OVO

Pi is the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet. It is also the symbol for the ratio between the circumference of a circle and the diameter of a circle. Diameter is the distance from one side of a circle to the other side of a circle. Circumference is the distance around the outside of a circle. If you multiply the diameter of a circle by the square of pi, you get the circumference. And if you divide the circumference of a circle by the square of pi, you get the diameter. This formula is called Archimedes’ Constant, named after Archimedes (who lived from circa 287 BCE to 212 BCE). Archimedes’ Constant is a simple equation, but there is a catch; pi is not a finite number such as 23 or 127. The first sixty four digits of pi are 3.14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971 69399 37510 58209 74944 592… and it just keeps going from there. So far, no one has demonstrated that there is a limit to how large a number pi is or that there is a pattern to the numbers in pi. Pi may be infinite.

You can ‘see infinity’ any time you want by measuring a circle’s diameter and then its circumference. Get a round plate and some string (the plate must be round and the string should not stretch when pulled). Lay the string across the plate from one side to the other, so that the string crosses over the middle of the plate. Mark the string at the point where it is the same diameter of the plate. Now take that length of string, multiply it by three, and wrap it around the outside of the plate. Three times the diameter will be pretty close to the circumference, but not exactly. You have just used simple tools to explore the relationship between diameter and circumference. Try it with any circle of any size; it always works. Maybe you don’t need to measure pi to sixty four (or a billion) digits, but you should now feel confident in stating that pi is not a finite, single-digit number. You should feel confident saying that because common sense, the evidence of your senses, and as many tests as you want to perform will confirm it every time. It works whether you measure in inches, centimeters, or even if you make up your own ‘plate units.’

Oddly enough, there are some people in the world who do not believe pi is 3.14159 26535… (and so on). They believe that pi equals three. Who believes that? Christians believe pi equals three. The Christians use a book named the Bible as the foundation for their beliefs, and the Bible says pi equals three. Not all Christians have the same interpretation of the Bible, and some of them disagree quite strongly about how it should be interpreted. But all of them, every one, use the Bible.

Long ago, the Christian Bible says, a man named King Solomon built a temple. He hired a man named Hiram to work on the temple. Hiram made all sorts of additions to the temple, including a sculpture described as a ‘molten sea.’ The molten sea was apparently some sort of large, round container of liquid. It was measured in cubits, which is believed to be the distance between the elbow and the middle finger of an adult male. The construction work of King Solomon and the work Hiram did for King Solomon are described twice in the Bible. The first time in a section of the Bible called 1 Kings (written about 586 BCE) and the second time in a section called 2 Chronicles (written about 450 – 400 BCE). Both times the Bible uses the same words to describe the molten sea. Here’s what the Christian Bible has to say about pi…

And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about. 1 Kings 7:23

Also he made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and five cubits the height thereof; and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about. 2 Chronicles 4:2

The Bible says that a circle ten cubits in diameter measured thirty cubits in circumference. The Bible does not say that the molten sea was close to a circle, but that it was a circle. It does not say that it was close to ten cubits from brim to brim, or that it was close to thirty cubits round about, but that it was ten cubits from brim to brim and it was thirty cubits round about. The Bible gives these measurements once and then gives them again, using the same measurements both times. There is no way to say the Bible meant something other than pi equals three. Christians have been presented with these measurements for thousands of years, and Christians have known about Archimedes’ Constant for thousands of years. Even if you give Christians a few hundred years between when Kings and Chronicles were written and the discovery of Archimedes’ Constant, the Christians have known for thousands of years that the measurements of the molten sea are mistaken. Knowing that pi does not equal three doesn’t require modern complex mathematics or equipment: a piece of string will do. At any point over the past two thousand years, Christians could have decided to follow common sense, the evidence of their senses, and simple tests to change the Bible to make it match real life. But they never have. Why don’t the Christians change the Bible?

Because Christians believe that the Bible is not wrong. Christians believe the Bible is right. Not just close to right, or only right sometimes, but right all the time and in every way. Right in a way that no human can be right, right in a supernatural, divine way. Christians believe that God inspired the people who wrote the Bible; since God cannot make mistakes and since God knows everything, everything in the Bible is correct. The Bible is correct about the past, the present and the future: it is eternally true. How do they know the Bible is inspired by God and eternally true? Because the Bible tells them so! Read for yourself where the Bible tells Christians that it is a book authored by God and eternally true: Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel.15:29; Ezekiel 24:14; Malachi 3:6; James 1:17; Exodus 12:14, 17, 24; Leviticus 23:14,21,31; Psalms 119:151-2, 160; John 1:1,14, 8:58, 10:30-31, 10:38-39, 16:30, 20:28, 21:17; Colossians 2:2-3, 2:8-9; Acts 5:29; Titus 2:13; Philippians 2:6; Hebrews 1:8; Revelations 1:17, 22:13. And there are other verses, many others, that say the same.

Some Christians believe that one of the characters in the Bible, Jesus Christ, made changes to one part (the Old Testament, where Kings and Chronicles are found) by his appearance in another part (the New Testament). But here’s what Jesus himself had to say about that…

Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or tittle shall nowise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:18-19

It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail. Luke 16:17

Jesus said that every part of the Old Testament was just as true and eternal as the New Testament. So there you have it. The Bible says, and Jesus confirms, that pi equals three. It doesn’t matter if you measured something different with your plate and string; pi equals three. What a silly, stubborn thing for Christians to keep in their Bible when common sense, the evidence of our senses, and simple tests will demonstrate that it is not true. Why do Christians keep this easily-corrected falsehood in the Bible? Would it really change the ethics, morals and values of the Bible to make this small change? Why don’t they come clean in this least important of ways? Because for a Christian to admit that there is even one error in the Bible would mean that the Bible is not the eternally true work of God. And since all Christians, every one, use the Bible, it would mean that their religion is based on falsehoods.

The little Christian mistakes such as pi equals three don’t matter much in the day-to-day world; Christianity would not collapse if that one small change was made. But if that one small change was made, then it would be an admission that the Bible is not the eternally true work of God. And that would lead to the collapse of Christianity. That is why Christians believe pi equals three. Because to admit otherwise would be to admit much, much more. It would be to admit that perhaps the ethics, morals and values of the Bible are not what they’re cracked up to be. It would be to admit that it’s not right to oppress women (Colossians 3:18), to own slaves (Hosea 3:2), to kill people just because they follow a different religion (Deuteronomy 6:15, 13:6-10), to kill homosexuals (Romans 1:31-32), to kill children (Exodus 21:15, 17), to kill (Mark 7:9-13) and kill (Romans 5:9) and kill (Hebrews 10:28-29). Christianity has to preserve its little mistakes, such as pi equals three, so that it can perpetuate its bigger, uglier “mistakes.”

(from OVO 16 ANTICHRIST January 2006)