The Danger of Belief in a Flat Earth

Until recently, the flat earth/geocentric idea could be dismissed as a fringe theory that nobody really took seriously. But lately I have been seeing more articles written by Christians and even pastors claiming that we have been deceived by modern science and our government to believe the idea that the earth is a sphere and that the earth is a planet that revolves around the sun. They claim that we need to get back to what the Bible teaches about the earth and creation and abandon the pseudo-science that has deceived us.

But there's a huge problem.

• The Bible does NOT teach that the earth is flat.
• It doesn't teach that the earth is the center of the solar system.
• The idea that the sun is the center was not based on pagan sun worship, nor does it depend on belief in the 'big bang.'
• The idea that the earth is a sphere goes back to Pythagarus and Aristotle several centuries before Christ.

What is the flat earth Theory?

Dr. Danny R. Faulkner in his article, Falling For a Flat Earth writes:

What is the flat-earth model? In the flat-earth model, the earth is a flat disk, with the North Pole at its center. The earth is bounded by an ice wall that we call Antarctica. The ice wall keeps the oceans’ water contained on earth.

Somewhere beyond the ice wall, a dome rests over the earth. This dome contains the stars. The dome turns each day, producing the motion of stars that we see each night.

The sun and moon orbit under the dome, circling the axis of the North Pole. This produces the daily motion of the sun and moon. The sun and moon don’t actually rise and set; they merely appear to do so. We only experience darkness because the sun has moved so far away that its spotlight doesn’t shine on our location.

So what does the Bible actually teach us about the earth? The flat earth proponents attempt to claim that certain passages prove that the earth is flat such as Revelation 7:1:

"After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree."

Now almost all thinking, rational people understand that this is an idiomic expression, not a statement of scientific fact. Of course, this doesn't work with the idea of the earth being a flat disc because a disc doesn't have corners.

Several times the Bible uses the expression, 'the ends of the earth.' The flat earthers point out that a sphere doesn't have ends. But again, this is an idiomic expression and throughout the entire church age Christians have recognized it as such.

Another one is Daniel 4:11:

"The tree grew large and strong and its top touched the sky; it was visible to the ends of the earth."

The flat earthers claim that it would only be possible to see a tree from the 'ends of the earth' if the earth was flat. They fail to realize that this was a dream and in the interpretation of the dream Daniel explained that the tree was Nebuchadnezzar himself.

Another one is Matthew 4:8:

"Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor."

Again, the flat earthers claim that if the earth were a sphere it would be impossible to see all of the kingdoms of the world from a mountain. One obvious problem is that such a mountain where someone could see all the kingdoms of the earth doesn't exist even if the earth was flat. Also, it would be impossible for Satan to show Jesus all of the kingdoms and their splendor from a mountain.

Luke's account of this temptation of Jesus doesn't mention a mountain and adds a subtle detail:

Luke 4:5

"The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world."

Luke's account simply says a high place and says he showed them to Jesus in an instant. to view all the kingdoms from a high vantage point would take more than an instant. The language here seems to indicate that Jesus was shown the kingdoms in a vision.

Some other Bible passages speak of the earth as being on pillars (Job 9:6), as being unmoveable (Psalm 93:1). These passages are poetic in nature and not intended to give a scientific explanation. Verses in Revelation must be understood as being in a vision. Even today we use idiomic metaphoric language to describe something even though we know that what may appear is not necessarily what it is. For example, I remember a cute Peanuts cartoon where Sally and Linus are standing together and talking. Sally says, "Someday I'm going to get up really early and watch the sunrise." Linus, with blanket in tow, explains that the sun doesn't actually rise and set but rather the earth turns making it appear like the sun rises and sets. In the last frame Sally says, "Someday I'm going to get up really early and watch the earth turn."

The reason it is funny is because even though we know that the sun doesn't actually rise and set we still call it sunrise and sunset. We don't call it, watching the earth turn.

The creation account in Genesis does not provide scientific detail on how the universe runs any more than it explains how the human body works. That isn't the purpose of the creation account, or the rest of the Bible for that matter.

These so called 'proof texts' that are supposed to prove that the earth is a flat disc do not prove anything.

A look at history.

Contrary to the claims of the flat earthers, the idea that the earth is a sphere is not new. The Greek philosophers from as early as the 5th century BC had already written opinions that the earth was a sphere and by the early second century, Eratosthenes had measured its circumference with relative accuracy.

Some claim that until about 500 years ago everyone believed that the earth was flat and Christopher Columbus wanted to prove that the earth was a sphere. Actually since before the time of Christ, belief in a spherical earth was widely accepted. The argument with Columbus was not whether the earth was flat but rather the opponents of Columbus believed that the earth was much larger than Columbus believed. The motive for trying to find a westward sea route to the far east was that before the Suez Canal joined the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, ships would have to sail around the dangerous Cape of Good Hope.

Ancient Babylonian map of the world. 
7-9th century B.C.

Interestingly, the idea of  flat, disc shaped earth goes back to the ancient Babylonians. The earliest map of the earth dates from somewhere between the 7th and 9th century BC. and depicts the earth as a flat disc.

Problems With the Flat Disc Earth Model.

1. It is physically impossible for earth to be flat or disc-shaped. The force of gravity would cause all of the matter composing the earth to collapse in on itself forming a sphere. A sphere is the only shape that an object the size and mass of the earth can sustain. In the asteroid belt there are many irregularly shaped objects. However, it seems that once the diameter reaches around 5-600 miles, the mass is great enough that gravity pulls it into a spherical shape. The earth, being nearly 8,000 miles in diameter necessarily must be a sphere. Some say that gravity doesn't actually exist. They say that according to Colossians 1:17 Jesus holds everything together. Jesus Christ does hold everything together. He uses what we call gravity. It may surprise some people but we actually don't know what gravity is. We know that masses tend to be attracted to each other but science cannot explain why. They just do.
2. If the earth was flat then the entire earth would experience day at the same time and night at the same time and we wouldn't need time zones. But when it is getting dark in Florida you can call your friend in Hawaii and it's still afternoon. That wouldn't be possible if the earth was flat. Now the flat earth proponents would say that the sun is a spotlight moving around in the 'dome' and only shines in certain areas at a time. If that were true, even though it may not be shining where you are you should still be able to see it. It also wouldn't explain why the moon has phases.
3. If the earth was flat we would experience seasons at the same time. But when it is winter in the northern hemisphere, it is summer in the southern hemisphere. Summer and winter are primarily caused by the angle of the sun hitting the earth. If the earth was flat it would be hitting the earth at the same angle at the same time. But if the earth was a sphere it would explain why the sun is nearly directly overhead in Florida but at a low angle in Buenas Aires.
4. If the earth was flat then all of the stars would be visible from anywhere on the earth. But in the upper and lower latitudes many stars are not seen. The North star is not visible in most of the southern hemishere and the Southern Cross is not visible in most of northern hemishere. That would not be the case if the earth was flat.
5. If the earth was a flat disc, during an eclipse of the moon, the shadow of the earth would appear round only if the eclipse occured overhead but would appear wedge or knife shaped closer to the horizon. However, the shadow always appears round no matter the  orientation. That would only be possible if the earth was a sphere.

Time doesn't allow for me to explain the Corialis effect which would only be possible if the earth was a spinning sphere but it explains why cyclones spin clockwise in the southern hemishere and counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere among many other things.

Heliocentric vs. Geocentric Model.

While it was widely accepted that the earth was a sphere since before the time of Christ, it wasn't until much later that we understood that our solar system was not the center of the universe. Therefore our understanding evolved, if you will, from the idea that the earth was the center of the universe to the sun being the center. Until larger aperture telescopes were invented which allowed us to see stars and galaxies too faint for the naked eye, we had no idea just how big the universe was and how insignificant our part of the cosmos is.

Many of the flat earth/geocentric people claim that the Bible teaches that the sun revolves around the earth. Psalm 19:5-6 is a favorite 'proof text':

"It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other, nothing is deprived of its warmth."

As was mentioned before, the book of Psalms is poetry set to music. It is not intended to give a scientific explanation of how the universe works. This passage is painting a word picture. It isn't intended to explain how the heavenly bodies actually move through the universe. It is a song meant to be sung in worship.

Many of the flat earth/geocentric people claim that Nicholas Copernicus went against Biblical teaching and embraced pagan sun worship by suggesting that the sun, not the earth was the center of the universe. That is completely false. Copernicus was a Polish mathematician/astronomer, and a devout man. He studied the motions of the planets and realized that the planets moved at different speeds against the backdrop of the other stars and sometimes seemed to stop and even go in reverse for a bit before continuing their forward motion. Copernicus calculated that the best way to explain that motion was if the earth was not the center of the universe, rather, the sun was the center and the earth was traveling around the sun as well.

Two of the planets, Mercury and Venus don't travel across the entire sky. Mercury never exceeds 20 degrees elongation from the sun and Venus never exceeds about 40 degrees. That doesn't make sense if the earth is the center of the universe. However, it makes perfect sense if the sun is the center and Mercury and Venus go around the sun in closer orbits to the sun making earth the 'third rock.' The other three visible planets, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn move across the entire sky. That indicates that they are farther away from the sun than earth and their orbits encompass the earth and sun.
Contrary to the idea of these stars being wanderers (plan'es) they actually travel in very rigid paths to the point that we can accurately predict exactly where they will be positioned in the sky at any given time in the future.

Why This Matters

Contrary to what some flat earthers who claim to be Christians assert, the current scientific understanding of the universe doesn't contradict Bible teaching at all.

• The Bible does not teach that the earth is a flat disc.
• The Bible does not teach that the earth is the center of the universe.
• The heliocentric model is not pagan in its origin and doesn't affect what the Bible teaches in any way, shape, or form.

I truly believe that the church needs to get back to what the Bible truly teaches. But those who assert that the Bible teaches the flat earth/geocentric model are actually leading people even farther from the truth of scripture. 

So what is the motive to believe the flat earth/geocentric model?

Dr. Danny R. Faulkner in his article, Falling For a Flat Earth also writes:

One attraction may be similar to the allure of an ancient philosophy called gnosticism, which infiltrated the early church. One of the tenets of gnosticism is that special knowledge leads one either to salvation or to a higher spiritual level. Christian flat-earthers seem to believe that they have learned some important teaching about cosmology that has been hidden from most Christians.

They speak of having a much deeper appreciation of God since coming to believe that the earth is flat. In fact, they often claim that many atheists were born again after coming to believe that the earth is flat. One must wonder what will happen to either group if they ever come to realize that they’ve been duped. 

This is deadly stuff. Gnosticism was one of the first great heresies to challenge the early church. It challenges the simplicity of the gospel, available to everyone (2 Corinthians 4:3). We don’t need to depend on the extrabiblical wisdom of the special few.

Science is a good thing. Proverbs 25:2 says:

"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings."

God didn't tell us everything there is to know about the universe in his Word. He left much for us to discover. Up until the time of Freud and Darwin, science was primarily about exploring the wonders of creation and the creator. It wasn't until after these individuals and others like them that science began to go against the Bible. As we learned to build telescopes and develop higher forms of mathematics, we discovered that the God we serve is far bigger and greater than we ever imagined. When Jesus stood on the Mount of Olives and said, "All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me," the disciples had absolutely no idea just how great that authority was. As we have probed into deep space and discovered more and more but still cannot see the end of the universe, we get a greater glimpse of the magnitude of Jesus's statement. No! The earth is not a flat disc with a hard dome over it. The universe is infinitely bigger than that. But the flat earthers would have us believe that it's much smaller making God much smaller as well. That's just what Satan wants us to believe.

Matthew 10:16:

“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves."

Belief in a flat earth/geocentric model makes Christians look foolish, because it is very obvious that this model is complete nonsense. This is simply another tool that Satan uses to discredit Christianity. This belief makes us as harmless as serpents and wise as doves -- completely backwards.

The flat earthers claim that we who believe in a spherical earth have been under the strong delusion spoken of in 2 Thessalonians 2:11:

"For this reason God sends a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie."

The spherical earth has been widely understood since centuries before Christ. It is only in these last days that it has become increasingly popular to believe something that is so obviously not true.

They have it backwards. 

The flat earth/geocentric model is a deception. It is not reality!

If the Devil can convince you that the earth is flat, he can make you believe anything.