Bible says in Genesis, Ch. No.9, Verse No.13 to 17, that… ‘After God, at the time of Noah submerged the world by flood, and after the flood’ subsided, He said… ‘I put up a rainbow in the sky as a promise to the humankind never to submerge the world again, by water. To the unscientific person it may be quite good… ‘Oh rainbow is a sign of Almighty God, never to submerge the world by flood again.’ But today we know very well, that rainbow is due to the refraction of sunlight, with rain or mist. Surely there must have been thousands of rainbows before the time of Noah, peace be upon him. To say it was not there before Noah’s time you have to assume that the law of refraction did not exist - which is unscientific.’
2007-08-25 03:56:38 · 25 answers · asked by Kashif E 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
The Bible is full of contradiction . . . particularly when it involves things they didn't yet understand . . . like free will and rainbows.
Of course, if the Bible were really divinely inspired, the authors wouldn't need to understand these things . . . GOD WOULD.
The same applies to the Qur'an.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Rational-Debate
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2007-08-25 04:00:28 · answer #1 · answered by Seeker 6 · 1⤊ 4⤋
in the bible, it says that there had not been rain ever until the flood and that the whole earth was watered by a moisture that came up from the ground. when God separated the waters from the waters in Genesis, there was a firmament in the heavens that kept everything separated. when the flood came, it says that the windows of the heavens were opened and so that is the first time that it rained and how do we know that it is not the first time that there was enough moisture in the sky to form a rainbow? there was no light until God told it to exist. it is very possible that there were no rainbows until God created the atmosphere for them to exist in.
2007-09-01 19:09:26 · answer #2 · answered by christy 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I'm afraid you have a very loose translation of the bible. God did not say "i put up a rainbow" he said the rainbow shall be a sign to mankind i will never flood the earth again, and when God looks upon it he will remember his convenant with Noah. The thing is, rainbows were probably always there, but at that time God gave the rainbow a meaning.
2007-08-25 04:13:24 · answer #3 · answered by Fuzz 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Surely a rainbow is the refraction of light.
I know about the refraction of light is due to an object a prism or a crystal or moisture in the air.
But i don't know if there was enough moist in the atmosphere in the time before Noah. Enough moist that could create a visible refracted light or rainbow.
2007-08-25 04:07:27 · answer #4 · answered by jerriel 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I've considered that before. It is in interesting argument.
I've also read that prior to Noah, some Bible scholars believe it had never rained. I'm not sure I fully buy into that one either, but there's a verse in Genesis 2 that says 'no rain had fallen, but a mist used to rise from the earth to water the ground.
We are also told in other passages regarding the Noachin Deluge that catastrophic events shook the entire UNIVERSE at that Divine judgment. It is entirely possible that the laws of physics as we now observe them were quite different, and simply beyond our ken, prior to the Deluge event.......
2007-08-25 04:07:50 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
God put up the rainbowafter thw flood when there was no "rain water vapor" to allow the rainbow to appear. It was not the first rainbow, but a rainbow that should not have existed. From there, everytime one would see a rainbow after a rain, they would understand that the rain stopped before the world was flooded again.
2007-08-25 04:07:12 · answer #6 · answered by John H 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Before the flood, it has never rained on Earth. No one believed that the God of the Heavens was going to flood the Earth by making water fall from the sky, perhaps due to a comet. However, God did know the physical effect of the refraction of light through water. So it was appropriate for God to use this effect as a reminder of his promise, since from that moment on, rain was going to continue happening.
2007-08-25 04:03:37 · answer #7 · answered by Aeon Enigma 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Heaven was enclosed in a dome of water. There was no rain on the earth - only a mist. The only time man saw rain was when Noah's flood began.
2007-09-02 00:01:58 · answer #8 · answered by Jeancommunicates 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Actually in a clear desert environment ,it should have been a double rainbow. A double rainbow is caused by the reflection of the initial refraction and the color order is of course reversed.
Wouldn't a spinning planet that had five miles of liquid water suddenly added to it's surface wobble all over space ?
2007-08-25 04:21:06 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
You are correct. Hydrology is the scientific study of weather cycles and rainfall, no such science existed when the bible was composed. My explanation of the lack of this knowledge led the authors of Genesis to create the firmament to 'separate the waters above from the waters below' they had no way of knowing how rain formed. In those days, as today, great floods occurred but they went overboard with the description of the great flood that Noah had to deal with.
2007-08-25 05:52:56 · answer #10 · answered by johnandeileen2000 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
God must have made a change in the atmosphere at that time where the rainbow didn't form prior to. Part of the evolution of the world I guess.
2007-08-25 04:17:53 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋