“All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea
is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, there they flow again.”
- Ecclesiastes 1-7
Now this may be allegorical - in fact, I
fully expect Creationists and biblical scholars to claim just that [more
of that argument in a moment]. But consider this assertion: the cycle
of evaporation and precipitation (which most of us call bad weather)
is well understood, has been so for many years, and we take it for granted.
But how many years?
Hundreds? - maybe, but thousands? - I rather doubt
it. Experts reckon that the author of Ecclesiastes was a teacher or
possibly a preacher (the two are quite closely linked in any case) who
lived about 300-400 years BC. Let's call him Eccles, shall we?
The hydrologic or water cycle was in all likelihood totally beyond his
comprehension. All that Eccles could see was the rain falling from the
sky, presumably realizing that it filled the rivers; he then observed
the sea, which seems to go on without filling up.
Truly amazing! Where could all that water be going? Maybe there’s an
almighty big hole somewhere in the seabed and all the water is bleeding
away into space. More likely, they thought - given what they could see
- that the water was actually flowing off the edge in some giant waterfall;
of course, that means that the earth must be flat – another Biblical
idea.
Not everyone thinks the Earth is
round – in spite of the simple fact that we can fly round it in planes
and photograph it from spacecraft. The Flat Earth Society, located in
the US, published a newsletter where this 1988 gem appeared replete
with grammatical errors:
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"IN USA today, as in Russia in '20s
and NAZI Germany in '40s full scale campaign to create USA ALSO
A BEAST NATION... no God... no right no wrong no up no down
2 added to 2 is whatever scientists say it is... Adults today
either jailed or shot down... at own homes for even teaching
their own children... GOD EXISTS and Right and Wrong exists
(State of Utah)... bells have been tolling for so long... for
the helpless pitiful innocent 'animals' as they are tortured
to death by priests of the State Religion 'GREASE BALL SCIENCE'...
now ... 1988 ... no use, too late... to send to see for whom
the bell tolls... THE BELL TOLLS FOR THEE!"
Reproduced from http://www.talkorigins.org/
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Just because something appears in
print doesn’t make it true; of course, the same can be applied to
this website. The major difference is that any fact I claim can be
substantiated somewhere. The writer quoted here is quite clearly barmy
– but the scary thing is that some people actually believe in this
bile in spite of it.
We’ll consult the Bible. After all, if you believe that Creation happened,
Adam lived over 900 years and God smote the unfaithful with a flood
that gave rise to the fossils in sedimentary rock, you must also believe
that the Earth is flat.
What! - You don’t?
Here’s what the bible has to say
on the subject.
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Again, the Devil took him [Jesus] to a
very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world
and their splendour.
“All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and
worship me.”
Matthew 4:8-9
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The only way that the Devil could
have shown Jesus all the kingdoms of the world from any height is
if the world was flat. Oh wait - since the world is spherical, the
Devil was lying. He’s good at that.
That was close – so fast forward
to Revelation - the last book in the Bible.
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After
this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth,
holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind
from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.
Revelation 7:1 |
Darn, looks like the world is flat
after all; according to the word of the Bible, at least. There are
another couple of references to the Flat Earth, but I don't think
they prove the point any more.
So what might a biblical scholar
make of Eccles's quote earlier? If I were one (and I’m clearly not),
I would take this as allusion to the Kingdom of God being infinite,
with space for all souls that have proven themselves sufficiently
pure to enter. Now if I can do that, what can a real biblical scholar
or a preacher make of it?
Can we really take biblical scribbles
as allegorical or are they merely the best explanations that these
simple people could muster to describe what they saw going on around
them? Few people were literate in those days; and very few of them
were outside of the “church”. It's almost certain that no women were.
So is the Bible fact? I believe that the writers who put down the
original text honestly believed what they wrote - but that was over
a thousand years ago. By chance or design the Bible has managed to
suffuse its incredible (or incredulous) message into the minds of
millions the world over.
I don’t believe you can cherrypick scripture any more than you can
excuse its failing. It is either divine or it isn’t. God wrote the
10 Commandments or Moses did - believing he was doing God’s work.
Which is more likely?
Ignoring the divine for a moment, Jesus and Moses to a lesser degree,
the commandments teach some basic morals that all concerned citizens
follow and many of these ideals have been enshrined in common law
(fortunately for many, politicians included, adultery still remains
off the statutes)!
But do we really need the Bible – a book written by privileged males
– to tell the literate masses how to live? I don’t think so. That’s
what laws common or statutory are for. It is for parents to lead by
example and teach us how to lead good lives – the one life we have.
Our eternal life is the legacy we leave behind in the minds of the
people whose lives we touched and in the genes of our children and
grandchildren for almost infinte generations.
Make it a good one.
I am, once again, indebted to Adam Tjaavk for his industrious
editing and helpful footnotes.