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Refuting Bible skeptics

Skeptics have been trying to discredit the Bible for many years, to no avail. The Skeptic's Annotated Bible can be refuted in their very first analysis of Genesis 1. Their biggest problem seems to be making narrow, blind assumptions (i.e. blind faith):

1. "The Two Creations"

A non-biased (i.e. non-blind faith) reading of Genesis 1 & 2 usually results in the understanding that Genesis 2 is just Genesis 1 expressed in a different way, not a contradiction.

2. "Who created heaven and earth [Jesus or God]?"

Obviously Jesus, the son of God, is God like a human child is human like their father or mother. Not a contradiction.

3. "When was the universe created?"

The Bible doesn't say when. In fact, Psalm 90:2-4 directly refers to when God "formed the earth" and implies that a day could be any amount of time ("a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday"). In addition, the word "day" (Hebrew yom) can mean a period of time or epoch, and "evening and the morning" (Hebrew ereb and boqer) can be plural (e.g. Daniel 8:26). Arguments that '"yom"' plus a number' are always interpreted to mean 24 hour days is a nice statistic but it does not prevent yom from being legitimately interpreted as an indeterminate period of time or an epoch. In fact, in Genesis 2:4 yom is interpreted to mean the whole six days of creation. Thus, billions of evenings and mornings in each of 6 epochs/days is a legitimate interpretation.

4. "The Gap Theory"

The Bible does not say the earth is 6000 years old. It appears that the writer of the Skeptic's Annotated Bible (SAB) has been very "nasty". The SAB writer likely has eaten a hamburger and stepped on an ant or paid taxes to a country that has committed genocide. Thus, apparently the SAB writer has canibalized one of their fellow animals and murdered innocent ants and worked to support a State that has committed attrocities. But, it's not clear that God would think that animals killing other animals is "nasty" or not "good". A God would obviously have every right to destroy his creations, much more right than the SAB writer would have to step on ants and kill them, etc. In addition, when the Bible talks about death it usually means spiritual death. Therefore, a "gap" is a possible interpretation.

5. "The Genesis 1 account conflicts with the order of events that are known to science." The Skeptic Friends Network says "the story of Genesis, a blatantly false dichotomy." Lets check it out...

First, we should all be able to agree with the following premises: Stars, sun, light, and planets together make up the heaven[s]. Earth is a planet. Obviously light came before earth. Genesis 1:1 confirms the scientific creation sequence of heaven first (i.e. light, stars, etc.) and then the earth. We have already shown that "day" (Hebrew epoch) can be interpreted as billions of years. Genesis 1:2 provides a scientific frame of reference: "upon the face of the waters". Genesis 1:2 also implies that night and day, stars, and moon were not originally visible at the frame of reference on the surface of the earth since "darkness was upon the face of the deep" until Genesis 1:3 where God said "Let there be light:". "Let there be light:" implies a natural process of darkness subsiding rather than God actually creating light at that particular point in Genesis 1:3. Night and day became distinguishable "upon the face" of the earth in Genesis 1:3, this was followed later by the actual clarity of the individual sun, stars, and moon, etc., in Genesis 1:16. Darkness on the surface of the earth and then clearing is also confirmed by scientific theory, due to periods of intense asteroid/comet impacts, etc.

The SAB author claims that Genesis 1:1 says 'the earth and "heaven" are created together' which actually confirms our first premise. Then the SAB writer apparently contradicts their original argument by claiming that the same passage now does not say what it said previously by the author saying: "the earth is created (1:1) before light (1:3), sun and stars (1:16)". Obviously the creation of the heaven[s] produced light as in Genesis 1:1. Genesis 1:16 says the sun, moon, and stars were "made" which can be interpreted in the past tense referring back to Genesis 1:1 before the darkness had cleared on the surface of the earth. Thus, the Genesis 1 sequence is completely scientifically consistent with light, sun and stars (i.e. heaven[s]) in sequence before the earth.

The rest of the days (or epochs) also predict the general geological timetable consistent with modern science: God's spirit brooding or his breath moving over the waters could imply life beginning in the water. The atmosphere containing water vapor was generated (the water cycle is described in Job 36:27). Large land masses appeared (i.e. tectonic activity). The earth (Hebrew erets, also including water, etc.) produced vegetation (i.e. algae, etc.). The water produced aquatic creatures. Mammals then appeared. Humans came last.

The Skeptic Friends Network presumptuously says, 'Fundamentalists love to quote the first part of Isaiah 40:22 where it reads, “He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth…” as proof that the Bible advocates a spherical Earth.'

Now I will act as the 'skeptics' skeptic and easily debunk all their so-called skepticism by exposing their hidden biases and blind assumptions...

What fundamentalists call Isaiah 40:22 "proof"? I'm not sure. But, Luke 17 is proof that the Bible is scientifically correct. In Luke 17 it says at the same instant "like the lightning, which flashes" people are "taken" concurrently at "night" (verse 34) and "day" (verses 30-31) proving ~2000 years ago that the Bible correctly says the earth is a globe with both dark and light sides. Isaiah 40:22 is simply accurately describing what the earth looks like from a distance. However, Wilson’s OT Word Studies translates the Hebrew word "chuwg" as a "circle, sphere," (n.d., p. 77). And Random House Dictionary gives the following definition:

cir·cle: "a sphere or orb: the circle of the earth."

There is absolutely no evidence that Isaiah 40:22 should be interpreted as a flat disk. In addition, a tent in biblical times is not in the shape of a dome. In fact, when Isaiah 40:22 says God "stretches out the heavens" it more likely predicts what science now refers to as the expansion of the universe after the Big Bang.

Job 26:10 says the earth's cross section is round multidimensionally on 70% of the surface of the earth where water is found implying a spherical earth: "He has inscribed a circle on the surface of the waters," (NAS)

In Job 38:2 immediately following Job 37:18 where Elihu falsely talked about the "vault of the skies...hard as a mirror of cast metal", God correct him by saying "Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?"

The Skeptic Friends Network thinks that the dream in Daniel 4:11 is "Daniel’s dream..." In fact, it is was Nebuchadnezzar's dream, a pagan King. Who cares if a pagan King's dream dream implies a flat earth and is not scientifically sound? The Bible is simply providing an accurate historical record of Nebuchadnezzar's distorted dream.

The Hebrew word "aguddah" in Amos 9:6 does not imply a hard surface nor a dome or vaulted surface. In all other uses it simply means to bind together, like gravity holding the atmosphere to the earth. This verse also seems to describe the hydrologic cycle.

The Hebrew word "avah" in Isaiah 24:1 means to "distort" like in an earthquake or to "ruin", not to turn it "upside down" as the KJV incorrectly translates.

The Friends Skeptic Friends Network says that the "Bible also advocates Geocentrism:"

However, the Hebrew word "makon" normally means dwelling place or area, not necessarily a fixed physical foundation, and the word "mot" can mean it will not "be out of course", not immovable as in a fixed location in space.

It's easy to debunk the skeptics. A little rational, open-minded thinking is all it takes.

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