The fool-proof christianic mental model:
Take literally- talking snake, life can come from dusk, walking bush, parting the sea, walking on water, prayer can heal medical conditions, etc
Take non-literally - fix, firm, immovable, cannot be shaken, create the moon as light, circumcision, etc
Here's a reply I am quoting from someone else that again shows how DIVA is really FAILED. LOL!
Actually, what the author and those he sites as his authorities have failed to do is to take into consideration that the Hebrew term for earth, eretz, does not always refer to the earth as a globe per se. The term has different meanings in different contexts. Hence, the author has committed a word fallacy, also known as the etymological fallacy, attributing the root meaning to a word as opposed to allowing the context to define what the word means.
For instance, the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew lexicon defines eretz as:
Strong's No. 776 : 'erets {eh'-rets}
Word Usage in KJV:
land 1543, earth 712, country 140, ground 98, world 4, way 3, common 1, field 1, nations 1, wilderness 1;
Definition(s)
1) land, earth
a) earth
1) whole earth (as opposed to a part)
2) earth (as opposed to heaven)
3) earth (inhabitants)
b) land
1) country, territory
2) district, region
3) tribal territory
4) piece of ground
5) land of Canaan, Israel
6) inhabitants of land
7) Sheol, land without return, (under) world
8) city (-state)
c) ground, surface of the earth
1) ground
2) soil
d) (in phrases)
1) people of the land
2) space or distance of country (in measurements of distance)
3) level or plain country
4) land of the living
5) end(s) of the earth
e) (almost wholly late in usage)
1) lands, countries
a) often in contrast to Canaan
(Source: Blue Letter Bible)
Examples of the different ways the Bible uses the term include:
"And God said let the waters under heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let dry land (eretz) appear; and it was so. And called the dry land (eretz) Earth (eretz); and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas and God saw that it was goo." Genesis 1:9-10 KJV
The Holy Bible clearly states that God specifically named the dry land "earth". This strongly implies that when a Bible writer speaks of the earth's foundations or that the earth is fixed it does not necessarily imply that the global structure of the earth is in view. As noted Christian Scientist Dr. Henry Morris states in his commentary on Psalm 104:5, a verse cited by the author above:
"foundations of the earth. The earth's 'matter,' the 'dust of the earth' or its physical elements, was created on the first day of the creation week, evidently suspended in the pervasive waters. The earth's foundations, solid, continental blocks of material, were not laid until the third day, rising out of the waters. Once formed, this planet earth was destined to continue forever." (Morris, The Defenders Study Bible-King James Version [Word Publishing, Grand Rapids MI, 1995], p. 649)
