Causation or Coincidence?

There are two places in the Bible that discuss a “blood moon.” Those are in Joel 2:31 quoted in Acts 2:20 and in Revelation 6:12.
12 I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood;

Recently there has been several books talking about “Blood Moons” and attributing them to the reddish moon that is visible during a lunar eclipse. Recently we had four such eclipses in two years. This is unusual, but by no means unprecedented or prophetic. The “blood moon” is a natural phenomenon that occurs during every lunar eclipse. (I can explain the physics to you if you wish. Just ask. It has to do with bending red light and....)

A quick look at the Old Testament clarifies the meaning of the blood moon. It will accompany the “great and terrible day of the Lord.” Revelation clarifies that even more by specifying five signs (seals being broken) that precede the real blood moon. Incidentally, I have seen pictures of the eclipse “blood” moons and honestly, they are more like pale red instead of blood. But I digress.

The particular significance of the four blood moons is interesting, but, I suspect, an exercise in the confusion of our title. When two things happen at near the same time, it is tempting to examine them for a relationship.

A causal relationship means that one thing CAUSED the other to happen. When a boy invites my daughter to become his wife, he places a ring on a certain designated finger. That is causation. Ask equals ring. Now if the wife wears a black dress the next day, that is, hopefully, correlation or coincidence. In short, it is a casual relationship. She just happened to have that dress lined up in the queue for that day. (This has no relationship, causal or casual to the actual events. We love our son-in-law. It is just an example.)

So correlating the coming judgment with a natural phenomenon is a poor way to interpret the Scriptures. Even if the four moon set occurred in past, which it did, there is no proof of causation. The four moons did not cause the events. They coincidentally occurred in close proximity to the evil actions. Did they just foretell or predict the events? One, there may have been other four moon sets that were not accompanied by catastrophic events. And two, some extremely catastrophic and horrific events have occurred without the four moon telltale. The case for the coincidence of events is compelling to me, anyway.

And Revelation specifically defines the circumstances accompanying THE blood moon. Those five events have not happened, so this sixth in the sequence cannot be ready to happen. Revelation 6 spells them out: A one world ruler will arise, global war will ensue, a worldwide famine will result, and one fourth of the population will die. Anyone seen these “signs?” No sense looking for a blood moon, then.

One of the most telling attacks against the veracity and reliability of the Bible is unwarranted and unfounded “prophesies” made by believers that do not come true. Once past, they just contribute to the “fuzzy thinking” and unreliable factor that is associated with Christ followers.

Peter, Paul, and John, the prominent prophesy writers in the New Testament, did not set dates. Frankly, I believe that it is because they believed Jesus when He said that we should not try to predict the time. Just get ready.

When one tries to get a “deeper understanding” than the Lord gave us, he is delving into the area of “adding to” the Scripture. Actually he is making up new ideas. It is embarrassing and demeaning to the Scripture. IF such precision had been necessary to convince people to believe, do you not think that the Holy Spirit would have provided that from the beginning? Why wait until the 20th or 21st century to reveal it? Would that be unfair to those 19 centuries of earth denizens  who did not get the extra help to believe?

It does devalue and diminish the value of the revelation, if it “needs some help” in convincing people. There are a plethora of writers out there gushing more supposed Scriptural enhancements and additions. They all ignore both the Old and New Testament admonitions not to add to the Scripture. (Revelation 22:18, Deuteronomy 4:2;12:32,and Proverbs 30:5,) Actually, we call them cults if they are pervasive and expansive enough.

Be sure that you find causation in Scriptural interpretation. Beware of correlation or casual occurrences. Thus endeth the logic and reasoning lesson for today.