quote:
Many biblical passages have, in modern times, been revised to make "earth" read: "land" or "ground" or "country." This trend is unlikely to continue to completion, because, many Christian doctrines depend on retaining the word "earth" for the value found in its post-Copernican planetary implication. And besides that, believers are already primed to convert "all the world" and to dream of dominating the globe.
So ... Bring me your arguments (which I expect to refute) and I will show you reason to believe that EARTH IS NOT A PLANET.
I agree. If we are to understand the Bible as originally written, it is often better to replace the word "earth" with "land" or "ground." All are the same word in Hebrew, "'eretz." Often the word implies the "promised land." The original writers had no conception of earth as a "globe," and it is anachronistic of us to infer this concept in the text.
For an interesting take on this, I recommend the book
Genesis Unbound by John Sailhammer. He is an evangelical Christian who applies this concept to the Genesis creation account, arguing that it is only describing the creation and preparation of the promised land, not the creation of the planet.
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