Everyone knows that the Bible is the Word of God as revealed through inspiration to holy men of God. Many have sought to change it’s meaning to make it more palatable with their own views and/or agendas. One of the ways this is done by the means of interpretation. It’s felt by many that one has to take cultural and linguistic influences into consideration before an accurate interpretation can be made. Take Genesis 1 and the creation account, for example. One must consider the times these tomes were written in, in order to correctly understand them, have a good knowledge of the language, the culture, etc.
They also say that a literal view cannot be taken as this conflicts with the supposed greater knowledge of today, that it contradicts science and therefore is bogus. One of these arguments is the description of the Earth at the moment of creation:
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
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. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:1-10)
Breaking this down, we see that there was a copious amount of water present, in fact, it was ALL water! Then, after pretty much every other element and celestial environment had been created, God made land. Going by a literal interpretation, the land was sandwiched between great bodies of water, in an environment known as “the vault”. This flies in the face of modern-day science and the interpretations that many religious groups cherish and follow. However, it does explain some other mysteries… but, can we take the scriptures literally or do we need some special kind of knowledge in order to do that?
The Bible does say that spiritual things are spiritually discerned, which means that without the guidance of God’s Spirit, no one can understand it’s deep truths. “The foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” (1 Corinthians 1:25) Can we trust the utterances of men, whom, for the most part, have rejected God?
I’ve been involved in many debates about the nature and origin of Earth, one of those being it’s make-up. Science has taught us it is just a spherical dust ball, quite unremarkable from any universal standpoint… but, is that really all it is? And what of the universe, itself? Is it really what they tell us it is and what comprises it?
If one were to read Genesis with a critical and literal eye, it would seem that there are two great bodies of water, one below us and one above, meaning that perhaps space isn’t what they tell us it is. The account gives celestial bodies placement in the vault separating these two bodies, those objects being placed there to help us with determining times and seasons, day and night. Science tells us these objects lay outside of our atmosphere (vault) and have no relation to us whatsoever, merely being similar bodies consisting of the same cosmic dust that supposedly makes up our world and us, here quite by accident with no forethought involved.
Knowing the world and those that presume to govern it, I am quite leery about accepting anything that they tell us for fact. There is an agenda out there to usurp the authority of the Creator and I really cannot envision a more perfect way of doing this as would be discrediting any and all of His works, physically and literally, destroying any knowledge of Him in the minds of society. I believe that there is more to the natural world than we are being told. In the 40’s and 50’s and 60’s, many atmospheric ‘tests’ were made, shooting nuclear weapons into the upper levels of the atmosphere. “Operation Fishbowl”, some theorize, were attempts to test or break some kind of dome that is postulated surrounding the Earth… or is this the roof of the vault that is mentioned in Genesis 1? If indeed this were the roof of the vault, a barrier between two great bodies of water, why in hell would anyone seek to break it if it holds back certain destruction by once again inundating the earth like with the Great Flood of the Noachian era? In that scenario, God instigated the conflagration and then repaired the damage. Would man be capable of repairing such a breach?
We take a lot for granted as citizens of this world that our leaders are being truthful and look out for our best interests. However, we’re given ample daily evidence that this is a misplaced trust. Many say that the Bible is untrustworthy… does this mean that there is really nobody or anything we can trust?
So, is there a correct way to interpret scripture that supersedes God’s ability to make His will known to all generations throughout history, ensuring that the message gets across in spite of personal ignorance and/or all manner of adverse times and circumstances? Is God limited in His ability to accomplish His goals, relying on the forbearance of men to accommodate His people outside of any exclusive privilege that they must have in order to learn His truths?
I think not!