The Little Prince (French: Le Petit Prince), published in 1943, is a novella and the most famous work of French writer, poet and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It has been translated into more than 190 languages and has sold more than 80 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling books ever. (Wikipedia)
Bible was written by people living in geocentric reality in which Sun and Moon circulate the center of everything, the (flat) Earth.
Bible is a very human centered collection of ancient Near Eastern and Roman period books. In it the fate of universe is intimately tied to the God and Man relationship. Christ, Greek for Messiah, is the King of the Kings who is going to judge at the end of world mankind, the nations, every individual, about what he or she has done in this life.
Modern science has shown us a different world, one in which not only humans but also our planet and solar system are just a little spot of dust in an enormous universe.
Our planet Earth in a photo taken near Saturn
Space theology must deal with the crushing news that first came from Mr Edwin Powell Hubble (1889-1953) patiently staring and photographing those "nebular clouds" using the 2.5 meter Hooker and other telescopes at Mount Wilson Observatory: Those dusty spots turned out to be galaxies like our owb Milky Way and red shift if their light proves that these immense islands of stars are flying with increasing spead away from their point of origin.
Jesus - Le Petit Prince
The discovery of the immense dimensios of world not only makes Earth a little rock in one spiral hand of one of billions of galaxies. For the dimensions of space science is showing also affects our intellectual thinking and our faith in the Son of God.
To our surprise we find out that our Lord is actually the ruler of a rather insignificant rocky planet that can hardly be seen from planet Saturn.
Theologically this brings us to the Athanasian creed (Quicumque vult). This follows the brilliant thinker, Saint Augustine, who was so fascinated with the concept of Holy Trinity. Unfortunately, Athanasian creed has a sentence that really flattens the mystery of Trinity and the creed even threatens those who do not accept the mighty play of words it contains about the One God:
And in this Trinity none is before, or after another; none is greater, or less than another. But the whole three Persons are coeternal, and coequal.
He therefore that will be saved, let him thus think of the Trinity.
With such human additions to the holy Bible our Lord Jesus Christ Himself cannot be saved. For according to the Gosple of John 14:28 He has said:
Father is greater than me
Jesus
Modern astronomy gives majestic commentary from the Nature to the word of our Lord - Father is indead greater than the Son of Man.
What does this mean to us as?
Not much.
Bible is safe - it was written long before Copernicus and Brahe and Hubble it does break free from a tight geocentric world and talks about God who is immense beyond our imagination and capability of understanding.
Christ is still King of the Kings of the entiry humanity living on this planet and elsewhere. He is the Saviour who is going to judge humanity and do whatever else His Father wants in this petite domain given to Him.
People go on with their daily lives without being too much affected by the vastness of the universe described by modern astronomy and cosmology. Even those who know ... what does it matter, really?
For until we break the Speed of Light limit even our fastest messages to outer space take millions of years to reach anyone out there capable of understanding it and their response will take as much. SMS message to Andromeda and response will take 5 million years - about us much as human race has existed on this planet after separating from chimpanzees.
So, practically Earth is still the center of the universe as we humans know it.
This really is a small world, after all.
His Majesty!
"For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers: all things were created by Him and for Him." (Colossans 1:16)
Not that petit, after al!.
UPDATE See also the 2012 July post on Saint Patrick and Cosmic Christ
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