Bible Question (short): What is God's description of the Earth? |
Question (full): Dear truthfisher, It is so refreshing to have read your post. I too am a fisher of truth. As I was once a Catholic, I did do some research on that persecuted fellow you talked about. Magellan was the first to sail completely around the world in 1521. The men persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church for their theories on the earth being round and in motion were Bruno and Galileo. Bruno was burned at the stake in 1600 and Galileo was tried and convicted of heresy in 1632. By the way, in 1992, 350 years later the Vatican pardoned Galileo. The sad part of it all is the church relied on the bible to conclude the earth was the center of the universe and indeed flat. How did that impression come about? Well here are the verses that led them to that conclusion: The earth does not move: 1 Chr 16:30, "Fear before him, all the earth: the world also shall be stable, that it be not moved." Ps 93:1, "...the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved." Ps 96:10, "Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved:..." Ps 104: 5, "Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever." The earth rests on pillars: 1 Sam 2:8,"...for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them." Job 9:6, "Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble." Ps 75:3, "The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it." The earth has ends: Job 28:24, " For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven." Job 37:3, "He directeth it under the whole heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the earth." Job 38:13, "That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?" Jer 10:13,"...and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth;..." Rom 10:18, "...Their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world." The earth has foundations and corners: Isa 11:12, "...and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth." Eze 7:2, "...thus saith the Lord God unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land." Job 38:4, "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding." Job 38:6, "Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof?" Rev 7:1, "And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth,..." The earth is stretched and spread out: Isa 42:5, "Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it;..." Dan 4:11, "The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight therof to the end of all the earth." Zec 9:10, "...and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth." Mat 4:8, "Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the golry of them;" Rev 1:7, "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him,..." It seemed like overwhelming and conclusive evidence that the earth was flat. The Catholic Church felt absolutely sure they were right about the earth being the center of the universe as the story of creation told them that God created the sun, moon and stars on the fourth day. Genesis 1:14-19. They believed the sun was made to rule the day and the moon was made to rule the night. They also believed the sun revolved around the earth. Josh 10:12-13,"...So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day." Ecc 1:5, "The sun also riseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose." One wonders if God could only have told Moses that in the beginning He created the heavens and the earth and among the multitude of heavenly bodies He said let there be a ball of fire the shape of the earth many times its size. Let this ball of fire be a source of light and energy to all living things on the earth. Let the earth rotate on its own axis giving it its days and nights and revolve around the sun giving it its four seasons of the year. And the evening and the morning would be the first day. My question is why did God choose the more elusive and confusing description of how He created the heavens and the earth? What do you think? Thank you for your interest in my question. pukalanian |