If one goes back in history to the time of Christopher Columbus and the great explorers, one will be reminded that most people of that era firmly believed the earth was flat and that venturing too far out to sea would result in falling into the abyss where lived the great sea monster. It was also a time when inquisitions and reformations were underway in Europe. Looked at from the broad view of that period we enjoy today, one recognizes that under-informed, closed mindedness was being confronted by new ideas and high risk exploration. Old myths and superstitions could not withstand the impact of discoveries and inventions that proved them to be false. Historians have labeled it the Age of Enlightenment.
Copernicus (1473-1543), Galileo (1564-1642), and others gave birth to modern science by demonstrating the heliocentricity of our solar system. They were often persecuted by Christian authorities who quoted Bible verses such as "Psalm 93:1, Psalm 96:10, and 1Chronicles 16:30...(depending on translation [which state] that 'the world is firmly established, it cannot be moved.' In the same tradition, Psalm 104:5 says, 'the LORD set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved.' Further, Ecclesiastes 1:5 states that 'And the sun rises and sets and returns to its place' etc." (Wikipedia on Galileo Galilei). As far as the Bible authorities were concerned, these verses were nothing less than the word of God Almighty proving that the earth could not possibly orbit around the sun. Again quoting from Wikipedia: "On 31 October 1992, Pope John Paul II expressed regret for how the Galileo affair was handled, and officially conceded that the Earth was not stationary, as the result of a study conducted by the Pontifical Council for Culture. In March 2008 the Vatican proposed to complete its rehabilitation of Galileo by erecting a statue of him inside the Vatican walls.[107] In December of the same year, during events to mark the 400th anniversary of Galileo's earliest telescopic observations, Pope Benedict XVI praised his contributions to astronomy." It only took 400 years for the Church to own up to how wrong it was.
There are other examples one can find to demonstrate how Bible authoritarians have claimed they had God's sure word for various positions that were utterly wrong. For instance, it was once widely believed it was a scriptural fact that Africans were cursed by God and properly regarded as sub-human. Only the most ignorant of people believe that today.
History is bloodied by controversies and wars fought over notions that one group--usually the group in power--decided were contrary to the word of God as they understood it but were later found not to be. A couple of these battles are shaping up right now in conservative Christian circles. Anger is rising and battle lines are being drawn between those who think they are being true to the scriptures by defending dispensationalism (ask John Hagee if you don't know what that is)and those who see it otherwise. Another battle front is forming over the belief there literally exists a divinely designed torture chamber located somewhere in the basement of creation (hell), and those who are asserting it isn't so. It may take another 400 years, but I have no doubt God is going to help us shed our contemporary "doctrinal flat earth" mindsets. Doing so will not send us over the edge into the abyss. It will open us to new and wonderful discoveries of how great and good God is.
In the meantime we all would be well advised to consider our biblical views as opinions of the moment that could change with the discovery of unforseen evidence to the contrary. It is closed mindedness that always gets us in trouble.
