting evidence for all the truth we find, so how can we know what really is true?