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That the Bible has problems with its cosmology is an old and uninteresting fact to plenty of people. However, I live in a world in which there are still too many other people who take the Bible far too seriously, making claims that it is perfect/inerrant. It is with such fundamentalists in mind that I post the following:
3-tiered Cosmos:Very many ancient people, including plenty of Jews and Christians and the writers of various books/verses of the Bible, believed in a 3-tiered universe:
- the heavens above,
- the flat earth below (a flat circle/disk or a flat square, although this changed with time),
- sheol/ hades/ hell/ tartarus beneath the earth.
e.g.
• Php 2:10: "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth"
• Rev 5:3: "no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth"
Every knee "under the earth"?
Really?
Heaven IS the sky in the Bible:
Ancient people believed God, or the Gods, lived up in the sky. In Hebrew, the word for sky is shamayim; in Greek the word is ouranos. People did not have two different words for sky and heaven; they were the same place. Only moderns make a distinction. So when English Bibles translate shamayim and ouranos sometimes as sky and sometimes as heaven, they mislead modern readers into thinking there was a difference. In the Bible, the shamayim/ouranos is a place
- where god lives;
- where the angels live;
- where the sun and moon move around;
- where the stars are;
- where rain, thunder, and lightning come from;
- where there are storehouses of hail, snow, and wind;
- where the clouds are;
- where birds fly.
If you will do a search for the occurrences of shamayim/sky/heaven/ouranos in the OT and check out the original languages, you will see that this is the case. Do you have a Strong’s concordance of the Bible?
The Firmament:
Genesis 1:6–8: “God [Elohiym] said, ‘Let there be a firmament [raqiya] in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.’ And God [Elohiym] made the firmament [raqiya], and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God [Elohiym] called the firmament Heaven [shamayim]. And the evening and the morning were the second day.”
The Hebrew word used for "firmament" is "raqiya,” an extended solid surface or flat expanse, considered to be a hemisphere above the Earth. The word is derived from “raqa,” meaning "beaten out" or to spread material by beating/hammering/stamping (like metal). That’s why Elihu asks Job, “Can you beat out [raqa] the skies, as he does, hard as a mirror of cast metal?” (Job 37:18). In the 400’s, Jerome used the Latin word firmamentum, “support, prop, mainstay; support group” to translate the word.
- Genesis 1:14-17: “And God [Elohiym] said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth": and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: the stars also.
- The firmament has windows that El/Yahweh opens to let rain come down (Gen 7:11, 8:2).
- Job 28:32 speaks of “the storehouses of the snow” and “the storehouses of the hail” in shamayim.
- Ezekiel 1:22: “Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked like a firmament, sparkling like ice, and awesome.”
Today we know this is erroneous. The "heavens" are not a firmament. The "heavens" are not a vault.
Shamayim/Ouranos/Sky/Heaven and Yahweh/El/God are above the earth:
- Job 9:8, “...who by himself spread out the heavens [shamayim]...”
- Job 22:12, 14: "Is not God [Eloah] in the heights of heaven [shamayim]? And see how lofty are the highest stars! . . . he goes about in the vaulted heavens.' (n.b. El/Eloah/Yahweh (god) is in the sky.)
- Psalm 19:1, “The heavens [shamayim] tell out the glory of God [El], the vault of heaven [raqiya] reveals his handiwork.”
- “In them [shamayim], a tent is fixed for the sun, who comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy, rejoicing like a strong man to run his race. His rising is at one end of the heavens, his circuit touches their farthest ends; and nothing is hidden from his heat (Psalm 19:4-6).” (n.b. The sun moves in the heavens in circuit over the stationary earth. Geocentric model.)
- Psalm 102:25, “...the heavens [shamayim] were thy handiwork.”
- Isaiah 40:22: “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.” This ancient Jewish writer pictured God sitting on a throne (like a human king) way up in the sky, so high that humans look like grasshoppers.
- Isaiah 45:12, El says “I, with my own hands, stretched out the heavens [shamayim] and caused all their host to shine...”
- Isaiah 48:13, “...with my right hand I formed the expanse of the sky [shamayim] ...”
- “You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God [El]; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High God [Elyown]." (Isaiah 14:13-14).
- Ezekiel 1:22-26; Ezekiel 10:1. Above the vault is a throne of sapphire (or lapis lazuli). Seated on the throne is “a form in human likeness,” which is radiant and “like the appearance of the glory of the Lord.” Ezekiel saw a vision of God sitting enthroned on the vault of heaven.
- Joshua 10:13. “So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself . . . The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.” This fits the ancient view that the sun and moon both move in the vault of heaven, while the earth is stationary.
- Stars can fall from the sky to earth according to Daniel 8:10, Matthew 24:29, Mark 13:25, Revelation 6:13, Revelation 8:10, Revelation 9:1 and Revelation 12:4 (It is sometimes claimed that these "falling stars" are meteors, but such is a lame attempt at apologetics; the writers of these tales were ignorant and made no distinction; the swipe of a dragon's tail dislodges "one-third of all the stars in the sky" in Revelation 12:4. ).
- Isaiah 34:4: “All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree.
- Daniel 8:10: “It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them.”
- Mark 13:25: “the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.”
- Matthew 24:29: "Immediately after the distress of those days 'the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’”
- Revelation 6:13-16: “...the stars in the sky [ouranos] fell to the earth, like figs shaken down by a gale; the sky [ouranos] vanished, as a scroll is rolled up...they called out to the mountains and the crags, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One who sits on the throne...”
- Shamayim has windows which God can open to let the waters above fall to the surface as rain (Genesis 7:11, Genesis 8:2, Isaiah 24:18-19, Jeremiah 51:15-16, and Malachi 3:10).
- Job 28:32 speaks of “the storehouses of the snow” and “the storehouses of the hail” in shamayim. And Jeremiah 51:16: “He brings up the mist from the ends of the earth, he opens rifts for the rain and brings the wind out of his storehouses.” Ignorant ancient people, such as the writer of this book of the Bible, believed that there were storehouses of snow, rain, and wind up in the sky where God lived.
- Tower of Babel story in Genesis 11:4-7: "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens [shamayim], so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." . . . But the LORD [Yahweh] came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The LORD [Yahweh] said, . . . “Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."
- Exodus 19:11: “be ready by the third day, because on that day the LORD [Yahweh] will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.
- Exodus 19:20: “The LORD [Yahweh] came down to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain.”
- Numbers 11:17: “I will come down and speak with you”
- Numbers 11:25: “Then the LORD [Yahweh] came down in the cloud and spoke with him.”
- Joshua 10:11: “The LORD [Yahweh] hurled large hailstones down on them from the heavens [shamayim]”
- 2 Kings 1:12: “Then the fire of God [Elohiym] fell from heaven [shamayim] and consumed him and his fifty men.”
The New Testament is just as bad:
- Luke 10:18: He [Jesus] replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven [ouranos].”
- In Acts, Jesus is depicted as rising into the sky until a cloud hid him from view (Acts 1:9-11).
- This is comparable to other ancient people's beliefs about gods descending from the sky where they live, or heroic god-men ascending to heaven at or after their deaths.
- Example: Romulus: According to Roman histories written before Christianity developed, Romulus, the first king of Rome, son of God/Mars by the virgin Rhea Sylvia, ascended into heaven from a mountain when a cloud hid him from view. Some sources said there was an eclipse of the sun at the same time. Romulus subsequently appeared to a Roman senator and sent him with a message for his people explaining what happened and prophesying the future greatness of Rome. Romulus was then known as the God Quirinus, and he received prayers on behalf of the city. The story can be found in Livy (1st century BCE), Dionysius of Halicarnassus (1st century BCE), and Plutarch's biography of Romulus (c. 100 CE), and it is mentioned by Cicero (1st century BCE) and Ennius (239 - c. 169 BCE).
- Example: Heracles: According to ancient Greeks, Heracles / Hercules was son of God / Zeus by Alcmene. Heracles went to Hades and back, and he brought at least one mortal back from death, Alcestis. Heracles was tortured by a poisonous cloak and died painfully on a pyre, but he rose ino heaven to live forever as divine. Greeks believed he was real.
- Many Romans believed that Julius Caesar ascended to heaven and became divine after his death. Augustus Caesar, his adopted heir, thus called himself "son of a God" and printed this on his coins.
- The early Christian movement was compelled to invent a story at least as miraculous as these earlier stories. How else could it trump the other superstitions of the day?
- Revelation 1:7: "Look he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him..." (flat earth and imminent eschatology).
Yes, some really believed that divinity was anthropomorphic and lived up in the sky.
The earth is stationary:
- 1 Chronicles 16:30: “He has fixed the earth firm, immovable.”
- Psalm 93:1: “Thou hast fixed the earth immovable and firm ...”
- Psalm 96:10: “He has fixed the earth firm, immovable ...”
- Psalm 104:5: “Thou didst fix the earth on its foundation so that it never can be shaken.”
- Isaiah 45:18: “...who made the earth and fashioned it, and himself fixed it fast...”
- The following speak of earth's foundations: 2 Samuel 22:16, Job 38:4, Psalm 18:15, Proverbs 8:29, Isaiah 24:18, etc.
The earth is flat or a hill, not a sphere:
- Daniel 4:10-11. The king “saw a tree of great height at the center of the earth...reaching with its top to the sky and visible to the earth's farthest bounds.” In the writer’s imagination, the earth is flat, so an extremely tall tree would be visible to “the earth's farthest bounds,” but this is impossible on a spherical earth.
- Matthew 4:8: “Once again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory.” Obviously, this would be possible only if the earth were flat. Either the inventor of the story thought the earth was flat, or this was meant to be a symbolic parable and not a real event in a historical biography, or both. Some say the sight was "spiritual," but if so, why would the "high mountain" be necessary?
- Revelation 1:7: “Behold, he is coming with the clouds! Every eye shall see him...”
- Jeremiah 51:16: “He brings up the mist from the ends of the earth.”
Hell is below the earth:
The Bible teaches that just as the sky/heaven is above the earth, so is hell below/within the earth. Consider the following:
- Mt 11:23: "You will go down to Hades." (also Lk 10:15)
- Mt 12:40: "For as Jonah was 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the sea creature, so the son of man will be 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth."
- 1Pt 3:18-20: "He was put to death in the body but made alive by the spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago..."
- Php 2:10: "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth"
- Eph 4:9-10: "What does 'he ascended' mean except that he also descended to the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the very one who ascended far above all the heavens in order to fill all things."
- 2Pt 2:4: "God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but sent them to Tartarus, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgement." (Tartarus is the lowest region of the underworld in Greek mythology.)
- Rev 5:3: "no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth"
- Rev 5:13: "every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea"
Commentary:
Many ancient people, including the the writers of certain parts of the Bible, held such beliefs as these:
- that hell was under the ground,
- that the earth was stationary,
- that God or the Gods or their angelic servants made the sun and moon move across the sky above the stationary earth,
- that God or the Gods had emotions, senses, and personalities, just as humans do,
- that God or the Gods lived up in the sky [although many had come to believe the more abstract and somewhat contradictory belief that God was everywhere, making it necessary to explain away older references to a God who was not omnipresent (cf. Gen 11:4-7)].
If a single one of these is wrong, then the Bible contains error.
It was only 400 years ago (in the time of Copernicus, d.1543, and Galileo, d.1642, whose theories the Church at first condemned) that science overturned the geocentric/earth-centered model of the universe and began to drive ancient geocentric cosmology from human minds.
[Earlier Greek discoveries had not gained sufficient acceptance.]
Now we know that the cosmology of the Bible (and much other ancient literature) is incorrect. Most people nowadays will admit that the earth moves around the sun, but the fundamentalists need to face the facts that such truths contradict certain passages in the Bible and that the Bible was written by fallible humans. The same goes for the age of the earth and human origins, about which the ancient Christians and the writers of the Bible had no clue -- (cf. Genesis and Luke's genealogy of Jesus, with its 77 generations of humans from God to Jesus through Adam -- http://www.geocities.com/investigatingchristianity/OTChrono.html.).
Some, both ancient and modern, desire(d) to imagine heaven and hell as existing in some invisible dimension, but as demonstrated above, numerous passages in the Bible do say that heaven is above the earth and that rain, snow, angels, stars, the sun, and god are there, and multiple passages say that hell is below the earth. The attempt to remove things to "another dimension" is an evasive effort to salvage primitive ideas by relocating them to an imaginary place inaccessible to scrutiny or evidence.
In Acts, Jesus is depicted as rising literally into the sky until a cloud hid him from view (Acts 1:9-11). Did that really happen? A cloud? Why? And in Revelation 1:7 a Christian writer says, "Look he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him..." Such descriptions are clues that the ascension and other stories are fiction, and at the very least should not be taken as literally true.
It would be pointless for Jesus to have gone up into the sky; nothing is up there but air. And if heaven were in some other dimension, Jesus could have simply disappeared into that other dimension; there would be no need for an ascension. Over which country are Jesus, Romulus, and Hercules hovering in the clouds right now? The fact that the Christian story depicts Jesus going up into the air to heaven simply betrays their ancient world view that heaven was the upper sky; and this is one of the many clues that the story is a fabrication along with other ancient stories of ascending man-gods like Romulus and Heracles.
Also, many early Christians, such as the writer of Revelation 1:7, thought Jesus would come back down in the clouds and that everyone would see him, and they thought he would come back so soon that his murderers would still be alive!
[n.b. Many early Christians erroneously thought Jesus was coming back soon, within their lifetimes: Mk 9:1;13:30; 14:61-62; 1 Thess 4:15-17; 1 Corinthians 1:7-8; 7:26, 29; 15:51-52; Romans 13:11-12; 1 Peter 4:7; Revelation 1:1-3; 3:11; 16:15; 22:6, 7, 10, 12, 20. Now, believers often feel forced to try all kinds of re-interpretations of these embarrassments, just as with other problems.]
They did not know the earth spun on its axis, and many did not know that the earth was an oblique spheroid; so they did not have a problem thinking everyone at the same time would be able to see Jesus come down from the heights of heaven. Today, those Christians who still hold this belief feel forced to try to resolve the issue by saying, "Maybe it will somehow be a spiritual event that all will see in the spirit." Idle and silly talk. Spiritual clouds? Cloudy ideas. Then there are those, believe it or not, who have claimed that this was a prophecy of satellite television -- i.e. We will all see him on television when he returns (a view at times advocated by Pat Robertson in the 1990's, ignoring the imminent eschatology)!
Even those too fearful to admit the truth of these last points should admit that some aspects of the cosmology espoused by the Bible were/are erroneous if taken at face value.
http://www.geocities.com/investigatingchristianity/ .
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