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WHAT? A FLAT EARTH?
Howdy! How are all of you? I am well and still kicking (meaning I am still alive), ha ha! I had a friend a little while back approach me with the question of a flat earth. A family member had approached her with a piece of paper with some drawings and definitions explaining why a flat earth is the real thing. She was confused because the family member is well versed in science and she trusts him.
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There is a reason the “new” flat earth theory has become so popular. Most people have become complacent and comfortable in their own lives. And unless they are in the science field, they “rarely have the knowledge readily at hand to refute the case for a flat earth, most people who take this approach soon look for help. That search for help usually is on the Internet, whereupon they quickly find a slew of websites and videos promoting the flat earth, but precious little, if any, refuting it. Some people emerge a few hours later, their egos bruised and their intelligence a bit insulted, because they still think that the flat earth is nonsense but are frustrated that they can’t seem to answer many of the arguments they’ve just encountered. Still others never emerge from this rabbit hole and end up
thinking that maybe the conspiracy theories that they have encountered along the way may be right.”1
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A scary, but true line of thought. Hence, I am writing this blog! I am going to present evidence for a round (spherical) earth…
First and foremost, as a Christian I must mention that scripture speaks of a spherical earth. Isaiah 40:22 (KJV) states “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”. Not only does this scripture mention the earth is round it also speaks of an expanding universe. But does round or circular mean spherical? In combination with other scriptures that mention seasons, which occur because the earth’s tilt wobbles creating the seasons, it does. It is impossible with a flat earth to have frigid winter in the northern hemisphere and hot summer in the southern
hemisphere. On a flat earth, everywhere would be the same season. It takes a sphere to make seasons. Here are just two of the many times seasons are mentioned in the Bible; 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.” and Psalm 104:19 states “He appointed the moon for seasons…” So scripture tells us the earth is round and that it is arched. That would make a sphere.
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Since photos can be manipulated, I am not going to include them. Rather let’s take a look at how the ancient people figured out the earth was round. “The earliest recorded discussion of a spherical earth is from Pythagoras in the sixth century BC. Pythagoras correctly understood that the cause of lunar eclipses is the shadow of the earth falling on the moon. This can happen only when the moon is opposite the sun in our sky, which coincides with full moons. The earth’s shadow is larger than the moon, so we cannot see the entire shadow at once. However, during a lunar eclipse we see the earth’s shadow creep across the moon. Because the edge of the earth’s shadow always is a portion of a circle, the
In addition, the height of the North star in the northern horizon varies in relation to how far north or south you are or travel. “This can happen only if north-south motion is along an arc…There is a region around the North Star in which the stars do not rise or set but instead are continually up and appear to go in circles around the north celestial pole. We call these circumpolar stars, meaning ‘around the pole.’”3 Below the equator, there is a different set of stars and constellations. Both regions are large and the southern circumpolar region is never visible above the equator and the northern circumpolar region is never visible below the equator. Also there are stars (and of course constellations) which appear in both the northern and southern hemisphere at different times of the year (seasons). The constellation Orion is probably the most famous, known as the winter constellation in both the north and south hemispheres. Circumpolar regions in space as views from our planet can only happen if the earth is a sphere. |
| the above three photos track the big and little dippers circumventing around the northern star |
Many flat earther’s support the Bedford Level Experiment as proof of a flat earth. "In 1838, Samuel Birley Rowbotham claimed to have conducted an experiment on the Old Bedford River on the Bedford Level near Norfolk, England. The Bedford Level is a six-mile stretch of the Old Bedford River that is straight, allowing an uninterrupted view along the six miles…Rowbotham waded into the river and used a telescope held eight inches above the water to observe a rowboat with a five-foot high mast row away. Rowbotham claimed that he could see the mast when it was six miles away, even though the spherical earth required that the top of the mast be
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| Rowbotham's experiment Courtesy of Answers in Genesis |
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| Wallace's scientific proof of a spherical earth courtesy of Answers in Genesis |
Ancient sources, such as Aristotle, also mentioned that the hulls of ships disappeared before their masts did as ships sailed away. This would happen only if the earth is spherical. Hence the need for the crow’s nest atop the highest mast of the ship. From such a height other ships and land could be spotted much sooner than from the deck. In places around the world where land is separated by water of appropriate
distances, a person could stand on the shore and not see the opposite side. However if they climbed a nearby bluff, hill, mountain, or even a high-rise the distant shoreline will come into view. This would not be possible if the earth was flat. Only a spherical earth would make this possibility.
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If the earth was flat you should be able to see to the very end of it. You should be able to sail a ship, or drive/walk to the edge of the earth…and see nothing beyond that. No water, no land, because the earth is flat. But that is not the case. Many times ships, airplanes, jets and even hot air ballon have sailed or flown around the world. I have been in an airplane many time and the result is always the same. I can
see the arc of the horizon.
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So I make this simple challenge to those who still struggle with the flat earth theory: call someone in a different time zone. Both parties then can examine where the sun is in relation to the sky. The farther apart the time zone the farther apart the sun will be to each party. If far enough, one will be standing and speaking to the opposite party in complete darkness while the other is in bright sunlight or cloudy daylight which ever it may be. Then explain to me, or whoever how that is possible with a flat earth.
Please click on the link to Answers in Genesis below for
greater detail explaining why a flat earth is impossible. It is a great article and covers other evidence that I have not mentioned here.
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Until the next time,
God bless, and take care,
Willow Dressel
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Wow. So you use flat earth to show how evidence can be used to describe the globe structure of the earth. People used evidential learning stacked on top of hypothesis to make that conclusion?
ReplyDeleteEr. That's called SCIENCE.
So using the same approach of evidence tested hypothesis, humans have done a huge amount of work to disprove creation, in exactly the same way that science has disproved flat earth.
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