Quote:
Originally Posted by Aquila
I believe that God’s Word clearly explains that there is a firmament separating the waters from below from the waters which are above. I know that the ancients envisioned this is a rudimentary way. However, even though we know more about this “firmament” (atmostphere) today it is still a barrier between earth and the debris of space. We also know that water in the form of ice is the most abundant element in the known universe. We see immense interstellar clouds 10,000 times larger than our Sun that are full of frozen water vapor.
So not only do we know that we have an atmospheric barrier in the sky above our world that protects us from debris from outer space (a firmament), we also know that beyond this atmosphere there is a universe full of interstellar clouds containing immeasurable tons of frozen water vapor (i.e. waters above the firmament).
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The most abundant material in the universe is simple elemental hydrogen. That's an "H"
without the "2O." Comparatively, there isn't that much water. On the other hand, there's so much of everything that we still do have a large volume of water in space. But it never interacts with our atmosphere in any fashion like a "watery abyss" would against a solid barrier. It exists mostly as ice in the regions surrounding the stars but not close enough to become liquid.
There is a great deal of water and ice in space - see the Oort Cloud. But the "debris of space" that our atmosphere protects us from is almost entirely composed of radiant energies from the sun. There is no watery "Abyss" that our world exists within. The Tiamat monsters of old should be seen as allegorical depictions of chaos and disorder.
Water does not appreciably interact with our atmosphere - and when it does, it passes right on into the planet's biosphere, thus showing that there isn't really any firmament.
An estimated 1,000 to 10,000 tons of dust and meteor debris lands on the earth's surface every day. How much of this is water is unknown - but most of this debris is the residue from passing comets which have large amounts of water ice.
What does the phrase "the windows" refer to - either in "the heavens" or "in the firmament?" The ancients clearly understood a different cosmology then the one that we have found to actually exist.
Also, doesn't this present tone of your contradict with your earlier dismissals of using "modern science" to understand the Genesis account?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aquila
While the physics are a bit different from the concept found in the ancient cosmology there is indeed a literal firmament and there is indeed literal water above the firmament.
Next question…
P.S.
As for the firmament not being “solid”… try flying a space craft into our atmosphere without any regard to trajectory at a high rate of speed. See if it doesn’t burst into flame and fall to bits as it tries to penetrate the firmament. Come in at an angle and see if your ship will not “skip” across the firmament like rocks across the surface of a pond as your craft is torn to pieces by the friction caused when the firmament is opposing you. Fast moving objects from space with little density often hit the firmament and burst as though they hit a brick wall.
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We understand friction in a gas medium. That is what you are describing. The ancients had the idea that the firmament was a solid barrier holding back a watery abyss. There is no literal solid barrier and no watery abyss.
The "barrier" we do have isn't really a barrier at all but rather something of a filter.
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