Tim Maas Supporter Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

Since east and west are by definition opposite directions, the thought being expressed by the verse is speaking of that characteristic to the greatest possible degree in a two-dimensional flat plane (in other words, an infinite distance), rather than the case of a spherical surface such as earth, where lines on the surface of the sphere that start from a given point and go directly west and east will eventually meet again on the opposite side of the sphere.

September 22 2021 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jack Gutknecht Supporter ABC/DTS graduate, guitar music ministry Baptist church

I like what S. Michael Houdmann says about this verse:
"The phrase as far as the east is from the west is meant to communicate in infinite space. East is in one direction, and west is in the other. This is different from north and south—you can travel north only so far (to the geographic north pole) before being forced to travel south; thus, north and south meet at the poles. But east and west never meet; no matter how far you travel east, you will never reach a point at which your next step must be westward. Therefore, God in His wisdom did not say, 'As far as north from south'; rather, He said, 'As far as east from west.;" --gotquestions.org

Also, the Bible teaches that the earth is a sphere, not flat. "Our transgressions have been removed from us as far as the east is from the west." And how far is that? One can start traveling east and continue forever without coming to the end of "east." The same is true if he tries to find the end of "west.” The only way this could be true is for the earth to be round. The Bible no more teaches a flat Earth than a finite universe. “It is (God) that sitteth upon the circle [or ‘roundness’] of the earth” (Isaiah 40:22)." icr.org (HENRY M. MORRIS, PH.D at The Institute for Creation Research). I like Dr. Morris, and I use his work in a debate we had at Arizona Bible College (Phoenix) on "Was Noah's Flood a universal flood or just a local flood?" Morris and I argued for a universal flood!

"The picture in [Psalm 103:8-12] is that of a courtroom in which God is both judge and prosecuting attorney. He has all the evidence He needs to condemn us, but He does not prolong the trial. When the judge is your Father, and when Jesus has died for your sins, there is full and free forgiveness available to all who will ask for it. If God gave us the punishment we deserved, we would be without hope (Ezra 9:13). The punishment that we deserve was given to Jesus (Isa. 53:4-6)." --Warren Wiersbe

July 24 2024 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report