Quick question or comment about the statement of the Earth being flat: You refute that claim with this:<\/p>\n
The real core of the argument is a claim that the Hebrew word\u00a0tehom<\/em>\u00a0implies that something is flat. There is just one small problem. “Flat” isn’t in\u00a0tehom<\/em>‘s definition.\u00a0Tehom<\/em>\u00a0is “A noun meaning ‘the depths of the ocean'”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
But while Tehom does mean \u201cdeep\u201d (noun) or \u201cabyss\u201d and does imply a three-dimensional space of water, that doesn\u2019t mean a \u201cspherical\u201d space of water. A flat Earth, of course, would not be two dimensional like Edwin Abbott\u2019s\u00a0Flatland<\/u>, it would simply be disc-shaped rather than sphere or cube-shaped, etc. A disc-shaped Earth that exists in three-space could simply have a thickness to it that allows it to have depressions in which water is held, as the Flat Earth society believes. So I don\u2019t think that having a \u201cdeep\u201d refutes the indication that the Earth is flat. Rather, it refutes the idea that it\u2019s two-dimensional and completely flat, which is not what people are claiming the Bible says. So I guess my question is still: Doesn\u2019t the Bible say that the Earth is a circle as opposed to a sphere?<\/p>\n\t
Answer:<\/h2>\n
You reversed an implication and came up with a falsehood. The original claim was that\u00a0tehom\u00a0<\/em>implied a flat object. I showed that the meaning does not include flatness, thus the core of the person’s argument was unjustified.<\/p>\n
“When He prepared the heavens, I was there, when He drew a circle on the face of the deep<\/em>” (Proverbs 8:27).<\/p>\n
“It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in<\/em>” (Isaiah 40:22).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The Hebrew word translated as “circle” is\u00a0chuwg<\/em>\u00a0(or sometimes transliterated as\u00a0khug<\/em>). It translates the concept of something round, rounded, or dome-shaped and can be applied to a spherical shape. For example, the other place this word is used is “Clouds are a hiding place for Him, so that He cannot see; and He walks on the vault of heaven<\/em>” (Job 22:14) to describe the shape of the sky. Notice that “dome” would be an accurate translation in all three usages of the word in the Bible.<\/p>\n
Chuwg<\/em> is not used in the Bible to describe a flat circle or a disk. You cannot take what people wish this word to mean and then state that is how it was used by the writers of the Bible. The Hebrew word for a flat circle, by the way, is\u00a0cabab<\/em>. “So he had the ark of the LORD taken around the city, circling it once; then they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp<\/em>” (Joshua 6:11).<\/p>\n
Proverbs 8:27 is of particular interest because it says the oceans (the deep) are round or circular. Yet, it cannot be describing the shape of the shoreline since they are anything but round. However, the surface of the oceans (its face) is round or spherical in shape. We know such to be true because the earth is a sphere and the oceans take on a rounded (or if you will, a circular) shape. A disk-shaped world would not give the oceans a circular, rounded, or dome shape.<\/p>\n
The point is that the Bible does not call the earth a flat circle or a disk. The description of the earth is fully compatible with what we know: that the earth is a spherical shape.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Quick question or comment about the statement of the Earth being flat: You refute that claim with this: The real core of the argument is a claim that the Hebrew word\u00a0tehom\u00a0implies that something is flat. There is just one small problem. “Flat” isn’t in\u00a0tehom‘s definition.\u00a0Tehom\u00a0is “A noun meaning ‘the depths of the ocean’” But…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[568,37,76],"class_list":["post-24937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-accuracy-of-the-bible","tag-apologetics","tag-terminology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21780,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-the-bible-state-the-world-is-flat\/","url_meta":{"origin":24937,"position":0},"title":"Does the Bible state the world is flat?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 25, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: [This is the first point in an overly long document that was sent, purporting to prove there are errors in the Bible. This first point claims that the Bible states the world is flat. I'm not going to give space for false teaching, but I want to illustrate with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47043,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-myth-of-the-flat-earth\/","url_meta":{"origin":24937,"position":1},"title":"The Myth of the Flat Earth","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I ran across an article, from Newsweek of all places, that pointed out that humanity as a whole never really believed in the concept of a flat earth. [Douglas Main, \"Even in the Middle Ages, People Didn't Think the Earth Was Flat,\" Newsweek, 16 January 2016].\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/earth1-300x274.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":34852,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-the-bible-is-inspired-then-why-does-it-say-the-earth-is-round-and-in-other-spots-speak-as-if-it-is-flat\/","url_meta":{"origin":24937,"position":2},"title":"If the Bible is inspired then why does it say the earth is round and in other spots speak as if it is flat?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If the author of the Bible is God through people, why in some places does it say the earth is a circle, like a phrase where it says we are like grasshoppers and God is watching over us and then there is another one where a tree is described\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36572,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-the-sky-referred-to-as-heavens-in-genesis-16-8\/","url_meta":{"origin":24937,"position":3},"title":"Why is the sky referred to as “heavens” in Genesis 1:6-8?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I am currently bust with a Bible study of Genesis and I am confused about something. 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Answer: \"See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27798,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-the-bible-say-about-man-inhabiting-space\/","url_meta":{"origin":24937,"position":5},"title":"What does the Bible say about man inhabiting space?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear sir, What does the Bible say about man inhabiting space? Particularly the satellites, the Hubble telescope, astronauts, and the space station. Did the Bible foresee how men would try to conquer space and to some degree has? 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