- Joined
- Feb 9, 2013
- Messages
- 1,965
- Points
- 0
Conservative Christians: Most believe that the Bible not only contains the Word of God, but is the Word of God. They believe that God inspired the authors of the Bible so that their writings were free of error; i.e. inerrant. Religious conservatives generally interpret bible passages literally. This produces a conflict with those verses which deal with cosmology:
bullet They believe that the entire Bible was without error, in its original autograph form. It remains without error today, except for minor mistakes by copyists. Thus, those passages that deal with cosmology must be accurate and correct.
bullet Almost all religious conservatives accept the modern view of cosmology: that the earth is more or less spherical, that the Earth revolves around the Sun, and that the stars are distant from the earth by enormous distances that cannot be easily understood.
bullet When interpreted literally, many biblical passages clearly describe an ancient, Pagan, view of the earth, heaven and the rest of the cosmos. For example:
-Genesis 1 discusses a rigid firmament dividing the waters below on earth from the waters above in heaven. It further describes the earthen waters as being moved aside to expose the land.
-Genesis 7 discusses the windows of heaven as being opened so that the water of the world-wide flood could be poured onto the earth.
-Genesis 11 describes the efforts of humanity to build the Tower of Babel which would reach to the firmament and thus penetrate into heaven.
-Exodus 20:4 describes the universe as consisting of three levels -- much like a hamburger. Above is heaven; the Earth is below; under the earth is a deep sea of water: It reads: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
-Joshua 10 discusses how the sun, which was believed to move across the sky every day, stopped in its tracks.
-Verses in the Psalms mention repeatedly that God is above the earth, looking down on humans.
-Many passages in the Hebrew Scriptures deal with the ritual sacrifice of animals and describe how the sweet odor of cooking flesh can be smelled by God who is in Heaven above.
Most conservative Christians isolate any biblical cosmological verses which are literally untrue, and either:
-Interpret them symbolically or
-Assign alternative English translations to the original Hebrew words. It is important to realize that conservative Christians do not generally believe that English translations of the Bible are inerrant; only the original Hebrew and Greek have that status.
They also point out that the ancient Hebrews "lacked the scientific terminology [that] we use to describe things today. we should not expect descriptions of 'tectonic plates' or of 'molten lava.'...the Hebrews lacked key words which would have been most useful in describing cosmological phenomena."
bullet They believe that the entire Bible was without error, in its original autograph form. It remains without error today, except for minor mistakes by copyists. Thus, those passages that deal with cosmology must be accurate and correct.
bullet Almost all religious conservatives accept the modern view of cosmology: that the earth is more or less spherical, that the Earth revolves around the Sun, and that the stars are distant from the earth by enormous distances that cannot be easily understood.
bullet When interpreted literally, many biblical passages clearly describe an ancient, Pagan, view of the earth, heaven and the rest of the cosmos. For example:
-Genesis 1 discusses a rigid firmament dividing the waters below on earth from the waters above in heaven. It further describes the earthen waters as being moved aside to expose the land.
-Genesis 7 discusses the windows of heaven as being opened so that the water of the world-wide flood could be poured onto the earth.
-Genesis 11 describes the efforts of humanity to build the Tower of Babel which would reach to the firmament and thus penetrate into heaven.
-Exodus 20:4 describes the universe as consisting of three levels -- much like a hamburger. Above is heaven; the Earth is below; under the earth is a deep sea of water: It reads: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
-Joshua 10 discusses how the sun, which was believed to move across the sky every day, stopped in its tracks.
-Verses in the Psalms mention repeatedly that God is above the earth, looking down on humans.
-Many passages in the Hebrew Scriptures deal with the ritual sacrifice of animals and describe how the sweet odor of cooking flesh can be smelled by God who is in Heaven above.
Most conservative Christians isolate any biblical cosmological verses which are literally untrue, and either:
-Interpret them symbolically or
-Assign alternative English translations to the original Hebrew words. It is important to realize that conservative Christians do not generally believe that English translations of the Bible are inerrant; only the original Hebrew and Greek have that status.
They also point out that the ancient Hebrews "lacked the scientific terminology [that] we use to describe things today. we should not expect descriptions of 'tectonic plates' or of 'molten lava.'...the Hebrews lacked key words which would have been most useful in describing cosmological phenomena."
Last edited:
