Flat earth, seriously?
 

Have any of you come across people who actually believe the bible teaches the earth is flat, and are making a huge issue out of it?

I know someone who recently swallowed it hook, line and sinker. Unbelievable!

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

I know there are followers of that idea who live in the antelope valley near Lancaster, California. But I have never met one.

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

Someone posted it on the UPCI Facebook group. They included a link to a YouTube video that had lots of "proofs" from the Bible (all taken out of context of course) that the earth is flat.

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

They run on the scriptures that say the earth was set on pillars, and the firmament in the sky is a solid mass, and the circle of the earth is not a sphere. They take things that are poetic imagery of what ancient man would be familiar with -- foundations and pillars -- that are meant to to indicate the sureness of God's creative work, and make these things literal. They believe in literal pillars holding up the earth.

They claim it all means there's a dome around the earth, and the earth is more or less what you'd see if you took the globe and flattened it with the north pole at the centre and the south pole the outer rim of the circle. And the four pillars are placed in four evenly spaced locations around the circle making the four corners of the earth.

It reminds me of the JW's who focus on outward things like a torture stake instead of a cross, hell is only the grave, etc. A totally fleshly, material focus

I tried appealing to my friend who's into it by saying, "who cares?! even if it was true?" But how absurd such an idea is. Wow.

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

I have seen it pop up on several Christian sites and it is total nonsense. I almost wonder if it is not just a scam to make Christians look like total buffoons.

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

This is what I have against sensationalism and conspiracy theories. They just make Christians lose credibility.

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

Flat earth appears to be designed as an attack on geocentricism.

BTW, some of their points are actually valid, although some of their models are unworkable and falsifiable (like explaining sunrise and sunset - the flat earth model doesn't account for what is observed).

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

I agree.

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

I don't know any that believe in a flat earth, but am incredulous, along with you, that someone could really believe this... wow.

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

I am not a flat earther. But I do see that any viewpoint assumed by us to be "obviously and clearly refuted" is easily dismissed, without ever actually examining the claims and the data.

Probably 95% of people who believe the earth is spheroid, believe it because they were told it, and not because they actually investigated and concluded on their own. Which, sadly, seems to be true for most any question. People generally just believe whatever their authorities tell them without much critical examination.

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

Flat earthers usually also have flat heads. ;)

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

:spit

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

Great post!! This is exactly why I like for my children to see opposing view points to what they believe. I want them to analyze and question what they believe and find the truth themselves.

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

How old are your children?

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

Like This?

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

I am not a scientist, nor have I traveled into the universe to see if the earth is round or not, so how else should I believe what has been told to me, and shown through pictures? Just wondering... have you? .... ;)

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

If the earth was flat, then the shortest distance between two points would be a straight line.

Since the earth is not flat, the shortest distance on a globe is a curved line.

This may not make much of difference on a flight from Detroit to Chicago, but from Chicago to Seoul, it makes a huge difference (a flight I took some 16 years ago). We flew to California, then up the West Coast of North America to Alaska, then came down the East Coast of Asia.

No global navigation since before Columbus would work properly if the earth was flat. There's no massive retaining wall at the edges of the ocean.

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

Great points.

Please, everyone, post some points that anyone could realize prove the earth is a globe so I can help this brother out and rescue him from this doctrine. Thanks!

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

Caveat: I am NOT a flat earther.

However, having said that, I do not think you understand the flat earth model.

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

Those are not good points, they are red herrings as they do not address genuine flat earth cosmology.

But, to help you out, I believe the greatest, single most important Achilles Heel of the flat earth model is the rising and setting of the sun. The F.E.M. does not accurately predict what is plainly observable. According to them, the sun rotates around a orbit (elliptic) over the flat disk of the earth. Sunrise is when the sun comes into view from a distance, and sunset is when it recedes to a distance where it appears to go "beyond sight"/too far away to be seen.

BUT, this would result in a diminution in size at sunset. Which is exactly opposite to observation.

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

Have I what? I have - and continue to - investigate claims concerning cosmology. I currently believe the earth is spheroid in a geocentric universe. Flat earthism raises interesting points but is not complete or consistent in certain necessary areas.

Spheroidal cosmology also has problems, though. Which makes it all the more interesting. The subject, I mean.

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

FE seems to have undergone a recent morph. I investigated them several years ago, and their views did not seem to be near as literal as they are now; they were more like a perspective shift.

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

What's to understand? The earth, to them, is a plane or disk, i.e. flat. How hard is it to understand what flat means.

All anyone has to do is take a quick Google image search and see what they are espousing.

And as such, such an espousal would mean the shortest distance between two points on a flat plane is a straight line. That's basic geometry.

The shortest distance between two points on a globe is a curved line, or parabola.

That's also basic math.

This is the common image:

http://thecreatorscalendar.com/wp-co...clipse-NOT.jpg

On such a model, the shortest distant from say Vancouver, Canada to Beijing, China, would be a straight line.

But that's the not the case in real life. See here:

https://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/...ledistance.png

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

What is the shortest distance from Tazmania to Chile?

Anyways, the "curved flight path" argument is regularly dealt with by FE advocates. A look at an FE map would show that "straight flight paths" take basically the same path on both models.

Your comment about the oceans spilling off the edges was pretty indicative to me you were not very familiar with FE models.

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

No, like a pancake, almost like a hammer head shark flat.

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

north pole new path proves the Flat Earth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21qrcEVHuzo

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

Ok all you "the bible is literal in every single way". Time to be consistent.

The rest of you are flat earth truthers! Ha! Ha!

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

Brother Blume, tell your friend you are waiting for him to evolve to concave earth theory. That'll liven the discussions up a bit. ;)

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

No the guy will probably go into hollow earth theory first.

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

Its the same thing. :)

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

Thank you for the correction. :thumbsup

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

Oh, not trying to correct, elder. Just raising the post count.

:happydance

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

I wonder how they address the fact that it is completely dark in North America while it is completely day in India. No curvature of the earth would mean it's light everywhere at the same time.

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

the one thing the Holy Ghost doesn't do that I wish it did was stop stupid.

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

Amen!

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

They say the sun is actually much smaller, maybe the size of the moon and circles the earth.

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

Ask your friend!

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

I really don't know for sure, but I have always just to took my public school education at face value on this issue (the earth is a sphere). I think the main problem is how does the shape of the earth affect the gospel.

I personally think this subject could fall under the category of foolish. I am not calling people foolish on here. The thing is that by making a doctrinal issue out of something so minuscule it becomes counterproductive. If I make the shape of the earth an issue in people's relationship with God I will probably ruin what influence I have to winning them to God. If I am going to run people away it should be because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I don't want to run people off for the sake of being scientifically correct.

I don't know for matter of fact the shape of the earth I have never been shuttled into space for myself. I have only flown once in my life. I will just go with the flow on this subject and stick to my traditional belief of a spherical earth. I will be kind to whoever believes differently, but I hope they are not overemphasizing this subject in witnessing to the lost.

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

Traditional Flat Earthers used the term more as a tongue-in-cheek way to express "be here now," and meant essentially that from a normal human perspective all necessary human endeavors are carried out on what is perceived to be a flat earth, intimating that anything else, such as a "global" perspective, was illusory, or at least pointless. The current movement has completely diverged from this, and my suspicion is that this is to detract from the original intent, which might be expressed as "go outside and be, where you belong, and never mind Mars."

Re: Flat earth, seriously?
 

I question the wisdom of debating with anyone who believes in a flat earth---I mean time is valuable and I'm afraid, unless dealing with some primitive indigenous people group, you're wasting your time. These folks are looney.