Re: Hyers' Article - Cods Wallop

Dick wrote,

> Hope you two (apostles) don't mind my interjecting a thought. The Bible
> writers also thought the earth was flat. When they spoke of earth or land, to
> them it was flat. Today, we know it is a sphere. So when they spoke of
> "earth," were they wrong because they didn't understand its shape? I don't think
> so. The word "earth" is still valid as a description of what lies under our
> feet, round or flat.
>
> And if we know the "raqia'" is gaseous where they might have thought it was
> solid, what difference does that make? I'm not as interested in what the
> Bible writers understood as I am about what the Holy Spirit chose to communicate
> through them. The writers were selected to write the Scriptures. They had
> no special knowledge. We can't get hung up on their lack of scientific
> expertise.
>
> But let's be practical for a minute. What could they have thought was
> solid? The sun and moon would have to be between the earth and this "solid
> barrier." The planets move about with freedom. Nothing solid between us and the
> planets. Can't see stars if they are behind something solid. So if any solid
> barrier had been thought to be in existence it would have to be located
> beyond the sun, moon, planets and stars. Is that what they thought?
>
> I know they were uneducated men compared to the knowledge base we have
> today. But I don't believe they were stupid.
>

I agree that "I'm not as interested in what the Bible writers understood as I
am about what the Holy Spirit chose to communicate through them. The writers
were selected to write the Scriptures. They had no special knowledge. We
can't get hung up on their lack of scientific expertise." But, Peter and many
others expect the Bible to never disagree with scientific truth. That
expectation is not solidly founded upon biblical revelation and results in all sorts of
idiosyncratic interpretations by concordists which only distort the Bible and
by all sorts of idiosyncratic interpretations of geology, astronomy, etc. by
"creationists" which distort the sciences. If Christians would use the Bible
just to find the spiritual truth it was given to impart, I would not need to
point out that it is accommodated to the science of the times.

You ask, "So if any solid barrier had been thought to be in existence it
would have to be located beyond the sun, moon, planets and stars. Is that what
they thought?" The answer is, that is exactly what they (and numerous other
peoples) thought, and there is considerable evidence to support that conclusion.
Bear in mind that they thought the stars were as small as they look and not
all that far away. To understand where they got the idea of a solid firmament
above the stars, go the beach or the desert where you have a virtually unbounded
view of the sky at night, and you will see the stars with the sky shaped like
a dome in back of them and hence above them. It is that simple observation
which gave people the idea that the sky was a solid dome above not only the sun
which they saw moving below the sky during the day, but above all the stars as
well.

Paul
Received on Wed Feb 25 15:05:32 2004