Anchovie-Bairstow's Pensee

I like to think - no, I am quite sure - that the stars are the glory of heaven glimpsed through pin-holes in the dome of the sky, said my neighbour Mr Anchovie-Bairstow.

Made by Almighty God with a little pin, I suppose ? (I am a bit of a sceptic.) What's this dome made of ?

You're being rather silly again. I expect you're just doing it to try me. In a way, though, it's none of our business what the dome of the sky is made of. God knows, because he made it. There are some things we are granted to know, and some not.

How do you know that bit about the stars ?

We all learn as we grow. God himself teaches us, like we are little children.

How has he taught you, then ?

Like any teacher, sometimes by word of mouth, sometimes from a book. Sometimes God reveals truths through the Book of Books, sometimes he speaks to us direct.

And those pin-holes in the sky - how did you learn about that ?

True, it's not in the Bible so far as I know, though I haven't read all of it, but God may speak to any of us through the imagination that he has so graciously bestowed upon us.

Do you believe in Science ? (I thought I'd try a new tack).

Indeed I do. Science just means knowledge. It's from the Greek word SKIENTA meaning what you know. What God reveals to me, by his written word or by the spoken word of private revelation, is ipso facto science.

Ipso facto ?

Yes, Greek for 'by definition'.

Then these holes in the dome of the sky are science, then ?

No, think more carefully. The holes in the dome of the sky are not themselves science, but knowledge of them is.

Ipso facto, as the Greeks say..

Precisely.

Anchovie-Bairstow's Pensee