Except that that would violate the laws of Euclidian geometry. Circles have
no thickness to the line that enscribes them; hence there is not "outer" or
"inner" areas to a circle with regard to either circumference or diameter.
The bowl is composed of two circles separated by a specific distance that
corresponds to the thickness of the bowl. The circumference of the inner
circle is determined by the inner diameter, not by the outer diameter. And
the circumference of the outer circle is determined by the outer diameter,
not the inner diameter. Any attempt to determine the circumference of any
circle using some value other than its diameter violates the laws of
Euclidian geometry.
Since the circumference of the bowl stated in the Bible is almost certainly
the outer circumference, the diameter given must be the outer diameter,
except that it should still be only 9.5 cubits based on the value of pi,
unless the bowl was based on non-Euclidian geometry.
And again, everyone is missing the point. **I** agree that the dimensions
of the bowl do not correspond to the same circle, but in saying that I am
not using the kind of super-literal, face-value approach to Scripture that
Vernon says is the only true way of interpreting Scripture. Using his
approach, we must assume that the dimensions describe the same circle, which
in turn means the value of pi must be 3.0000, not 3.1416 as the godless
mathematicians claim.
Kevin L. O'Brien