Bible Difficulties Explained

[kwikphilly]

Blessings Saved.One

   

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 Could circle and compass just mean God's precise design?

Good question,,,,,,,yes,I think so,why not? In any event I don't think the Scripture you've referenced has anything to do with whether the earth is flat or a sphere & I know that is NOT your Topic ,,,,,, but all to do with Gods view of His Design & what He did create,including us,as Ezra noted  & you mentioned,,,,,"grasshoppers",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,yes,from Gods View from Heaven  we must appear as tiny little grassedhoppers

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(Isaiah 40:22; NASB)  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.

,look here...

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King James Bible
Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
                                                                                                                                   Isaiah 40:12

Sounds like precise Design to me,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,    His Immense Magnitude (size) only demonstrates His Love                      With love-in Christ,Kwik

[FresnoJoe]

23 hours ago, Saved.One.by.Grace said:

(Proverbs 8:27; NASB)  "When He established the heavens, I was there, When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,

(Job 22:14; NASB)  'Clouds are a hiding place for Him, so that He cannot see; And He walks on the vault of heaven.'

The critical line in Isaiah 40:22a in Hebrew reads (transliterated and omitting vowels): hyshb 'l hwg h'rtz, for:

(Isaiah 40:22a; NASB)  It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,

In the Septuagint (LXX), the earliest translators render the nominal and verbal forms of chûgh in every case with the Greek gýros (noun), "circle" or "ring," that they use in Isa. 40:22a, or gyróo (verb), "to make or inscribe a circle."  The Jews and Greeks have specific words for sphere that were known and used at that time.  Why weren't they used and/or what is God trying to convey to us here and elsewhere?

You Are

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. Genesis 1:3-5 (King James Bible)

Shape and Size of the Earth

Geodesy is the science that studies the shape and size of the Earth. As discussed in Voyagers, the shape of the earth was long known to be round. Aristotle and Pythagoras both argued that the earth was a sphere from the curved shadow it cast during lunar eclipses. About two thousand years later, Sir Isaac Newton suggested that the earth was not a perfect sphere, but rather somewhat flattened at its poles. http://aerospace.wcc.hawaii.edu/shape.html

A Good Egg

"O LORD of Heaven's Armies, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth. Isaiah 37:16 (New Living Translation)

The earth's shape is a spheroid

Although the earth's shape is technically an ellipsoid, its major and minor axes do not vary greatly. In fact, its shape is so close to a sphere that it is often called a spheroid rather than an ellipsoid. http://www.geography.hunter.cuny.edu/~jochen/GTECH361/lectures/lecture04/concepts/Datums/The earths shape is a spheroid.htm

Charley

Ah Lord GOD! behold, you have made the heaven and the earth by your great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for you: Jeremiah 32:17 (American King James Version)

Moving Forward: GPS

Over the next 10 years, NGS carried out a program of satellite Doppler surveys within the United States. By 1984, 242 of these positions had been established and positions had been computed in a coordinate system thought to be geocentric, meaning that its origin is at the center of mass of the Earth. Such systems are necessary for the computation of satellite orbits. These positions (as well as Doppler satellite positions in Greenland, Canada, and Mexico) were used as control in the adjustment of the North American Datum of 1983.

Although the satellite Doppler program was a great step beyond the BC-4 program, it too eventually came to an end. By 1984, the first launches of GPS satellites had occurred and it became clear that Doppler tracking had to yield to GPS tracking. NGS moved quickly into this technology, investing in some early tracking equipment and performing valuable early research. GPS continues as the sole surviving operational method of geodetic satellite surveying to this day.

The Coast and Geodetic Survey played an early and significant role in the development of the new field of satellite geodesy. Not only did the organization perform significant research, but it also completed a worldwide observational program. The optical BC-4 program eventually gave way to Doppler and GPS methods, based on the tracking of radio signals. Today, optical methods have been set aside and NOAA is a major developer of geodetic applications of GPS. 

When used according to standardized procedures, GPS receivers can determine positional coordinates to centimeter-level accuracy anywhere on the surface of the Earth.  GPS is a foundational component of the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS), which is maintained by NGS.  The NSRS provides information essential for ensuring the reliability of transportation and communication systems, boundary and property surveys, mapping and charting, and many more scientific and engineering applications. http://celebrating200years.noaa.gov/foundations/satellite_geodesy/welcome.html#gps

Brown

For by him all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and for him. Colossians 1:16 (World English Bible)

Answer Wiki

31 Answers

 

Marco Witzmann, German speaking Debating Champion, European Semi-Finalist

 

In a first approximation: Yes.

If you look closer: No. It is more of a sphere with a bulge at the equator. Additionally the moon has an impact on the ocean levels (as you might have experienced seeing the tides at the shore).

If you look even closer: Not really. It is "potato-shaped" https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-precise-shape-of-the-Earth-1

lol~!

[SavedOnebyGrace]

The shape of the Earth depends on your point of view.  Also, God must be seeing the whole Earth, not just a circle.  Because He is not limited  by the heavens He created, He is seeing Earth from all perspectives. 

[post]

5 hours ago, Saved.One.by.Grace said:

Instead of focusing on the word "circle", another acceptable translation is compass. As a design engineer, I can tell that one of the earliest tools for engineers and architects is the compass.  There are many uses for a compass besides making circles.  So I think there's more to this.  There may be a design aspect referencing tools from the period this passage was written.  Could circle and compass just mean God's precise design?

i think this translation lends itself to the understanding that it is describing God seeing the 'perimeter' of the earth -- what you would draw with a compass, i.e. that which 'encompasses' the earth. everything we see, though it has visual depth, is planar, 2-d. so the 2-d word circle ((or compass or horizon)) is not talking about geometrical form of the planet, but about what is seen. the verse after all says "He looks down" upon it - so we're describing as it were His vision, which in the figurative sense of vision like ours, would be planar projections, not 3-d forms. 

as discussed, the sphere of the earth has a circular outline, from every direction - and yes, i agree that the word 'compass' gives the sense of design, as that other use of the word in the proverb, when He set a compass to the face of the deep ((or 'set an edge on the face' of it)) -- some translations also render this as that He 'marked the horizon,' these are all the language of draftsmanship; of careful and purposeful design.

[SavedOnebyGrace]

4 hours ago, post said:

i think this translation lends itself to the understanding that it is describing God seeing the 'perimeter' of the earth -- what you would draw with a compass, i.e. that which 'encompasses' the earth. everything we see, though it has visual depth, is planar, 2-d. so the 2-d word circle ((or compass or horizon)) is not talking about geometrical form of the planet, but about what is seen. the verse after all says "He looks down" upon it - so we're describing as it were His vision, which in the figurative sense of vision like ours, would be planar projections, not 3-d forms. 

as discussed, the sphere of the earth has a circular outline, from every direction - and yes, i agree that the word 'compass' gives the sense of design, as that other use of the word in the proverb, when He set a compass to the face of the deep ((or 'set an edge on the face' of it)) -- some translations also render this as that He 'marked the horizon,' these are all the language of draftsmanship; of careful and purposeful design.

I think you've hit on the answer here.  I really like what you've wrote here.  This makes perfect sense. 

[post]

15 hours ago, Saved.One.by.Grace said:

The shape of the Earth depends on your point of view.  Also, God must be seeing the whole Earth, not just a circle.  Because He is not limited  by the heavens He created, He is seeing Earth from all perspectives. 

the Lord is 'high above' -- figuratively, high enough that when He looks down, the circle that His view encompasses includes the entire earth. 

[enoob57]

all this is understood easily by the fact a sphere is just and infinite set of circles of which the circle testifies of
in relationship to it's Creator as 3.14...  Love, Steven

[SavedOnebyGrace]

6 hours ago, post said:

the Lord is 'high above' -- figuratively, high enough that when He looks down, the circle that His view encompasses includes the entire earth. 

Because He sees the Earth from all perspectives simultaneously, from the heavens.  Each view being defined by a perimeter of a circle that includes everything within.

[SavedOnebyGrace]

1 hour ago, enoob57 said:

all this is understood easily by the fact a sphere is just and infinite set of circles of which the circle testifies of
in relationship to it's Creator as 3.14...  Love, Steven

This is true if you consider a circle as a defining perimeter encompassing everything within, from an infinite perspective, simultaneously.  I believe our English translation of "circle" loses some of its impact on the reader by not adequately conveying God's exquisite design.  Sometimes, words just fail.

[hoghead]

The "circle of teh earth," In Isaiah, is referring to the sky, to the fact the sky looks like a dome covering the earth. God is depicted as sitting at the top, because that assures God can see everything happening on earth.  The earth per se here, as in other biblical passages, is seen as flat; otherwise, God could not  see everything happening,.