DANIEL 4:11; REVELATION 7:1: IS THE EARTH FLAT?

Another so-called scientific error in the Bible concerns this passage: “I saw a dream that frightened me, my fantasies in bed and the visions of my head terrified me... there was a tree at the center of the earth, and its height was great. The tree grew and became strong, its height reached to the heavens and it could be seen to the ends of the earth.” (Daniel 4:11) There are two supposed problems here: (a) no matter how tall the tree was, it couldn't be seen by everyone since the earth is a globe and (b) a globe has no ends to it.

1. The “ends of the earth” is even used today in a loose, idiomatic sense. In Zechariah, for example, the phrase indicates the furthest reach of man's dominion, as opposed to the heavens.

2. Secondly, this was a vision of Nebuchadnezzar so at most it reflects what the Babylonians thought about the geometry of the earth.

3. This was a vision within a dream. The commonality of both visions and dreams is that they are filled with symbolic pictures and illogical happenings which don't attempt to have any correspondence with the physical world. Actually their main shared characteristic is that they are purposely non-realistic, and it is explained in the text that the tree actually symbolizes King Nebuchadnezzar himself. Just consider the visions and dreams throughout the OT and NT concerning thin ears of corn eating plump ones, four creatures with wheels within wheels, a valley with bones that come to life, a river of water coming out of a dragon's mouth, etc. etc. The devious selectivity of atheists in choosing this one particular vision in Daniel over all the others he could have cited is obvious since any of the others would have been much too obviously symbolic. Instead one vision was cynically selected that might convincingly be palmed off as an erroneous scientific statement.

Parenthetically, there are some strange similarities between atheists and fundamentalists. Flat-earth proponents use the same basic argument to disprove the fact that we live on a globe, based on the Matthew passage in which Jesus is taken to a tall mountain and shown all the kingdoms of the world.

Let's go on the offensive with this one also by applying the same logic to a famous story in the history of science. The chemist August Kekule, an agnostic, was trying to figure out the molecular structure of benzene, which has the composition C6H6. He was staring at the fire in his fireplace and dosing off when he had a dream/vision of a snake eating its own tail and whirling around in a circle. From this, he deduced the chemical structure of benzene. Since snakes don't go around in nature whirling around and eating their tails, this obviously demonstrates how unscientific agnostic scientists are.

This next objection is very similar. “After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth.” (Revelation 7:1) A literal understanding of this verse leads to a flat, square world. Again this is a vision that John saw, not at all a description of concrete reality. And what about the phrase “four corners of the earth?” It was an idiom meaning the four compass points, denoting all of creation, and it is still in wide use today. Also, we currently picture the earth on a map using exactly the same concept today – a flat four-sided surface with the four compass points often shown in a legend. What if our civilization were wiped out and visitors from outer space started examining the maps we left behind? They would probably conclude, as some atheists have, that we were all hopelessly ignorant. This is another illustration of the similarity in approach of an atheist and a fundamentalist, demanding that the Bible be understood only in a literal manner at all times even when it doesn't make sense.

I'm usually not the one to search the Bible looking for scientific statements, but if you are into that sort of thing, here are some intriguing passages to consider:

Isaiah 40:22 says, “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth.” The Hebrews word chug is usually translated as circle but it more accurately means vault or arch. It is certainly not pictured as an object with corners on it. Another possible proof of the biblical knowledge of a spherical earth is seen in Jesus' description of the second coming in the synoptic gospels:

Luke 17:30, 34-35 “It will be like that on the day that the Son of Man is revealed...I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken and the other left.”

Matthew 24:40 Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left.”

So when does the Second Coming occur, at daytime with people working outside or at night when they are still in bed? The answer is “both” since on a globe it will be daytime for some people and night for others.