Someone asked me about how Scripture seems to imply that the value of the mathematical constant "pi" is equal to three.
If the diameter is ten, what is the circumference? i
I don't see that as saying pi is rational. The answer to this question, if I am to be almost perfectly precise, is 31.4159265... which is the irrational number "pi" multiplied by the number ten. That is, the answer to this question is not thirty.
If pi equals three, pi is rational. It does imply it. It does explicitly give the measurements where pi equals three.
It doesn't say pi is three. It seems to, sure. It gives a measurement that is ten and another that is thirty, but it does not say these things are the diameter and circumference of the same circle, in the mathematical sense. It could be that the diameter is measured from the outside edges, and the circumference measured on the inside edge. I don't know though.
It said it used a line to measure. So it would be the outside. You can't use a line to measure the circumference of the inside.
It could simply be a rounded number. It could be that the precise measurement would have been 30.333 and 9.655, and these numbers were each rounded up or down by one third to arrive at 30 and 10. Scripture is not always precise in matters of numbering things. ii
Can it be wrong? You think the bible doesn't contain any mistakes? I mean there's clearly differences between bibles. In different versions. That can't possibly be your stance.
Is the Bible wrong? No. The translations can be wrong.
- Citing (NRSV) 1 Kings 7:
23 Then he made the molten sea; it was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high. A line of thirty cubits would encircle it completely.
And (OJB) Melachim Alef 7:
23 And he made a Yam Mutzak (Cast Metal Sea), ten cubits from brim to brim; it was completely round and its height was 5 cubits; and a line of 30 cubits did measure around about it.
- Matthew 18:
20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
Bold added.
Deuteronomy 17:
6 Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness.
Bold added.
2 Kings 9:
32 And he looked up at the window, and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” So two or three eunuchs looked out at him.
Bold added.
Isaiah 17:
6 Yet gleaning grapes will be left in it, Like the shaking of an olive tree, Two or three olives at the top of the uppermost bough, Four or five in its most fruitful branches,” Says the Lord God of Israel.
Bold added.
Amos 4:
8 So two or three cities wandered to another city to drink water, But they were not satisfied; Yet you have not returned to Me,” Says the Lord.
Bold added.
2 Corinthians 13:
1 This will be the third time I am coming to you. “By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.”
Bold added.
1 Timothy 5:
19 Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses.
Bold added. ^
Nice