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The Bible and the Value of "PI"
Does the Bible contain a mathematical error?

I Kings 7:23–26 and II Chronicles 4:2–5 describe a huge brass bowl built by King Solomon. If the diameter of this bowl was 10 cubits, then the circumference should have been 31.415926...cubits, not just 30 cubits! Any math student will tell you that the circumference of a circle is found by taking the diameter times Pi (3..141592653589793...). This apparent mathematical error caused me, as a new Christian, to doubt the accuracy of the Bible.

The answer is so simple!

The diameter of 10 cubits is from outer rim to outer rim, the way anyone would measure a circular object. The circumference of 30 cubits, however, was of the inner circle, after subtracting the thickness of the brass (two handbreadths—one for each side) from which the bowl was made. This would be the number needed to calculate the volume of water.

Check for yourself.

Substitute the length of your cubit (elbow to longest fingertip) for the letter C in the following formula, and solve for H.

30C / p + 2H = 10C

The width of your handbreadth will be the result. For example, my cubit is 20 inches long. If I had built the brass bowl, the outer diameter would have a circumference of 600 inches (30 x 20 inches) and a diameter of 190.986 inches (600 inches / 3.14159). The difference between the two diameters is 9.014 inches (two of my handbreadths).

Rest assured God makes no mistakes, mathematical or otherwise. The Scriptures do not contain error. By the way, Solomon built this sea in 1000 B.C., long before the Greeks rediscovered Pi (p). We may not understand some things at first glance, but the problem is with us, not with the Bible. Please be sure you are on the solid foundation of God’s Word, saved by the blood of Christ.

www.drdino.com

Rest assured God makes no mistakes, mathematical or otherwise. The Scriptures do not contain error.

Oh?

1 Sam.22:20 -- "And one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahibub, named Abiathar."
1 Sam.23:6 -- "Abiathar the son of Ahimelech."

So Abiathar is Ahimelech's son. It says so twice. Or is he?

2 Sam.8:17 --"Ahimelech the son of Abiathar."
1 Chr.18:16 -- "Ahimelech the son of Abiathar."
1 Chr.24:6 -- "Ahimelech the son of Abiathar."

So which is it?

That's not the only contradictory lineage. How about:

Gen.26:34 -- "And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite."
Gen.36:2-3 -- "Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan; Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and ... Bashemath Ishmael's daughter."

Odd, Bashemath, Esau's wife, has two different fathers.

Elsewhere, Lot is either Abraham's brother (two passages) or his nephew (three passages) -- the Bible can't seem to make up its mind.

Or, when was the earth dried after the Flood?

Gen 8:13 -- And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.
Gen 8:14 -- And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.

Oookay, which is it?

Or for a real poser:

Can God be seen?
God is seen.	God is invisible and cannot be seen.
Gen.12:7 "And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him." Gen.18:1 "And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre." Gen.26:2 "And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of. Gen.26:24 "And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not." Gen.32:30 "And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." Gen.35:1 "And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother." Gen.35:7 "And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother." Gen.35:9 "And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, and blessed him." Gen.48:3 "And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan." Ex.3:16 "The LORD God ... appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you." Ex.24:9-11 "Then went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. And they saw the God of Israel ... They saw God, and did eat and drink." Ex.33:11 "And the Lord spake to Moses face to face, as a man speaketh to his friend." Ex.33:23 "And I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my backparts." Num.14:14 "For they have heard that thou Lord art among this people, that thou Lord art seen face to face." Dt.5:4 "The Lord talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire." Dt.34:10 "And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face." Jg.13:22 "And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God." 1 Kg.22:19 "I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left." Job 42:5 "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee." Ps.63.2 "To see thy power and they glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary." Is.6:1 "In the year that King Ussiah died, I saw, also, the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up." Is.6:5 "For mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." Ezek.20:35 "And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face." Am.7:7 "The LORD stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand." Am.9:1 "I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake." Hab.3:3-5 "God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran .... He had horns coming out of his hand."	Ex.33:20 "Thou canst not see may face: for there shall no man see me and live." Jn.1:18 "No man hath seen God at any time." Jn.6:46 "Not that any man hath seen the Father." 1 Tim.1:17 "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever." 1 Tim.6:16 "Whom no man hath seen nor can see." 1 Jn.4:12 "No man hath seen God at any time."

Etc. etc.