King James Cosmology

Introduction


Over the last 20 years or so there has been a rather peculiar trend among some Bible Believers to adopt a belief known as geocentrism—an earth-centered universe. Before around 1990 the term was practically unknown among believers. Your author was first introduced to it in the 1990s from unsolicited books sent to him by some well-meaning brethren. More recently, with the increased usage of the Internet and "social media," those who promote it have even an even wider, more visible influence.

In some Fundamentalist or Bible Believing circles belief in geocentrism has gotten to the point where it has become a sort of proof of "orthodoxy" or "Bible soundness" gauge. If a brother believes it he can be a good-standing member of the "club," but if he doesn't believe it or even hesitates in his zeal for it, he is still considered a brother, but a somewhat less informed brother at best. He has not seen "the truth of geocentrism" and is thus "weak" in taking the Scriptures literally. Unlike the geocentrists who have "seen through the heliocentrism conspiracy," those who don't accept geocentrism are considered to still be blinded by science and government "disinformation." "If only they would just believe the Scriptures."

Furthermore, this new trend doesn't stop with only geocentrism. A related but even more fringe group of geocentric believers has come along that believe "Flat-Earth" geocentrism. Yes, you read that right. They believe the earth is flat, has edges, and the sun is just a few thousand miles away. The visible curvature of the earth, photos from space, and the fact that no one has seen the supposed edge (or at least lived to tell about it) doesn't dissuade them at all. They have their Bible verses and they have their "proof." No human conspiracy or "Satan inspired facts" are going to deviate them from the truth.

You author has found when some geocentrists are challenged with a fact they cannot adequately answer they will usually fall back to their "safe space" by saying, "Well...I believe the Bible" or "I'll take God's word for it." Almost always this is said in a tone where he is strongly implying his counterpart doesn't believe the Scriptures...at least not as much as he does. Both may be Bible Believers, but that doesn't matter. This thinly veiled accusatory statement is merely a diversion and a method to "save face" when the insecure geocentrist gets in a "pickle." It's a tactic designed to put their nemesis on the defensive when they can't defend their position. Of course, a true Bible Believer, geocentrist or not, believes the Bible as much as he is able. The real issue is, "What is the Bible actually saying."

In this book we are going to look at geocentrism and related matters from the perspective of a single Bible believer: yours truly. We will examine what the Bible actually says (and doesn't say) about creation, the heavens, the "universe," the earth, and related in the context of motion in the universe. We will especially look at how the Bible "speaks" and its usage of human language to get its message across.

By no means are geocentrism, heliocentrism, a flat earth and other "scientific" pursuits essential or fundamental to Christian doctrine. One can not have an opinion on any them and the Scriptures won't care a bit. Over the last few centuries geocentrism and Bible cosmology have became more relevant topics among believers because of the great expansion of knowledge and science in the last 400 years; especially the last 100. People are naturally curious as to what the Bible says about the visible creation and the universe in general, and Bible believers try their best to provide answers. This article is one attempt.

We will delve into this subject from multiple directions. First from the standpoint of the Scriptures we'll examine its heavy usage of figurative language; second, we will examine "Bible cosmology (or the lack of it);" third, we'll consider matters from the perspective of progressive revelation; then we'll consider the perspective of science somewhat; finally we'll try and understand what God is actually saying (or not saying) in cosmological matters.