![]() ![]() The fact that other ancient cultures held a particular view doesn't prove that the ancient Jews held that view. He may have been agnostic on some of the relevant issues. There's no way for us to know the author's cosmology in detail. It's a highly poetic book that sometimes uses different images to refer to the same object. Demanding that a Christian document the cosmology of the author of Job, for example, doesn't make sense. We shouldn't assume that every ancient person took a confident position on every conceivable issue. He suggested that people who argue that the earth is spherical or a cube have no way of knowing. Earlier, I cited Theophilus of Antioch as an example. There's much we don't know about what ancient people believed on these subjects.ģ. You don't have to understand every element of how the brain functions in order to make some references to the head or the process of thinking.Ģ. If the apostle Paul was ignorant or incorrect about some elements of how the brain functions, he could discuss subjects like Christ as the head of the church or how a Christian should think without thereby teaching a false view of the brain. In a discussion about Biblical inerrancy or a related subject, the issue of primary importance is what the Bible teaches, not what some people or most people at that time believed. Just as we today surely have some misconceptions about the universe, ancient people surely did as well. There are a few things we should keep in mind as we consider this issue:ġ. Other passages in the New Testament are sometimes cited as well, such as the references to the four corners of the earth in Revelation. He cited Matthew 4:8 as evidence that the author of that gospel believed in a flat earth. He acknowledged that some ancient people did believe in a spherical earth, but he argued that the Biblical authors probably didn't. I had a discussion, last year, with another critic of Christianity who raised similar objections, though he was more reasonable than John Loftus. He's argued that the ancient Jews probably believed in a flat earth, a God who has a physical body, etc. In recent days, John Loftus of Debunking Christianity has been arguing that we should interpret passages like 2 Samuel 22 and Job 26 much more literally than Christians usually do. ![]()
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