We get the "Bible is not true" argument from atheists all the time. I understand that this is their POV. But simply having that as a POV does not make it true.
You need to think that one through
belief in evolutionism ignores a massive amount of young earth geochronometers
helium diffusion, ocean salinity, or magnetic field decay, micrometeor dust accumulation, river delta formation, ... data to suggests rapid geological change and a young age.
Even in belief systems such as evolutionism, there are multiple mass extinction events and a reliance on punctuated equilibrium rather than slow uniform change over time.
If one decides to ditch the Bible, then bend and wrench the text to fit whatever the latest speculation is for the age of the Earth... then please don't respond as if we all made that "same commitment" as our starting point.
Gen 1:6
6 Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters."
Gen 1 says birds fly in the midst of that expanse.
20 Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens
Bible details matter.
Genesis was written in Hebrew not Greek and the Hebrew word used is not limited to "iron dome"
Rather it includes the idea of an open expanse where birds can fly
We get the "Bible is not true" argument from atheists all the time. . . .
If one decides to ditch the Bible, then bend and wrench the text to fit whatever the latest speculation is for the age of the Earth... then please don't respond as if we all made that "same commitment" as our starting point.
From the earliest days of the young earth creationism movement, the hallmark of the movement has been flagrant dishonesty and the deceitful manipulation of facts. No one is saying or implying that the Bible is not true and no one is ditching the Bible. Indeed, the very opposite is true. Our position has always been that the Bible is of such immense importance that is deserves to be very carefully and prayerfully studied taking good advantage of the most recent and helpful tools available today to aid in our understanding and appreciation of it. Moreover, the age of the earth is not a matter of speculation but a matter of a very well established fact.
In the academic world where accuracy is of prime importance, the Second Edition of the Revised Standard Version (1971) was until recently the most often quoted translation of the Bible (in any language) in academic literature. With the publication of the New Revised Standard Version in 1989, that began to change rapidly making the New Revised Standard Version the academic standard. With the publication of the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition in 2022, this new edition may replace the earlier edition as the academic standard. The Revised Standard Version and the revisions of it became the academic standards because the translators had available to them the invaluable resources of Oxford University. However, hundreds of years earlier, the first five books of the Tanakh were translated into Greek giving us the first part of the Septuagint. In the Septuagint, Genesis 1:6-8 reads,
Gen. 1:6. Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεός γενηθήτω στερέωμα ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ ὕδατος καὶ ἔστω διαχωρίζον ἀνὰ μέσον ὕδατος καὶ ὕδατος. καὶ ἐγένετο οὕτως.
7. καὶ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸ στερέωμα, καὶ διεχώρισεν ὁ θεὸς ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ ὕδατος, ὃ ἦν ὑποκάτω τοῦ στερεώματος, καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ ὕδατος τοῦ ἐπάνω τοῦ στερεώματος.
8. καὶ ἐκάλεσεν ὁ θεὸς τὸ στερέωμα οὐρανόν. καὶ εἶδεν ὁ θεὸς ὅτι καλόν. καὶ ἐγένετο ἑσπέρα καὶ ἐγένετο πρωί, ἡμέρα δευτέρα.
The Greek word στερέωμα is used in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew word רָקִיעַ, and expresses the concept of “
the sky as a supporting structure, the firmament.” (BDAG, the italics are theirs). This Greek word is also found in Paul’s writings to express the concept of a
“state or condition of firm commitment, firmness, steadfastness” (BDAG, the italics are theirs),
Col. 2.5. εἰ γὰρ καὶ τῇ σαρκὶ ἄπειμι, ἀλλὰ τῷ πνεύματι σὺν ὑμῖν εἰμι, χαίρων καὶ βλέπων ὑμῶν τὴν τάξιν καὶ τὸ στερέωμα τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως ὑμῶν. (NA28)
Col. 2.5. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, and I rejoice to see your morale and the firmness of your faith in Christ. (NRSV)
The Greek word στερέωμα is also found in a number of other ancient Greek writings where it always expresses the concepts of something solid, strength, firmness or steadfastness. Indeed, all hands (even the folks at Answers in Genesis!) freely admit that this Greek word expresses in Genesis the concept of a ‘solid, supporting structure.’
The Septuagint was the Bible of the Early Church until it was superseded by the Latin Vulgate, which also expressly describes the creation of a flat earth covered with a dome that “separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome.” The Wycliffe Bible reads,
6 And God seide, The firmament be maad in the myddis of watris, and departe watrisfro watris.
7And God made the firmament, and departide the watristhat weren vndurthe firmament fro these watris that weren on the firmament; and it was don so.
8 And God clepide the firmament, heuene. And the euentid and morwetid was maad, the secounde dai.
The NRSV correctly translates the Hebrew word רָקִיעַ as “dome.” The evidence for the correctness of this translation is found in the use of this word in ancient Hebrew literature. Based upon this usage, the Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament by Brown, Driver, and Briggs published by Oxford University gives us the following meaning of it in Gen. 1:6, 7, and 8, “the vault of heaven, or ‘firmament,’ regarded by Hebrews as solid, and supporting ‘waters’ above it.” (p. 956)
In the
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, we find an excellent article (Vol. III, pp. 568-569 [two lengthy columns of fine print per page] on the word רָקִיעַ. Of special importance is the following from the article,
The verb רָקַע, raká, means to expand by beating, whether by the hand, the foot, or any instrument. It is especially used, however, of beating out metals into thin plates (Exod. xxxix, 3, Numb. xvi, 39), and hence the substantive רַקֻּעַים “broad plates” of metal (Numb. 16:38). (The italics are theirs).
This takes us to the absurd mistranslation, “expanse.” The verb רָקַע, raká, means to expand
by beating, and that which is expanded becomes an "expanse." But, of course, the translators do not want you to know that that which is expanded is always a solid substance.
