Respond to the following statement: The Holy Spirit would not allow the use of geographical references in the Bible that are unfamiliar to us because to do so would leave part of what God had to say to us in obscurity.

The Bible had human authors and they wrote where they geographically were from or at the time that they were writing and in those times the people did not have access to all the tools we do today to describe the location so therefore they had to go into more details of their geographical location.

I believe that that the Holy Spirit guided the writers of the Bible to reveal only the truth of God’s Word.

I do not agree with this statement. The Holy Spirit is God and our Teacher. The Teacher guides us into truth. If we were familiar with everything and knew all things, where would our Teacher guide us? All of Scripture would be veiled to us if God didn’t turn the lights on.

That’s an odd statement because the word of God is for all and to all, but it was given historically not through all but to and through some. And they lived elsewhere than me, so it’s up to me to gain familiarity with some unfamiliar places to grow my understanding of God’s word.

These geographical references were not unfamiliar to the people of biblical times. Because there was no written Bible, oral traditions would have been important and these geographical landmarks would have been incredibly meaningful to the Jewish people. Believers today are fortunate that we have access to so much study material that none of what God has to say to us should be in obscurity.

I feel that the use of geography, physical, human, and natural history, gives a connection to the land where the Bible was written and to the stories and promises in the Bible. We can use the physical and human geography along with natural history to understand the customs, cultures, and people of the Bible and well as being able to be able to put passages in the right context. It gives us a connection to the Promised Land through Jesus.

The Bible is full of geography references that Many people do not understand. Much of the geography of the Bible and they do miss a lot of the meaning, that is why it is Necessary to study the geography along with the feast of the Bible

Places and geography mentioned in the Bible are not as familiar to me as they would have been to the people at that time, but God gives us study resources today to use to get a deeper understanding of His Word.

More than anything, I believe that God wants us to understand and know His Word. If the Bible was written differently and more specifically, especially referring to geographic locations, it could just leave us confused and uncertain.

The salvation plan of God is not difficult for the local people who lived in the Land that God gave to them, so that they (the prophets and the authors) will not miss any point to convey the messages that God wanted them to convey. They did what was said, and we understood what they said because the Holy Spirit helped us to understand His words. Many of the locations, the topology, the names, however are not quite familiar to us because we (gentiles) do not know much about the land of Israel, but we are saved (by faith). However, knowing the geography …or even just the meaning of the names, give us a great appreciation for what God has done. For example: Bethlehem – the house of bread, also was the house of victory (lechem – eat, win), and the tower of the shepherd in the time of Jacob…Why the manger on the top of the hill of Bethlehem, and not at the bottom of the hill so Mary did not have to go to such a steep slope? A hotel of Bethlehem would not be there so no inn keeper get the blame! but a last spot for the poorest couple Joseph and Mary to stay…with the sheep of Bethlehem…

I believe that the Holy Spirit would use the geographical references familiar to the audiences/readers to convey God’s message to avoid any misunderstanding.

But for modern readers like us, we are not familiar with most of the geography references mentioned in the Bible because they are addressed to the ancient readers. The ancient authors and the readers shared the same language, culture, and geographical environment. Therefore, to understand the biblical message, we need the bible dictionary and atlas to guide us.