Introduction 

When Earth’s first space traveler returned to the ground, Nikita Khrushchev reportedly said, “[Soviet cosmonaut Yuri] Gagarin flew into space, but didn’t see any god there.” He meant to refute the Christian belief in a spiritual realm. Being a Communist and raised to scientific thinking, Khrushchev spoke scientific truth. There is no scientifically- proven Heaven in Outer Space. The Communists’ problem was that they did not think spiritually instead of scientifically.

Ancient Hebrew Cosmology

Throughout the ages before Copernicus and Galileo, Jews and Christians thought spiritually. They believed the heavens were held separate from the land by a solid dome (raqia). The Sun, Moon, and stars were spiritual beings – gods/ members of the divine council. These spiritual beings were the Creator’s viceroys in the heavens. They signaled the seasons and feast days and ruled over the nations/ ethnos of the Earth.

They believed that humans ruled on the Earth, especially from their thrones, backed by and inspired by the spiritual beings. The Creator Yahweh, of course, reigned over the heavens and the land. The writers of the ancient Scriptures encouraged these spiritual beliefs. Thinking scientifically, Nikita Khrushchev tried to refute those spiritual truths.

Modern Western Christian Beliefs

These believers were raised in a Western, scientific culture. Whether raised in Church or converted to believing in the Bible, they try to combine their scientific knowledge with what they think the Bible says. They get intellectual supportfrom teachers from such organizations as Answers in Genesis and the Institute for Creation Research. These scholars take the words of the Bible literally and try to reconcile their scientific knowledge with the spiritual accounts of Creation and the Flood.

They teach that the Creator really formed the Earth and brought it to edenic perfection in only six days. They believe the Flood covered the whole Earth and wiped out all of Humanity except for Noah and his family. These scientists find and display evidence to support these supposedly- scientific, biblical beliefs. I believe they are wrong in both efforts.

Bible Written by Ancient, Middle Easterners

The worldview of the authors of the Hebrew Bible was neither scientific nor Western. Their cosmology included the raqia/ dome holding the waters above away from the waters below and the dry land. The heavens are where the spiritual beings (the Creator and the lesser gods) lived and ruled. The Scriptures they wrote down were literary works. They composed these Writings to give poetic pictures of what actually happened.

Creation did happen; all that we see and much that we cannot see did come into being. Genesis 1 gives a genius- level literary account of how everything came to be. Genesis 2 gives a different, purpose- based account of the place where the heavens overlapped with the land, in Eden.

Genesis 6-9 gives a literary account of a flood that covered the whole land. It is one of several Middle Eastern accounts, so the flood was an historical event. However, I see no reason why it had to include Europe, Asia, or North and South America. The Hebrew author gave a spiritual reason for the flood and the saving of one family. Scientific evidence found in the layers of rock in the Grand Canyon have nothing to do with the Middle East flood.

Corruption of Believers’ Faith

Various Christian thinkers say refuting modern believers’ literal understanding of the Bible will weaken their faith in the whole of Genesis. That would be a terrible thing!

I disagree. The separation of one’s thinking between spiritual and scientific realities is not a schizophrenic split from reality. They are different ways of thinking about two different realities. I don’t know any personally, but I can imagine some university- level scientist who also believes and thinks about spiritual truths. He or she teaches the current scientific theories about the Big Bang and the formation of planets around our Sun and others. She or he also meets with other believers to discuss the problems in society and to pray against the false gods and their spiritual influences. In that setting, he or she thinks spiritually instead of scientifically.