Check out the throwback photo from The Billings Gazette's Larry Mayer in Lewistown, Montana in 1979 (upper left photo in the collage above).

Is a solar eclipse that big of a deal?

There was so much hype and content being shared on social media about the solar eclipse, that I noticed a few people pushing back and downplaying the significance of a solar eclipse. It reminded me of our conversation with "Is Atheism Dead?" author Eric Metaxas during a recent visit to Montana.

He spoke at a previous Billings Christian School fundraising banquet. I also got to sit in on a Q&A session with him and have him on the radio ahead of time. We talked back in November of 2021 about his book "Is Atheism Dead?" In the book, he does a play on the 1966 Time magazine cover "Is God Dead?" He says science is pointing to the opposite.

Eric Metaxas Nov. of 2021 on Montana Talks with Aaron Flint: "Most of us in our lifetimes have been living under this idea that science is somehow pushing God and faith out and science is coming in. That is untrue. I mean, it's worse than untrue. The opposite is true...everybody needs to understand science is pointing to God. This is not something I'm making up. This is not some Christian talking point. The more we learn from science, the better we get at studying our world- the universe, this earth, life- the more it makes it totally impossible to believe that this came about randomly, life did not come about randomly."

I also remember a key portion from his book where he specifically mentioned the miraculous wonder of the total eclipse. He wrote about it also in this Fox News column back in August of 2017: "Are solar eclipses proof of God?"

Check out this excerpt from a chapter in his book titled, "The Fine-Tuned Planet."

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Audio of our chat with Metaxas from 2021:

 

 


So Larry's photo was from 1979. A few short years later in 1983 is when Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" came out.

 

And then, of course, if you want a more rated R version of that song...there's always this one from Old School...ha (earmuffs kids)

Sun's Out, Shades On: A Look Back at Eclipses Through the Ages

The United States is set to witness a historic total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. Before you put on your safety glasses to look up, let's look back at the eclipses of the past.

Gallery Credit: Meg Dowdy

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