Evidence for God from Science

Byblos wrote:
Looking at that map G, I couldn't help but notice that if you move the center north about a millimeter, the city of Byblos would be dead smack in the center of the world too. Just sayin' .

"Together with the King's Highway, the Via Maris was one of the major routes connecting Egypt and the Levant with Anatolia and Mesopotamia. The Via Maris was crossed by other trading routes, so that one could travel from Africa to Europe or from Asia to Africa. It began in al-Qantara and went east to Pelusium, following the northern coast of Sinai through el-Arish and Rafah. From there it followed the coast of Canaan through Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Joppa, and Dor before turning east again through Megiddo and the Jezreel Valley until it reached Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee. Again turning northward along the shore, the Via Maris passed through Migdal, Capernaum, and Hazor. From Hazor it crossed the northern River Jordan at Jacob's Ford then climbed sharply over the Golan Heights and wound its way northeast into Damascus. Here travellers could continue on the King's Highway as far as the Euphrates River or proceed northward into Anatolia."

Source: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_Maris

"During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times. The oldest part of the city was settled in the 4th millennium BCE, making Jerusalem one of the oldest cities in the world. The old walled city, a World Heritage site, has been traditionally divided into four quarters, although the names used today—the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters—were introduced in the early 19th century. The Old City was nominated for inclusion on the List of World Heritage Sites in Danger by Jordan in 1982."

Source: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem

Standing Stones

They are lonely sentinels on the ruins of ancient cities?gigantic stones erected by a past civilization, their purpose and message lost to history. They provide a glimpse into a custom that lies behind several significant stories in the Bible, and they are the foundation of modern practices in a Western world 6,000 miles and 3,000 years away. They are "standing stones."

The most impressive collection is in the high place at Gezer, where ten stones, some over 20 feet tall, stand in silent tribute to a long-forgotten event. Their size is probably evidence of the importance of what they represented. How they got there is uncertain, although clearly they came from some distance away.

Long before the Israelites arrived on the scene, pagans in the Middle East erected sacred stones to their gods. If one of their gods (or so they believed) caused an important event or provided a significant benefit, a stone was erected as a testimony to the action of the god. If a covenant or treaty was signed between cities or individuals, stones were erected to declare the agreement and to invoke the witness of the gods. Travelers who saw the standing stones would ask, "What happened here?" and the people who knew the story would give testimony to their gods.

To this Middle Eastern culture, God revealed himself so that he could accomplish the great work of restoring a lost world to himself. His people worshiped him and memorialized his acts of deliverance as their custom dictated: by erecting stones.

THE MASSEBOTH

These masseboth (singular: massebah, from the Hebrew word "to setup") are mentioned frequently in the Bible. On four occasions, Jacob erected a massebah after a significant event in his life. In Genesis 28, Jacob had a dream in which God spoke to him from the top of a stairway reaching to heaven. Overwhelmed, Jacob set up the stone he used as a pillow as a standing stone to God's presence at that site. In chapter 31, God called Jacob to return to the Promised Land. As he left the pagan world of Laban, his father-in-law, Jacob erected a standing stone as a witness of his decision to leave. Jacob returned to Bethel, the site of his dream years before, and next to the original massebah, God appeared again to reaffirm his love for him. Once more, Jacob erected a standing stone as a monument to the presence and power of God (Gen. 35). Finally, at Rachel's grave near Bethlehem (Gen. 35), Jacob set up one last stone, a reminder of his responsibility in his beloved wife's death (see Gen. 31:32) and the difficulty of living faithfully before God. God's covenant with Israel through Moses was represented by 12 masseboth at the foot of Mount Sinai (Ex. 24). They were a testimony to the great deliverance from Egypt and the faithful love God promised the Jewish people in the Sinai covenant. The occasional traveler who saw these stones would know that something significant had happened on this mountain, and if a member of God's people was present, the traveler would know that the God to whom the stones were dedicated was the one true God of the Hebrews.

The Book of Joshua records seven times that Joshua erected standing stones pointing to the dynamic power of God. The dividing of the Jordan River, which displayed God's power over the fertility gods the Canaanites believed caused flooding, was memorialized by 12 stones taken from the dry riverbed and erected on the bank, where they stood as an object lesson to Jewish children (Josh. 4). Near the end of his life, Joshua challenged the Israelites to serve the only real God. Their spontaneous response of "we will serve the LORD" (Josh. 24:21) was the occasion for another standing stone: "Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the LORD" (Josh. 24:26).

THE EVIL MASSEBOTH

Canaan's gods encouraged sexual immorality and other perversions and even demanded human sacrifices. Their altars and standing stones were abominations to God, and his covenant with Moses demanded that the Israelites tear down these monuments to evil (Ex. 23:24; Deut. 7:5). The only standing stones God allowed were those that pointed directly to him, the one true God, the Lord of heaven and earth. Unfortunately, the Israelites often disobeyed God's command to focus the world's attention only upon him. During the reign of Rehoboam, for example, the people of Judah "set up for themselves...sacred stones" (1 Kings 14:23, emphasis added).

THE STELE

Our practice of placing tombstones over the graves of loved ones probably derives from a special standing stone called a stele (plural: stelae). These stones were erected as masseboth but had a story or an inscription carved on them explaining their significance. The monument erected by Saul at Carmel (1 Sam. 15:12) may well have been a stele. In the Middle East, archaeologists have unearthed many stelae, including one found in 1993 at Tel Dan that mentions the name "David," the only extra-biblical reference to David ever discovered.

No massebah or stele mentioned in the Bible has been found, though it is possible that someday that may occur. Nevertheless, we must find ways to remind ourselves of God's presence in human history and to lead others to him. In a sense, we must become standing stones ourselves?living testimonies to the power and love of God, pointing beyond ourselves to the God who is at work in our world as he was in the world of the Israelites.

Source: http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=2783

According to Zechariah, in the messianic era Sukkot will become a universal festival and all nations will make pilgrimages annually to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast there.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feast_of_Tabernacles

Gman wrote:In looking at the map again, it is very evident that Jerusalem is at the very center of the earth if we look at the world from the longitude markers (north to south). Almost perfectly centered.. (Sweden to South Africa) Now from the latitude markers (west to east) it is not quite in the center of the land masses (Africa to China), however if we look at the "livable" areas of the world, Jerusalem is still very close to the center of the world. Very cold areas of the world such as northern Russia are also livable, but would be very sparse in population due to the cold. Also the heavy wet jungle areas of China would also be sparse in population, so that brings the center geographically back closer to Jerusalem again in the 10/40 window.

Other important factors here however, is how close Jerusalem is to the sea ports. Example having Jerusalem in the Persian gulf would not make any sense because it is not connected to the Mediterranean which in turn is the connection to Europe.

Again.. How did the ancients know that they were in the center of the known world? Ezekiel 5:5 A lucky guess?

tidalforce wrote: Gman - did you actually look at latitude (small point - you have your longitude/latitude mixed up here. Latitude lines run east-west, but they give you your north-south position) markers here, or did you just note that the distance on the map between northern Europe and Jerusalem looks roughly equal to that between southern Africa and Jerusalem?

tidalforce wrote:North Sweden is ~70°N of the equator, Jersualem is ~31.5°N, & Cape Town is ~33.5°S. This gives a Jerusalem-Sweden distance of ~38°, & a Jerusalem-Cape Town distance of ~65° (about 2,700miles & 4,500 miles respectively).

I think part of the misunderstanding comes from the prevalence of Mercator map projections (such as the one you use above) which preserve the shape of land masses, but not the areas (areas become disproportionately inflated the further they are from the equator). Note on the Mercator projection below that both Greenland and Antarctica appear larger than Africa, yet in reality Africa is twice the size of Antarctica and over ten times the size of Greenland:

Map projections such as the Gall-Peters are designed to preserve the area of land make it much more apparent that Jerusalem is quite far north of the Sweden-Africa midpoint:

tidalforce wrote:Out of interest, what is your source for "the known world"? The known world at what period, and known to whom?