Paul's Cosmology

I think I got a thread deleted. Anyway, a question was posed. If you found out that Paul held to the ancient Hebrew idea of a disc-shaped earth, with the heavenly bodies in orbit around it all under a solid dome . . .

. . . would that affect your opinion about his doctrinal authority?

I was asked if I thought it would affect his theology. I answered that I thought his cosmology and theology were related, and this is what I mean about that. We are told by our scriptures, that all the lights in heaven were created to "give light upon the earth." So there is a purpose in their creation. The earth is central to that purpose.

But there's more.

We're told that the Sabbath Day was created for man. How do we know it's the Sabbath Day? By the rising and setting of the sun and other astronomical indicators. So, there is a day, a block of time, that was created for a being upon the earth. And the sun, moon and stars were created so that he could measure that day and work (or rest) in it. (Don't forget the priests of the temple worked on the Sabbath.)

And so, the foundation of Paul's cosmology would be his theology, and that is how they're related. If he read the heavens as he should, then his fallacious notions concerning astrophysics, if he had any, would be irrelevant.

 

And, speaking from revelation, Paul wrote of a man who was caught up to the "Third Heaven." He wrote, by all indications, expecting the Corinthians to know what that meant. Is that a validation of the ancient cosmology that specifies a third level, and by necessity the first and second levels prior to it?

 

Regardless, it cannot be denied that the sun, moon and stars exist for a divinely revealed purpose, and that that those upon the earth are central to that purpose. Neither can it be denied that secular scientists deny purpose in the universe. More than that, they expect to see that purposelessness reflected in its structure.

Is the converse true? Should we expect purpose to be reflected in the structure of the universe? If no, explain. If so, then how would the structure reflect purpose?

 

Dark Energy, actually, to explain the acceleration. Dark Matter to explain the cohesion of galaxies. Alien

 

Another question that was posed was about the accuracy of Christ's statement as it is recorded:

For [your Father which is in Heaven] maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good.​

Would it be more true if the statement were, For [your Father which is in Heaven] maketh his earth to rotate exposing the evil and the good to the light of the sun ?

Did Christ not understand heliocentricity?

 

The significance of these questions aren't readily apparent to the majority, but if one thinks about them, I think he will begin to see the importance of them.