20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
This seems to suggest it.
2007-04-10 22:54:39 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Garry: The alarm bells ring when I see someone arguing that a word means one thing in one instance and something different in another instance - it makes me think that they are rationalising (trying to make it fit their pre-existing ideas) rather than trying to understand without pre-judging.
2007-04-10 23:08:09 · update #1
Yeah, and they wonder why I mock them and their Christian logic.
2007-04-10 22:57:48 · answer #1 · answered by Desiree J 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Many people today call the sky and outerspace heaven, it is a metaphor still used frequently.
As for Desiree, before you mock to many people you need to get just a little more education. Being mocked by someone that does not know what is happening is not to big a crushing blow
2007-04-11 06:08:30 · answer #2 · answered by mark g 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi, I think you are correct in this but remember that people then had not the knowledge that we have today concerning creation, however the term Heaven and Heavens can be used to describe two realities,that place were the Angels and Saints occupy is rightly called Heaven,but it is not wrong to call the vast space above the Earth the Heavens either.
2007-04-11 06:05:24 · answer #3 · answered by Sentinel 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I think perhaps they did. In the old testament they tried to build the tower of babble to reach God.
However, since humans have evolved mentally, they now know that they can't do that because God lives beyond mans reach.
2007-04-11 06:54:48 · answer #4 · answered by Me 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Clouds of Heaven
Jesus promised that His disciples would see Him coming in the clouds of heaven (Matthew 24:30, 26:64; Mark 14:6; Luke 21.27; Revelation 1:7; compare 2 Philippians 3:20; 2 Thessalonians 1:7). Some take this literally to mean that Jesus will appear up in the sky. When the Bible speaks of "the clouds of heaven" it sometimes means the clouds we see up in the sky. For example, when "heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain" that came down on Ahab (2 Kings 18:44-45), we can picture the kind of storm many of us have experienced.
But in many other cases, "the heavens" and "the clouds of heaven" are meant as metaphors for things that are spiritual and heavenly, or things that are in our minds, not part of this physical universe. So when the Bible says that God is covered with a cloud, so that our prayer should not pass through (Lamentations 3:44), we shouldn’t think that physical clouds—mere droplets of water—could stop prayer. Rather, it refers to misunderstanding and confusion that "cloud" the mind and prevent us from knowing and relating to God.
When the Bible says that the king of Babylon thought he could "ascend above the heights of the clouds," and "be like the most High" (Isaiah 14:14), it doesn’t mean that he literally went up into the clouds, but that he grasped too much power and was acting as if he were God. It is the same when Job says of a wicked person that "his haughtiness mounts up to the heavens, and his head reaches to the clouds" (Job 20:6).
This kind of metaphor is common in our everyday speech. If we say, "Joe has his head in the clouds, he’s building castles in the air," or "Emily is walking on air, she’s on cloud nine," no one would think of taking us literally. We know that we are not talking about a person’s body or appearance, but about their state of mind—about what’s going on inside them.
Jesus clearly stated that He was using parables and figurative language when speaking of the kingdom of heaven and His second coming (Matt 13:10,11,34; John 16:25). Unfortunately, some people think the Bible must be always taken completely literally—if it says "clouds" in means "clouds" and nothing more.
Actually, "clouds" are symbolic. The Bible says that the Lord’s mercy is in the heavens and His truth or faithfulness reaches to the clouds (Psalms 36:5; 57:10; 68:34; 85:11; 103:11; 108:4). These passages make a special connection between "clouds" and God’s truth. This is not referring to a physical location for His mercy and truth, but to how great they are. Mercy and truth are not physical objects, but spiritual qualities which exist in human hearts and in God’s heart and Word. Since "the clouds of heaven" means God’s Word, so is the rain that comes from those clouds: "As the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, … so shall My Word be that goes forth from My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please" (Isaiah 55:10-11).
Once we understand this clear connection between clouds and God’s truth, we can see why the people of Israel heard God’s voice coming from a cloud at Mt. Sinai when the Commandments were given, and the disciples heard a voice from the cloud at Jesus’ transfiguration (Exodus 19:16; Numbers 11:25; Deuteronomy 5:22; Matthew 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:34-35)
2007-04-11 06:00:28 · answer #5 · answered by bornonaplatein1988 4 · 1⤊ 3⤋
Heaven is refracted light through water vapors? How does that support the weight of a golden harp?
2007-04-11 05:58:11 · answer #6 · answered by Uncle Meat 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
God isnt in the sky.
And I have no idea what people believed in Jesus time, he wasnt around when they wrote the bible.
2007-04-11 06:19:16 · answer #7 · answered by Antares 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think back then that was the major consensus, and that we now understand it as a metaphor.
CyberNara
2007-04-11 11:40:40 · answer #8 · answered by Joe K 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, it's a metaphor
2007-04-11 05:57:32 · answer #9 · answered by Princess 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋