The earth is square
In 1965 William Branham said that the world was square, based on Rev. 7:1 and what he read in a newspaper article.
- You can't get accuracy in science now. Now, you know, sometime ago, they told us that the... that, "When the Bible said that 'he saw four Angels standing on the four corners of the earth,' that that couldn't be. The earth was round." But the Bible said, "four corners." Well, now you seen, two weeks ago, or three weeks ago, it's been now, the papers packing this article, they found out that the world is square. How many seen that? Why, sure. See? I got it all copied off, just waiting for somebody to say something.[1]
Why would someone teach this to their children?
In the past, we would have disregarded this as a "human error". However, Voice of God Recordings (VoG) teaches this to children as an "amazing and interesting fact" in the "Did you know?" blog on their website.
Our question is, why should someone listen to VoG when they teach about William Branham or how to get to heaven, if they can't be honest with facts?
What the Bible says
We must understand that the Bible comes out of a different culture and linguistic setting than today. Metaphors used in scripture can mislead the reader into thinking the Bible is saying something, when it means something different. In Hebrew, as in English, one can speak of the four “corners” of the earth:
- ...you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, “You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off”;[2]
- The end has come upon the four corners of the land.[3]
- He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.[4]
Is the Bible saying that the world is square? William Branham thought so.
Yet the earth is also described as a circle or globe:
- It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers...[5]
Is it possible that corners is metaphorical language that may mean the geography covered by the four “quarters” of the compass, just as it means when we say it today?[6]
The Bible describes nature as it appears to be and uses the same language that we use in everyday speech. For example, Ecclesiastes 1:5 refers to the sun as “rising and setting” (NET). Such statements are not scientific, but then neither are they unscientific. They are just expressions of the way ordinary people have always talked. Because the Bible is not a scientific textbook, it does not speak “scientifically” any more than television weather forecasters do when they tell us what time the sun will “rise” and “set” the following day.[7]
Blockheads?
If you believe the world is square because the Bible says it has four corners, then how do you explain this passage of scripture?
- Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.[8]
Did people in the Old Testament have square heads?
The difference between a square and a cube
We can also forgive William Branham for being completely ignorant of three dimensional versus two dimensional geometry.
A square is two dimensional. What he probably meant was that the earth was cube and not a sphere.
This doesn't prove anything other than to debunk those message preachers that say that William Branham had a supernatural understanding of science. In this case, most children in junior high school would have a better understanding of geometry than William Branham.
Footnotes
- ↑ CHRIST.IS.REVEALED.IN.HIS.OWN.WORD JEFF.IN 65-0822M
- ↑ The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Is 41:9.
- ↑ The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Eze 7:2.
- ↑ The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Is 11:12.
- ↑ The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Is 40:22.
- ↑ Norman L. Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, Baker Reference Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999), 269.
- ↑ Dan Story, Defending Your Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1997), 134.
- ↑ The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Lev. 19:27.