The Bible Says... ?

 [12] Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, [13] not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. [14] But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. [15] Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. (2 Corinthians 3:12–15, ESV)

I recently watched a message on YouTube that a brother shared with me on the topic of biblical cosmology.  This message challenged my thinking because in it the speaker shared a teaching that I think I can honestly say I had never heard before.  I've thought about that message alot since first listening to it a couple weeks ago.  And I've listened to it three times in total to make sure I'm listening well.  I want to be slow to speak and quick to listen.

I have the utmost respect for the process the speaker shares of deconstructing his original beliefs regarding biblical cosmology that he had originally embraced based on what he was taught.  I know how hard that can be and how much courage it takes to do so when you are swimming against the mainstream of what so many other people around you believe.  So I truly commend him for this.  I have engaged in such a deconstruction process when it comes to many views I previously held based on what I was previously taught and what many around me continue to believe.  So I should be the first person to be willing to hear such a message.

In a nutshell, the speaker argues that as Christians we have believed two lies (there are more as this is only one message in a series of several lies he claims we have believed) about the earth:

• Modern science has lied to us in saying that the earth rotates on its axis, making one revolution per 24 hours thus creating the effect of day and night.  The truth the Bible teaches is that the effect of day and night is the result of the sun making a circuit above the earth.
• Modern science has lied to us in saying that the sun is at the center of the solar system and the earth revolves around the sun.  The truth the Bible teaches is that the earth is stationary and does not move.

He then goes on to unpack how at the heart of these lies is false religious teaching that wants to make the earth insignificant by placing the sun at the center of the solar system to promote idolatrous worship of the sun rather than to acknowledge the uniqueness of earth as the center of God's creative activity as revealed in the biblical story.  So ultimately at the heart of these lies is not so much science but religion—a rejection of the worship of the one and only true and living God.

I think the arguments of the message are compelling and thus should be wrestled with rather than easily dismissed.  I think the narrative he offers for the emergence and establishment of heliocentrism (sun at center of the solar system) to supplant geocentrism (earth at center of solar system) is very convincing.  I think the author may very well be right when it comes to the earth being the center of the solar system.

I say all of this to convey that there are lots of good things in this video and I am sympathetic to the conclusions drawn, even though I don't have strong convictions one way or the other.  But with all that being said, I do want to share one concern I have.  And that concern is this: I'm not convinced that these conclusions are the clear teaching of the Bible.  To say it another way, in my reading of the Bible, I'm not convinced that one of the things God intended to communicate is whether the sun or the earth is at the center of the solar system.  I fear that this teaching is trying to use the Bible to prove something the Bible was never intended to.

One of the refrains that the speaker repeats again and again throughout the message is "The Bible says...".  The idea is that if the Bible says something, then we should believe it.  Fullstop.  But I actually don't believe this is correct. I know this might sound crazy.  But please hear me out before dismissing me as a liberal with a low-view of the Bible.

I began this article by quoting a passage towards the end of 2 Corinthians 3.  In that passage, the apostle Paul says twice (in verse 14 and verse 15) that to this very day when the old covenant (2 Corinthians 3:14) or Moses (2 Corinthians 3:15) is read, it's as though a veil lies over the hearts of those Israelites who have not turned to Christ.  Throughout the New Testament, Paul will quote the writings of Moses and speak of them as Scripture (e.g. 1 Timothy 5:18).  So in 2 Corinthians 3, Paul is saying that while the Israelites are hearing Scripture read, they aren't seeing the truth of God as they are intended to.

There is something important for us not to miss here.  This is so important that I will try to state it in three ways:

• We should not categorically equate Scripture with the truth of God.
• Hearing Scripture does not strictly equal seeing the truth of God.
• Hearing Scripture !≠ seeing the truth of God

Now, do the Scriptures contain the truth of God?  Absolutely!  But there is an extra element that we must have when reading the Scriptures if we would see the truth of God.  Paul goes on to tell us in that 2 Corinthians 3 passage what that extra something is.  He says that when one turns to the Lord the veil is removed to allow us to behold the glory of God by agency of the Holy Spirit.  So that extra element is a Person who gives revelation as to what the Scripture means.  So I think the correct principle should be stated as follows:

• Hearing Scripture together with the revelation of the Holy Spirit equals seeing the truth of God.
• Hearing  Scripture + revelation of the Holy Spirit = seeing the truth of God

I'm currently part of a Bible study going through the gospel according to John.  And one of the themes that's come up for us a couple times in the first three chapters is how we must have spiritual eyes in order to see God's truth.

In John 2, after clearing out the temple the Jewish leaders push back on Jesus.  In response, Jesus tells them to destroy the temple and He will raise it up in three days.  They hear His words but they have no revelation of the Spirit so they conclude that He means the physical temple when the text clearly tells us He's talking about His body.  John 2:22 seems to indicate that not only the Jewish leaders but also Jesus' disciples didn't grasp His words until after He rose from the dead.  Only then did they believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken  (notice how Scripture is closely associated with the words Jesus speaks).

Similarly, in John 3, Jesus speaks to Nicodemus about being born again and Nicodemus hears the words of Jesus but he concludes that Jesus is talking about a man getting into his mother's womb to experience physical birth a second time so he concludes it's impossible.  Why?  He didn't have the revelation of the Spirit to show him the truth of God in the words of Jesus had to do with a person identifying with Jesus and in so doing choosing a new identity and a new community.

The problem with the Jewish leaders (e.g. Pharisees) throughout the New Testament is that they hear the Scriptures but they don't see the truth of God.  They don't understand that the Scriptures are a means to see the truth of God if a person will allow the Spirit to speak to them through them.  But hearing the Scriptures does not necessarily mean that one has heard the Spirit.  So because the Jewish leaders so often hear the Scriptures without hearing the Spirit, they fail to see the truth of God just as often.

So why do I say all of this and how does it relate to my concern regarding the teaching on biblical cosmology presented in the video?  Here are a couple of passages the speaker in the video quotes to substantiate his belief that the earth is stationary and thus does not revolve around the sun:

[1] The LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty;
the LORD is robed; he has put on strength as his belt.
Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.
[2] Your throne is established from of old;
you are from everlasting. (Psalm 93:1–2, ESV)

[10] Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns!
Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.” (Psalm 96:10, ESV)

[5] He set the earth on its foundations,
so that it should never be moved. (Psalm 104:5, ESV)

The Scriptures clearly state in each of these passages that the earth (or the world) will never be moved.  But is the truth of God to see here that the earth literally doesn't move?  If so, then what do we make of this verse in just a few verses after verse 5 in Psalm 104?

[31] May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
may the LORD rejoice in his works,
[32] who looks on the earth and it trembles,
who touches the mountains and they smoke! (Psalm 104:31–32, ESV)

Psalm 104:5 says that the earth should never be moved and then verse 32 of the same Psalm says that the earth trembles when God looks at it.

So which one is it?

I would submit that there is a truth of God to be seen here as we allow the Spirit to speak to us through the Scriptures.  Whether Psalm 93 or 96 or 104, I don't think the truth of God to see is that the earth doesn't literally move.  If so, then we run into a contradiction when we get to Psalm 104:32.  Or what about when we experience an earthquake that registers 6.2 on the Richter scale?  Do we tell ourselves that—no matter what we felt—the earth didn't move because Scripture says it can't?

I think there is a better solution.  The truth of God to be seen in each of these Scriptures is that God is to be praised and trusted and rejoiced in because His glory endures forever and part of that glory includes the earth He created and His purposes for it.  When the psalmist tells us that the world or earth cannot be moved, he is making a statement about God's creative work and purposes (because the earth is part of that work and those purposes) and how His work will be established and His purposes not thwarted.  And that holds true even as the earth quakes (which is part of God's purposes)!  This is the truth of God to be seen and when we see it there is no contradiction in the Scriptures.

An online friend I've gotten to engage with a bit over the last couple of years has spent most of his adult life studying the teachings of the early church pre-Nicea.  He happens to believe in evolution.  Here is a relevant comment he made in an article he published on the topic of creation and the glory of God:

The Bible’s not about science. The Bible is not always accurate history. It doesn’t matter a bit whether evolution fits the Bible or not. Genesis one isn’t about how God created the earth. Genesis one is a creation myth. Moses wasn’t there, and he when he added Genesis one to the Law–to the suzerain covenant he was writing–he had no way of knowing how accurate it was.  Nor did he care.  And I don’t care, either.  The inspiration of the Bible is a spiritual inspiration, and it must be spiritually discerned.  Thus, you must first be born again, possessed by the Spirit of God, and a follower of Christ before you have any good idea what the Bible is talking about.

Amen! I love this and couldn't have said it better.  In other words, we must receive the revelation of the Holy Spirit in order to see the truth of God as we read the Scripture.  The Bible was given to us so that God might reveal to us many things (e.g. Deuteronomy 29:29), including the fact that He is the creator of the world.  But I don't think the details of how He created the world is one of those things.  And that's why I don't have a firm conviction regarding how the world was created when it comes to interpretive theories of Genesis 1-2.  Or whether the earth rotates on its axis or revolves around the sun.

In closing, here are a couple of quotes from the message followed by my response:

We're either going to believe Genesis 1 or something else.  There's no way you can believe modern science and also believe Genesis 1.  One or the other is true.

This seems like a forced dichotomy.  There are many believers who believe in Genesis 1, have a high view of Scripture, and believe modern science.  They just don't believe that the truth of God to be seen in Genesis 1 is the exact details of how God created the world.

Look at everything from the lens of Scripture.

Almost. We should look at everything from the lens of the revelation of the Holy Spirit given to us as we read Scripture. Otherwise we are no better than the Pharisees.

The Bible is not giving us man's perspective on things. It's giving us God's perspective on things.

The revelation of the Holy Spirit we receive as we read Scripture gives us God's perspective. Otherwise without that revelation we will read the Scripture and receive man's perspective on things, just like the Pharisees did.

We have been taught that we are to take the Bible literally unless it tells us otherwise.

I actually think this was one of the failures of the Pharisees. They read and applied the Bible literally.

If you don't believe that God created the earth on the first day... you are going to have some big problems when you come to what the Bible says about how you're supposed to be saved.

No, people don't fail to come to Jesus to receive life because they refuse to believe in a literal creation account. They fail to receive life—and as a result fail to read the Scriptures properly—only because they refuse to come to Jesus. The stumbling block is Jesus and never the Scriptures.

[39] You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, [40] yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. (John 5:39–40, ESV)