The Bible is reliable from the standpoint of Oceanography

Did you know the tallest mountain on the planet is not Mt. Everest? Some of you at this point are questioning our sanity - everyone knows that Mt. Everest at 29,035 feet above sea level and is the highest you can go without taking some sort of aircraft. Still, Mt. Everest is not the tallest mountain on the planet. That honor belongs to none other than Hawaii's own Mauna Kea.

Everest is landlocked and, when measured from sea level, is the highest spot on Earth. Yet, it's not the tallest mountain. This gets a little complicated. Mauna Kea begins its rise not from sea level, but from the ocean floor. Mauna Kea is a mountain within the ocean that reaches high enough to break the surface. While only 13,796 feet above sea level, when measured from the ocean floor, it reaches a height of 31,796 feet.

Just for fun, let's look at a couple of other interesting statistics. Mauna Kea is a dormant volcano. Also found in the Hawaiian Islands is its active cousin, Mauna Loa. Mauna Loa reaches 13,677 feet above sea level. Mauna Loa however is considered the largest (not tallest) mountain on earth. This is because of its incredibly broad base and voluminous girth. In fact, if you were to drop down the center of Mauna Loa and measure from the volcano's peak down to the subterranean bottom (the bottom of the mountain is found well below the ocean floor) it would measure - get ready for this: some 56,080 feet or more than 10 miles.

Further, if you take into account the equator and the equatorial bulge - the highest spot from the center of the Earth is Mount Cayambe in Equador. Its height of 18,982 feet makes it the highest spot from the center of the Earth.

The Real Tallest Mountain

Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa are mountains found within the ocean. There are many ocean-based mountains that do not rise high enough to break the surface - nonetheless, they are there. Modern science has only been aware of the presence of these giants for a relatively short period of time. Yet the Bible speaks of the great mountains found in the depths of the seas.

Notice what Jonah said when he was in the belly of the great fish. He testified to the existence of mountains in the deep:

"The waters encompassed me, even to my soul; the deep closed around me; weeds were wrapped around my head. I went down to the moorings of the mountains; the earth with its bars closed behind me forever;" Jonah 2: 5-6

 

The satelite imagery above comes from the National Geophysical Data Center - the oceanic mountain ranges are clearly seen. Search the links to the right to learn more about what Scripture has to say about oceanography.