Silly People Think Christianity Taught the Earth was Flat
Posted : 30 Nov, 2019 12:59 AM
Lots of silly people (atheists) teach and write textbooks claiming that “the church” or that all Christianity believed in a flat earth. But this false theory lacks historic evidence. It’s true a few pockets of Christians believed in a flat earth just like gullible Christians today believe evolution old earth doctrine and death before the sin of Adam, but that doesn’t prove that all Christians were equally deceived.
Silly People Think Christianity Taught the Earth was Flat
Posted : 30 Nov, 2019 01:00 AM
Did the Church Teach the Earth was Flat?
Jon Sorensen
Flat Earth
When I was young I was taught in school that Christians believed the Earth was flat. In this view, it was not until Christopher Columbus’ historic journey to the “New World” that the Church became forced to accept this as fact and do away with its false belief. The idea that Christians believed in a flat Earth has been taught in school textbooks, short films, and is believed by many even today.
This notion of history stuck with me through my years as an atheist, during which I'd often refer to Christians as “Flat-Earthers.” I threw the term around in online discussion forums, and ironically some non-Christians have since used it in reference to me.
The whole question of whether the Church taught a flat-earth flared up again recently when I spotted a popular Internet meme (pictured above). It's been shared thousands of times on Facebook, and its quote supposedly derives from the famous Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan:
"The Church says the Earth is flat, but I know that it is round, for I have seen the shadow of the moon, and I have more faith in a shadow than in the Church."
Of course, the quote often appears without any citation to its source. And for good reason: There isn't any.
The quote can be traced back to an essay titled Individuality by the famous American political leader and defender of agnosticism, Robert G. Ingersoll. There he writes:
"It is a blessed thing that in every age some one has had individuality enough and courage enough to stand by his own convictions—some one who had the grandeur to say his say. I believe it was Magellan who said,"The church says the earth is flat; but I have seen its shadow on the moon, and I have more confidence even in a shadow than in the church." On the prow of his ship were disobedience, defiance, scorn, and success."
Ingersoll is not the only famous American political leader to appeal to this bogus belief. Speaking to a crowd in Washington in 2012, President Barack Obama charged Republicans with dismissing alternative energy sources by comparing them to those who thought Columbus should not set sail:
"Here’s the sad thing. Lately we’ve heard a lot of professional politicians—a lot of the folks who are running for a certain office, who shall go unnamed—they’ve been talking down new sources of energy. They dismiss wind power. They dismiss solar power. They make jokes about biofuels. They were against raising fuel standards. I guess they like gas guzzlers. They think that’s good for our future.
We’ve heard this kind of thinking before. Some of these folks were around when Columbus set sail—they must have been founding members of the Flat-Earth Society. They would not have believed that the world was round."
In all fairness to President Obama, conservative television personality Glen Beck repeated the same historical blunder on his show just a year earlier. Beck managed to one-up the President in the myth department by inserting Galileo into the story.
The idea that Columbus sailed to the “New World” against the wisdom of his day is a complete myth, if a very persistent one. Greek astronomers were aware almost 300 years before the time of Christ that the Earth was round. What they were unsure of was the circumference of the planet.
There are only a handful of early Christian writers (mostly from the areas near Syria) that historians can point to as examples as those believing in a flat earth, but certainly this belief was never a test of Christian orthodoxy, and definitely not a doctrine of the Church at large. It was simply the opinion of a small minority—medieval and later Christians did not believe or teach this.
So then where did this myth actually come from? The earliest source I've been able to pinpoint is Washington Irving (author of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow) in his four-volume series titled A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus. This work is a mixture of fact and fiction. There is a scene depicted in the book where shadowy Catholic clergymen warn Columbus that he might sail off the end of the Earth. This, of course, is not supported by any real historical data, but it nevertheless provides good fodder for Internet memes.
Silly People Think Christianity Taught the Earth was Flat
Posted : 30 Nov, 2019 11:43 AM
David.
LOL.
Your source is strange notions.
Written by Jon Sorensen
Jon Sorensen is the Director of Marketing for >>>Catholic Answers, the largest lay-run apostolate of Catholic apologetics and evangelization in the United States<<<. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 3D Animation and Visual Communications in 2004 from Platt College, Ontario. Before coming to Catholic Answers, he worked in the automotive industry producing television commercials and corporate video. He has also produced motion graphics for several feature-length films. Follow Jon through his website, JonSorenson.net.
Silly People Think Christianity Taught the Earth was Flat
Posted : 30 Nov, 2019 12:02 PM
I'm a God-fearing saint of The LORD Jesus Christ. There are over 140 verses that evidence God's Flat Earth Creation. Instead of speaking for God, you should allow God to speak for Himself...
Earth Created Before the Sun: Genesis 1:1-4, 14-19
Earth is a Circuit for the Heavens: Isaiah 40:22
Earth Does Not Move: Psalm 104:5 Psalm 93:1 1 Chronicles 16:30 Psalm 96:10
Silly People Think Christianity Taught the Earth was Flat
Posted : 30 Nov, 2019 12:21 PM
I have NO problem looking "gullible" or idiotic. I am sure there are other flat earther's here but are unwilling to state as much for obvious reasons!
You are SO brilliant David!
What do you think??
What does the world around you reveal?
How about this question first:
WHY does the IDEA of the earth being flat and people believing in it >>>seem<<< to irritate you and others?
Consider that the earth has a breadth...and the sky is spread out like a tent.
Circle of the earth is not the same as ball is it?
So if you took a plane to Australia you would disembark upside down?
Water always finds it's level , no?
AND the bible clearly states that the earth is immovable. So there goes scientific logic that it "spins".
BUT to stay on topic...
Did I just say that???
Well, if the bible is a flat earth bible, that would suggest it was taught or believed by early Christians to be so.
In part, here is a good article to put it into context:
The Order of Creation
The Genesis creation story provides the first key to the Hebrew cosmology. The order of creation makes no sense from a conventional perspective but is perfectly logical from a flat-earth viewpoint. The earth was created on the first day, and it was “without form and void (Genesis 1:2).” On the second day, a vault the “firmament” of the King James version was created to divide the waters, some being above and some below the vault. Only on the fourth day were the sun, moon, and stars created, >>>>and they were placed “in” (not “above”) the vault.<<<<
The Vault of Heaven
The vault of heaven is a crucial concept. The word “firmament” appears in the King James version of the Old Testament 17 times, and in each case it is translated from the Hebrew word raqiya, which meant the visible vault of the sky. The word raqiya comes from riqqua, meaning “beaten out.” In ancient times, brass objects were either cast in the form required or beaten into shape on an anvil. A good craftsman could beat a lump of cast brass into a thin bowl. Thus, Elihu asks Job, “Can you beat out [raqa] the vault of the skies, as he does, hard as a mirror of cast metal (Job 37:18)?”
Elihu's question shows that the Hebrews considered the vault of heaven a solid, physical object. Such a large dome would be a tremendous feat of engineering. The Hebrews (and supposedly Yahuwah Himself) considered it exactly that, and this point is hammered home by five scriptures:
Job 9:8, “...who by himself spread out the heavens [shamayim]...”
Psalm 19:1, “The heavens [shamayim] tell out the glory of God, the vault of heaven [raqiya] reveals his handiwork.”
Psalm 102:25, “...the heavens [shamayim] were thy handiwork.”
Isaiah 45:12, “I, with my own hands, stretched out the heavens [shamayim] and caused all their host to shine...”
Isaiah 48:13, “...with my right hand I formed the expanse of the sky [shamayim]...”
If these verses are about a mere illusion of a vault, they are surely much ado about nothing. Shamayim comes from shameh, a root meaning to be lofty. It literally means the sky. Other passages complete the picture of the sky as a lofty, physical dome. God “sits throned on the vaulted roof of earth [chuwg], whose inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the skies [shamayim] like a curtain, he spreads them out like a tent to live in...[Isaiah 40:22].
https://lockhaven.edu/~dsimanek/febible.htm
Reprinted from The Bulletin of the >>Tychonian Society<< #44 (July 1987)
Silly People Think Christianity Taught the Earth was Flat
Posted : 30 Nov, 2019 02:29 PM
I wanted to say David that you hold me accountable if I come across to tough on you. That was not my intention. I am a bit like William Tyndale to some extent. I know how >> important your sources<<< are to you and was shocked that you was quoting a Catholic apologetic writer.
You have asked me on the forum before if I was a communist. (No) So I will ask if you are sympathetic to Catholic sources?
I did mention White and McArthur because my research suggests that they are sympathizers and I wondered if you may have came across the article because it was referenced by them since you follow them both.
Your quote here is what got my attention:
. It’s true a few pockets of Christians believed in a flat earth just like gullible Christians today believe evolution old earth doctrine and death before the sin of Adam, but that doesn’t prove that all Christians were equally >>>deceived<<<.
End quote
I guess I figured you was tying in flat earther's with gullible gap theorist like Parrot.
Silly People Think Christianity Taught the Earth was Flat
Posted : 1 Dec, 2019 11:51 PM
Toth writes,
It doesn't say the "earth was flat." Just interpretation so it fits someone's narrative.
Also, arguing through the order of creation is pointless for two obvious reasons I can think of.
1. God is a source of Light and His presence would've been more than sufficient.
End quotes.
Toth, do you realize that none of the Bible says the earth is a ball or sphere??? I mean you have to be fair and apply your same logic, correct? So be honest!
Its not "arguing" to have a discussion, so what's up with the buzz words like that to try and end discussion!
Yah made a light source called the sun and of course He is the source of that CREATED light, for its purpose! Are you trying to discount that???
Silly People Think Christianity Taught the Earth was Flat
Posted : 2 Dec, 2019 09:28 AM
Hello David,
You disappeared for awhile after starting this clever attacking thread of "silly" flat earther's. Perhaps you was at the beach playing with your sphere beach ball or home snuggling up with your globlet?
David states -
"Is it true the Flat Earth Society is boasting about having flat-earth believers from all around the globe now ??"
end quote.
Strangely David, you imply that "the Flat Earth Society" in there ignorance of stating (you did not give a source, so I don't know exactly what was said) "flat-earth believers from all around the globe" and real flat earther's support them? Real flat earther's never use the term "globe" in describing the flat, motionless, earth, you silly man!
Did you know "the Flat Earth Society" teaches the earth is racing upward and that's there likewise interpretation (theory) of gravity (grabbity) much like secular science STILL teaches today about grabbity and that's how people and objects "stick" to the surface of the flat earth? Which of course "GRAVITY" is nothing more than a theory!!! LOL!
Real flat earther's having nothing to do with "gravity" that the planted jesuit imposter "Flat Earth Society" has set up to confuse the truth of what the Bible says on the subject! So since you imply ALL flat earther's are represented by the "Flat Earth Society" then you
must also believe Richard the pathetic 7744 false teacher represents this forum and "Christianity" in general???
See how labeling works David with you also? How does it feel?
Lets get to the heart of the subject where the rubber meets the road, shall we? The BIBLE! Sinslayer7 posted an incredible amount of truth of which I'm VERY familiar with (well done sinslayer7!) and so has KJO in verses and article, although there is a small statement part I don't agree with!
I'm waiting for your eerie silence in Bible verses that are missing from this thread, so we can clear up this "silly" subject you claim!
Now set your cuddly globlet down junior, open your Bible and enlighten us!
