The Bible and the Earth
The earth is pretty well understood
today. We know it's spherical and we know it rotates on it's axis as it
revolves around the sun. When the Bible was written and compiled, things
were different. People believed that we were in a geocentric universe
(the earth was the center of the universe and everything revolved around
it), they thought the earth was flat, and other basic scientific
phenomenon were unknown to these people.
The Flat Earth
The Bible doesn't always reflect
that we live on a spinning, revolving, sphere... which I would think that
God would have known and would have inspired the authors to tell, but he
didn't. That is why the Bible reflects that we live on a flat earth.
The term "ends of the earth" is used
quite a bit in the Bible. I have received hundreds of e-mails saying "the
term 'ends of the earth' is a saying, it's not literal", but they forget
that it is a figurative saying today. When the Bible was
written it wasn't a figure of speech... it was a fact. Even as late as
1492, people were convinced that silly old Columbus was going to fall off
of the earth. But as we know today, the earth is a sphere, and there are
no ends on a sphere. Just pick up a ball and find its ends.
Even if one was to accept that God
was foreseeing enough to put futuristic lingo which matched the beliefs of
the day in. But
Job 38:13
speaks of the earth being taken by the physical ends with "That it
might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken
out of it?"
Other mentions of the ends of the
earth can be found in the following places. Deuteronomy 13:7, 28:49,
28:64, 33:17. Job 2:8, 19:4, 22:27, 33:13, 48:10, 59:13, 61:2, 65:5,
72:8.
The ends of the earth isn't the only
signs of the flat earth in the Bible. In Job 11:9 it says
that heaven and hell's measurements are "Their
measure is longer than the earth And broader than the sea". How long is a
sphere? There is no length in a sphere. Now a flat two dimensional
object would have a length.
Now we
get to something that many people have said is proof of the Bible knowing
the true shape of the earth. The following verses have been sent to me
with notes like "See, the Bible says the earth isn't flat":
Proverbs 8:27-
When he
prepared the heavens, I was there, When he drew a circle on the face of
the deep
Isaiah 40:22-
It is He
who sits above the circle of the earth, And it's inhabitants are
like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And
spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
But
anyone with a basic grasp of geometry knows what a circle is. It's a
flat, two dimensional object. According to these scriptures, the earth is
shaped like a CD. Again, as much as many people want to believe this
proves that the world is a sphere, they are only proving the Bible talks
of a flat earth. There are many who say "it says circle, it got the shape
right". But this was also a common mistake of the day. People thought
the earth was shaped like a plate. They got this belief because if they
pointed at the horizon and they spin while tracing the horizon, it appears
that they live on a flat circle. And they could travel 1000 miles and do
the same thing and they got the same result. It made sense.
The Sky and Atmospheric
Conditions
The sky is also described inaccurately
in the Bible. In the above scripture, Isaiah 40:22, it mentions that the
heavens are stretched out like a tent. A tent would not be a good
description of the earth's atmosphere nor the cosmos. It's describing a
flat floor which where there is nothing below it... no heavens below the
top of the earth. By this description you would either step off of the
earth into outer space (but not fall off, because tents don't go
underground, so the heavens can't go below the earth), or you will crash
into the sky when you reach the end of the earth. Much like how you would
crash into the side of your tent if you roll over too much in your sleep.
In Genesis
1:6-8 God created a firmament
(which he named "Heaven") to divide the water on earth and the water in
the sky. Do we really have a solid sky holding water over us? How the
heck did we get to the moon? Does the space shuttle have a "firmament
opener" on the front of it? This would explain why every time it rained
in the Bible, that God had to "open the windows of heaven" (Gen. 7:1 and
Isa. 24:18 are examples). These openings allowed all the water above the
solid sky to leak out. Maybe we broke a window on our first space
mission, and have flown out the broken window every time since.
Snow and hail are
mentioned in the Bible. It is also mentioned that they are stored for
future use by God. In Job 38:22 God asks "Hast thou
entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of
the hail". I can't believe that we are so naive as to think snow and hail
are formed by freezing water vapor. Someone should inform these radical
meteorologists that it's all in God's storage areas, and that he throws
him down when he sees fit.
The
Stationary Earth
The idea
of a stationary earth has been touched on by nearly every mythological
tale. There was Atlas who held the earth on his back, and let's not
forget the turtle and elephants in Terry Pratchett's Disk World series.
It seems like this inaccurate belief found its way into the Bible also.
Job chapter 38 has a lot of mentions of a stationary earth, and as
direct quotes from God. Quotes like the following:
"Where wast thou when I laid the
foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding." -
Job 38:4
"Whereupon are the foundations
thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;" - Job 38:6
Really, do these sound like
descriptions of a world that spins on its axis, while at the same time
revolves around the sun? First off, everything I have seen foundations on
are stationary. Buildings, walls, towers, etc. Then God says that the
foundation is fastened to something. Again, does your car have a
foundation attached to something? Your house has a foundations which
attaches it to the ground. Hmmmm, If you believe these verses, you must
have a hard time finding your house whenever you go out, because it
probably moved away while you were gone.
That's not all. 1 Samuel 2:8
states that
"For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, And He has set the world
upon them". If you go to any seashore, you are bound to see houses
built on pillars, and yet the houses don't move. How strange.
Psalms 93:1 flat out
says that the world doesn't move. "The
Lord reigns, he is clothed with majesty; The Lord is clothed, He has
girded Himself with strength. Surely the world is established so that
it cannot be moved."
Again, earths foundations (as well
as the sky's windows) are mentioned in Isaiah 24:18-
"And it shall
be That he who flees from the noise of the fear Shall fall into the pit,
And he who comes up from the midst of the pit, Shall be caught in the
snare; For the windows from on high are open, And the foundations of the
earth are shaken."
The Sun,
the Moon, and the Stars
The sun
and the moon are mentioned in the Bible. Why wouldn't they be? After all
they are these two huge things in the sky every day. Every society has
mention of them in their writings, just as every religious text. Some
people thought they were gods, others thought they influenced luck and so
on. Even today some people won't go out when there's a full moon.
Today we
know that they sun is a massive fireball which provides the earth with
light and heat... not to mention is a requirement for life on Earth. The
moon on the other hand is just another chunk of dirt and rock that floats
in space, it just happens to revolve around our little planet. It does
effect some things here on Earth, like the tide. The only reason we see
it every night is because it reflects light from the sun.
The
Bible doesn't always reflect the truth about the sun and moon.
In Genesis 1:16
says "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the
day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also."
According to this, the moon is a light source just like the sun, only
not as bright. If this was the case, we couldn't land on the moon, it
would be too hot. It is also strange that it took God the day to make the
sun and the moon, but the stars are portrayed as an afterthought of
sorts. "He made the stars also", this is a definite sign that the Bible
is inspired by man. It is clear that man could not have perceived that
the stars were the same as the sun, but in most cases much larger.
Naturally they thought that these specks were just thrown about. The
verse should read "God created the stars and planetary objects, he also
made the earth, sun, and moon". But man, in those days, would have never
seen it that way.
Isaiah 13:10 also says
that the moon is a source of light. "moon shall not cause her light to
shine." Again this is another example of the Bible seeming to be inspired
by man and limited to his own perception.
Animals in the Bible
The Bible is also pretty good at
inaccurately depicting animals. Pretty odd since it is the supposed word
of the being who created them.
According to Leviticus 11:5-6
Rabbits (Coney) chew their cud and because of this they are unclean. Last
time I checked, rabbits don't chew cud.
According to the Bible, our brother
mammal, the bat, is a bird. This one has been debated through e-mail
quite a bit, but if one looks in Leviticus 11:13 a list of
Fowls is started, and the Bat is included in this list in Leviticus
11:19.
The locust, grasshopper, and beetle
all have four feet according to Leviticus 11:22, then in the
next verse, it mentions a group of flying animals with four feet. I can't
think of any.
