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Re: Flat Earth? Really?

Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2017 1:27 pm
by Singalphile
Thanks, thrombomodulin. I'll check it out. I hope it's a serious, calm, and kindly (not mocking) dialogue. I don't like the idea of not engaging with the "out there" views because it supposedly lends credibility to them. I would like to see a real debate with some well-known astronomers about it (I doubt that there are any flat-earth astronomers, so you'd just have to get a few well-known flat earth proponents). It would help put flat-earth-ism to rest, I think.

We've discussed the flat earth conspiracy theory before. To my knowledge/memory, I've never met a flat-earth proponent in real life.

Re: Flat Earth? Really?

Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 2:15 pm
by dwilkins
My experience has been primarily with Christian flat-earthers who use numerous passages in the Bible to back up their position. I've seen lists of about 25 proof texts. The reason they could do so is that in ancient cosmology (the ANE era in which the Bible was written) the earth was flat, sitting on pillars, with a layer of light beings living above (apotheosis was a popular way of explaining resurrection, as we can see in Daniel 12). If you were to take the Biblical statements about the shape of the earth literally you'd have a hard time refuting a flat earth theory.

Their mistake, I think, is that God very commonly uses cosmological condescension (speaking to people in a contemporary language they can understand, though it might not be scientifically correct), especially early in scripture. The idea of chaos monsters like Leviathan or Rahab ruling the deep waters was probably used as a way to express God claiming total dominion over creation, not an endorsement of the fact that Leviathan was an actual sea monster. Again, apotheosis plays into this as well. I don't think when we are resurrected that we actually become light beings that shine in the sky, though Daniel 12 follows this cosmology when describing the moment of resurrection (as does the idea of the Morning Star, or Venus, representing the brightest and therefore highest rank light short of the moon and sun). So, they should not be taking this cosmology so literally. And, sphere-earthers should appreciate that in order to get to their position they have to move forward from such literal Old Testament cosmology in other topics as well.

Doug