Chapter Three

“The Heavens” vs. the Bible

Fatal Flaw #2: How Can the Bible Be the Word of Our Creator When It Has Such a Poor Understanding of the Cosmos?

“When one reads Bibles, one is less surprised at what the deity knows than what he doesn’t know.” [1]
-Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), “Mark Twain’s Notebook”

As previously stated, evolution is the least of the Bible’s problems. The Bible’s assertions regarding the natural universe can be debunked by the most remedial scientific knowledge that every child should know. Many Christians will be surprised to find what is actually claimed by the ancient scriptures since these passages are often glossed over at the pulpit.

This book has organized the most glaring errors of the Bible regarding the nature of the cosmos into seven basic categories:

1. The Bible Says the Sun Revolves Around the Earth

Perhaps the most famous passage in the Bible regarding the sun’s movement around the earth is where Joshua causes the sun to stand still in the sky. Bold emphasis added:

Joshua 10:12-13 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.

Modern Christian apologists will try to dismiss this passage as “metaphor” but it clearly says “the sun stood still” and stopped in “the midst of heaven”, indicating that the authors mistakenly believed the sun revolves around the earth.

There are other passages that support this idea that the sun revolves around the earth (bold emphasis added):

Ecclesiastes 1:5 The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.

“Hasteth to his place where he arose” is a telling phrase. After the sun finishes going down, it runs back (under the earth presumably) to the place where it started the previous morning.

Psalms 19:4-6 In them hath he (Yahweh) 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.

“Tabernacle (or tent) for the sun” is an interesting metaphor. It implies that the sun rests for the night (this is what tents are for). The authors didn’t realize that the sun doesn’t (even metaphorically speaking) rest under the earth. It’s still active on the other side of the planet. This passage in Psalms also seems reminiscent of the Greek myths of Apollo who took the sun on its daily “circuit” across the sky.

The Bible says the Earth is fixed in place, too.

Many Christians today will claim that these biblical references of the sun’s movements around the earth are just “metaphors” (a view not shared by the Christians who lived at the time of Galileo). However, other passages in the Bible specifically state that the earth is fixed in place instead of revolving around the sun:

1st Chronicles 16:30 …the world also shall be stable, that it be not moved.
Psalms 93:1 ... the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.
Psalms 96:10 ... the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved....

These verses explicitly claim that the earth is fixed in place. There’s no room for interpretation. What other understanding of the phrase, “it shall not be moved” can we have?

Of course, nearly everyone today knows the world does, in fact, move. However, there was a time when people weren’t so knowledgeable. Because of these passages, both Protestant and Catholic leaders alike were slow to accept the heliocentric view of the solar system as proposed by Copernicus:

“We are indeed not ignorant, that the circuit of the heavens is finite, and that the earth, like a little globe, is placed in the centre.”[2]
-John Calvin, Commentary on Genesis

“The proposition that the Sun is the center of the world and does not move from its place is absurd and false philosophy and formally heretical, because it is expressly contrary to Holy Scipture.” [3]
-The Roman Catholic Church, sentencing Galileo

“If there were a real proof that the Sun is in the center of the universe… and the sun does not go round the Earth… then we should have (great difficulty) in explaining passages of scripture which appear to teach the contrary.” [4]
-Cardinal Bellarmine, leading theologian and member of the Inquisition, Letter to Father Foscarini

As the course of history has determined, Cardinal Bellarmine’s fears were not justified. Christians have simply dismissed these passages as “metaphoric” and ignored them. Perhaps in another hundred years, Christians will wonder what all the controversy over evolution was. The stories of Adam and Eve will also be seen as “metaphoric”.

The trial of Galileo would not be the last time that Christianity would fight against all scientific discoveries that contradict biblical teachings. One can only speculate how much further along we might be today if technological and sociological progress didn’t involve having to drag the Christian leaders kicking and screaming the whole way.

2. The Bible Says the Moon is a Source of Light

As early as the first chapter of Genesis, the Bible asserts that the moon is its own light source.

Genesis 1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

Of course, we know today that the moon (presumably the “lesser light” in this verse) is not a light source. It simply reflects the light of the sun. Frankly, even the primitive authors of the Bible should have known better. The shadows that are cast on the moon as it "waxes and wanes" should have been enough of an indication.

The Book of Isaiah continues with this view of the moon in a prophecy he relates about happy times for Zion characterized by abundant fertility, fruitful land and a brighter cosmos (bold emphasis added):

Isaiah 30:26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold…

Isaiah predicts that the sun will shine seven times as bright. If this prophecy ever does come true, it will not be such a good thing for Zion (or the rest of the planet). Under such conditions, all of humanity will be incinerated.

Elsewhere in the Bible, there are less joyous prophecies about the end times. One of the signs will be that the moon is blackened. However, the Bible doesn’t put it that way (bold emphasis added):

Isaiah 13:10 ... the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

Ezekiel 32:7 ... and the moon shall not give her light.

Matthew 24:29 (Jesus said) Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light…

Oddly enough, Jesus said in this passage the sun shall be “darkened” and the moon shall not give “her light”. Had he known better, he might have the reversed metaphors (as in “the sun shall not give her (his?) light and the moon shall be darkened”). This would have demonstrated a better knowledge of the cosmos, as one should expect from the son (or avatar) of the Creator.

3. The Bible Says the Sky is a Dome

The god of the Bible spends the entire second day creating a structure called “the firmament”, or sky-dome over the earth. This dome is designed to separate the “waters” of Heaven and Earth and thereby create the sky.

(KJV) Genesis 1:6-7 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

(KJV) Genesis 1:8 And God called the firmament Heaven…

(NRSV) Genesis 1:8 God called the dome Sky… [5]

In case any apologist should try to claim that this “dome” or “firmament” is a metaphor for the atmosphere, Yahweh later creates the sun, moon and stars and affixes them to it. We understand today that the sky is an optical illusion and that these heavenly bodies are not literally fixed on the ceiling of a dome.

One also gets the sense that the Bible reflects a time when people thought that Heaven was literally a domain in the sky while Hell was beneath us, below the earth’s surface. This ancient, superstitious view has influenced the Hollywood depictions of both places: Heaven as an abode in the clouds while Hell is a cavern. This paradigm also fits with the later story in Genesis (Chapter 11, verses 1-9) where the people try to reach Heaven by building a tall tower (discussed later in this chapter).

Today, we know better. Human civilization has traveled to the moon and back and each day flies airplanes among the clouds. We’ve come to realize that the sky is neither a dome nor is it a Heavenly domain.

4. The Bible Says the Stars Are Little Lights Fixed in the Sky-Dome

The biblical account of Creation becomes even more absurd on the “fourth day” when Yahweh creates the stars, sun and moon (curiously enough, three “days” after creating day and night [6]) and fixes these heavenly bodies into the sky-dome.

Genesis 1:17 And God set them (the sun, moon and stars) in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

This passage in Genesis seems to describe the stars as little lights that are fixed in the sky-dome that is the “firmament”.

The stars in Genesis were created on the same day as the sun (the “fourth day”), implying that all stars were created at the same time. We know this isn’t true, as many stars are older than our sun [7] and new stars are constantly forming.[8]

The absurdity becomes more apparent with the New Testament’s treatment of the stars. When the world comes to its predicted end, the Bible declares that these little lights in the sky-dome will fall to the earth. Even Jesus doesn’t know better:

Matthew 24:29 (Jesus said) …and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

Revelation 6:13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

Knowing what we know today about the true nature of stars, we should realize that even as a metaphor the concept of stars “falling” to earth is silly (stars aren’t within the earth’s gravitational pull, so they can’t fall to the earth). The stars are individual suns. Even if a star were cast to the earth, it would have brought the end of the world in chapter 6 of Revelation (which might at least spare the Bible student the burden of having to read the remainder of this incoherent story).

5. The Bible Says the Earth Is Small, Flat and Supported by Pillars

At one time, people believed that the world was flat. The Bible supports this view. This view of the flat earth is hinted at with the references to the “four corners” of the earth (bold emphasis added).

Isaiah 11:12 …and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

“The dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth?” Even taking the “four corners” as metaphor for “all over the earth”, it’s clear that the ancient authors of the Bible had no concept how big the earth was. Were these members of dispersed Judah coming from America, Australia, Antarctica or China? No. The countries from which the dispersed of Judah are to be gathered are named in the previous verse (bold emphasis added):

Isaiah 11:11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

The countries named are all within the areas of the Middle-East, Northeast Africa and Mediterranean region, [9] the lands that the Israelites knew of:

Assyria: Roughly northern Iraq and Syria
Egypt: Egypt
Pathros: Upper Egypt
Cush: Sudan/Northern Ethiopia
Elam: Western Iran
Shinar: Southern Iraq
Hamath: Town in modern Syria
“Islands of the Sea”: Likely refers to Cyprus, Rhodes and Crete.

The authors of that verse had no concept how big the earth actually was. They thought that all the “four corners of the earth” included only the nations they knew of. Therefore, it’s clear that God didn’t tell them otherwise.

Isaiah later contradicts himself by describing the world as circular instead of having four corners:

Isaiah 40:22 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:

Christian apologists sometimes tout this verse as proof that "the Bible is compatible with science". They happily emphasize the word “circle”, spuriously assuming this word to mean “spherical”. There’s no reason to assume that circle necessarily means sphere or globe but one can understand their desperation. Unfortunately for them, the tent metaphor used in this verse destroys that interpretation. The sky is described as being like a great tent (once again, the Bible says the sky is a dome). Since the sky is the dome of the tent, one can only assume that the earth, the base of the tent in this metaphor, is flat. That’s how tents work.

It’s also apparent from reading the New Testament that God told neither the devil nor Jesus just how big the planet is:

Matthew 4:8 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;

This Matthew passage underscores that the authors of the Bible had little understanding of the earth. Not only did they believe the earth was flat with four corners, they also believed the earth was so small that all of it could be viewed from an exceedingly tall mountain. Needless to say, the surface of all the earth and all of its kingdoms can’t be viewed from on high. Even from space this would not be possible because the other side of the planet would not be visible. The only way to view all of the earth from on top a high mountain is if the earth were flat and very small.

The Bible also has at least six passages that describe “foundations” of the earth, sometimes described as pillars.

1st Samuel 2:8 ... for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them.

Job 38:4 Where wast thou when I (the Lord) laid the foundations of the earth?

Psalms 75:3 The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it. Selah.

Psalms 104:5 Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.

Jeremiah 31:37 Thus saith the Lord; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath,

Micah 6:2 Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord's controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth…

Of course, the earth has no “foundation”, whether composed of pillars or some other form. The earth is a spherical rock floating in space. It’s completely unsupported and certainly not fixed in place.

6. The Bible Says the Universe Was Created in Six Days

The six-day creation of the universe is described over the course of all of chapter 1 in Genesis. Some biblical scholars will say these “six days” in Genesis were not literal days but regardless, the account is wrong because it uses the past tense.

Stars continue to form. The universe continues to expand. [10] It appears the universe is still under construction. If we were to ask God how long the process of Creation really took, It might correct us and say that the proper question is “how long will Creation take?”

When Does the Bible Say Creation Happened?

This is a point of interpretation. There are a number of different opinions on this matter but all assertions are debunked by observations of the natural universe or human history.

Archbishop Ussher, using the accounts of the generations of the Bible, claimed to have determined that the earth was created in 4004 BC. [11] This places the time of the Creation roughly two thousand, five hundred years after the early Greeks developed agriculture, two thousand years after the Thais began cultivating rice, and around the time when the Mesopotamian civilizations entered the Bronze Age. [12]

Young Earth Creationists estimate that the earth could be anywhere between 6,000 and 10,000 years old:

“Thus, according to the best theory and date we have, the earth’s magnetic field certainly is less than 100,000 years old; very likely less than 10,000 years old, and fits well with the face-value biblical age of 6,000 years.” [13]
-Russell Humphreys, Institute for Creation Research

“…physics imples a limit on the age of the earth’s magnet of less than 10,000 years… Hence, the earth also has an age limit of less than 10,000 years.” [14]
-Thomas G. Barnes, President of the Creation Research Society.

So with a window of 6-10 thousand years, let’s give the theory the benefit of assuming the world could be as old as allowed. A world 10,000 years old would mean that it was created roughly a thousand years after hunters began to spread through the Americas and when permanent agricultural settlements appeared in the Mesopotamia. [15]

This theory certainly doesn’t allow enough time for any separate age for the dinosaurs, meaning that these early human civilizations and the dinosaurs must have somehow co-existed. Of course, there are Young Earth Creationists who do think such things, perhaps the most famous of which is Kent “Dr. Dino” Hovind:

“Hovind questions the universal teaching that dinosaurs have been extinct for ‘millions of years.’ He says that the usual question asked in school is: ‘What caused the dinosaurs to become extinct?’ Instead, it should be: ‘Are dinosaurs extinct?’ …The word ‘dinosaur’ is a relatively new word, coined in about 1850. Before that, the common word was ‘dragon’ and there are thousands of stories in early history of men dealing with dragons. We have assumed that these were mythological creatures, the stuff of fairy tales. But many of them are told as serious history and primitive art is full of pictures of men fighting, riding on and making beasts of burden of dinosaur-like animals.” [16]
-Jack Chick, writing about Hovind’s Creation Video series.

It’s true that there’s a lot of folklore and art about dragons (and other beings of fantasy) but little in terms of documented “serious history”. If these fanciful tales are “proof” of dragons, then it’s fair to use the same logic to assert that Zeus and the other Olympian gods were real for how they were part of Homer’s account of the Trojan War.

Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that each “day” in the first Chapter of Genesis is 7,000 years long. [17] This would place the creation of the stars (on the Genesis fourth day) at most to have happened 28,000 years ago (assuming stars were created at the very beginning of “day four” and we are at the very end of “day seven”). This would mean the Andromeda Galaxy shouldn’t be visible in the night’s sky since it’s roughly 2 million light years away. [18]

Some Christians simply deny that the Bible can be used to determine the date of Creation and defer to science on this matter. Scientists believe the universe is approximately 13.7 billion years old and that our solar system has been around for only 4.5 billion of those years. They’ve determined the universe’s age by looking at the oldest stars, measuring the rate of expansion of the universe and extrapolating back to the center where and when they believe the Big Bang occurred. [19] Apparently, our solar system is a relatively recent addition to the universe. It would seem that humans are only one part of a much larger Creation.

7. The Bible Says You Can Get to Heaven by Building a Really Tall Tower

The most absurd biblical depiction of the cosmos is saved for last in this chapter as we come to the story of the Tower of Babel. According to this biblical passage, a city of Bronze Age people decided to build a tower that would reach into Heaven. Note how frightened Yahweh becomes in verse 6 when he proclaims that the project will succeed unless he stops them (verse 6 is the second bold section below, bold emphasis added):

Gen 11:1-9 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

Question: Which is sillier, the idea of building a tower that reaches up into Heaven or the idea that some Bronze Age architects can frighten God?

From these nine verses that are the start of chapter 11 of Genesis, we learn that:

Apparently, the people who wrote the Bible thought it would be architecturally possible to build a tower that would reach into the clouds (or the sky-dome) and thereby get to Heaven.
Yahweh became afraid in verse 6 of these upstart humans and their project.
Yahweh cursed the humans to end the project. Different languages were instantly created in that moment.

Anyone who has flown in an airplane knows that:

Clouds are not solid domains but wisps of condensation.
Clouds are not the domains of angels or other divine beings.
God is not threatened by our traveling to the clouds and back. (God didn’t smite the Wright brothers to prevent them from building the first airplane)

Anyone familiar with architecture knows that:

Modern sky-scrapers reach much higher than ancient towers ever could since we now have the advantage of steel-reinforced concrete (which is much stronger and more conducive to building tall buildings than brick and mortar).
So far, no one has made it Heaven in an elevator.

Linguists know that:

Languages evolve and take form as one culture is separated from another
Languages change over time. English certainly has. Anyone who's read old-English texts knows this.

Common sense tells us that:

It seems pretty unlikely that the Creator of the entire universe should feel scared about or personally threatened by the activity of humans.
Apparently, God isn’t threatened by our traveling to the moon and back, since it was allowed to happen.
If there is a Heaven, it doesn’t exist in physical proximity to the earth.

Biblical Contradiction: Even though the Bible says in Gen 11:1 that there was only one language, the previous chapter indicates that there was more than one language (bold emphasis added):

Genesis 10:5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.

Genesis 10:20 These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.

Genesis 10:31 These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.

So apparently there was more than one language before the Tower of Babel, according to chapter 10. Except that there wasn’t, according to chapter 11. How could the editors of this so-called “Word of God” be so sloppy?

Conclusion

We’ve reviewed some of the most glaring errors the Bible makes about the nature of our universe. How can this book be the “Word” of our Creator when it has such a poor understanding of Creation? We don’t need a doctorate in astronomy to understand how the Bible needs to be classed with other primitive mythologies. Science has explained that the earth revolves around the sun and the stars aren’t little lights in the sky. How can we take the Bible seriously as a source of revelation when the authors were clearly not so well informed as we are, never mind how well informed the Creator must be?

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[1] Cliff Walker, Positive Atheism, accessed at http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/quotes/twain.htm on March 10, 2006.

[2] John Calvin, “Commentaries on Genesis”, Editor: John King, (Bath, 2000), p 61

[3] Don Nardo, “The Trial of Galileo, Science Versus the Inquisition”, (Farmington Hills, MI, 2004), p 73-74

[4] Ibid. p46-47

[5] New Oxford Annotated Bible, Third Edition, New Revised Standard Edition, Editor Michael D. Coogan, (New York, 2001), p 11 Hebrew Bible

[6] See Genesis 1:3-5. Yahweh creates “day” and “night” at this point in scripture but doesn’t make the sun until three creation days later in verse 16. How exactly “day” existed without the sun isn’t explained. After all, the sun doesn’t just “rule the day” (as Gen 1:16 asserts); it rather defines the whole concept.

[7] NASA, “Scientist Refines Cosmic Clock to Determine Age of Milky Way”, Steve Koppes, University of Chicago, June 29, 2005, accessed at http://universe.nasa.gov/press/2005/050629a.html, on October 14, 2006

[8] NASA, “Astronomy Picture of the Day: Index – Stars: Stellar Nurseries”, Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell, accessed at http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/stellar_nurseries.html on October 14, 2006

[9] New Oxford Annotated Bible, Third Edition, New Revised Standard Edition, Editor Michael D. Coogan, (New York, 2001), pp 24 and 995 Hebrew Bible

[10] NASA, “Is the Universe Expanding?”, by Sharron Sample, Nov 22, 2004, accessed at http://hurricanes.nasa.gov/universe/science/expanding.html, on October 14, 2006

[11] Webster’s Millennium Encylopedia on CD-Rom, “Ussher or Usher, James”, Webster Publishing, Seattle: 2003.

[12] The Times Atlas of World History, Editor: Geoffrey Barraclough (London, 1979) p16.

[13] Russell Humphreys, “The Earth’s Magnetic Field is Young”, Impact article #242, Institute for Creation Research, page 3 of the article, accessed at http://www.icr.org/ on February 24, 2006.

[14] Thomas G. Barnes, “Physics: A Challenge to Geological Time”, Impact article #16, Institute for Creation Research, page 4 of the article, accessed at http://www.icr.org/ on February 24, 2006

[15] The Times Atlas of World History, Editor: Geoffrey Barraclough (London, 1979) p16.

[16] Jack Chick, “Author Claims Some Dinosaurs Live Today”, Battle Cry, July/August 2000, paragraphs 5 and 7. Accessed at http://www.chick.com/bc/2000/dinosaurs.asp on February 26, 2006.

[17] Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, “Let God Be True”, (Brooklyn, NY: 1946), p 155

[18] NASA, “A Tale of Two Galaxies: Andromeda and Our Milky Way”, Editor: Jim Wilson, May 8, 2003, retrieved from http://www.nasa.gov/news/mission/Andromeda_M31.html on February 24, 2006.

[19] NASA, “How Old is the Universe?”, December 15, 2005, retrieved from http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_uni/uni_101age.html on March 24, 2006.