ok. i gots a question....

[J3K]

I am sitting here debating with people over god being real or not. and the credibility of the bible. and somebody just said that the bible said the earth was round, before we discovered this fact. That was their claim for the bible being true. This seems a little false to me. Can somebody help me out with this?

[Martin]

It says something about the 'circle of the Earth'. So - no, it's not accurate.

[no one in particular]

It seems to me that The Bible claimed just the opposite, i.e. flatness. Revelations 7.1 states the following.


And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.

Of course fundamentalist are able to make flimsy apologies for this line. I think this may be the line that has the Time Cube guy all worked up.

Edited to add this (http://www.answering-christianity.com/earth_flat.htm) link that goes into more, much more detail. Although these folks have their own agenda...

[prettygirlsmakegrave]

Read Holy Blood, Holy Grail the author isn't popping into my head but you can surely find it on amazon or another book store.
Its a heavy read but it covers everything you could imagine when it come to how the Bible can be disproved.

[Rose]

Jesus was on the mountaintop with Satan, and looked down upon all the world. This makes for a flat earth, or a disc shaped earth. if the writers of the bible had realized the earth was a globe, this descrption couldn't have passed "God's Inspired Writings."

[Beleth]

Originally posted by J3K
somebody just said that the bible said the earth was round, before we discovered this fact. That was their claim for the bible being true. This seems a little false to me. Can somebody help me out with this? Well, yeah... the somebody that claimed the Bible said that the earth was round can help you. Have them show you where the Bible says that.

And remember that the knowledge that the Earth was round has been around since at least the Greeks.

[c4ts]

The only way you can reasonably argue for the existence of a God is to completely ignore the bible and argue for the possibility of the existence of a being that is in some way connected with the infinite. Of course, you can unreasonably argue for the existence God by begging the question, which is what you seem to be describing.

[kourama]

Originally posted by prettygirlsmakegrave
Read Holy Blood, Holy Grail the author isn't popping into my head but you can surely find it on amazon or another book store.
Its a heavy read but it covers everything you could imagine when it come to how the Bible can be disproved.

Never read that one, will eagerly add it to my library though. :)

But, for my money (US$75) nothing covers the subject of biblical fallability like C. Dennis McKinsey's The Encyclopaedia of Biblical Errancy. It is in bite-size chunks, semi-reminiscint of swift ("seventhly, eighthly...twenty-fourthly" etc), but comprehensive. Also there's a cool blurb about the Qu'Ran and the Apocrypha at the end.

[neutrino_cannon]

There are parts that would, as mentioned before, would seem to imply that the earth is round. There is the bit about the four corners, and you can play dueling scriptures all day, not get anywhere, and the book still means nothing.

Think of it this way, it mentions Jerusalem, right? Jerusalem is a real place. The Bible mentions the garden of eden, right? Therefore eden must be real as well.

[Loki]

J2K,

...and somebody just said that the bible said the earth was round, before we discovered this fact
I can't recall the versus (and don't have time to chase it down at the moment) but the bible (in at least one translation) does refer to the Earth as a "disc". It's debatable whether this is really a stunningly accurate bit of info. It's another question whether this "revelation" occured before the Earth's shape was known.

Try a simple experiment. Go into the desert, stand on a hill. Hold a staff vertically in your outstretched hand so that the end is touching the sand. Point your finger at the horizon, and turn around, keeping you finger on the horizon the entire time. Look down - see the "disc".

[neutrino_cannon]

:confused:

What does this prove? how?

I'm confused, it seems all this would show is that the horizon is round. The question is whether it drops off graually after that.

[Loki]

neutrino,

What does this prove? how?
Just a simple example of how the Earth's shape might have been considered a "disc", even in ancient times. Has nothing to do with "sphere", of course.

[RonSceptic]

Originally posted by prettygirlsmakegrave
Read Holy Blood, Holy Grail the author isn't popping into my head but you can surely find it on amazon or another book store.
Its a heavy read but it covers everything you could imagine when it come to how the Bible can be disproved.

Beware this book. It has been comprehensively debunked regarding it's central premise. The 'parchment' which holds the key to the sacred geometry is in fact a 1950's forgery. All of the stuff about the ancient order of the Priory Of Scion is nonsense.

Several years back the BBC documemntary 'The History of a Mystery' demonstated how, with a little careful research, the authors of this book might not have fallen into the trap they did.

Certainly the sections about the new testament are entertaining, but they are simple speculation. The rest is, sadly, an example of bad history.

[Ruby]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by J3K
[B]I am sitting here debating with people over god being real or not. and the credibility of the bible. and somebody just said that the bible said the earth was round, before we discovered this fact. That was their claim for the bible being true. This seems a little false to me. Can somebody help me out with this?"<<

<font color=red>Hi, I'm not a bible scholar, but I'll try and help you out. :-)

Isaiah 40:22 says "It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in." (NASB)

The word "circle" also carries the meaning of *vault* *circuit* and *compass* in the Hebrew.

Bible references are Job 22:14 "Clouds are a hiding place for Him, so that He cannot see; And He walks on the vault of heaven.' "

and Proverbs 8:27 "When He established the heavens, I was there, When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,.."

Hope that helps.

[Ruby]

<font color=red>Revelation 7:1 is a good passage to site.

Rev. 7:1 says "After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. (NKJV)

The words *four corners* might look like it is could be talking about a flat earth, but I don't think it is. I only say that due to looking into the original Greek and looking at other verses that talk about it.

Rev. 20: 8: "and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. "

"Four corners" is also translated as "four quarters". Based on translation and other bible references, it seems more logical that the term "four corners" refers to compass points.....North, South, East and West.