May 15, 2011

  • Balancing Scripture with Reason

    In the 1600′s, Galileo Galilei promoted the idea that the earth revolves around the sun. The Catholic Church at the time condemned his discoveries as heretical. He was also placed under house arrest for the rest of his life. Many Bible verses, which I pasted below, were presented as a defense of a flat, immovable earth. Obviously this incident was ultimately an embarrassment for those who interpreted these Scriptures literally while hating those who interpreted them differently. What can we learn from this incident? In my opinion, we can learn that when Jesus talked about being nonjudgmental, he probably meant it. Also, we should embrace truth even if it is not fully supported or encouraged in the Bible. But I don’t want to simply preach from my soap box, so what are your thoughts on this?


    “that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?  (NIV, Job 38:13)”

    “He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven and sends it to the ends of the earth.  (NIV, Job 37:3)”

    “for he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.  (NIV, Job 28:24)”

    “Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea.  (NIV, Job 11:9)”

    Isaiah 11:12
    12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. (KJV)

    Revelation 7:1
    1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on 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. (KJV)

    Job 38:13
    13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it? (KJV)

    Jeremiah 16:19
    19 O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. (KJV)

    Daniel 4:11
    11 The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the ends of all the earth: (KJV)

Comments (2)

  • This is the corner that Christians, Jew’s, and Muslims find themselves in with their respective books of Spirituality.  

    We have to have a perfect God and the Books we use as a guide need to be perfect as well.  
    So there are numerous other OBVIOUS problems than the ones you pointed out that cause problems for the perfect breathed word of God title that so many give to the Bible.
    Take Psalms 23.  Verbatim quote from the Egyptian Book of the Dead and predates the Bible writing by a few thousand years.  What gives?  Did the Egyptians have it right and there is a Valley and who then is the rob and staff that guides us for his name sake? What would that mean to the story of Jesus? And how can he be preparing a table before my enemies?  Is Hell perhaps in a spot different than we thought????????????
    The Zoroastrian influence from the time the Jews were rescued from Babylon.  Obviously new concepts and practices came after this influence.  The whole Jesus story.  At least 5 other virgin born half gods having angels announcing their birth with stars above their respective mangers predate the story of Jesus by 300 to 4000 plus years.
    Then you have that foundational concept taught by the churches founders and validated through Apostle Creed and scripture 1Peter 3:18 (somewhere in Acts as well) that after his death Jesus descended into Hell for a few days.  Problem is this story is common place and has just about EVERYONE on the alleged deity list having done the same thing.  Zoroaster, Hercules, Horus, Osiris, and Adonis just to name a few stopped  by.  
    Bottom line is we feel that our father in Heaven is real.  We feel a relationship with him through different forms of spirituality and we feel it so strongly through our religion of choice that we sometimes deny ANYONE who has a different form of relationship with God than we do and are willing to turn our brain OFF so as to validate our being right in our chosen faith.
    So what, the Bible, the Koran, and a heck of a lot of other books of faith are wrong.  Actually it is simply that they are not perfectly right and the men that wrote them made the mistakes.  The part that is perfect and unmistakable in all of these books of faith is LOVE.  I need nothing else anyway…….Do any of us really need anything more than love and how to remember how to apply it and receive it?
    May good thoughts fill your heart and mind and the hearts and minds of all you come into contact with.justmarty
    actually an interesting thing to contemplate is what is up with all those different guys going to Hell?  Why do they all have a three day story of visiting there?  

  • @AMIGOS_WE_THREE - Thanks for your thoughts! The Bible may be inspired but I can prove in 2 minutes that it is not perfect. There are verses included in it that weren’t in the original Bible for example (“Father forgive them for they know not what they do” and “let him without sin cast the first stone”). Also – several times the Bible says whoever sees God will die, yet many OT Prophets including Moses saw God face to face. 

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