(This is a reposting of a previous blog with some revision)
In 1492, he sailed the oceans blue. We observed Columbus Day on October 14 this year, although the discovery of the New World was October 12, 1492. (we like our Monday holidays!) Christopher Columbus was looking for a western passage to China and India. Columbus underestimated the size of the earth, he overestimated the land mass of Eurasia and he incorrectly believed that Japan was further east of the coast of China.
Columbus was both wrong and at odds with the scholarly consensus of his day. Nonetheless, Columbus was a great explorer and navigator. Three wrongs can still be something right. After two months of sailing, Cuba was sighted and believed to be mainland China. His expedition found Hispaniola and Columbus thought it might be Japan. It was his third of four trips across the Atlantic that he realized he had not reached Asia, but had discovered a continent previously unknown to Europeans.
We can only discover what is already known. He sailed the oceans blue, to discover what God already knew. All discoveries and breakthroughs are things God has known for eternity.
Ecclesiastes 1:9-10
What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there anything of which one can say,
“Look! This is something new”?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.
Happy Columbus Day!
In 1492, he sailed the oceans blue. We observed Columbus Day on October 14 this year, although the discovery of the New World was October 12, 1492. (we like our Monday holidays!) Christopher Columbus was looking for a western passage to China and India. Columbus underestimated the size of the earth, he overestimated the land mass of Eurasia and he incorrectly believed that Japan was further east of the coast of China.
Columbus was both wrong and at odds with the scholarly consensus of his day. Nonetheless, Columbus was a great explorer and navigator. Three wrongs can still be something right. After two months of sailing, Cuba was sighted and believed to be mainland China. His expedition found Hispaniola and Columbus thought it might be Japan. It was his third of four trips across the Atlantic that he realized he had not reached Asia, but had discovered a continent previously unknown to Europeans.
We can only discover what is already known. He sailed the oceans blue, to discover what God already knew. All discoveries and breakthroughs are things God has known for eternity.
Ecclesiastes 1:9-10
What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there anything of which one can say,
“Look! This is something new”?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.
Happy Columbus Day!
RSS Feed