Mysterious Shining Clouds Puzzle NASA ..Thoughts on this?

Question

We're told, in Luke 21:11, that "fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven" near the time of Christ's return.

NASA satellite has recorded the first detailed images from space of a mysterious type of cloud called "night-shining" or "noctilucent."

The clouds are on the move, brightening and creeping out of polar regions, and researchers don't know why.

"It is clear that these clouds are changing, a sign that a part of our atmosphere is changing and we do not understand how, why or what it means," said atmospheric scientists James Russell III of Hampton University in Hampton, Va.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,288416,00.html

Answer 1

I understand your concerns. But the Bible is very clear in reference to the signs prior to the second coming of Christ.
-Wars,(violence,terrorism,lawlessness)
-Disasters(wildfires,tsunamis,volcanoes)
-False prophets(spiritualism becomes popular)
-Union of Church and State
-Mark of the beast(God's test of loyalty based on the fourth commandment. Will you receive the seal of God?)
-The word of God will be preached in the entire world
-Anti-christ(recreates The Lord's second coming, satan will deceive many) read the following:1Thessalonians 4:17 and Matthew 24:27=Every eye will see The Lord and we will meet Him in the clouds. The anti-christ will walk the earth. Many will be deceived and believe. Including government.
-Persecution of the saints
-Seven deadly plagues(will not touch the saints)
-Earthquakes devastate the earth
-Small dark cloud will slowly start to appear. Read:Matthew 16:27/Matthew24:27
-Jesus returns
So as you can see, a few things must happen prior to the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, there will be signs in the skies, but not all of them come from God.
What matters most is that when that glorious day happens, God finds us ready.

Answer 2

And this, everyone, is why the bible keeps things so vague.
Is there something that can't be interpreted as fulfillment of prophesy.
Clouds? You must be kidding.

I would need more information to come to a conclusion, but let me throw some possibilities out there.
Maybe with the earth warming, and the ice shrinking, temperature differentials are lessening, causing the polar cell to weaken, thus allowing upper level polar clouds to drift beyond traditional atmospheric boundaries.
But that's just a thought.

Answer 3

To those who take a scientific approach to such phenomena, these are not fearful sights, but intriguing mysteries to be explored and explained.

The "heavens" have far more signs in them than Luke or any other ancient author could have imagined. And if Jesus literally ascended to heaven then it is a much longer way up, and much longer way back, than anyone back then realized. Rather than suggest that this distance is the reason the second coming is taking so long, it might be better to seek ways of expressing the core values and insights of the Christian tradition in the context of our scientific worldview, in a way that seeks to take the latter seriously.

Answer 4

Well, I'm afraid that doesn't qualify as a "fearful sight and great sign". It is an interesting and rather pretty atmospheric phenomena.

For further explanation, I would recommend that you stay tuned to the science community, not the Christian fundamentalist crowd. For 1,700 years every fearful manifestation seen as a sign of the apocalypse by the latter has been shown to be a simple physical manifestation by the former.

Answer 5

Considering we have only had satellites in space for the last 50 years or so and that high resolution photography on satellites is even younger technology I'd have to say, no big deal. So we have images of clouds they don't know much about. Who's to say they never existed before in the few billion years Earth has been around? We don't have enough data for this to mean anything yet.

Answer 6

How near to Christ's return does it have to be? These clouds were first spotted in the 1880's after a volcanic eruption. (Follow the link in the article to get this additional information.) Maybe it really means we're putting more pollutants in the sky. The pollution provides a seed for the ice to form (possibly).

Answer 7

Don't misconstrue my point. I believe in something greater than ourselves. However, if you look for physical proofs, I think that misses the point and you'll be disapointed in the end.

For many years, there was a big hullaballoo about Noah's Ark on Mount Aarat in Turkey. The fact that they didn't find anything compelling certainly doesn't DISPROVE religion. What it means is that physical proof is not what it's about. It goes beyond physical things to begin with.

Answer 8

Noctilucent clouds are thought to be a product of global climate change.

For a scientific explanation:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/19feb_nlc.htm

For some pretty photos of "Aurora Borealis (also called "Northern Lights") and Noctilucent Clouds":
http://www.lightningwizard.com/AurNLC.php

Answer 9

Well, I'm not about to panic and start screaming that the world is coming to an end. If people try to do what is right and live life the best way that can, then they don't have to worry. The bible also tells you that this is a "world without end," so there's no need for fire and brimstone proclamations.

Answer 10

Actually we understand quite a bit about them:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/understanding/nacreous_noctilucent.shtml

They have been recorded for the last 120 years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctilucent_clouds

I guess Jesus is late again.



Do you find it odd that when confronted with something that they do not understand that some people actually try to find out what causes it -
http://aim.hamptonu.edu/
- rather than just say that it is a sign of the end times?

But then I guess some people are just weird that way.



Oh, and 'irony' does not mean 'something like iron'