Posted by Gremlin [12.253.230.83 - 12-253-230-83.client.attbi.com] on 20 July 2002 at 04.39.27 ZuluTime:

In Reply to: one nation underwhelming posted by Andy on 19 July 2002 at 01.24.47 ZuluTime:

In reference to the misinformation about the earth's shape and relation to the universe, the Bible doesn't say that the earth is the center of the universe and neither does it say the earth is flat and square.

Really? Okay. Let's have a look....

According to Isaiah 11.12: 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.
     By my calculations, there are exactly four common shapes exhibiting four corners: a square, a rectangle [which actually includes squares, thinking about it], a rhombus, and a pryamid; the latter is the only three-dimensional object with four corners.
     Incidentally, the four-cornered Earth appears again in Ezekiel 32.7 and Revelavtion 7.1

Then we have Isaiah 40.22, in which: It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in
     There's been some confusion over this one, because the Hebrew word for 'circle' or 'disc' was in the original version; the Hebrew word for 'sphere' was never used to describe the Earth.

According to Daniel 2.35: Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
     Trying to envision a mountain spanning a globe is a bit weird; the verse suggests that the planet had a perimeter to which the edges of this mountain reached.
     Also, in Daniel 4.11: The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth; granting that we can see the 'end of the Earth' from anywhere--in the form of the horizon, this suggests that the tree was tall enough to allow the viewing of the actual edge of the Earth, beyond which nothing lay.
     According to Matthew 4.8-9: Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me, while Luke 4.5 adds that the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time..
     I'm aware of no mountains which extend beyond orbit, but I'm fairly confident in stating that a geosynchronous satellite is incapable of seeing China and South America at the same time.

Various verses accuse the sun of being mobile while the Earth is static, including Joshua 10.12-13, in which Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. Which gave Joshua enough time to kill everyone.
     I Chronicles 16.30 confirms that the world also shall be stable, that it be not moved.
     Psalms 19.4-6 pretty well spells out that Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.

So: according to the bible, the planet is flat enough to allow all seven continents to be seen simultaneously, has four corners, is a disc, and is immobile while the sun runs a circuit unto the ends of it.
     It helps if you read the bible before you tell me what's not in it.