Bugs In
The Woodwork!
An obvious concern, which may not have occurred to you, is that all calculated ‘Upper Limb’ times listed via an app or website are listed as full minutes. The real world and especially THE MASTER’S CLOCK does not work in ‘full minutes’ so we can expect up to 30 second errors in these times without having to go any further. However, there’s more to be concerned with, much more!
There are a couple interesting qualifiers on the U.S. Naval Observatory website. They are listed on the ‘RISE, SET, AND TWILIGHT DEFINITIONS’ page under the heading...
‘Technical Definitions and Computational Details’,
and subheading...
‘Accuracy of rise/set computations.’
“The times of rise and set phenomena cannot be precisely computed, because, in practice, the actual times depend on unpredictable atmospheric conditions that affect the amount of refraction at the horizon. Thus, even under ideal conditions (e.g., a clear sky at sea) the times computed for rise or set may be in error by a minute or more. Local topography (e.g., mountains on the horizon) and the height of the observer can affect the times of rise or set even more. It is not practical to attempt to include such effects in routine rise/set computations.
The accuracy of rise and set computations decreases at high latitudes. There, small variations in atmospheric refraction can change the time of rise or set by many minutes, since the sun and moon intersect the horizon at a very shallow angle. For the same reason, at high latitudes the effects of observer height and local topography are magnified and can substantially change the times of the phenomena actually observed or even whether the phenomena are observed to occur at all.”
The first paragraph in the quote from the U.S. Naval Observatory above should give everyone pause when it comes to placing any faith in smartphone apps and Internet websites that list rise and set times for the Sun and Moon. They can be in error by a minute or more even under ideal atmospheric conditions! That would also apply to the Stellarium Astronomy software program.
The second paragraph in the quote from the U.S. Naval Observatory above should also be something that draws your attention. THE METHOD I am promoting here in this article absolutely, totally fails to govern time at high latitudes! It can’t be done, not by this method or any other that I know of. It leads me to ask a couple provocative questions, “Should Torah pursuant men be living in areas of high latitude where the division between day and night is lost? My point being if you can’t mark Rosh Chodesh, The 7th Day Sabbath and The Annual Moedim according to the Sun, Moon and Stars at high latitudes then do Torah pursuant men belong there? Could it be that the earth’s high latitudes should be left as animal sanctuaries where men do not trod?
I’m reminded of Genesis 1:26...
And Elohim said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth and over all the creeping creatures that creep on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26 The Scriptures ’98 emphasis mine)
Yes, men are to rule over the animal kingdoms but while the word translated as ‘earth’ in the verse above can mean the ‘whole earth’ it can also mean ‘divisions of the whole earth’. In other words even though mankind’s rule is to be over all animals, mankind’s rule over the earth may not extend from pole to pole!
I’m also reminded of Isaiah 45:18...
For thus said YHWH, Creator of the heavens, He is Elohim, Former of the earth and its Maker, He established it, He did not create it to be empty, He formed it to be inhabited: “I am YHWH, and there is none else. (Isaiah 45:18 The Scriptures ‘98 emphasis mine)
Inhabited by what? Men? Or the living creatures He has created occupying their own specially designed habitat. My point, men living in high latitudes are invaders living outside their YAH ordained habitat. So once again, does Isaiah 45:18 give Torah pursuant men the right to think they can live wherever they like on planet Earth? If it does then why can’t we keep time according to the Scriptural means given to do so at high latitudes, via the Sun, Moon and Stars? It’s certainly something to think about!
If mankind is supposed to inhabit every square inch of planet Earth and keep Rosh Chodesh, The 7th Day Sabbath and The Annual Moedim then there is an obvious problem that this method of time keeping cannot overcome. With that being said, I don’t know of any other time keeping system that would work at extremely high latitudes either, at least not one that actually utilizes the mechanisms of the Sun, Moon and Stars as standards. What is the problem? I believe a large part of the problem is the tilt of the earth’s axis of rotation. Is there a fix to the problem? Yes, I think there is but I don’t think it will be fixed until The Great Earthquake recorded in the book of The Revelation that takes place at the Mid-Trib point. At that time I believe the Earth’s axis of rotation will be restored to a perpendicular angle to the Ecliptic Plane of the Sun, as well as the Earth’s orbit around the Sun being restored to 360 days and the Moon’s orbit around the Earth being restored to 30 days. Until then, there is no way to make this method of time keeping work for every place on the planet and maybe not even then!