Any insightful science in the Bible?

[disciple Clint]

Like I said,

There are a large number of Bible verses that are compatible with a flat earth and incompatible with a spherical earth. e.g. The Flat-Earth Bible.
Are you aware of ANY Bible verses that are compatible with a spherical earth and incompatible with a flat earth?​

In a flat earth the people are below and they could theoretically all be seen. If the earth is spherical many of the people are on the opposite side, upside down....

I think tents are always propped up on a flat surface - like a flat earth rather than a spherical one. Do you see how in those two examples it was compatible with a flat earth and not a spherical one?
Also:

With a flat earth it is clear what "above" means. With a spherical earth, in some ways a throne "above" the earth is also "below" it....

Your examples do not consider that God is omnipresent, He does not have a visual perspective like we have.

 

[JohnClay]

Your examples do not consider that God is omnipresent, He does not have a visual perspective like we have.

Isaiah 40:22 says:

He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
​

Like I mentioned in my previous post I think all three parts are compatible with a flat earth and not compatible with a spherical earth. Well except for the "circle of the earth" part - that is compatible with a spherical earth.

The grasshopper part implies that God is at a distance (on his throne "above" the earth). "Enthroned" implies that in this verse God is said to be in a single place. That is similar to the "holy of holies" in the Tabernacle.

 

[Larniavc]

Here is a great expression of pi that was written about 300 years before Archimedes was born:

1Ki 7:23
He made the sea of cast metal, ten cubits from its one lip unto its other lip, circular round about; five cubits was its rise, and a measuring tape of thirty cubits would surround it round about.

It’s wrong, though. Pi is famously not three.

 

[klutedavid]

Is there anything related to physics, chemistry, biology, geology, astronomy, etc that is mentioned in the Bible that couldn't have just been reasoned about by thinkers and philosophers of the time? i.e. that suggests that the knowledge came from God rather than from people of the time?

Sometimes I hear about hygiene (which doctors didn't bother with until around the mid 1800s).... but that might just be about ceremonial cleanliness.

The Bible could have said that more than a thousand thousand thousand years ago the heavens were created as a speck that was incredibly hot. Then it spread out and formed the stars. Then more than a thousand thousand thousand years later the Sun, Earth and "wandering stars" (planets) were formed. (rather than the Bible seeming to say that the stars were formed before the Earth)

If you think those numbers are too big for the Bible consider these:
1 Chronicles 21:5 - 1,100,000 ("eleven times one hundred thousand")
Revelation 5:11 - "ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands"

Or it could have said that our mind comes from our head.... instead it seems to be saying that our mental abilities come from our heart and gut, etc.

Note that I don't think there is anything in the Bible that contradicts the idea that the Earth is flat. Isaiah 40:22's "circle of the earth" could be interpreted as talking about a ball but it doesn't contradict the idea that the earth is a flat disc.

Apparently some Christians say that the Bible isn't meant to be a science textbook. But I think its poetry could involve real science rather than seem to involve a very non-scientific world-view.

Creationists would say that the universe is really only a few thousand years old, just like the Bible implies but do you have any evidence that the universe is that old besides the genealogies in Genesis?

Would knowing the age of the earth make any difference to anyone's life?

What difference does it make if the earth is 10 000 years old or 1 billion years old?

Science has a limited scope.

Science cannot determine if God exists.

Science really has no idea how the universe began.

According to String Theory there may well be other universes, who cares.

We only live for a handful decades after we leave school. I cannot see the importance of an understanding of cosmology and how that relates to life.

 

[JohnClay]

Would knowing the age of the earth make any difference to anyone's life?

What difference does it make if the earth is 10 000 years old or 1 billion years old?

Assuming that the Earth is 4.5 billion years old it is easier to argue that the Bible is inspired if the Bible said it was billions of years old rather than giving the impression that it is thousands of years old....

....We only live for a handful decades after we leave school. I cannot see the importance of an understanding of cosmology and how that relates to life.

A large proportion of astrophysicists don't believe in God or at least that God doesn't intervene in daily life (if they believe that God can explain the origin of the Big Bang). For astrophysicists that do believe they have figured out a way to fit the Bible with the idea that the universe is about 13 billion years old.

 

[JohnClay]

No I think there are six or so that Ross cites.

Astrophysics Points to the God of the Bible

Something that seems to be missing from that list is any Biblical support that the Earth is incredibly ancient.... and that the stars are even more ancient than the Earth.... and by ancient I mean more than a few thousand years old....

 

[disciple Clint]

Something that seems to be missing from that list is any Biblical support that the Earth is incredibly ancient.... and that the stars are even more ancient than the Earth.... and by ancient I mean more than a few thousand years old....

Is there anything in the Bible that says that all those things could not have existed for an extensive time before God decided to do something with them?

 

[JohnClay]

Is there anything in the Bible that says that all those things could not have existed for an extensive time before God decided to do something with them?

That sounds like Old Earth Creationism or Theistic Evolution or Gap Theory.... I think they believe something like that....

Old Earth Creation Science Belief Systems

Evolution and Creation Science, The Bible Taught It First (a "tract" comic about YEC vs OEC)

 

[coffee4u]

Like I said,

There are a large number of Bible verses that are compatible with a flat earth and incompatible with a spherical earth. e.g. The Flat-Earth Bible.
Are you aware of ANY Bible verses that are compatible with a spherical earth and incompatible with a flat earth?​

In a flat earth the people are below and they could theoretically all be seen. If the earth is spherical many of the people are on the opposite side, upside down....

I think tents are always propped up on a flat surface - like a flat earth rather than a spherical one. Do you see how in those two examples it was compatible with a flat earth and not a spherical one?
Also:

With a flat earth it is clear what "above" means. With a spherical earth, in some ways a throne "above" the earth is also "below" it....

No I don't, no more than the trees have hands to clap with.
Isaiah 55:12
You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Notice, this is also from Isaiah.

If you want to quote actual Bible passages from a real Bible I will look at them. Not something calling itself the Flat-Earth Bible.

If you want to believe the earth is flat be my guest, but if you want to build a doctrine you will need more than poetry. I am assuming you do understand what poetic license is.
License or liberty taken by a poet, prose writer, or other artist in deviating from rule, conventional form, logic, or fact, in order to produce a desired effect.

God doesn't need a flat earth to see us all nor is he a man sitting on a throne 'above us'. God is spirit and everywhere.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Like I said,

There are a large number of Bible verses that are compatible with a flat earth and incompatible with a spherical earth. e.g. The Flat-Earth Bible.
Are you aware of ANY Bible verses that are compatible with a spherical earth and incompatible with a flat earth?​

In a flat earth the people are below and they could theoretically all be seen. If the earth is spherical many of the people are on the opposite side, upside down....

I think tents are always propped up on a flat surface - like a flat earth rather than a spherical one. Do you see how in those two examples it was compatible with a flat earth and not a spherical one?
Also:

With a flat earth it is clear what "above" means. With a spherical earth, in some ways a throne "above" the earth is also "below" it....

If the earth is God's "footstool" his throne must be above it at all times, looking down on it.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

It’s wrong, though. Pi is famously not three.

Any insightful science in the Bible?

 

[OldWiseGuy]

It’s wrong, though. Pi is famously not three.

Pi isn't suggested by the description.

The brim was flared "like a teacup" outward 4 inches all around and measured 10 cubits across.

Diameter of laver body = 9.55 cubits (30 cubits divided by 3.14).

 

[OldWiseGuy]

The water cycle is clearly mentioned.

Genesis 2:6
But there went up a mist (vapor) from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

 

[Larniavc]

Pi isn't suggested by the description.

The brim was flared "like a teacup" outward 4 inches all around and measured 10 cubits across.

Diameter of laver body = 9.55 cubits (30 cubits divided by 3.14).

Where does it say that?

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Where does it say that?

Right there, in the account.

 

[Larniavc]

Right there, in the account.

“1Ki 7:23
He made the sea of cast metal, ten cubits from its one lip unto its other lip, circular round about; five cubits was its rise, and a measuring tape of thirty cubits would surround it round about”

Nothing about a rim?

 

[OldWiseGuy]

“1Ki 7:23
He made the sea of cast metal, ten cubits from its one lip unto its other lip, circular round about; five cubits was its rise, and a measuring tape of thirty cubits would surround it round about”

Nothing about a rim?

Read on for the details.

 

[Larniavc]

Read on for the details.

But that’s what you added. Did it say that in the Bible?

 

[OldWiseGuy]

But that’s what you added. Did it say that in the Bible?

Just three verses more and you would have had it.

1 Kings 7:26
26 And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.

 

[Larniavc]

1 Kings 7:26
26 And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.

With no measurements of the brim I can’t see how this changes anything.

The Bible thinks pi is 3. Which is wrong.