TBP-101 — 1. Earth suspended in space
Subject to locate: Earth described as suspended without a visible physical support.
Job 26:7: He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.
Twenty Bible Subject-Coverage Requirements
A book-level component of the Theory of Biblical Patterns challenge
The Bible discusses an unusually wide range of subjects involving nature, health, the heavens, human origins, and the physical world. The twenty subjects below were collected from the referenced Comfort video. They are presented here as a subject-coverage test, not as twenty mathematical patterns in a single sentence.
Formal status: TBP-101 through TBP-120.
Each of the twenty subjects is one documented requirement within the current total of 290. A submission must satisfy every requirement in this category; partial coverage is insufficient.
The requirement
The published book from which a competing sentence is taken must contain an identifiable passage addressing every one of the twenty subjects below. The challenger must provide the book title, edition, and a page number or stable electronic location for each subject.
How coverage is judged
- The book must address the actual subject, not merely contain a matching word.
- A metaphor or a vague resemblance does not establish subject coverage.
- One passage may satisfy more than one subject only when it explicitly addresses each one.
- The passages may occur anywhere in the same published work; they do not have to appear in the competing sentence.
- The comparison must use a genuine published work, not a document assembled or altered for this challenge.
- These requirements measure breadth of coverage. They do not assume that every biblical connection is a modern scientific definition or prediction.
- All three approved judges must unanimously agree that the cited passages satisfy all twenty subjects under these standards.
Interpretive caution: The headings identify the subjects being
compared. The cited passages are the biblical connections offered for those
subjects. Some connections are direct observations; others are interpretations.
Readers may evaluate the strength of each connection separately from determining
whether the Bible addresses the general subject.
The Twenty Subjects
TBP-102 — 2. The visible world made from things not seen
Subject to locate: Visible matter associated with underlying things that are not directly visible. This has sometimes been compared with atoms, but the verse does not use modern atomic terminology.
Hebrews 11:3: Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
TBP-103 — 3. Paths or currents in the sea
Subject to locate: Identifiable paths, routes, or currents through the oceans.
Psalm 8:8: The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
TBP-104 — 4. Making messages manifest through communication
Subject to locate: Communication that makes a message perceptible, including discussion of transmitting information through light, sound, or radio waves. The verse supplies a thematic connection rather than a technical description of fiber-optic or radio technology.
Colossians 4:4: That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.
TBP-105 — 5. Physical decay and the aging of the world
Subject to locate: The physical world described as wearing out, aging, or moving toward decay. This is compared with entropy without claiming that the verse states the modern thermodynamic law.
Isaiah 51:6: Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.
TBP-106 — 6. Snow and its hidden complexity
Subject to locate: Snow discussed as a natural phenomenon having concealed structure, variety, or complexity. Job mentions the “treasures” of snow but does not explicitly state that every snowflake is unique.
Job 38:22: Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,
TBP-107 — 7. Springs beneath the ocean
Subject to locate: Freshwater, hydrothermal, or other springs located beneath the sea.
Job 38:16: Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?
TBP-108 — 8. A massive land animal described as Behemoth
Subject to locate: An exceptionally large and powerful land animal, including discussion of whether an ancient description might be compared with a dinosaur or another known animal. The identification of Behemoth as a dinosaur is interpretive.
Read Job 40:15–24
Job 40:15: Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox.
Job 40:16: Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly.
Job 40:17: He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together.
Job 40:18: His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron.
Job 40:19: He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.
Job 40:20: Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play.
Job 40:21: He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens.
Job 40:22: The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about.
Job 40:23: Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth.
Job 40:24: He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares.
TBP-109 — 9. Circumcision prescribed on the eighth day
Subject to locate: Circumcision specifically associated with the eighth day after birth. Medical arguments about timing must be evaluated separately and should not be described as conclusively proven without appropriate evidence.
Genesis 17:12: And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.
TBP-110 — 10. A relationship between mental and physical well-being
Subject to locate: Emotional or mental well-being associated with effects on physical health.
Proverbs 15:30: The light of the eyes rejoiceth the heart: and a good report maketh the bones fat.
TBP-111 — 11. Isolation to limit the spread of disease
Subject to locate: Separating a person with a suspected or confirmed communicable condition from the larger community.
Leviticus 13:46: All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.
TBP-112 — 12. Time, space, matter, power, and motion
Subject to locate: A foundational account that refers to a beginning, the heavens, the earth, a creative cause or power, and motion. The five-part classification is an interpretation of the wording.
Genesis 1:1: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Genesis 1:2: And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
TBP-113 — 13. Environmental requirements for plant life
Subject to locate: Plant life discussed in relation to light, water, atmosphere, land, reproduction by seed, or other environmental requirements. The creation sequence is theological and is not presented here as a modern botany textbook.
Read Genesis 1:3–11
Genesis 1:3: And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Genesis 1:4: And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
Genesis 1:5: And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Genesis 1:6: And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
Genesis 1:7: And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
Genesis 1:8: And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Genesis 1:9: And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
Genesis 1:10: And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:11: And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
TBP-114 — 14. Simultaneous daylight and nighttime imagery
Subject to locate: A description consistent with different parts of Earth experiencing different conditions at the same time. This has been connected with a rotating Earth, although the verse does not directly explain terrestrial rotation.
Luke 17:24: For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.
TBP-115 — 15. The circuit associated with the sun
Subject to locate: The sun or the solar system described as following a circuit or course. Psalm 19:6 speaks of the sun's circuit; it does not explicitly state that Earth orbits the sun.
Psalm 19:6: His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
TBP-116 — 16. The heavens described as stretched out
Subject to locate: The heavens or universe described as stretched, spread, or expanded. The comparison with modern cosmic expansion is interpretive.
Isaiah 40:22: It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
TBP-117 — 17. Stars and grains of sand described as beyond counting
Subject to locate: The immense number of stars compared with the immeasurable sand of the sea. The passage does not state that one number is greater than the other.
Jeremiah 33:22: As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.
TBP-118 — 18. Heavenly lights associated with seasons, days, and years
Subject to locate: The relationship between astronomical bodies and the measurement or occurrence of seasons, days, and years. Genesis 1:14 does not provide a technical description of Earth's orbit.
Genesis 1:14: And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
TBP-119 — 19. Hygiene following disease or bodily discharge
Subject to locate: Washing the body and clothing, using running water, and observing a waiting period following illness or a bodily discharge.
Leviticus 15:13: And when he that hath an issue is cleansed of his issue; then he shall number to himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean.
TBP-120 — 20. Humanity traced to common male and female ancestors
Subject to locate: Humanity described as descending from foundational male and female ancestors. Comparisons with “Y-chromosomal Adam” and “mitochondrial Eve” must acknowledge that these scientific terms do not by themselves identify a contemporaneous couple or establish the biblical account.
Read Genesis 2:7–25
Genesis 2:7: And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Genesis 2:8: And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
Genesis 2:9: And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:10: And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
Genesis 2:11: The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
Genesis 2:12: And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
Genesis 2:13: And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
Genesis 2:14: And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
Genesis 2:15: And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
Genesis 2:16: And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
Genesis 2:17: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Genesis 2:18: And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
Genesis 2:19: And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
Genesis 2:20: And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
Genesis 2:21: And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
Genesis 2:22: And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
Genesis 2:23: And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
Genesis 2:24: Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
Genesis 2:25: And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Documentation submitted by a challenger
For each numbered subject, the challenger should supply a short quotation or accurate summary from the competing book together with its location. The documentation should be sufficient for the approved three-judge panel to confirm coverage without searching the entire work themselves.
Bible quotations on this page are from the King James Version. This page records the twenty-subject collection and its verification rule; it does not claim that the twenty subjects are statistically independent.