If a simplified picture of the world were given, but generally similar to the truth, I would still agree. But to push nonsense from the very first lines of the sacred teaching, which is proposed to be taken as Truth with a capital T, is quite strange for God. For the leaders of the nation, this is a common thing to this day.
“What does it mean?
“
The way St. Basil the Great interprets it: “ It is said what the name firmament means in Scripture, namely: it is not a stubborn, solid nature, having heaviness and resistance, that it calls firmament (in this case, in a more proper sense, this name would belong earth), - on the contrary, since everything that lies above is by nature subtle, rare and elusive to the senses, then in comparison with this subtlest and elusive to the senses, it is called the firmament.
“
The “firmament” is what is capable of distinguishing the upper waters from the lower ones. The sky we observe holds the luminaries and copes with this task quite well.
Well, let’s say the ancient Jews did not know how the Universe worked from the point of view of quantum mechanics, but the Lord God knew it! He gave the Scriptures forever, and not only that they understood it only as those who received it directly into their hands.
Edited at 2013-11-02 11:08 pm (UTC)
By the way, there is a very interesting point here. Why on earth is the moon the smaller luminary, when in the sky the moon and the sun are almost equal in size?
This means that either Jonah literally lived in the belly of the whale for three days, or Jesus died allegorically.
Why? Where is the connection? From the fact that the prodigal son is an allegory, it does not follow that our return to God, which is described in this parable, is also allegorical.
/*Correcting the scientific views of the era by telling the ancient Jews something about string theory was not at all part of God’s plan for working with Israel. And why did it have to be included? */
Fine. But a counter question arises. As is clear from the book of Leviticus and other numerous commandments, sanitary and hygienic education was certainly included in God’s plan for working with Israel. Why, among the many detailed regulations on hygiene and sanitation, is there not a rather banal and certainly at the level of culture and awareness of the ancient Israelites idea “about the occurrence of epidemics from small, invisible worms, carried by wind and water”?
Edited at 2013-11-03 07:00 am (UTC)
Mmm. I just didn't finish writing
