From: <PHSEELY@aol.com>
> When the writer of Genesis says, "And the waters prevailed exceedingly
upon
> the
> earth; and all the high mountains that were under the whole heaven were
> covered," he is speaking of the flat earth of the universe of Gen 1 which
is
> capped by a solid firmament and has an ocean of water surrounding both
heaven
> and earth. It is the surrounding ocean, the ocean above the firmament and
> upon which the flat earth is floating, which is the source of the water in
> Gen 7:11 that floods the earth. The "earth" mentioned in the Flood
account,
> because of the action of Gen 7:11, collapses back to a state close to that
in
> which it was in Gen 1:2. If you remove the solid firmament, you dismantle
the
> universe upon which the account is based and lose the surrounding ocean of
> water which is the source of the Flood----and therewith the universality
of
> the Flood.
The idea that the writers of the Bible believed in a flat earth as it is
thought other ancients believed is strictly your interpretation of the
Bible. (Well not just yours alone, for others believe this fable too.) As
you say, and I believe it too, the Bible is not a scientific document. I
does, however, record reliable observations of the natural world. It does
not matter whether they had the same understanding of nature we have or not.
While it may be interesting to try to see what the ancients thought, that
does not mean that it is correct. It does not mean that that is the only
way to understand the texts and descriptions is they way it is thought they
did. It is entirely valid to take their descriptions and interpret them
within current understandings.
Allen
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