Confidence in your beliefs.

neologist wrote:

Perhaps an adjective is required to describe my faith. Nevertheless, I continue testing.

That's why I participate in this board.

'

Anyone who are more faithful than ever after a serious religious debate is in my mind more stubborn than enlightened.

If you want to call ignorant hillbillies "mighty men of God" be my guest, but in any case when they presumably "questioned and wavered at times"

nah...isaiah said the earth was round...

nah...isaiah said the earth was round...

The visions of my head as I lay in bed were these: I saw, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth; and its height was great. The tree grew and became strong, and its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth. (Daniel 4:10-11)

The "whole" earth? No matter how tall the tree was, even if it was only a dream, it would not have been visible from the other side of the earth.

Hopeful believers in the scientific wisdom found in the Bible ignore the verse above and point to a verse in Isaiah which they think shows that the Bible writers knew the earth was a sphere. They believe that the word "circle" could actually mean "sphere," since both are round, but they ignore Isaiah's use of a different word in another verse where he speaks of a "ball." Here are the two verses:

To whom then will ye liken God? ....It is he that sitteth upon the circle (chuwg) of the earth (Isaiah 40:18-23

He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a BALL (duwr) into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord's house. (Isaiah 22:18)

The Hebrew word used in scripture for "circle" in the verse above is chuwg. If the Bible writer had meant for us to believe that "circle of the earth" meant that the earth was round, the writer would have used the Hebrew word for "ball," which is duwr. The fact that Isaiah didn't use duwr shows that he wasn't trying to tell us the earth was like a ball.

Furthermore, there exists a simple interpretation of "circle of the earth" which does not imply a spherical earth. On a hill overlooking a wide expanse free of tall trees and other hills the horizon appears as a perfect circle, 360 degrees of blue sky. If Isaiah meant to tell us the earth was a globe, he would have used another word. A circle is not a ball, nor is a ball a circle. Everyone knew what a "circle" was in those times; it meant the same then as it means today.

those verses you gave in psalms are not literal. they are in reference to the Messiah's millenial reign and how he "firmly establishes" ,manages the chaos on earth. the other verses are just talking of God's sovereignty and how he created an earth that will not be destroyed by others. i don't see where these "hillbillies" call the earth flat. your just giving a bad isogesus of the text.

Chumly wouldn't recognize a figure of speech even if the camel walked through the eye of the needle and sat on him.

Chumly wouldn't recognize a figure of speech even if the camel walked through the eye of the needle and sat on him.

Quote:

Chumly wouldn't recognize a figure of speech even if the camel walked through the eye of the needle and sat on him.