In the Book of Job, God inquires of Job, “Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?”
I have not. Neither have you. Neither has anyone. The pressure of the waters in the ocean becomes quite considerable in only a few hundred feet of it’s depth. At many thousands of feet of depth, the pressure is approximately 64,000 psi - great enough that a military submarine would implode like an empty soda can in the hand of a man. Only since the advent of modern equipment have we been able to search the ocean floors and see what is actually down there.
Those opposed to the Word of God or his truth have angst against the Bible. Because of their emotional opposition to God, they ridicule the Bible, making the absurd claim that the Bible is merely the mythological writings of ancient sheep or goat herders. The childishness of this absurdity is seen in the fact that none of the penmen of the scriptures were herders. However, the Bible puts all nay-sayers in their place. Amongst the many other proofs it possesses that it is the inspired Word of God, it also possesses knowledge of things which man did not know at the time of the writing, but more important, these things could not have known because there was no means for their discovery until the 20th century.
One example of this foreknowledge is the existance of the mid-oceanic trenches and ridges on the ocean floors and the hydrothermal vents which run along side them. These features run around the earth like the seam of a baseball. Below is an illustration of the ridge between North America and Africa. These ridges are cracks in the ocean floors from which the waters which the waters of the Noachian Flood (Noah’s Flood) came forth.
These cracks were not discovered until the 20th century because the technology did not exist until then to paruse the ocean floors. Yet the Bible mentions these, and it mentions also the hydrothermal vents which run along side them from which exceedingly hot water is coming forth.
Scripture tells us in the Book of Genesis (written ~1,400 B.C) that God broke up the ocean floors to allow this internal water to burst forth and flood the earth:
Genesis7[11] In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
Scripture also tells us about them in the Book of Psalms, which is a collection of writings from between 1,410-450 B.C:
Proverbs3[20] By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.
The hydrothermal vents which line these ridges were not discovered until 1977. The Book of Job (~1,400 B.C.) mentions them in a lesson of humility that we could all learn from. God humiliates Job by asking him questions to which he knows Job does not have the answer. God knew that Job could not have traversed the ocean floors to see these springs (bursting forths) of water on the ocean floors.Job 38
[16] Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?
[17] Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?
[18] Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all.
Examining this passage in the original language is revealing. The passage is God asking Job if he had walked the ocean floors searching them for knowledge of what God has done.
Job 38[16] Hast thou entered into the springs (nay-bek) of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth (teh-home)?
nay-bek: to burst forth; a fountain: - spring.
teh-home: an abyss (as a surging mass of water), especially the deep (the main sea or the subterranean water supply): - deep (place), depth.
The passage makes it clear that these springs are not in shallow waters where man could have gone. It uses the word teh-home, which means abyss. This refers to the very depths of the sea, a place exceedingly deep, dark, ultimately deep places of the sea, the very bottom.
In fact, the Book of Job possesess a number of passages which discuss geological features of the earth, atmospheric processes, the expansion of the universe, particle physics, and other things. None of them could have been known or understood in 1,400 B.C. The means to know of the existance of most of these did not exist until the 20th century. It would take a number of pages of writing to provide all of them and their explaination.
So the next time someone tells you the Bible is just a collection of mythological writings of ancient Hebrew sheep or goat herders, you can have yourself a chuckle, a whimsical grin, and take pleasure in knowing that God cares enough about us to show us even with his imspired Word that he truly is the master and creator of all things.
Hm... from the excerpts of the Scripture you chose, from what I see, it only shows God mentioning the existence of springs in the ocean. It doesn't really show him talking about the trenches and ridges of the ocean you made it seem like he would be talking about. May you clear that up?
ReplyDeleteAlso, how do you know that the waters from Noah's flood came from the ocean between North America and Africa? I'm just curious for a source. Thanks.
The passage is quite clear. It refers to a spring in the sea. Springs are water coming from within the earth. A spring in the sea is water coming from within the earth. The springs of the sea are on the bottom of the ocean, in the abyss (teh-home). God asks him if he has walked there because you cannot place your feet on water and walk but we walk only upon solid ground. The only solid ground in the sea is the bottom. All of the words of these passages make ut unarguyably clear that God is referring to walking on the ocean floors to see the springs that are there.
DeleteIf you will think honestly about it, you cannot help but see the truth of this. The question for you is are you being honest with yourself when considering the passage?
Honest about what? She was asking questions about the ambiguity of the passage. If people are dishonest simply for the fact that they didn't see the passage the same way you saw it, then you think far too highly of yourself.
DeleteHere's another question: some young earth creationists also claim there was a land bridge connecting from the middle-east to Australia, which allowed species like the kangaroo to travel from Noah's ark to Australia. There was a 50/50 chance of that land bridge having existed, but it doesn't. The defense used is that the land bridge appeared, then receded once it had been used.
The Bible says that there were springs in the depths of the ocean. There was a 50/50 chance of this being the case -- either they did exist, or they didn't exist. Turns out they do exist. However, had they not existed, they could have just... closed up.
Furthermore, what's the likelihood of the bottom of the ocean being completely flawless? Seems to me that the Bible was playing with probabilities, considering how many other things it claims to have occurred that can't be evinced.
I try to be cordial with my detractors, but I have to ask why you take the assumptive position that anyone who disagrees with you isn't looking at the material honestly. Why does it seem that you practice Bulverism at every opportunity you can?
There is not a 50-50 chance for everything being true.
DeleteSome secular scientists and educators believe there may have been a land bridge between Australia and Asia, now broken by geological activity.
http://learnline.cdu.edu.au/tourism/uluru/downloads/Origins%20of%20Indigenous%20Australians.pdf
http://www.watertown.k12.ma.us/cunniff/americanhistorycentral/01firstamericans/_Over_the_Land.html
If you look at the ocean floors in Google Earth, you see evidence of it.
The Bible has foreknowledge about the geology of the earth that man could not have had the means to discover, providing evidence that it (the Bible) is inspired by God - that this knowledge was given to the men who penned it by God.
Here are a few examples of the Bible's foreknowledge about the geology and atmosphere of the earth:
The oceans have currents which take a path:
Psalms 8[6] Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
[7] All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;[8] The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
The Hydrologic Cycle:
Ecclesiastes 1[7] All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.
Hadley Cells in the upper atmosphere:
Ecclesiastes 1[6] The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.
[7] All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.
Rolled and folded mountains:
Job 9 [4] He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?[5] Which removeth (a^thaq) the mountains, and they know not: which overturneth (ha^phak) them in his anger.
a^thaq
aw-thak'
A primitive root; to remove (intransitively or transitively); figuratively to grow old; specifically to transcribe: - copy out, leave off, become (wax) old, remove.
ha^phak
haw-vak'
A primitive root; to turn about or over; by implication to change, overturn, return, pervert: - X become, change, come, be converted, give, make [a bed], overthrow (-turn), perverse, retire, tumble, turn (again, aside, back, to the contrary, every way).
Job28[9] He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots.
http://www.createwebquest.com/sites/default/files/images/mountain_formation.jpg
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6238/6218829308_a07646b057_o.jpg
Mountains on the ocean floors:
Jonah2 [6] I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.
Hydrothermal Vents (springs) on the ocean floors:
Job38[16] Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth? (These springs were not discovered until 1977 when a remote-controlled submarine discovered them.)
Job 38[16] Hast thou entered into the springs (nay-bek) of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth (teh-home)? nay-bek: to burst forth; a fountain: - spring. teh-home: an abyss (as a surging mass of water), especially the deep (the main sea or the subterranean water supply): - deep (place), depth.
Mid-oceanic trenches:
Genesis7[11] In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
Proverbs3[20] By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.
The sun's energy causes wind:
Job38[24] By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?
Global wind patterns:
Ecclesiastes1[6] The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.
Conveniently you ignore the slightly inaccurate description of "windows in the sky" when creating the flood. Or the fact that in Genesis, it is described that we have water around our planet above our atmosphere... Thoughts?
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