Why Faith Fails The Christian Delusion

by John W. Loftus

Hebrew and English Lexicon. With an Appendix Containing the

  BiblicalAramaic (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996 reprint).

  50. Ludwig Koehler, Walter Baumgartner, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon

  of the Old Testament, trans. M. E. Richardson (Boston: Brill Academic, 2002

  reprint).

  51. One curious attempt to argue that the Bible depicts the sphericity and

  rotation of the earth is based on a passage found in the NT, Luke 17:34-36,

  which speaks of the coming of the Son of Man, "In that night, there shall be two

  men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women

  will be grinding together.... Two men shall be in the field." "In other words,"

  wrote Henry Morris, the founder of the Institute for Creation Research, "this

  great event will take place instantaneously at night, in the morning, and in the

  afternoon. Such a combination would be possible only on an earth in which day

  and night could be occurring simultaneously, and that means a rotating earth."

  Contra Morris, there is nothing in the verse about the earth "rotating," and in

  fact a stationary earth with a circling sun, as in a geocentric cosmos, could

  explain such a verse just as well. Morris also fails to note that Jesus' dictum, "No

  one knows the day or the hour," inspired Luke's multiple illustrations, including

  a bedtime illustration. Luke has simply mixed together three distinct possibilities

  and is not stressing their simultaneity. Luke is saying one must be ready at all

  times for the corning of the Son of Man, no matter what you may be doing-

  working in the field, sleeping in bed, or grinding meal. For the Son of Man

  might arrive at an early hour of the day, a later hour of the day, or at night. No

  one knows the day or the hour.

  The passage in Luke is repeated almost identically in Matthew 24:40-41,

  which mentions only men in the field and women grinding, that is, activities that

  may be performed at the same hour of the day when the Son of Man comes. The

  point that the two gospel authors are trying to make is not in reference to

  astronomy but to apocalyptic expectations. According to them, the coming of the

  Son of Man will reveal a wide separation between hearts joined together by toil

  or friendship: two men may share a bed together, two women work as closely as

  at the handle of one hand mill, and one shall be taken, the other left. Certainly no

  more can be made of Luke's inclusion of a bedtime illustration than Matthew's

  exclusion of one. Was Luke's Gospel more astronomically inspired than

  Matthew's?

  Lastly, one may note that according to some ancient Mesopotamian writings,

  at least one region of the flat earth's surface lay in perpetual darkness. So the

  ancients believed that even a flat earth could have darkness and light on it at the

  same time. Moreover, the sun is relatively small in a flat-earth cosmos and only

  sails directly above one part of the earth at a time, so even flat-earthers would

  not have expected every region of the earth to be lit at the same time with equal

  brightness. The Bible even states in the story of Joshua that he commanded the

  sun and moon to halt over specific regions, "Sun, stand still over Gibeon; and

  Moon, over the valley of Aijalon" (Joshua 10:12). And if I may paraphrase

  famed nineteenth-century freethinker, George William Foote, "When the Greek

  philosopher Anaxagoras dared to suggest that the sun was far larger than the

  Pelo-ponnesos (the southern peninsula of Greece) he startled his contemporaries.

  What must have been the notions of a grossly unscientific people like the Jews?

  For them it was easy to regard the sun, moon, and `the stars also,' as mere

  satellites of the earth, as lanterns for the human race."

  52. "The cylinder was rolled on the wet clay of the tablet being sealed" [David

  Maltsberger, "Late Bronze Age Seals," in Field Notes: The Newsletter of

  Archaeology in Israel and the Near East 2, no. 1 (1994)]. See also, Ancient Seals

  and the Bible, eds., L. Gorelick and Elizabeth Williams-Forte (Malibu: Undena,

  1983).

  Note, some King James Bible followers, like Henry Morris (mentioned in the

  previous note), claim the seal in this verse in Job remains stationary and is

  applied to a wet piece of clay being "turned" on a potter's wheel. In other words,

  Morris claims this verse depicts the earth as spinning! But no such potter's wheel

  is mentioned in the verse in job, and Morris misunderstands the meaning of the

  Elizabethan English word "turned," which was being used in the sense of "the

  milk turned sour," instead of depicting a spinning motion. Modern Bibles use the

  word "changed" instead of "turned." So this verse in job compares the earth to a

  clay tablet, and compares the imprint of a cylinder seal rolled on its surface to

  the sun's rays changing the appearance of the earth's surface.

  53. R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

  in English, vol. 2, Pseudepigrapha (London: Oxford University Press, 1969, a

  reprint of the 1913 edition), p. 208.

  54. There is a curious verse in the book of job that states God "hangs" the

  earth "over nothing," "on nothing," "on nothing whatsoever," or "without

  anything" (Job 26:7). Those who believe the Bible contains hidden nuggets of

  modern astronomical wisdom sometimes point to this verse as an illustration of

  the principle of gravity. But there is nothing in this verse about the shape of the

  earth, about the earth's position relative to an object in, say, outer space, or about

  the earth moving.

  As pointed out by Lamoureux in Evolutionary Creation: A Christian Approach

  to Evolution, the Hebrew word talah, which is translated "suspends" or "hangs,"

  appears in contexts of hanging up an object like a utensil on a peg (Isaiah 22:24),

  weapons on a wall (Ezekiel 27:10), or a lyre on a tree (Psalm 137:2). It does not

  refer to hovering in empty space, but to hanging something from some perch.

  Job 26:7 simply states that the earth is not hanging from anything in the three-

  tier cosmos of heaven above, earth below, and the deep/Sheol under the earth.

  The primary point of the verse is that "He" (Yahweh) is displaying his might by

  hanging the earth miraculously, securely, safely in the midst of such a three-tier

  cosmos.

  Take a closer look at the entire verse, Job 26:7 (NASB), and note that it reads:

  The verse contains two parts that parallel one another. The first part features

  the word saphon, which was originally the name of a mountain in "the north"

  where the Canaanites believed their gods assembled-a cosmic mountain

  connected with heaven or the sky. The "north/heaven" is stretched over tohu,

  which is the same word that appears in Genesis 1:2 and describes the "formless,

  pre-created stuff" that would later become the earth. In other parts of the Bible

  tohu is used to express "confusion, unreality, wasteland, desolation," something

  a bit grittier than just "empty space." In fact, tohu is translated as "chaos" in this

  verse in both the New Jewish Publication Society translation of the Hebrew

  Bible and in The Book of lob: The Cambridge Bible Commentary.

  The second part of the verse says God hangs the earth beli-mah, a compound


  word that appears only once in the Bible, so linguists do not know its range of

  use, or its meaning in different contexts. According to Smith in The Priestly

  Vision of Genesis 1 (p. 58) beli-mab means literally "without-what," and since it

  appears in parallel with tobu most likely refers to a type of "emptiness" that is

  "quite literally a terra incognita [unknown land]." Other translations for beli-mab

  include "nothing," "nothingness," "without anything," and "what (not)." Used as

  a parallel for tobu in this verse, beli-mab's "nothingness," "emptiness," may be

  referring to the primeval, watery deep and shadowy land of death/destruction, all

  of which lay beneath the earth in biblical cosmology. The context of job 26:7

  agrees with such an interpretation, since Job says that God sees right down to the

  watery depths and the lands of death (Sheol) and destruction (Abaddon) over

  which (it was believed) lay the expanse of the earth: "The departed spirits

  tremble under the waters and their inhabitants. Naked is Sheol before Him, and

  Abaddon has no covering. He stretches out the north over empty space and

  hangs the earth on nothing.... He has inscribed a circle on the surface of the

  waters at the boundary of light and darkness. The pillars of heaven tremble and

  are amazed at His rebuke. He quieted the sea with His power, and by His

  understanding He shattered Rahab. By His breath the heavens are cleared; His

  hand has pierced the fleeing serpent," Job 26:5-7, 10-13 (NASB).

  Further support for such an understanding of job 26:7 can be found in God's

  point-by-point reply to job in chapter 38: "Where were you when I laid the

  foundation of the earth? ... Who set its measurements? ... Or who stretched the

  line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone? ... I placed

  boundaries on [the sea] and set a bolt and doors, and I said, `Thus far you shall

  come, but no farther; and here shall your proud waves stop.'... Have you entered

  into the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates

  of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

  Have you understood the expanse of the earth?"Job 38:4-6, 10-11, 16-18

  (NASB).

  Lastly, as a side note, there's at least one curious Mesopotamian hymn of

  creation that stands out among Mesopotamian literature in a way similar to how

  Job 26:7 stands out among Hebrew literature. I am speaking of The Samas

  Hymn, which states, "You (Samas, the sun god) climb to the mountains

  surveying the earth. You suspend from the heavens the circle of the lands [the

  earth]" [W. G. Lambert, Babylonian Wisdom Literature (Oxford: Clarendon

  Press, 1960), 11. 21-22].

  55. Horowitz, pp. 331, 333.

  56. The fact that some stars explode is not in doubt, neither is the fact that new

  ones continue to be born. Yet according to Genesis 1, God "made the stars" on

  the fourth day of creation, and the author leaves it at that, with no mention of the

  remarkable fact that God is creating them still. To read about the birth of new

  stars see Astronomy, Sky & Telescope and Astrophysical journal. Newborn stars

  also have rings of matter circling them in which new planets may be forming. As

  of January 2010, astronomers have discovered 424 known extrasolar planets,

  ranging from the size of gas giants to that of terrestrial planets. And speaking of

  ongoing creation, inside each star, the simplest of atoms, hydrogen, is fusing

  with other such atoms to give birth to heavier elements.

  57. The last book of the Bible mentions a city that descends from heaven, the

  New Jerusalem: "And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the

  breadth.... twelve thousand furlongs [about 1,500 miles, according to most

  commentaries, which is also the distance from the earthly city of Jerusalem to

  the city of Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire]. The length and the breadth

  and the height of it are equal" (Revelation 21:16). Some Christians believe this is

  a literal city that shall descend from heaven, but wouldn't a cube that size seesaw

  on the earth's surface, since the earth is not flat, but a sphere? An object that

  massive would also trigger earthquakes, eruptions, and make a planet wobble on

  its axis. (Try gluing a small cafeteria-sized carton of milk to a large bowling ball

  and spin the bowling ball to see what I mean.) How could the New Jerusalem

  maintain its cubic shape since asteroids of far smaller widths collapse into

  sphere-shaped objects due to the force of their own gravity? And what would

  prevent the city, after it landed, from growing as wide and flat as any mountain

  range due to its mutual attraction with the earth's gravity? The height of the New

  Jerusalem is so great that it would extend 1,300 miles further into space than the

  International Space Station (which is situated only 200 miles above the earth).

  The New Jerusalem would also block jet streams in the upper atmosphere and be

  pummeled by natural and manmade objects orbiting the earth, as well as by solar

  winds and radiation. If you happen to live in the New Jerusalem on a floor

  higher than 100 miles above sea level, I would not suggest opening your

  windows without first donning a space suit.

  The author of the book of Revelation also wrote that the "twelve gates" of the

  New Jerusalem are "twelve pearls; every gate is of one pearl" (21:21), hence the

  slang expression for heaven, "the pearly gates." But where can you find "one

  pearl" as large as a city gate? However, Christian apologist Grant R. Jeffrey

  turns all such questions on their heads, and asserts the literal truth of everything

  written in the Bible about the "New Jerusalem," by asking, "What reason would

  God have for describing such details so precisely unless they were true?"

  [Apocalypse: The Coming judgment of the Nations (Toronto: Bantam Books,

  1994), p. 351] But who knows whether it is God who is describing such details?

  The author of the book of Revelation probably envisioned the New Jerusalem

  as a cube because that was the shape of the holy of holies of Solomon's temple-

  and he assumed this super massive cube did not have to travel light-years to get

  here, but would descend from God's heaven directly above the earth and rest

  securely, as cubes do, on a flat surface, that of the flat earth. In a similar vein, the

  book of Revelation mentions that its author passed through a "door to heaven"

  (Revelation 4:1) and was shown things "in the spirit." "I saw four angels

  standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth"

  (Revelation 7:1). Another verse in Revelation says that "every eye" will see

  Jesus when he returns from heaven to earth "on clouds" (Revelation 1:7). "And I

  saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were

  passed away; and there was no more sea" (Revelation 21:1).

  Final question: if the Bible begins and ends with a mythical view of the

  cosmos, then what other myths might not lay between its pages?

  58. G. K. Beale, The Erosion of Inerrancy in Evangelicalism Responding to

  New Challenges to Biblical Authority (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008),

  pp. 216-17.

  59. A Chronology of the Raqia' and, "Water
s above the Ragia"':

  • The Hebrew Past

  Raqia'is solid throughout the OT.

  • Fourth or Third Century BCE

  The Book of Enoch (in one of its oldest sections, "The Book of Watchers")

  affirms a solid firmament.

  • Second Century BCE:

  Hebrew scholars translate their Scriptures into Greek (the Septuagint or LXX

  version of the Hebrew Bible) and employ the Greek word stereoma, based on

  stereos, which means "firm/hard," as the closest equivalent to the Hebrew word,

  ragia: And the Song of the Three Holy Children [found in some copies of the

  Book of Daniel after 3:23], says that "waters be above the heavens" and are

  called upon to bless the Lord, but after the reader is brought closer to the things

  of the earth, clouds are called upon to bless the Lord, thus distinguishing

  between the two.

  • First Century CE:

  The authors of the NT assume a three-tier cosmos, consisting of God in

  heaven above, a flat earth below, and people/beings "under the earth"

  (Philippians 2:10; Revelation 5:3, 5:13; see also Ephesians 4:9-10).

  • Second to Fifth Century CE:

  Origen, a second-century church father, calls the firmament, "without doubt

  firm and solid; and it is this which `divides the water which is above heaven

  from the water which is below heaven."' Ambrose, a fourth-century church

  father, comments, "the specific solidity of this exterior firmament is meant."

  Jerome, a fourth-fifth-century church father, and translator of Genesis from

  Hebrew into Latin, translates raqia' as firmamentum, based on firmus, which

  means "firm/hard." Augustine, a fourth-fifth-century church father, says, "the

  term `firmament' does not compel us to imagine a stationary heaven: we may

  understand this name as given to indicate not that it is motionless but that it is

  solid and that it constitutes an impassable boundary between the water above and

  the waters below." Augustine adds, "Whatever the nature of the waters [above

  the firmament], we must believe in them, for the authority of Scripture is greater

  than the capacity of man's mind," a phrase echoed by Martin Luther as late as the

  fifteenth century.

  Jewish writings agree with those of the Christian fathers: In 2 Enoch [dated by

  some to the first century CE] Enoch is placed on a cloud, transported above the

  first heaven, and shown "a very great Sea, greater than the earthly Sea." The

  Testament of Adam says, "waters [mighty waves] are above heaven" and praise

  God in the fifth hour, while clouds are distinguished from such waters by being

  made in the sixth hour. Rabbinical works mention the firmament and the waters

  above it, and speculate as to the firmament's composition and thickness. [For

  citations to statements made in the preceding two paragraphs, see Paul H. Seely,

  "The Firmament and the Water Above," Parts I and II, listed in note 2.]

  • Fifth to Fifteenth Century CE:

  Most medieval theologians follow the lead of the Bible and church fathers and

  claim with certainty that waters lay above the planets and stars. But what kind of

  waters? Thomas Aquinas says such waters must be material, but he adds that

  their nature depends on the composition of the firmament-as is his custom, he

  describes various possibilities. But the most popular view of the firmament is as

  a "sphere of fixed stars" above which lay a "sphere of water" in liquid or

  crystalline form, and by "crystalline" most mean "liquid." Indeed, in the twelfth

  century, Bartholomew the Englishman explains that the waters above the starry

  firmament are called "crystalline, not because they are hard like a crystal but

  because they are uniformly luminous and transparent." Such waters are said to