by VorJack
Michael Paulkner has produced this gorgeous depiction of the ancient Israelite view of the universe. You can go to his flicker stream to see it in the original size.
There’s a lot more on his photostream that’s worth looking at. James McGrath likes this depiction of the Ptolemaic Universe, but I have a fondness for this one:


Cool beans!
Sadly, thanks to a fundamentalist style upbringing, my own understanding of the cosmos wasn’t far off from this depiction of the ancient Hebrew concept, at least for the first few years of my life. It was strangely hard for me, once my formal education had begun, to shake off all the things I’d conceived within my mind during a seeming eternity of Sunday school lessons.
The Michael Paulkner photo I like best, Georgia Guidestones, isn’t about cosmology.
See! The OT was right after all. Must throw out all my college textbooks now…
Actually, what is pictured in that ancient (very cool, thanks VorJack) graphic is a representation of man, his inner constitution, many times we are that ‘earth’ that He is speaking of having been made formed (outwardly speaking only) of the ‘dust’ of the “earth”. The seen/natural world illustrates the unseen/spiritual world and ultimate/eternal realities.
The question remains then…exactly where in your ‘earth’ (see that beautiful pic again) are you ‘living from’? What region/realm of your inner being are you ‘dwelling’ in? Want to come up?
Now we’re getting closer to the true offer & message of Christ.
All the best forum friends.
No, John. It’s a picture of what Israelites thought the Earth was. Don’t look for hidden meaning when there is none.
Its not a hidden meaning or intuitive, additive insight but is actually the original, true but unrecognized meaning of the book of beginnings, ie Genesis. Man is that which is being described as being ‘made/formed’ etc, with two (pre & post) fall of man accounts in early Genesis.
All the best Custy, haven’t talked to you in a while, hope you are doing well.
So a hidden meaning then? John, you’re wrong. All that picture shows is that the ancient Israelites didn’t know what the hell they were talking about, so they made it up. That’s it, the end, nothing more to see.
Hope you’re well too, man. It has been a while.
John you’re living your life by an ancient desert scribbling…much like these folks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bays1tdQoZY
Actually, its not ‘my life’ at all that I’m living. Truth be known, ‘I’ died on a cross a long time ago, so did you. Won’t you die too (to your own, old, inherited natural life?) That you might (really) live? It’s a beautiful paradox.
Life out of death, yes that is it my friend! All the best.
lol maybe you died on a cross metaphorically but you are still bound to the writings where your “cross” came from. Try to grow beyond the writings – you are like a deer in headlights – all you see is the writings – all else is either meaningless or irrelevant. I remember being that way – but I died to to the fairytale….
“Truth be known, ‘I’ died on a cross a long time ago, so did you. Won’t you die too (to your own, old, inherited natural life?) That you might (really) live? It’s a beautiful paradox.
Life out of death, yes that is it my friend!”
Would it seem as beautiful to you, John C, if Jesus had been sentenced to die by laxatives? I can hear the hymn now… “and by His
stripesshite we are healed.”On a more serious note, you seem like a nice enough guy, John C, but your proselytizing grows old. My question is rhetorical. Please don’t answer it.
Death by laxatives? Yeesh… Well with that death sentence, they arn’t kidding when they tell you it’s your time to “go”!
“‘I’ died on a cross a long time ago,”
You are suppose to carry your own cross, you know, not die on any crosses. And you are nothing like the bible jesus, but, more like made in china jesus, I forgot what that is called, something like immitation on a fake?
Watched a video series earlier today, called: What Genesis Got Wrong. It’s a good series so far; and goes into the Hebrew view of the universe – as depicted in the first image above. The series exposes the errors in both the literal and accommodationist views of creation; the latter being those who attempt to mix the myth with science.
Thought you guys might enjoy it. Here’s the link to episode 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSDXgT2QAf0
Be sure to watch his other videos too; they’re really worth watching.
unbelievable how someone can take very black and white writings and say “The seen/natural world illustrates the unseen/spiritual world and ultimate/eternal realities.”
Funny. I’m curious if the speaker were to have a medical emergency if they would call upon the spiritual world for help? We do not dwell in phantom realms nor do we live our lives believing in unicorns. Sorry. BTW my fav video on this topic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?eurl=http://www.youtube.com/user/AronRa%23p/a/126AFB53A6F002CC/9/5MXTBGcyNuc&v=5MXTBGcyNuc&feature=player_profilepage#!
All the unicorns I’ve met have been very kind.
Really? I felt their personalities did seem a tad “hollow”.
I felt that way too until I got to know them better.
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