2023-Q1-L01

2023-Q1-L01: Part of God's Family

Read for This Week’s Study: Gal. 3:26, 29; Ps. 50:10-12; 1 Chron. 29:13, 14; Phil. 4:19; 1 John 5:3; Matt. 6:19-21.

Memory Text: “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1, NKJV).

Quarterly Theme: Stewardship

The Principle of Ownership [https://iblp.org/questions/what-principle-ownership]. The Biblical principle of ownership involves recognizing that all things ultimately belong to God, that He entrusts us with resources and responsibilities to steward for His glory, and that yielding our personal rights and expectations to Him helps us resolve irritations, anger, and worry.

God owns everything. Given that He created all things, then He holds the certificate of ownership for the world and all the people in it. Psalm 24:1, "The earth is Yahweh’s, with its fullness; the world, and those who dwell in it."

Stewardship responsibilities. He entrusts resources to each person, including time, talents, relationships, and abilities. With every gift of God comes the responsibility to be a faithful steward of those resources. In all things, we are to fulfill our responsibilities for the glory of God. “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (I Corinthians 10:31).

Personal Rights and Expectations. Need to contrast Ownership/Stewardship to Personal Rights/Expectations. You expect others to respect your rights and act in a way that fulfills your expectations. Consequently, we often overlook God’s ultimate ownership of all things and begin to take a personal interest in seeing that our rights and expectations are fulfilled. This is were meekness comes in.

Pride, anger, worry. When we don’t get something we think we deserve, our pride is wounded—anger and worry are our natural responses. Expectations are especially damaging within a family, since people tend to expect more of family members than they do of other people. They also may expect to “get away with” failing to fulfill responsibilities because of the family relationship. A selfish focus sets us up for conflicts.

Yielding Rights/Expectations to God. By yielding our rights to God, we can respond to life with patience and teachable hearts. It involves "transferring" ownership.

Stewardship. In the Greek, oikonomia, where we get "economy". It is two words joined together: oikos, meaning "house," and nomos, the Greek word for "law." Stewardship literally means "house law" or "house rule." The steward is not the owner of the house. Rather, he was hired by the owner to manage his house affairs.

Family: Sonship

Memory text discussion. What does it mean to become a child of God? What does it mean to become part of His family? We will first explore the "nature" of becoming a child of God, and then explore the meaning of "family." Ultimately, we need to explore the nature of God. Here are the topics up for discussion:

Sons by adoption.

New name.

New immortal body.

God our (true) Father.

In the image of God.

Sons by adoption. We become part of the family of God by virtue of being called sons (or children) of God (1 John 3:1-2; Romans 9:8).

Galatians 4:5-6: to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

Ephesians 1:5–6 (ESV): 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

New name. We are given a new name (Revelation 2:17). We are named from (and by) the Father:

Ephesians 3:14-15: For this reason I bow my knees before the Father [the oldest manuscripts omit: "of our Lord Jesus Christ"], 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,

"every family." This phrase is understood in terms of Genesis "kinds." That is, different kinds of created orders of beings. See also 1 Corinthians 15:39-40 (heavenly bodies and earthly bodies). .

"is named." There is authority and dominion in NAMING things. Adam was asked to name the animals, since he had dominion over them. God named the stars, Psalms 147:4, "He counts the number of the stars. He calls them all by their names." See also Isaiah 40:26. when God changed Abram’s name to “Abraham” (“father of a multitude”) it was not just a name but a description of his calling, destiny, and authority. God created the families in heaven and on earth and invested them with a calling, destiny, and authority to carry out their calling. When God calls, He equips.

Immortal body and glory. "For this perishable body must become imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality" (1 Corinthians 15:53).

1 Corinthians 15:35-44: But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. 42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

1 John 3:1-2: See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears [Greek: "when it appears"; that is, when our new body is revealed] we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

Philippians 3:21: [Christ] who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

Immortal life. As God's children, we are granted immortality. While DA 530.3 says that "in Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived," yet this same life (from the Father) is given to all who believe in Christ as their personal Savior, as seen below:

1SM 296.2: “In him was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). It is not physical life that is here specified, but immortality, the life which is exclusively the property of God. The Word, who was with God, and who was God, had this life. Physical life is something which each individual receives. It is not eternal or immortal; for God, the Life-giver, takes it again. Man has no control over his life. But the life of Christ was unborrowed. No one can take this life from Him. “I lay it down of myself” (John 10:18), He said. In Him was life, original, unborrowed, underived. This life is not inherent in man. He can possess it only through Christ. He cannot earn it; it is given him as a free gift if he will believe in Christ as his personal Saviour. “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). This is the open fountain of life for the world.

23LtMs, Ms 92, 1908, par.40: What a song that will be when the ransomed of the Lord meet at the gate of the holy city, which is thrown back on its glittering hinges, and the nations that have kept His word—His commandments—enter <into the city, the crown of the overcomer is placed upon their heads,> and the golden harps are placed in their hands! All heaven is filled with rich music, and with songs of praise to the Lamb. Saved, everlastingly saved, in the kingdom of glory! To have a life that measures with the life of God—that is the reward. Just think of it! “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” [John 3:16.]

We will have a spiritual, immortal, glorious body. It will be like Christ's body, for we shall see him as he is. We will eat of the tree of life; we will drink of the fruit of the grape; we will build our own houses; plant our own gardens. We will recognize each other because we will have human-like features that we had on earth.

Family: Fatherhood

Does God have a body?

Personhood. The Father is a real Person who sits on a real Throne. Here is how EGW described Him:

18LtMs, Lt 253, 1903, par. 12: “I have often seen the lovely Jesus, that He is a person. I asked Him if His Father was a person, and had a form like Himself. Said Jesus, ‘I am the express image of My Father’s person!’ [Hebrews 1:3.]

EGW's husband described him this way, "What is God? He is material, organized intelligence, possessing both body and parts" (PERGO 7.4).

God is spirit. Many use John 4:24 to support the idea that "God is a spirit" (KJV). However, the correct reading is "God is spirit." Pulpit Commentary: God is Spirit (Πνεῦμα ὁ Θεός; cf. John 1:1, Θεὸς η΅ν ὁ Λόγος—the article indicates the subject, and the predicate is here generic, and not an indefinite; therefore we do not render it, "God is a Spirit"). Also, Vincent's Word Studies: God is spirit. Spirit is the emphatic word; Spirit is God [literally in Greek]. The phrase describes the nature, not the personality of God. Compare the expressions, God is light; God is love (1 John 1:5; 1 John 4:8).

Catholic Cathecism. #23. Has God any body? God has no body; He is a Spirit. (http://www.catholicapologetics.info/thechurch/catechism/Cafferata.htm)

https://www.catholic.com/qa/does-god-have-a-body-like-ours. God is spirit, and as such he doesn’t have a body (Lk 24:39: “A spirit does not have flesh and bone.”). When the Bible speaks of our being made in his image, then, it doesn’t mean we’re like him physically. It means that, like God, we possess a spiritual aspect to our being.

Per Catholic literature: (1) The true God is a pure, invisible, self-subsisting Spirit; WITHOUT BODY, PARTS, or passions; eternal, etc. (2) God is an
unchangeable, IMMATERIAL SPIRIT who has an entirely simple ("incomposite") nature—that is, A NATURE CONTAINING NO PARTS.

The Lord's Prayer. When we pray, "Our Father who art in Heaven," First, is He a real Father in a real Heaven, or is the Father *everywhere* and not really in Heaven? In other words, is the Father spacially in Heaven?

Throne in Heaven. It's universally believed that the resurrected Son, Jesus Christ, is a Person and not a Spirit. And, the New Jerusalem, the Son will sit on a real Throne, because he is a real Person. What then can we say about the Father. Is He a real Person on a real Throne? Inquirying minds want to know.

Christ ministering before the Father. Is Jesus physically, spatially ministering before the Father in Heaven as our High Priest, or is it a metaphor?

God our (true) Father. The familial nature of God is not anthropomorphic; rather, the familial nature of the family is theomorphic. The human family is modeled after God's nature not the other way around. That is, the Father is actually a father, and He is the reality of what human fatherhood pictures. Jesus Christ is actually the Father's Son, our firstborn Elder Brother. The spiritually reborn and soon to be resurrected saints are actually sons of God. Moreover, we will live in an actual New Jerusalem in an actual New Heavens and a New Earth for eternity.

Genesis 1:26: Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.

In the image of God. God is not like man—man is like God. He is the form; we are the image. The Bible often describes God and man as having characteristics in common, it's because they originate with God. As they originate with God, they will ultimately be restored to God, meaning that the plan of Salvation, the ministry of Reconciliation, is ultimate Restoration—to be one with God, as one family. "God with us" in the New Heavens and the New Earth (see Revelation 21:1-3) is not a metaphor, it will be our reality.

Our identity is in God. We first need to identify who God is. We, as Christians, are to identify in God and Heaven, what are we identifying in? Is it some intangible, ethereal mist or is it something tangible and real? Our identity in God calibrates our perception of self and by extension, the perception of others, and by further extension, the perception of "things." Thus, if our perception of God is flawed or false, then it cascades down to our perception of self, others and the world.

All God's children

Notes (part of Sunday's lesson)

Question: Are we all God's children? Answer: Yes and No.

To be part of God's family, you must be a son or daughter of God. Are you a child of God by virtue of being a "human"?

John 8:44: You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

John 1:12-13: But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

How do you become a member of the family of God?

Galatians 3:26: For you are all sons of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:14-17: For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

How do you become a children of the devil?

1 John 3:8-10 (WEB): He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed: that he might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever is born of God doesn’t commit sin, because his seed remains in him, and he can’t sin, because he is born of God. 10 In this the children of God are revealed, and the children of the devil. Whoever doesn’t do righteousness is not of God, neither is he who doesn’t love his brother.

Reality versus Image

The nature of God and the nature of Man.

Need to establish that God is not only our Father, but He is the true and original Father.

Reality versus Image.

Are we created beings? Answer: yes and no. Adam was created. We are procreated. What is the difference? Created means to come into existence out of nothing. Procreated means to begin with something (i.e. a genetic code, etc.) and reproduce it via a birthing process.

birth and begotten. We are begotten of Adam, but born of Eve. Begottenness is generally attributed to a father. Men beget children. Women give birth to children.

Jesus. Jesus born of a Woman, but Begotten of God. Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. The Father is the true Father of Jesus in a "begotten" sense and not in a "created" sense. Adam was created of God. Jesus was begotten of God.

SUNDAY. We Are Part of God’s Family.

Ephesians 3:14–15: For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,

Notes

You have two options: (1) Those born of God will go on sinning until Jesus comes. (2) Those born of God will not go on sinning.

All the deeds that one commits are a manifestation of the heart. If the heart is selfish and evil, the deeds are evil. If the heart is good, the deeds are good. Can an evil tree bear good fruit or can a good tree bear evil fruit? Jesus declared, "A good tree can’t produce evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree produce good fruit" (Matthew 7:18).

The condition of the heart is the crux of the matter.

Why are we selfish and evil? Because we do not trust God and others. In some ways, this is a logical conclusion. We do not trust others, because our experience tells us that people are not trustworthy.

How about God? Is He trustworthy? Most Christians seem to think so, at least intellectually. Another word for trust in God is to have "faith" in God.

To have faith in God, you must exercise it. If it's not a living, growing faith/trust in God, then it shrinks and becomes irrelevant in your daily walk.

How? By taking actions that are in God's will, yet don't appear logical or beneficial to us in our minds. Tithing is a clear example, but there are many others. You may think that by lying to others, you will get ahead. Or, you may think that getting revenge on others, will be better for you and society as a whole. You may think that loving your friends and hating your enemies is the right policy.

MONDAY. God Is the Owner of Everything.

Ownership from an Economic Perspective

God is the Source of all. He owns all.

We are stewards.

Capitalism vs Marxism compete with the idea that God is the owner of everything.

Capitalism - the personal right to own

Socialism/Marxism - the state owns everything. Personal ownership of property is evil. The state is supreme over everything. The state replaces God. Everyone is answerable to the state. In the long-term, the state becomes more important and valuable than the people. People become pawns and are expendable. The survival of the collective is more important than the rights of the individual. When you no longer become useful to the state and are a burden, you become expendable.

The biggest danger to a free society is Socialism/Marxism because it ultimately becomes mob rule and "laws" are made up as they go.

Nothing is free in this world. There is buying and selling of goods (or property) by virtue of someone owning something and then having the right to sell it. The more we own, particularly of certain goods, the richer we are and the better we feel.

However, in God's system, the more we "scatter" the more we increase.

Proverbs 11:24-25: There is one who scatters, and increases yet more. There is one who withholds more than is appropriate, but gains poverty. 25 The liberal soul shall be made fat. He who waters shall be watered also himself.

If life is all about wealth, then capitalism will exploit and coercise and cheat, if they can get away with it, as long as they can make a profit.

Until recent times, Marxism has not made inroads into the West. The reason: Christianity. Christianity teaches that God is the owner of all things and that we are His stewards. Marxism teaches that the state is the owner of all things and that the people serve the state for the benefit of society. These two philosophies are at odds with each other.

Ownership from a Time Perspective. Develop later...

TUESDAY. Resources Available for God’s Family.

From the lesson: God’s greatest gift to His children is Jesus Christ... Salvation, then, is the foundational gift because, without this gift, what else could we get from God that in the long run would really matter? ... And yet, along with salvation, God gives us so much more. To those who were concerned about their food and clothing, Jesus offered comfort by saying, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matt. 6:33, NKJV). ... He promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to comfort them. ... Then the Spirit itself gives amazing spiritual gifts to God’s children. (See 1 Cor. 12:4-11).

In short, the God in whom “we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28), the God who “gives to all life, breath, and all things” (Acts 17:25, NKJV), has given us existence, the promise of salvation, material blessings, and spiritual gifts in order to be a blessing to others. Again, whatever material possessions that we have, whatever gifts or talents we have been blessed with, we are indebted in every way to the Giver in how we use those gifts.

Our creations

Resources. Who provided the resources, the intellect, the creativity? Resources include divine encounters, providential doors of opportunities, etc.

Our creations include: computers, automobiles, airplanes, houses, tractors, etc. Intellectual properties like books, computer software, and so on.

Does God own what we create? Or are we the owners and can do with them as we please?

WEDNESDAY. Responsibilities of God’s Family Members.

Scriptures

Deuteronomy 10:12–13 (ESV): 12 “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good?

1 John 5:3 (ESV): 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

From the lesson: Read Deuteronomy 10:12, 13 and 1 John 5:3. Biblically speaking, what is our proper response in our love relationship with our Father in heaven? Keeping the law? Obeying the commandments? For many Christians, unfortunately, the idea of obeying the law (especially the fourth commandment) is legalism, and they claim that we are called, simply, to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. However, God is clear: we reveal our love to God and to our neighbors by, yes, obeying His commandments.

“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments” (1 John 5:3, NKJV). We are used to looking at this verse as, well, we love God and, therefore, we keep His commandments. That’s fine. But perhaps we can also read it as “this is the love of God,” that is, we know and experience the love of God by keeping His commandments.

Think about the link between loving God and obeying His law. Why would love for God be expressed that way? What is it about keeping the commandments that, indeed, does reveal that love? (Hint: think about what disobeying His law causes.)

Notes

Changed nature results in changed behavior.

Changed behavior results in inquiry, a study of who God is. To know God is to love Him.

THURSDAY. Treasure in Heaven

EGW: “Money has great value, because it can do great good. In the hands of God’s children it is food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, and clothing for the naked. It is a defense for the oppressed, and a means of help to the sick. But money is of no more value than sand, only as it is put to use in providing for the necessities of life, in blessing others, and advancing the cause of Christ.” — Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 351.

Notes

Two main things we treasure: (1) possessions and (2) time. Space and Time. The space-time continuum.

Money is "good" when it is used for good. Money is "evil" when it is used for evil.

FRIDAY. Further Thought: “The heart of God yearns over His earthly children with a love stronger than death. In giving up His Son, He has poured out to us all heaven in one gift. The Saviour’s life and death and intercession, the ministry of angels, the pleading of the Spirit, the Father working above and through all, the unceasing interest of heavenly beings, — all are enlisted in behalf of man’s redemption.” — Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, p. 21.

“If you have renounced self and given yourself to Christ you are a member of the family of God, and everything in the Father’s house is for you. All the treasures of God are opened to you, both the world that now is and that which is to come. The ministry of angels, the gift of His Spirit, the labors of His servants — all are for you. The world, with everything in it, is yours so far as it can do you good.” — Ellen G. White, Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 110.

APPENDIX

The Holy Spirit is *not* the Father of Jesus

Luke 1:35 (CLV): And answering, the messenger said to her, "Holy spirit shall be coming on you, and [the] power of [the] Most High shall be overshadowing you; wherefore also the holy One Who is being generated shall be called the Son of God.

"Holy spirit." There is no article "the" in "holy spirit" (Πνεῦμα Αγιον) mentioned in this verse. Therefore, it is not a proper name or the person by whom, but the kind of influence: spirit as opposed to flesh, holy in the sense of separation from all fleshly defilement (see Expositor's Greek Testament).

"[the] power of [the] Most High." Also no article "the" in the original Greek. This further indicates the cause, the power of God. The name of God in Luke 1:32 is "Most High" and Jesus will be called "Son of the Most High." He also will be called "the Son of God" (Luke 1:35).

Greatness and holiness. According to Luke 1:32, this Son "will be great" and in Luke 1:35 he is holy by virtue of "being generated" by the Spirit and Power of God.

Son of God in a new sense. Note that according to EGW, Christ was God's Son prior to His incarnation.

1SM 226.2: Christ brought men and women power to overcome. He came to this world in human form, to live a man amongst men. He assumed the liabilities of human nature, to be proved and tried. In His humanity He was a partaker of the divine nature. In His incarnation He gained in a new sense the title of the Son of God. Said the angel to Mary, “The power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). While the Son of a human being, He became the Son of God in a new sense. Thus He stood in our world—the Son of God, yet allied by birth to the human race.

Begotten, not procreated. Jesus was begotten, not procreated. We are procreated. God first created mankind and gave mankind the power to reproduce, thus procreation. Christ was BEGOTTEN of God, not procreated. Yes, there is a difference. And being that Christ, the Son, by virtue of being begotten of the Father inherits all the attributes of the Father, there wasn't a demand on the part of the Father for His Son to render Him obedience. Christ's very nature, because of His literal sonship to the Father, would cause Christ to think and to act JUST LIKE the Father. Hence His name is Michael - "One who is like unto God". To be LIKE someone is NOT TO BE THAT SOMEONE. The Son is a perfect reproduction of God the Father - as the bible says He is the "express image of His person and brightness of His glory".

Trinitarian misinterpretation. The trinitarian view uses this verse and Matthew 1:18-20 to depict the "person" of the Holy Spirit as being Christ's true father since according to them the Spirit caused the conception. However, the New Testament without exception declares God the Father as the true father of Jesus. The holy spirit in these verses is not "the" holy spirit given that the article "the" is missing in the original Greek, but merely "holy spirit" without the article—an influence, not a "person".

Four principles of stewardship.

Ownership. God OWNS it all. See Psalm 24:1. We don't own anything. "You will own nothing and be happy." We need to discuss property rights and how that fits in this context.

Responsibility. Understand the RESPONSIBILITIES He has given us. See Genesis 1:26.

Accountability. Remain ACCOUNTABLE for how we steward what He provides. Matthew 12:36.

Reward. Our REWARD is found in having an eternal perspective. See Colossians 3:23-24.

What are we stewards of? Health: mental, physical, spiritual/social, economic. Guidelines (or Laws): physical laws, spiritual laws, spiritual gifts/vocation, economic laws. Aspects: Time, Talent, Resources, Wealth.

Steward Donor

It's about God It's about me

My money God's gift to me

My project God's work

I'm in control God is in control

Infrequent giving Giving is a lifestyle

The amount matters The heart matters

Margin meter.

Struggling. Not able to make ends meet.

Surviving. Living from paycheck to paycheck.

Stable. Saving some with an emergency fund.

Secure. Saving for long-term goals.

Surplus. More than enough.

Male/Female brains. A new way of showing the connectivity of the brain, called "connectome" maps, reveals significant differences between men and women. Typical male brain. Most connections run between the front and back parts of the same brain hemisphere, which could account for the better spatial skills and motor (muscle) control in men. Typical female brain. Many more neural connections go from side to side across the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Scientists say this could account for women's better verbal skills and intuitive abilities.

Einstein's Space-Time Continuum

What is the space-time continuum? Einstein concluded that space and time, rather than separate and unrelated phenomena, are actually interwoven into a single continuum (called space-time) that spans multiple dimensions. Space (length, width, and height) and time.

Think in terms of a sheet and then placing a bowling ball in the middle of the sheet. The area around the bowling ball would be pressed down, creating a dimple in the sheet. These dimples represent curvatures in the fabric of the space-time continuum. Einstein identified these curves in the space-time continuum as gravity.

light should bend when traveling around massive objects. This phenomenon, known as gravitational lensing, has been observed by astronomers who use it to study galaxies and stars otherwise hidden behind massive objects.

Einstein also theorized that the relative nature of space and time would mean that an object in motion would experience time at a slower rate than one at rest. On Earth, we move too slowly to notice this phenomenon. Scientists have, however, confirmed its truth.

Every day, the satellites that make up the Global Positioning System gain about 38 microseconds compared to Earth clocks. This would affect their location accuracy by several miles if it weren't for built-in calibrations that keep their clocks synced with Earth.