I was traveling in a jet plane when the captain announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, we are cruising at 30,000 feet altitude and the temperature outside is negative 40 degrees." I became curious as to whether this -40 degrees was Celsius or Fahrenheit, since the captain did not say. These two temperature scales are quite different. The Celsius (Centigrade) scale is based on the decimal system with the freezing point of water set at 0 degrees and the boiling point set at 100 degrees at sea level. This is the scale used in all countries that use the metric system of measurement and in most scientific laboratories. The Fahrenheit scale was devised by a German physicist by that name, and sets the freezing point of water at 32 degrees and the boiling point at 212 degrees. This is the scale used primarily in the USA and in England. There is another scale, the Kelvin or Absolute temperature scale that sets 0 at the point where all molecular motion ceases, which is -273 degrees Celsius. Since Kelvin degrees are like Celsius degrees, water would freeze at 273 degrees Kelvin and would boil at 373 degrees Kelvin. Now to get back to my story, I decided to calculate what the Celsius equivalent would be for -40 F by using the well known equation C=5/9(F-32). To my utter surprise they were the same. It happens that -40 is the one point where the two scales coincide. So, the captain didn't need to specify.
A few years ago Ray Bradbury produced a film entitled, "Fahrenheit 451," which depicted a very structured society in which the fire department had a crucial role. They were given the job of destroying all historical or journalistic documents that were critical of the government. The title of the movie was taken from the kindling temperature of paper. This was before the age of computers. Recently, a political propaganda film has a copycat title, "Fahrenheit 9/11." I understand that the purpose of the film is to show that the attacks which occurred on 9/11/01 were used as a ploy or excuse by the present administration to go to war with Iraq, but that they had other ulterior motives.
Revelation, chapter three, describes a group of Christians called Laodiceans whose spiritual condition could be described as lacking warmth, feeling, and enthusiasm. They are likened to lukewarm or tepid water that does not quench the thirst but rather is nauseating and distasteful. God declares that since they are neither cold nor hot, He will spew them out of His mouth (Rev. 3:16). Lukewarm water is water at about body temperature (98.6 F). God does not want lukewarm members in His church; they are unprofitable servants. Lest they be spewed out, they are counseled to buy refined gold, white raiment, and eye salve, and be zealous and repent. "He that has an ear, let him hear" what God is saying to the church; it is better to be cold or hot than a lukewarm "Fahrenheit 98.6."
