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From: padraig@utastro.UUCP (Padraig Houlahan)
Newsgroups: net.origins
Subject: Re: Re. Bishop Ussher and the age of the earth,etc.
Message-ID: <1094@utastro.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 13-Mar-85 00:48:32 EST
Article-I.D.: utastro.1094
Posted: Wed Mar 13 00:48:32 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 16-Mar-85 02:09:30 EST
References: <1041@decwrl.UUCP>
Organization: U. Texas, Astronomy, Austin, TX
Lines: 34

> 
> The same sort of bosh is put forward by no less (he should know better!) than
> Ethan Vishniac when he asks if Christians wish to defend a flat earth and a
> geocentric universe because HE says that a literal reading of the bible leads
> to those ideas.  Please.  Spare me, Ethan.  Perhaps, your lack of liberal arts
> training is showing, perhaps you are being flip, perhaps you really believe
> Christians believe those things, perhaps you are silly.  But 'literal' reading
> MEANS reading the document through the eyes of writer and his times!!!!!!
> At the time the Old Testament was written the earth appeared flat to a great
> manny people.  And geocentric too.  Just how would you EXPECT someone from the
> tenth century BC to describe the earth????  And if God gave an ACCURATE 
> scientific description of things, who would understand them?????  Tenth
> century people, us, in the future????  The point is of course that as Calvin
> (of Geneva, not Klein) said "God lisps" when talking to man.  Otherwise we
> wouldn't know what he was talking about, eh?  The bible is not a scientific
> explanation of the world.  But it does describe accurately what men saw and
> heard.  We do the same today.  Talk about things in not a strickly 'accurate'
> way.  One MUST be less than entirely accurate to communicate!  Now, I'm not
> jumping on you Ethan, really, I respect your mind and views and have enjoyed
> your postings to net.physics.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Ken Arndt

OK. I understand now.
When the bible says that the earth is flat then 
the 'literal' interpretation is the earth only appeared to be flat.
And when the bible says that Jesus was the Son of God, the
'literal' interpretation is that He only APPEARED to be the Son of God.

Sounds reasonable to me.

Padraig houlahan.