John Kesler

I see no need to reinvent the wheel, so I will refer you here and here. In the latter reference, I quote from numerous scholarly sources which establish that the ancient Hebrews, like their ANE neighbors, held what we now know to be an incorrect view of the cosmos. If you choose to quibble that these aren't errors,* then so be it.

*One of the definitions provided for "error" is "[a]n act, assertion, or belief that unintentionally deviates from what is correct, right, or true."

Gundulf

Appreciate the thoughts, but I'm as convinced that the ancient Hebrews believed in literal pillars as much as they believed God had literal hands and eyes; there are anthropomorphic and poetic ways of discussing things.

Not on the main point, but I am curious of your thoughts of Newton's errors? Once we find some truths that go beyond Einstein's concept of the universe, do we start saying he was full of errors?

John Kesler

An error is something that is incorrect, so if new findings render former beliefs inaccurate, then the former beliefs were in error--a term which I am not using pejoratively. Undoubtedly some things which we "know" to be correct will be proven erroneous in years to come.

Gundulf

Fair enough - I've thought of Newton as being accurate, but with limited applicability - the formulas only work in limited evironments; but within those environments (which is where he spent his life), they were quite accurate, so I just find it perhaps not the best word to say he was in "error," as much as accurate but incomplete. Just a squabble over words, sure.

I tend to give ancient cultures (not just biblical ones) the benefit of the doubt when they speak of how they view the world. It is one thing for them to say that their god pulls the sun through the sky, it is another for them to simply speak of the sun travelling across the sky. One claims an erroneous "scientific" (in a manner of speaking) reason for the sun's movement, the other simply is an observational descrption of what in fact does happen, even if from a rather subjective perspective.

And considering that we live our life subjectively, is it actually wrong to say that the sun revolves around me? Sure, I'm not the center of gravity, and to say that would be erroneous. But from my subjective perspective, the sun actually does move around me, right?