At first glance, the sketch may not seem so different from any other. It’s just another crater. With a little closer look, the observing sheet shows other things. It was after dawn when the sketch was started. Astro-video tools help boost the contrast, and the coming hot sultry day meant that the morning conditions would be still and humid. The sun was coming up, but its angle low enough that the atmosphere was still undisturbed–especially in view of a high pressure area over the US that was causing record-breaking heat. So let’s see the sketch first, because we want to talk about some features:
It is easy to forget a couple things. Craters indicate violence. This area of the moon is full of evidence of violence. The scriptures make it clear: creation of the heavens, including the moon, was good, but something happened. It is not recorded what caused the violence, although scientists who also believe the scriptures suggest the cratering may have occurred at the Fall or or at the Flood: both catastrophic events that affected all of creation. Even during a daytime observation of Moretus, you cannot help but notice some of the double wall, the peak in the center, and the bordering deep craters. All of this speaks of catastrophe. Indeed, either the fall of man and the entrance sin or the mighty flood of of Noah would have been catastrophic events suited for showing their effects on lunar terrain and other heavenly bodies. The rough relief also makes for stark beauty as the light play of lunar dawn or dusk magnify the contrast of the terrain. Moretus was close to that sun line, where shadows are long and pronounced, which you can see.
So even the heavens show the results of being subjected to something that was destructive. Something bigger is going on–a spiritual battle: a creation marred and subjected to something larger than itself, like the earth is subject to death and disease–things that are contrary to their first state in Genesis, where the Lord called them “good” at the end of each day of creation.
This closes the discussion on the sketch, but now you are invited to a couple observations with a dramatically different tone: an observing period marked by fellowship with a little story from an evening on the Blue Ridge, when my wife and I watched a moonrise. The story is on this page: http://christworksministries.org/inspiration_loveinaction. We hope you enjoy this as well. Roland
