[Liberal Classic]

The sky is a canopy?

[Havoc]

Are you trying to play games or get a question answered. You asked where "above the sky" is. That would be a place called a canopy in reference to the seperation of the waters above the sky and beneath it. Where do you suppose the canopies are on other planets? Not exactly an uncommon thing..

[shubi]

"The sky is a canopy?"

Havoc doesn't have any knowledge of Hebrew or the meaning of Genesis.

And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.” ; So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. ; God called the expanse “sky.”

The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Ge 1:6-8). Zondervan: Grand Rapids

Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.; 8 ;And God called the firmament Heaven.

The Holy Bible : King James Version. 1995 (Ge 1:7-8).

You can see by the two English translations above there is a disagreement about the meaning of the passage. It is especially important to not the difference between "sky" in the NIV and "Heaven" in the KJV.

The underlying word for "firmament" or "expanse" is also significant. The actual word for "firmament" in Hebrew is "rakia". It means literally pounding a soft metal into a thin foil.

There is no doubt that firmament should be translated boundary. This passage is almost certainly describing the boundary of the universe separating various forms of matter in the universe from each other. This translation shows the inspiration of God, misunderstood by the writer of Genesis and the limitations of the Hebrew language thousands of years ago.

There were no words for molecules, atoms or energy. The stars were thought to be lights on a disk. Havoc's canopy idea is typical of the ancient thinking. That a modern man would believe such obvious nonsense is regrettable. This mode of thinking is prevalent in the anti-science fundamentalists. It all derives from a fairly recent fundamentalist doctrinal statement from 1911.

Pastors who follow this screed have indoctrinated people in it and then the scam artists at the creationist organizations and Discovery Institute have embellished it and made millions off the backs of the rubes who believe it.

Why I should have to argue over the Bible translation of an ancient passage in Hebrew to defend a spurious attack science is absurd, but this is what our uneducated country has come to.