While we were doing Evangelism at the Fair I met three Atheists. When I told them that I would give them a hundred dollars if they could prove the Bible scientific or historically inaccurate one of them piped up and said the Bible calculates Pi inaccurately. I told him Pi is never in the Bible. He went on to explain himself, trying to tell me how it was inaccurate and that the Bible implies it. He couldn’t give me a reference. He was just trying to get me off the subject of salvation. They were attacking the Bible so that is why I made them the offer. They walked off thinking that I had been made to question my faith and trust in the Bible. They did not have any interest in the things of God. After talking with them I wanted to know if what they said was true, knowing in my heart that it wasn’t but wanting to know what they were talking about so I could answer them. I asked a few people what they thought and then looked on the internet for an answer. On the internet I found that most people said the Hebrews rounded Pi to the number three. Actually if we look into the passage that these people use we will find Pi a lot more accurate than most people think. The passage we are looking at is in 1 Kings 7:23, 26. Most people only look at verse 23 and that is why they think that the Hebrews rounded Pi. Here are the two verses.
1 Kings 7:23 Now he made the sea of cast metal ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in form, and its height was five cubits, and thirty cubits in circumference.
1 Kings 7:26 It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, as a lily blossom; it could hold two thousand baths.
Watch as we do the Math.
Our equation is Circumference=Pi x Diameter.
C=Pi(D)
First I want to convert everything to inches.
1 cubit= 18in
D=10x18=180 in.
C=30x18=540 in.
When we look at verse 26 we see that it is a handbreadth thick.
1 handbreadth= 4 in.
Let’s insert values into our equation. We subtract the thickness of the bowl from the diameter.
540in=pi(180in- 2handbreadths)
540in=pi(180in-2(4in))
540in=pi(180in-8in)
540in=pi(172in)
540in/172in= pi
pi=3.1395348837
Now you tell me how accurate the Hebrew’s were with pi. We can see that Pi is very accurate in the Bible. The Bible is God’s Word and God’s Word is truth. When we look at Math and Science we are to take the all facts and make a conclusion from it, not take the answer we want and read it into the facts. I hope that you all might be able to use this if and when this attack on the Bible arises. How wonderful God’s Word is and what a wonderful God is our God. There is no argument that can stand against it. There is no historical or scientific inaccuracy in it. Praise the Lord for giving us His Word.
