hollywood told you the truth NOTHING YOU SEE HERE IS REAL

MyLadiesDaddy · August 21, 2022

1 hour ago, yota691 said:

The Circle is round O...just as the Sun and the Moon...

My Dear Brother, a circle is not a ball. 😍

jg1 · August 21, 2022

2 hours ago, yota691 said:

The Circle is round O...just as the Sun and the Moon...

Whatttt! The sun is flat! We should start a new Topic/thread for this. Sheeez. If anybody says different I say we throw them off the edge of the Earth.

Synopsis · August 21, 2022

Flattening "flat" Earth errant assertions since The Beginning Of Creation......

123rf.com

The sun rises every morning, and the sun sets every evening. We can clearly see the round disk appearing and disappearing piecemeal. It doesn’t get smaller in diameter, which it would if it were getting further and further away.

Sunrise and sunset

Furthermore, the sun rises every morning, and the sun sets every evening. We can clearly see the round disk appearing and disappearing piecemeal. Its apparent diameter stays almost the same, as does the moon’s, i.e. their angular size is almost constant (about ½°, or about half the width of your index finger held out at arm’s length). They don’t get smaller in diameter, which it would if it was getting further and further away. This applies especially to a modern flat earth model where the sun orbits in a plane overhead that is parallel to an earth disk. By simple trigonometry, its apparent size would be proportional to the sine of its angle to the horizon. So it would appear to be about half the size at 30° (sin30° = ½) as it is directly overhead (sin90° = 1), and the vertical sun would appear almost six times as big as it would appear at 10° (sin10° = 0.173).

Note also, if the flat earther claims to be a biblical literalist, this sun perpetually overhead contradicts the passages about the sun rising and setting, e.g. Ecclesiastes 1:5 and Psalm 113:3. These are compatible with a global rotating earth, using the earth as a reference frame (see Biblical phenomenological language), but not with this new flat earth model.

Relative sizes and distances of sun and moon

Credit: Andonee, Wikipedia Aristarchus-half-lit-moon

Furthermore, such modern flat earth models absurdly claim that the sun is much smaller than the earth, although in reality the sun is much larger. In fact, even back in the 15^th century, Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464) correctly deduced from the shadows of the eclipse that the earth is smaller than the sun and larger than the moon, and he was far from the first to do so.⁶

The order of sizes was known least as far back as Aristarchus of Samos (c. 310 – c. 230 BC), who wrote On the Sizes and Distances (of the Sun and Moon). By his time, Pythagoras of Samos (c. 570 – c. 495 BC) and Plato (427–347 BC) had taught a spherical earth, and Plato’s best pupil Aristotle (384–322 BC) provided reasons. Eratosthenes (276–194 BC) had yet to measure the circumference of the earth, but Aristarchus knew that it must be big. So how did he work out relative sizes?

First, from observation, he knew that the moon and sun have the same angular size in the sky (about 31 arcmin (′) or ½°), so their relative sizes would be proportional to their relative distances (using similar triangles). Second, the moon blocks the sun in a solar eclipse, so the moon must be closer, so smaller. Third, how much smaller? He used what would now be called trigonometry (see diagram): at the first or third quarter of the lunar cycle, where it appears like a half-moon (semicircular), the earth-sun-moon angle must be 90°. Therefore the ratio of the earth-moon distance (L) to earth-sun distance (S) is the cosine of the moon-earth-sun angle (φ). Aristarchus measured this angle at 87°, and cos87° is about 1/19. So the sun, he thought, was 19 times further away, so 19 times larger. Actually, it wasn’t easy to be so precise, because it was hard to measure from the centres of the sun and moon, and also to know when the moon was exactly in a quarter phase. Now we know the angle is 89°51′10″, meaning that the sun is actually 389 times further away, and precise measurements show that the sun is 403 times the diameter of the moon.

By analyzing the geometry of lunar eclipses, he could also provide a rough estimate of the distances in terms of earth’s radius. And because the sun was clearly the biggest of all, Aristarchus thought that it was the centre of the solar system. Most astronomers after him agreed with the relative sizes, but it took almost two millennia for astronomers to agree with his conclusion.

Also, how many people have witnessed sunlight striking a high mountain either just before sunrise or just after sunset? This is possible only because the earth’s curvature does not block the light ray from the sun to the mountain, while it does block the view of the sun from low ground.

There is also the phenomenon of noctilucent clouds, meaning clouds lit up at night. These are too faint to be seen during daylight, because they are actually very high-altitude (~80 km) clouds composed of tiny ice crystals, but can be seen when the rest of the sky is dark. They are easily explained by the rays of the sun below the horizon reflecting off the ice, while lower-altitude clouds are blocked from the sun by the earth’s curvature.

Also, it doesn’t matter how strong a telescope you use, you will never be able to see the sun at night. That’s because you can’t see through the earth! And no, despite what these mendacious videos claim, the sun does not “behave like a spotlight”; the sun is a sphere, which is why it always appears as a disk, no matter what direction it’s viewed from.

The absurd ‘spotlight’ sun

Above: diagrams of the fallacious flat earth with spotlight sun model—click image to enlarge
1. During the northern hemisphere summer solstice, everything within the Arctic Circle (dashed line) receives 24 hours of sunlight. Red dot approximates the location of the North Pole. Antarctica is almost completely within the Antarctic Circle (dotted line) and so receives no direct light at all.
2.Twice every year at the equinoxes, exactly one-half of the earth is illuminated during daylight hours. A round, ‘spotlight’ sun could never do this. A very distant and large sun, however, would bathe exactly one-half of a globe in constant light.
3. During the northern hemisphere winter solstice, everything within the Arctic Circle receives no direct sunlight, but Antarctica receives 24 hours of illumination. That is, the entire continent is lit up simultaneously.
4. The earth is truly a sphere, lit up by a very large and very distant sun. The earth’s axis of rotation is also tilted with respect to the sun. The diagram below shows how the earth’s tilt explains both the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, and the Arctic and Antarctic circles. These simple facts explain all the relevant details concerning the seasons and sunlight, create a self-consistent pattern, and make a mockery of flat-earth belief.

To try to evade the severe problems with time zones (see below), a common ‘modern’ flat-earth idea is that the sun is like a spotlight, floating a few thousand miles above the earth and shining down in a localized area. Added to the simple observational contradictions above, everybody who has ever seen a flashlight/torch in use at night knows you can see it from the side. But even if the light coming from the sun was perfectly uniform in its starting direction, as soon as light hits air it begins to scatter (indeed, studying of light scattering was part of the doctoral dissertation of one of the authors [JS]). This is the reason the sky is blue whenever the sun is up, even at the far side of the sky from the sun. If the sun was above the earth ‘but not visible because the sun is like a spotlight’ a huge portion of the sky would still be blue.

There is another difficult puzzle they cannot solve. This has to do with the shape of the area in the sunlight portions of the earth and the way this changes though the seasons. Let’s test this by looking at what is being illuminated during January, June, and March/September. That is, at the solstices and equinoxes. For those who do not know what these terms mean, the solstices occur in the winter and summer when the sun’s apparent path is highest in the sky (the summer solstice) or lowest in the sky (the winter solstice)—‘solstice’ comes from Latin meaning ‘sun standing still’, i.e. its path is neither rising nor sinking. There are two equinoxes every year, in the spring and fall, when all portions of the earth receive 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness (‘equinox’ comes from the Latin meaning ’equal night’, i.e. equal to the day). How does this look on a flat earth?

In the northern hemisphere summer, the north pole receives 24 hours of light, the famous ‘midnight sun’. In fact, anything within the Arctic Circle is bathed in sunlight for an entire day during the summer solstice—the day the sun does not set. At the same time, Antarctica gets essentially no light at all as the sun is below the horizon across approximately 99% of the continent. Everywhere in the Antarctic Circle, the sun remains below the horizon for 24 continuous hours at least once per year even at noon. If you were to plot the area of the earth that is experiencing daylight at noon in Africa, for example, it would look something like the figure.

Credit: Przemyslaw Idzkiewicz, Wikipedia Earth-lighting-summer-solstice

Illumination of Earth by Sun at the northern summer solstice (= southern winter solstice). The earth’s axial tilt explain why the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, and Arctic and Antarctic Circles, are at the latitudes they are.

Three months later, however, everything is radically different. As we said above, at the spring and fall equinoxes, all places on earth receive 12 hours of sunlight and 12 hours of darkness. This is not debatable. But if you look at the time the sun rises and sets on the equinoxes in different places, it becomes quite clear that a round sun could not produce the necessary effect on a flat earth. Take a line drawn due north from southern South America. Sunrise happens simultaneously in Patagonia (southern South America), Colombia (northern South America), and Nunavut (in the North American Arctic), while at the same time it is setting at Lake Baikal (east central Asia) and the Knox Coast of Antarctica.

How could a round spotlight produce a straight line like this on a flat earth? The ‘beam’ of sunlight should be at least roundish, but instead it illuminates fully one-half of the flat-earth map with a perfectly straight line between light and dark. Why does Columbia not see the edge of the sun’s circle first, and why does it not get more hours of daylight, since this is where the fat part of the sun will pass overhead? The answers to these questions is simple: the earth is actually a globe, and the sun is actually very large and very far away.

Three months later, the situation is clearly impossible for a round ‘spotlight’ sun. During the northern hemisphere winter solstice, nothing within the Artic Circle receives any sunlight for at least 24 continuous hours. But at the same time, the sun does not set in Antarctica—it’s now Antarctica’s turn for the midnight sun. If you were to display what areas of the earth are lit, it would look something like the figure. Not only did the approximately circular area at the first winter solstice turn into a half-watermelon shape at the equinox, but it kept changing until the sunlight areas wrapped around the entire earth and overlapped at Antarctica.

And if this ‘spotlight’ sun were radiating light in a cone, then the base of a mountain would be lit before the peak at sunrise. It’s easy to confirm that the peak is lit first, because the curve of the earth blocks the sunlight from the base.

‘Spotlight’ sun? No! Spherical earth? Yes!

https://creation.com/refuting-flat-earth

Also, ANOTHER source noting how THEE "flat" Earth "adherents" are in ERROR of THEIR Biblical interpretation of The Bible where THEE "flat" Earth "adherents" say The Bible indicates the Earth is "flat".

The article is lengthy but well worth the read.

Yet, ANOTHER scholarly Biblical source noting the Earth is NOT "flat".

Hey, Hey, HEY............

Even MORE Red Ruby Citations are on the WAY for ME as Badges Of Honor for ME for "Display Of Intellectual Speed And Power" for noting THEE Red Ruby Meister's "self" "declared" "intellectual" "status" AND Biblically "moral" "stance"!!!

Wait for it.......

:lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

Synopsis · August 21, 2022

Flattening "flat' Earth errant assertions since THEE Beginning Of Creation.......

Hey Man, I did NOT ask THEM to DEMONSTRATE THEE IDIOCY OF "flat" Earth..........

"flat" Earth does THAT quite WELL!!!

Wait for it.......

:lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

:bravo: :bravo: :bravo:

Fly · August 22, 2022

4 hours ago, Synopsis said:

Flattening "flat' Earth errant assertions since THEE Beginning Of Creation.......

Hey Man, I did NOT ask THEM to DEMONSTRATE THEE IDIOCY OF "flat" Earth..........

"flat" Earth does THAT quite WELL!!!

Wait for it.......

Wait for it.......

Wait for it.......

What was the original Lie?

At this the serpent said to the woman: “You certainly will not die. For God knows that in the very day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and bad.” (Gen 3:4,5)

Satan deceived Eve, got her pondering the idea she could be like God, perhaps God was holding back something back that could be rightfully hers. Satan was hoping Adam would fallow in his ( Satan’s) rebellion against Jehovah God, does Jehovah God have the right to rule over His Creation. Which Adam’s choice was to decide for himself what is good and what is bad. The result (or new reality) Adam’s chose to Love the woman more than his Loving Creator and heavenly father Jehovah God, even putting blame God for giving him Eve.

Jehovah God kept calling to the man and saying to him: “Where are you?” Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said: “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate.” Jehovah God then said to the woman: “What is this you have done?” The woman replied: “The serpent deceived me, so I ate.”

Instead of relying on the wisdom of his creator to decide what is good and what is bad, Adam and Eve began deciding for themselves, in a sense God like, creating their own reality separate from the reality their wise and Loving creator had for them.

In using his God given free will in this way, is the reality Adam created now, choosing for himself what is good and what is bad been beneficial for him, his wife Eve and their offspring?

What of the Father of the Lie; appears he filled the position that he tricked Eve into saying she would be like God. 2Cor 4:4.... Satan is “the god” referred to here this is clearly indicated later in the verse where it says that he “has blinded the minds of the unbelievers.” Jesus called Satan “the ruler of this world”, “god of this system of things [or, “of this age”]”.

Fly · August 22, 2022

@Synopsis by the way I did watch the video, I usually don’t watch these videos (why wast my time) although after only a few minutes I recognize the good demeanor and thoughtful delivery of the information from the speker.

I recommend anyone to the video whether you are a follower of flat earth unable to admit you were born on the flat earth or whether you can easily admit you were born on a globe/spherical or ball earth— the video is for building up every one heart and mind.

: )

bigwave · August 24, 2022

image.png.fc44f807df32088bb2809cf517273b7e.png

https://principia-scientific.com/what-a-coincidence-greta-thunberg-is-related-to-the-rothschild-clan/

yota691 · August 25, 2022

The flat earth myth

by Jonathan Sarfati

For the last 200 years or so, many anti-Christians have resorted to a scurrilous lie (acting consistently with their worldview¹😞 that the early and medieval Christian Church taught that the earth is flat.²

One of the most prominent recent examples is probably the most powerful man in the world, the US President Barack Hussein Obama:

“Let me tell you something. If some of these folks [sic] were around when Columbus set sail–[laughter]–they must have been founding members of the Flat Earth Society [laughter]. They would not have believed that the world was round [applause]. We’ve heard these folks in the past.”³

Since President Obama also supports infanticide and *** ‘marriage’,⁴ which are clearly out of line with biblical teaching, should it be surprising that he would also repeat one of the commonest anti-Christian fables?

What did the early church really teach?

Historian Jeffrey Burton Russell (1934–) thoroughly debunked the flat earth myth over 20 years ago in his definitive study Inventing the Flat Earth.⁵

The famous evolutionist Stephen Jay Gould (1941–2002) favourably reviewed this masterpiece:

“There never was a period of ‘flat earth darkness’ among scholars (regardless of how the public at large may have conceptualized our planet both then and now). Greek knowledge of sphericity never faded, and all major medieval scholars accepted the earth’s roundness as an established fact of cosmology.”⁶

Russell showed that flat-earth belief was extremely rare in the Church. The flat earth’s two main proponents were obscure figures named Lactantius (c. 240 – c. 320) and Cosmas Indicopleustes (6^th century; the last name means “voyager to India”). However, they were hugely outweighed by tens of thousands of Christian theologians, poets, artists, scientists, and rulers who unambiguously affirmed that the earth was round. Russell documents accounts supporting earth’s sphericity from numerous medieval church scholars such as friar Roger Bacon (1220–1292), inventor of spectacles; leading medieval scientists such as John Buridan (1301–1358) and Nicholas Oresme (1320–1382); the monk John of Sacrobosco (c. 1195–c. 1256) who wrote Treatise on the Sphere, and many more.

Dr Henry Richter, Dr Robert Carter, Dr Jonathan Sarfati, and CMI-US CEO Gary Bates discuss flat earth teaching and geocentrism.

One of the best-known proponents of a globe-shaped earth was the early English monk, theologian and historian, the Venerable Bede (673–735), who popularized the common BC/ AD dating system. Less well known was that he was also a leading astronomer of his day.⁷

In his book On the Reckoning of Time (De temporum ratione), among other things he calculated the creation of the world to be in 3952 BC, showed how to calculate the date of Easter, and explicitly taught that the earth was round. From this, he showed why the length of days and nights changed with the seasons, and how tides were dragged by the moon. Bede was the first with this insight, while Galileo explained the tides wrongly centuries later.⁸

Here is what Bede said about the shape of the earth—round “like a ball” not “like a shield”:

“We call the earth a globe, not as if the shape of a sphere were expressed in the diversity of plains and mountains, but because, if all things are included in the outline, the earth’s circumference will represent the figure of a perfect globe. … For truly it is an orb placed in the centre of the universe; in its width it is like a circle, and not circular like a shield but rather like a ball, and it extends from its centre with perfect roundness on all sides.”

And the leading church theologian and philosopher of the Middle Ages, Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), wrote in his greatest work Summa Theologica/Theologiae:

“The physicist proves the earth to be round by one means, the astronomer by another: for the latter proves this by means of mathematics, e.g. by the shapes of eclipses, or something of the sort; while the former proves it by means of physics, e.g. by the movement of heavy bodies towards the centre, and so forth.”⁹

Orbs of medieval rulers

As early as the 5^th century, medieval European kings carried a symbol called the globus cruciger, Latin for ‘cross-bearing orb’, as a Christian symbol of royal power. The orb, usually a golden sphere, represented the earth—hang on, a sphere representing a flat earth—something’s wrong here … oh that’s right, it was a spherical earth. It was topped by a cross to symbolise Christ’s lordship over the earth, and held by the ruler to symbolise that he had been entrusted to rule his lands. In medieval portraits, the scale didn’t indicate physical size but importance, hence the large size of the cross.

Indeed, there are many pictures portraying Christ Himself holding the orb, the classic Salvator Mundi (Saviour of the World) theme.

Figure 1: Richard II of England, coronation portrait, Westminster Abbey.wikimedia.org Figure 2: Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor (1017–1056), being presented with the orb of kingship.wikimedia.org Figure 3: Coin of the Byzantine emperor Leontius (d. 705)cngcoins.com

Why did people oppose Columbus?

The above demonstrate that Columbus (1451–1506) was never opposed by flat earthers, simply because there were none to oppose him, among either church or political leaders. So what was the real issue?

Columbus was trying to reach India by sea, the ‘long way’ around the earth. But to do that, his ships had to carry enough provisions for the length of the journey. He had learned that the 9^th-century Persian astronomer Alfraganus had estimated each degree of latitude spanned “56⅔ miles”. But Columbus thought Alfraganus meant the Roman mile (1,480 m, 4,856 ft), whereas he was using the Arabic mile (1,830 m, 6,004 ft). Thus Columbus thought that the earth’s circumference was only about ¾ of its actual length of about 40,000 km (25,000 miles). Columbus also greatly underestimated the distance between Japan and the Canary Islands as 3,000 Italian miles (3,700 km or 2,300 miles), whereas the distance by sea is more like 19,600 km (12,200 miles).

It was thus the size of the earth, not the shape, that was under dispute. His critics argued that ships of his day (1492) could not carry enough fresh water and food for such a huge journey. And they were right! Columbus was just lucky that an enormous continent was in the way. He knew nothing of previous Viking discoveries centuries earlier. And he still thought he had landed in the East Indies, the then-current name for the Indian subcontinent. The results of his mistake persist today, in the common name for the Native Americans—‘Indians’, a translation of Columbus’ Spanish term ‘indios’.

Sailors

An example of the misinformation in the ‘education’ system comes from the 20^th-century high-school history textbook The American Pageant by Thomas Bailey. Many of its editions claimed, “The superstitious sailors [of Columbus’ crew] … grew increasingly mutinous … because they were fearful of sailing over the edge of the world.”

However, sailors were well aware of the shape of the earth. One myth states that people realized that the earth was round because they saw ships slowly sinking below the horizon. But before telescopes, it was more likely the other way round: sailors returning to land saw high mountains before lowlands.

Also, sailors from the northern hemisphere crossed the equator well before Christ, and reported that in the South, the sun shone from the north. They also knew how to measure their latitude from the angle of the sun at noon, which works only with a spherical earth.

The rise of the Flat Earth lie

The above are the facts about Columbus. The much-parroted flat-earth myth about him comes not from history but from the tales of Washington Irving (1783–1859), The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (1828). Irving was probably America’s first genuine best-selling writer, but he admitted that he was “apt to indulge in the imagination.” Flat-earth belief was certainly a figment of his imagination.

It was bad enough that this myth entered the public perception thanks to Irving’s wide readership. But it became worse when it acquired the veneer of scholarship, so it could be used as a club with which to bash Christianity. The main propagandists for this cause were the notorious 19^th century anti-Christian bigots John William Draper (1811–1882) and Andrew Dickson White (1832–1918). Draper, a fine chemist and photographer—first president of the American Chemical Society—but a lousy historian, wrote History of the Conflict between Religion and Science (1874) as a poorly informed polemic against the Church. White was a disgruntled ex-Episcopalian and the founder of Cornell University as the first explicitly secular university in the United States. He also published the two-volume work History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (1896).

Both authors relied heavily on the work of Cosmas, portraying his flat-earth teaching as typical rather than the almost forgotten, extreme minority view that it was. And they are the ones most responsible for the discredited ‘conflict thesis’ between Christianity and science, instead of the real history that the Christian world-view was responsible for science in the first place, while it was still-born in other places like ancient Greece and China.¹⁰

Colin Archibald Russell (1928–2013), Emeritus Professor of History of Science and Technology at the Open University, writes:

“Draper takes such liberty with history, perpetuating legends as fact that he is rightly avoided today in serious historical study. The same is nearly as true of White, though his prominent apparatus of prolific footnotes may create a misleading impression of meticulous scholarship.”¹¹

Both J.B. Russell and Gould argue that Draper and White had an agenda to discredit Christians who opposed the then-new theories of Darwin as ‘flat earthers’. Nothing much has changed!

Flat earth leader is an evolutionist

Although hardly anyone in the Church has ever believed the flat earth myth, “Incredibly, some people still do,” wrote Natalie Wolchover in Live Science last year:

“The Flat Earth Society is an active organization currently led by a Virginian man named Daniel Shenton. Though Shenton believes in evolution and global warming, he and his hundreds, if not thousands, of followers worldwide also believe that the Earth is a disc that you can fall off of.”¹²

So next time an evolutionist calls you a ‘flat-earther’, point out that the leading flat-earther is one of his fellow evolutionists!

Lunar eclipse

Ancient proof of round earth

Figure 4: Time-lapse photos of the moon during a lunar eclipse, clearly showing the circular shadow produced by the ball-shaped earth.

The ancient Greeks well before Christ, had realized that the earth is a globe by observing lunar eclipses. They realized that at such times, the earth was between the moon and the sun, and it always cast a circular shadow, regardless of the direction, which proves that it’s a globe (see Fig. 4). For example, the famous philosopher Aristotle (384–322 BC) said:

“Either then the earth is spherical or it is at least naturally spherical. And it is right to call anything that which nature intends it to be, and which belongs to it, rather than which it is by constraint and contrary to nature. The evidence of the senses further corroborates this. How else would eclipses of the moon show segments shaped as we see them? As it is, the shapes which the moon itself each month shows are of every kind—straight, gibbous, and concave—but in eclipses the outline is always curved: and, since it is the interposition of the earth that makes the eclipse, the form of this line will be caused by the form of the earth’s surface, which is therefore spherical.”¹³

This lines up with the Bible: Isaiah 40:22 tells us that God “sits above the circle of the earth”. Indeed, the Hebrew word חוּג (khûg) implies ball-shaped, just as Bede taught about 1,400 years after Isaiah.¹⁴

Summary

Almost all the early and medieval church scholars who commented on the earth’s shape explicitly said it was round.
Medieval European rulers used a golden sphere or orb called the globus cruciger to represent the earth under Christ’s rule.
Columbus’s opponents never disputed the shape of the earth, but only its size—and they were right!
The flat earth myth began with a fictional account of Columbus in the 19^th century by Washington Irving. Then it was aggressively pushed in influential anti-Christian polemics by Draper and White.
A final irony: the leading flat-earther today is an evolutionist.

yota691 · August 25, 2022

A flat earth, and other nonsense

Debunking ideas that would not exist were it not for the Internet

by Robert Carter and Jonathan Sarfati

Published: 13 Sep 2016, last updated 20 May 2020

Introduction

Proverbs 18:17 The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.

It perplexes us to see that belief in a “flat earth” is gaining traction, despite being thoroughly debunked for thousands of years. This idea was almost non-existent until recently, yet this particular branch of pseudoscience is making inroads. It’s notable that the article The Flat Earth Myth, busting the myth that the church taught a flat earth, written as recently as 2013, did not receive any negative comments from flat-earth believers. Why? Because there were hardly any people back then who believed it! Rather, readers were grateful to see that the church had never taught this nonsense. Several honest atheists have even slammed people from their own side who have pushed a bad pseudo-history that accuses the church of teaching a flat earth.¹

So, if almost nobody believed it back then, why do some people believe it now? This includes several who commented on an article published earlier this year: Isaiah 40:22 and the shape of the earth. Most of the influence today is coming from a series of online videos that have been shared widely. These were created by charlatans and, sadly, are deceiving many. Even more sadly, some Christians are being caught up in the hype.

It is not our business to warn people about each and every false idea that comes up, but only when the idea directly impinges on a straightforward biblical teaching. Thus, we steer clear of 9-11 conspiracies, but directly engage with people who attempt to claim the moon landings were a hoax on our Arguments Creationists Should Not Use page. Why? Because the first, even though it deals directly with physics, is enmeshed in too much conspiratorial gobbledygook. The second, however, gets into how we see the world, how the universe works, how science proceeds, and how we can tell what is true and what is not.

Even though we have addressed the Flat Earth Myth multiple times (see Related Articles, below), and even though we have gone into the biblical and scientific arguments against it, people have recently started to ask us about it (or criticize us for our firm global-earth view). Our only conclusion is that the Internet is breeding people who have trouble thinking through important ideas.

Last year, we took the subject of geocentrism head on (and earlier this year we further refuted geocentric supporters). Sadly, we must also take on the subject of whether or not the earth is flat.

By necessity, this paper aims to be very thorough to demonstrate how wrong flat-earthism is on so many levels: biblically, historically, and scientifically. But readers can skip to some of the main points below.

Does the Bible teach a flat earth?

Some people believe in the flat earth because they have been convinced that the Bible teaches it. So they believe that by denying the FE, people are denying God’s word. IF the Bible taught the earth is flat, their argument would be sound. But the Bible does no such thing, so appealing to biblical inerrancy for non-existent flat-earth proof texts makes no sense. This is the classic fallacy of begging the question, or assuming the conclusion in the premises. As the list below shows, the Bible does not teach a flat earth!

Yet they are afraid of their opponents using a valid form of argument called denying the consequent: if God’s Word teaches a flat earth, and if the earth is not flat [denying the consequent], then God’s word is not true.

But since the earth is not actually flat, and since the Bible does not teach that it is flat, they fall into a trap of their own making and must hold onto an illogical and untenable position despite all the evidence to the contrary.

Before we address specific verses, we note again that if the Bible really taught a flat earth, then it’s inconceivable that almost no one throughout the entire history of the church taught it. That’s despite a demonstrably high view of Scripture in general held by many of the global earth teachers throughout church history.

Refuting “200+ flat earth Bible verses”

Many flat-earth believers circulate lists or memes that allege that there are “200 Bible verses supporting a flat earth.” The list can be found in many places online, and has a history unknown to most FE believers, being originally compiled by people who were trying to mock the Bible, not support it. We sourced the list below from a site called “Flat earth doctrine”, but it is basically the same as many others. However, this oft-parroted list contains the usual scholarly sloppiness and leaps of logic that we have come to expect from flat-earthers. Most of the verses have absolutely nothing to do with the shape of the earth, so the list is basically elephant-hurling.

We want to address this list here for one specific reason: we do not want to see anyone else get caught up in this deception!

Many of the verses below are actually dealing with a different issue: whether the earth is stationary or moves, i.e. geocentrism vs. geokineticism, which is distinct from whether the earth is flat or spherical. Almost all geocentrists, from the time of the classical Greek astronomers, to Galileo’s opponents, to the present day affirmed a spherical earth. For example, the leading geocentrist authors today, Gerardus Bouw and Robert Sungenis, are staunchly opposed to flat-earthism (indeed, we have it on very good authority that the latter has just penned a huge a 750-page tome rebutting flat-earthism, entitled Flat Earth—Flat Wrong). For additional discussion of this class of verses, see our other paper, Refuting absolute geocentrism: Biblical phenomenological language.

In general, the Bible uses correct but equivocal phenomenological language on many scientific subjects, as we do today because speaking strictly scientifically would drive us all crazy. There is no reason to be so pedantic that we cannot use the shorthand “sunrise” and “sunset” for example, even though we all know the sun is only appearing to move because the earth is spinning. But even if we have learned a few things about science over thousands of years, the purpose of the Bible is not to be a science book.

Instead, it is a history book that points us to Jesus Christ, the Saviour. Thus, it should be understandable to both ancient and modern people, in line with the doctrine of perspicuity of Scripture (i.e., the Bible is understandable). It should also not be wrong when it delves into science, but we should not expect to learn a great deal on many scientific subjects from within its pages. Clearly, the earth was created in a short space of time a few thousand years ago. And clearly, the universe did not arise through naturalistic means. But most of the details have been left to us to discover, in a sense “thinking God’s thoughts after Him” as the great astronomer and dedicated Christian, Johannes Kepler, said.

Also, we need to read different Bible passages according to this grammatical and literary context. While the psalms, for example, do contain some historical information, one does not treat a psalm in the same way as a passage from one of the historical books (e.g., Genesis or Judges). See further explanation in Is the raqîa’ (‘firmament’) a solid dome? and Is the ‘erets (earth) flat?. Many of the supposed flat-earth passages are from poetic books that are not meant to be taken literalistically.

An important consideration is what “earth” (אָ֫רֶץ ‘erets) means in the Bible, and it can mean different things depending on context. For example, in Genesis 1:1, “earth” the planet is being discussed, in contrast to the heavens. But on Day 3, God made dry land appear and called it “earth”, in contrast to the waters that he called “seas”. And in Exodus 20:8–11, it explains that God made the whole created order in the six days of Creation Week, contrasting the earth with both the heavens and the seas, making it an all-encompassing merism.² When it comes to the verses cited by flat-earthers, we should understand that the passages are likely to be talking about the land, not the planet.

Finally, if you are not in a position to check the original language of Scripture, at least check multiple English versions. If a reading is found in only one, and that one is being cited by a flat-earther, it is probably cherry-picked.

The list of “200” verses that supposedly support a flat earth can be grouped into at least three classes, each of which displays a different error on the part of flat-earth supporters. We have kept the “200” but re-ordered them.

Class 1: verses that have nothing to do with the flat-earth argument. In classical terms, these are called non sequiturs, or “does not follow”.

Class 2: verses that are ambiguous in relation to the shape of the earth, i.e. using equivocal language. A proper analysis would require a decent knowledge of ancient languages and the context, or at least a careful reading of scholarly sources that discuss the passage in question.

Class 3: verses that involve a misreading of non-modern English terminology in some older versions, often cherry-picked. In classical terms, this is called lying.

This is actually being generous, because most fall into multiple fallacies not just one!

Class 1: non sequiturs

Earth Created Before the Sun: Genesis 1:1–19

We agree—see How could the days of Genesis 1 be literal if the sun wasn’t created until the fourth day? But how does this prove that the earth is flat? They are attempting to argue against a fictitious “sun worship” they claim has crept into science. But the Bible clearly teaches against this, so citing the verse goes nowhere. Just because the earth came first does not mean the earth is flat.

Universe is Complete, NOT ever expanding: Genesis 2:1

The expansion of the universe can be debated, and is debated within our circles, but how would a non-expanding universe prove that the earth is flat? Arguing against the big bang is not the same thing as arguing that the earth is flat.

Earth Measurements Unknown: Job 38:4–5, Job 38:18, Jeremiah 31:37, Proverbs 25:3

How does this prove that the earth is flat? In any case, these passages were written before Eratosthenes measured the circumference of the earth quite accurately, so at the time of writing this was true. And modern flat-earthers typically tell us the size of their disk (“25,000 miles in diameter”, or something similar), so how does this passage not equally apply to them? By citing these passages, they are condemning themselves.

Earthquakes shake Earth, and does not move: 2 Samuel 22:8, Isaiah 13:13, Revelation 6:12–13

Why can’t earthquakes shake a round earth? Indeed, as explained here, seismology has provided even more evidence for a spherical earth. Here, they are trying to get around the problem of an ‘unmoving’ earth that also ‘shakes’ (and we can also measure movement of different parts of the crust during earthquakes) by combining ideas in incongruous ways.

Earth is fixed and immovable: 1 Chronicles 16:30, Psalm 33:9, Psalm 93:1, Psalm 96:10, Psalm 104:5, Psalm 119:89-90, Isaiah 14:7, Isaiah 45:18, Zechariah 1:11

Even if the earth were fixed, arguendo, it would not mean that it’s flat. But the same ‘reasoning’ would also say that the Psalmist and the righteous are fixed and immovable (Psalm 16:8, 121, 125:1). But of course this has already been explained in Refuting absolute geocentrism: Biblical phenomenological language. These are examples where they take verses once used for geocentrism and pretend that they imply a flat earth.

“Be still, and know that I am God”: Psalm 46:10

How does this even hint of a flat earth? Even calling this a non sequitur is more than it deserves. It is nonsense to quote this passage in support of a flat earth.

Sun Moves, not the Earth: Genesis 15:12, Genesis 15:17, Genesis 19:23, Genesis 32:31, Exodus 17:12, Exodus 22:3, Exodus 22:26, Leviticus 22:7, Numbers 2:3, Numbers 21:11, Numbers 34:15, Deuteronomy 4:41, Deuteronomy 4:47, Deuteronomy 11:30, Deuteronomy 16:6, Deuteronomy 23:11, Deuteronomy 24:13, Deuteronomy 24:15, Joshua 1:15, Joshua 8:29, Joshua 10:27, Joshua 12:1, Joshua 13:5, Joshua 19:12, Joshua 19:27, Joshua 19:34, Judges 8:13, Judges 9:33, Judges 14:18, Judges 19:14, Judges 20:43, 2 Samuel 2:24, 2 Samuel 3:35, 2 Samuel 23:4, 1 Kings 22:36, 2 Chronicles 18:34, Psalm 50:1, Psalm 113:3, Ecclesiastes 1:5, Isaiah 41:25, Isaiah 45:6, Isaiah 59:19, Jeremiah 15:9, Daniel 6:14, Amos 8:9, Jonah 4:8, Micah 3:6, Nahum 3:17, Malachi 1:11, Matthew 5:45, Mark 16:2, Ephesians 4:26, James 1:11

How does this prove anything about the shape of the earth? This is about geocentrism, not the earth’s shape, and an issue of phenomenological or reference-frame language.

Sun STOPS moving: Isaiah 60:20, Job 9:7, Joshua 10:12–14, Habakkuk 3:11

Even if this were not phenomenological or reference-frame language, it would prove nothing about the shape of the earth. Arguing against geokinetics (which is a losing battle anyway) is not the same thing as arguing for a flat earth.

Sun moves BACKWARDS: 2 Kings 20:8–11

Even if this were not phenomenological or reference-frame language, it would prove nothing about the shape of the earth.

Moon has its own Light: Genesis 1:16, Isaiah 13:10, Isaiah 30:26, Isaiah 60:19–20, Jeremiah 31:35, Matthew 24:29, Mark 13:24, Ezekiel 32:7, Revelation 21:23.

What does this have to do with the shape of the earth? And there is nothing in those passages that rule out the moon shining by reflected light, as was common knowledge in the medieval church. For example, Johannes Sacrobosco’s astronomy textbook The Sphere (AD 1230) explained, “the moon has no light except from the sun, it actually is deprived of light” when the earth blocks the sun during a lunar eclipse. And “…no less a churchman than Pope Innocent III (c. 1160–1216) was perfectly aware that the moon’s light is reflected from the sun, and seemed to assume that this was widely known.”³ Since they all clearly had some regard for Scripture, they must have understood that the Bible allowed for reflected light—and a global earth for that matter, which was likewise almost universally believed!

Of course, if the moon and sun are circling only a few thousand miles above us, the geometry is such that the sun could not possibly be reflecting off the moon, which is why they appeal to these passages. But the fact that the moon reflects sunlight is simple and obvious. From the large-scale geometry of the sun-earth-moon system to the ever-changing shadows of lunar craters, our observations always perfectly agree with the geometry positions of the sun, moon, and earth.

New Jerusalem, the HUGE cube: Revelation 21:15–17

So how does a future huge cube, a 3-D shape, prove that the earth in the present is a flat, essentially 2-D disk? Just another example of one of the verses that doesn’t even superficially discuss the shape of the earth.

Creation Worshippers: Deuteronomy 4:19, Deuteronomy 17:3, 2 Kings 23:5, Jeremiah 8:2

OK, so there are creation worshippers. How does this prove a flat earth? This is another which doesn’t even rise to the level of non sequitur. Instead, they are ‘poisoning the well’ by a totally baseless link of spherical earth with a pagan religion. After all, one reason that biblioskeptics claim that the Bible teaches a flat earth is that they believe that the surrounding pagan nations did. This would entail that many pagan creation worshippers, and even pagan child sacrificers such as the Moloch devotees, were flat earth believers. Naturally, flat-earthers would not like this sort of poisoning the well against them, so they would do well to treat globe earthers in the way they would like to be treated.

God’s Word is ALWAYS Faithful and True: Jeremiah 42:5, Revelation 3:14, Revelation 19:11, Revelation 21:5, Revelation 22:6

Yes it is. How does this prove a flat earth?

Class 2: equivocal or decontextualized language

Earth is a Disk/Circle, not a ball: Isaiah 40:22, Job 38:13–14

These books were originally written in Hebrew, not Early Modern English (i.e. the stage of the English language that includes the KJV and Shakespeare). And as explained in our article, the word translated ‘circle’ is חוּג (khûg), which is a generic word meaning ‘roundness’. Biblically, it is also used to describe the ‘vault’ of heaven. Flat-earthers insist the vault is a solid dome, i.e. a 3-D roundness (Job 22:14). So, it can’t be limited to 2-D roundness. It cannot mean ‘flat disk’ even to a flat-earther.

Some flat-earthers claim that another word דּוּר (dûr), would have been used if it had meant ‘ball’, as in Isaiah 22:18 (in the form כַּדּ֕וּר kaddûr). But Isaiah uses the same expression in 29:3, “And I will encamp against you all around (kaddûr).” Are we to understand that the army besieging Jerusalem formed a dome over the city? If not, then it follows that dûr is not exclusively used for 3-D roundness either. We have discussed this issue in Isaiah 40:22 and the shape of the earth.

Another point against them is that the earth could mean the dry land, and since one meaning for khûg is any sort of ‘circuit’, the ‘circle of the earth’ could mean the shorelines.⁴

As for the Job passage, this includes the dawn light shaking the wicked out of the earth, as shown by including v. 12 for context:

Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
and caused the dawn to know its place,
that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
and the wicked be shaken out of it?
It is changed like clay under the seal,
and its features stand out like a garment.

If this is not literal, then neither is the next part about the earth “changed like clay under the seal”, which in any case doesn’t say anything about flat or round. Rather, the earth (land) changes its appearance as the dawn breaks, just as the clay changes appearance when a seal is rolled over it. The ‘flatness’ of the final product is not what is being compared to the earth but the changeableness of the material.

Earth Measured with a Line, not a curve: Job 38:4–5

A diameter of a sphere is measured as a line. Distances between points on its surface are in linear dimensions, e.g. miles or kilometres. So what is the problem? See A direct test of the f lat earth model: flight times for many examples of measuring distances on the earth with straight lines.

Paths are Straight, not curved: 1 Samuel 6:12, Psalm 5:8, Psalm 27:11, Isaiah 40:3, Jeremiah 31:9, Matthew 3:3, Mark 1:3, Luke 3:4, John 1:23, Acts 16:11, Acts 21:1, Hebrews 12:13

Even today, we talk about a ‘straight path’ as the most direct route given the constraints of the surface. Also, ‘straight path is used allegorically as the opposite of ‘crooked’. This meaning is not lost on the modern audience.

Earth has Pillars, and hangs on nothing: 1 Samuel 2:8, Job 9:6, Job 26:7, Psalm 75:3, 2 Peter 3:5

Yes, it hangs on nothing—we now have many pictures of the ‘big blue marble’ from space, and it indeed doesn’t hang on anything.

The Job passages about pillars are poetic, which is why the same ‘pillars’ can be ‘astounded’ (Job 26:11). This is also a clue to understanding 1 Samuel 2:8, which also need not mean physical pillars, since we also have Paul referring to James, Cephas, and John as “pillars” of the Church (Galatians 2:9). See also ‘Pillars of the Earth’ — Does the Bible teach a mythological cosmology? This is a critical idea. We must read these biblical passages the way they were intended or we fall into a pit of hyper-literalistic mumbo jumbo within which all logical discussion breaks down.

Earth has a Face (a geometrical flat surface): Genesis 1:29, Genesis 4:14, Genesis 6:1, Genesis 6:7, Genesis 7:3, Genesis 7:4, Genesis 8:9, Genesis 11:8, Genesis 11:9, Genesis 41:56, Exodus 32:12, Exodus 33:16, Numbers 12:3, Deuteronomy 6:15, Deuteronomy 7:6, 1 Samuel 20:15, 1 Kings 13:34, Job 37:12, Psalm 104:30, Jeremiah 25:26, Jeremiah 28:16, Ezekiel 34:6, Ezekiel 38:20, Ezekiel 39:14, Amos 9:6, Amos 9:8, Zechariah 5:3

I don’t know about the author of this list, but my face is not flat, but round with holes and protrusions.

Waters have a Face (a geometrical flat surface): Genesis 1:2, Genesis 7:18, Job 38:30

Again, faces are flat only in 2-D pictures. Face means ‘surface’, and surfaces are rarely flat.

Earth has Ends: Deuteronomy 28:49, Deuteronomy 28:64, Deuteronomy 33:17, 1 Samuel 2:10, Job 37:3, Job 38:13, Psalm 46:9, Psalm 48:10, Psalm 59:13, Psalm 61:2, Psalm 65:5, Psalm 67:7, Psalm 72:8, Psalm 98:3, Psalm 135:7, Proverbs 8:29, Proverbs 17:24, Proverbs 30:4, Isaiah 5:26, Isaiah 26:15, Isaiah 40:28, Isaiah 41:5, Isaiah 41:9, Isaiah 42:10, Isaiah 43:6, Isaiah 45:22, Isaiah 48:20, Isaiah 49:6, Isaiah 52:10, Jeremiah 10:13, Jeremiah 16:19, Jeremiah 25:31, Jeremiah 25:33, Jeremiah 51:16, Daniel 4:22, Micah 5:4, Zechariah 9:10, Matthew 12:42, Luke 11:31, Acts 13:47

Since the ‘earth’ here means the land, the ‘ends of the earth’ are the shorelines.³ But even without this, a spherical earth has ends in a sense, because it is finite: the ‘ends’ in this case would be the two points at the end of diameters, roughly 12,742 km apart. This is no different than saying the flat, circular disk has ‘ends’, as they claim.

Earth has Corners: Isaiah 11:12, Revelation 7:1

But modern flat-earthers believe that the earth is a round disk, which doesn’t have corners! This is not the only time where their alleged ‘biblical flat earth model’ is incompatible with the model they actually believe. Anyway, clearly both sides agree that they are not literal corners, so why did they even bring this up? For what this term means, see The Bible talks of ‘the four corners of the earth.’ Does this mean the days of creation could be non-literal, too?

Of course, some FEers will claim that the living part of the earth is a circular field on a larger, square plate, but at this point they are just making things up.

Firmament/Dome: Genesis 1:6–8, Genesis 1:14–18, Genesis 1:20, Genesis 7:11, Genesis 8:2, Job 37:18, Psalm 19:1, Psalm 150:1, Isaiah 40:22, Ezekiel 1:22–26, Ezekiel 10:1, Daniel 12:3

The Hebrew word is רָקִ֖יעַ (rāqîa’), which means ‘expanse’, i.e. space. See this section of our geocentrism paper; see also Is the raqîa’ (‘firmament’) a solid dome?. There are all sorts of problems that come up when people uncritically interpret the meaning of rāqîa’, including where the sun, moon, and stars are (within the rāqîa’ or beneath it?), the extents of the rāqîa’, etc.

High Altitude Perspectives: Daniel 4:11, Daniel 4:20, Matthew 4:8.

This is the best argument the flat earthers have! But these verses only superficially hint at a flat earth. In reality, this is a huge stretch.

The verses in Daniel 4 are about the dream of a pagan king! Why would anyone derive doctrine from a dream, since dreams often have fantastic elements? Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of a tree that ‘reached to heaven’ and was visible ‘to the end of the whole earth’. OK, where is this tree today? Can anyone show us the stump at least? And if from the top of that tree a person could see across the face of the whole earth, then every place on earth could, in turn, see the tree! Similarly, the Pharaoh of Joseph’s day dreamed of cannibalistic cows and even cannibalistic ears of wheat (Genesis 41), so are we to take these to be real as well? In any case, the tree was not even literal, quite aside from being in a dream, because it symbolized Nebuchadnezzar himself.

Matthew 4:8 reads, “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.”

From this, flat-earthers presume that the world would need to be flat as all kingdoms could be seen from a high mountain. But once again, this would imply that, like Nebby’s tree above, this mountain would also be visible from everywhere. So where is this mountain? And even from a flat-earth perspective, given the dimensions of their disk, would kingdoms even be visible with the naked eye from such a great distance?

Also, the parallel passage in Luke 4:5, “And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.” It’s notable that the flat-earthers don’t cite this passage, which explains that the Devil showed Jesus the kingdoms in a moment, and doesn’t mention a mountain. So the emphasis is the Devil taking Jesus up to some isolated spot, and showing him a vision of these kingdoms.

Everyone Sees Jesus: Revelation 1:7

Yes, now we have the Internet and international news on TV. But even if this was not the case, there would be myriad places on a flat earth where a person could not see a descending Jesus, including when standing in many deep valleys, next to any tall mountain, and within many cities.

“Breadth”, spread out FLAT, of the Earth: Genesis 13:17, Job 38:18, Isaiah 8:8, Revelation 20:9

Genesis 13:17 is an example of where “earth” means the dry land. That is, God tells Abram, “Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” This is clearly about God’s promise to give land to Abraham, which was not the whole of even the land within which Abraham had travelled, but the Land of Canaan or Israel. ‘Length’ and ‘breadth’ are normal measurements of a plot of land.

Job 38:18, “Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?” is God asking Job whether he understood the size of the earth. Clearly, he did not. Whether this is the land or the whole planet, it says nothing about its shape.

Isaiah 8:8, “And it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.”

This is explicitly about land, not the planet, and the land of Judah at that. Anyone who has been to Israel knows that its topography is hardly flat, but full of mountains and valleys, as the Bible says! So ‘breadth’ can hardly imply flatness.

Revelation 20:9, “And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth.” The ‘earth’ in this context must refer to ‘dry land’ here, because people don’t march over water!

Class 3: relying on archaic English translations

Waters are Straight, not curved: Job 37:10

This is a misunderstanding of the KJV, “the breadth of the waters is straitened”—notice the different spelling (no ‘g’ in ‘strait’). This is not the same word as ‘straight’. In fact, you cannot even replace one with the other and make any sense (‘straight as an arrow’ makes sense, but ‘strait as an arrow’?). A clue could be the meaning of ‘strait-jacket’, which goes back to the same archaic meaning of ‘strait’ as ‘tightly fitting’ or ‘constrained’. And indeed, the Hebrew מוּצָק (mutsaq) means ‘constraint’. Another clue is what comes immediately before, “By the breath of God frost is given.” God sends a chilling wind that causes frost and straitens, i.e. constrains or freezes the waters, as per most modern versions. Are waters straight? No. Can they be straitened? Yes, when frozen.

Voice of Creation goes out in a “line” through all the earth: Psalm 19:4

No, the voice IS the “line”! The word for ‘line’, קָו (qav) refers to the message (HCSV, NLT, CSV, CEV) or voice (ESV, NIV, Berean Study Bible, NET Bible). Even in English, actors learn their ‘lines’. The way they use this passage is reckless and deceitful.

Matthews Bible from 1537 says “Flat Earth”: 2 Samuel 11:11

Flat-earthers must be desperate to cherry-pick this now-obscure old Bible that was superseded first by the Geneva Bible (the version of choice for most of the English-speaking Reformers) and then the KJV! Both of these translate the Hebrew פְּנֵ֤י הַשָּׂדֶה֙ (pənei hassādeh) as “open fields”, and many modern versions have the singular “open field”, and rightly so. This is the passage where the soon-to-be-doomed Uriah was telling David that all his soldiers are camping out rather than being at home with their wives, and has nothing about the whole planet, let alone its shape. But even if ‘flat earth’ is not the best translation here, it is not necessarily wrong. It would make little sense for Uriah to say they were camping on a steep slope.

Flat Earth? The Bible And Science Say No! with Dr Robert Carter.

The case for a spherical⁵ earth

We can use observation and reason to figure this out. It is so easy to see even ancient civilizations understood it. There are several evidences we think are impossible to refute:

The earth and the moon

Time lapse photos of the moon — **Time-lapse photos of the moon during a lunar partial eclipse, clearly showing the circular shadow produced by the ball-shaped earth.**

The shadow of the earth, when cast on the moon during a lunar eclipse, is round. This was known in ancient times. But note that lunar eclipses do not always happen when the moon is in the same position in the sky. If the earth were flat, the earth’s shadow would not have the same shape when the moon is directly overhead as it would when the moon is closer to the horizon. Since it is possible to observe multiple full and partial lunar eclipses during an average lifetime, this would not have been lost on any observant person, even in the distant past (note that this is assuming one model of a flat earth, the one where the sun and moon cross under the earth as they travel back to the east). Also, if the sun and moon were orbiting overhead, as in some recent flat earth models, then how could the earth ever get in between them to cast a shadow in the first place?

The moon’s phases are also proof that it’s orbiting a global earth. In real life, at any given part of the moon’s cycle, all people on earth see the same phase, and the moon is always about the same size. This makes sense if it were orbiting the globe from a distance far greater than the earth’s diameter. If it and the sun were always orbiting above a flat earth, as per a recent flat earth scenario, then they would both change size drastically, and people in different areas would see different moon phases. Someone looking toward the moon would be presented with a different view than someone looking at it from the other end of the earth.

Instead, a person with a telescope can actually watch the shadow creep across the moon’s surface and someone on the other side of the earth can then pick up watching the shadow creep when the moon drops below the horizon of the first person. There are human eyeballs all over this globe of ours, and the progress of the moon (and sun) represents a continuum.

Also, by watching the shadows creep across the craters and plains of the moon, it is clear that the moon is a sphere. Also, the crescent and gibbous phases, which have curved boundaries, are possible only on a spherical moon, not a disk.

And we can watch sunspots migrate across the face of the sun and they behave as if they are moving across a spherical surface. There is also the phenomenon of limb darkening, where the sun (and other stars) appear darker and redder towards the outside, which proves a spherical sun, not a flat disk. We have overwhelming evidence that the other bodies in the solar system are spherical. And we have overwhelming evidence that the earth is also a sphere.

Note also, if the moon and sun were flat disks, then their apparent shape would become more elliptical as they moved lower in the sky. The fact that a full moon and sun always look circular from any angle shows that they are spheres, not disks.

Things disappearing over the horizon

People have often noted that ships coming up over the horizon appear sail-first. That is, the highest portion of the vessel comes into view while the lower parts are still hidden by the bulge of the earth. It’s so well known that there is an old naval term for it: ‘hull down’. Sailors could even roughly estimate distance from their own height and how far down the other ship was. And the same happened in reverse, with observers on ships seeing objects on land. Also, higher observers could see further, hence the advantage of the ‘crow’s nest’ (see for calculations, box, below). Indeed, this was explained well back in the Middle Ages by John Sacrobosco (c.1195–c.1256) in his Tractatus de Sphaera (Treatise on the Sphere, i.e. the earth):

That the water has a bulge and is approximately round is shown thus: Let a signal be set up on the seacoast and a ship leave port and sail away so far that the eye of a person standing at the foot of the mast can no longer discern the signal. Yet if the ship is stopped, the eye of the same person, if he has climbed to the top of the mast, will see the signal clearly. Yet the eye of a person at the bottom of the mast ought to see the signal better than he who is at the top, as is shown by drawing straight lines from both to the signal. And there is no other explanation of this thing than the bulge of the water. (Tractatus 1:11)

Flat-earthers often produce photos of things that are visible even though they are so far away they should be below the horizon. However, these are almost always over water, which on rare occasions (usually in the Spring) can produce a temperature inversion, i.e. cold air below warmer air. This, in turn, causes refraction, bending light around the curve, so we see things we normally wouldn’t, in what is called a superior mirage. This is quite uncommon, and photos of the same area under most conditions would not show the mirage, even on the clearest days. Also, mirages can be minimized when the object and viewer are at least a few metres high, so the line of sight mostly avoids the inversion layer.

Importantly, videos, as opposed to still photos, show that the images change rapidly (they tend to shimmer, flip, duplicate, triplicate, etc.), thanks to fluctuations in the air, as we would expect from a mirage. We wonder why flat earthers almost never show videos of these below-the-horizon features.

We also wonder why they do not time the passing of the sun, for when it is rising and setting we are not actually seeing it in the place we would expect it. It ‘rises’ a little earlier and ‘sets’ a little later than we would expect because of atmospheric lensing. In essence, every sunset is a mirage!

toronto — Looking across Lake Ontario to Toronto from Olcott NY, 63 km (39 miles) away, only about ⅔ of the CN Tower is visible. However, about ⅓ of the tower, as well as the much smaller buildings next to it, are hidden by the earth’s curvature. Now that we have good telescopes, we can see this more clearly. If we zoom in on a ship that has half-disappeared below the horizon, we don’t see more of the ship, but just a bigger image of what we see with the naked eye. Likewise, if there is a clear field of view, we can see the top-parts of tall buildings whose bases are below the horizon (above). If the earth were flat, the bases would be as visible as the tops.

Distance to the horizon from different heights

The distance to the horizon (d) from an observer at a height above sea level (h) on a sphere of radius R can be worked out by Pythagoras’ theorem. It comes to √(h(2R + h)). Since most observers’ heights are much, much less than the earth’s average radius of 6,371 km, this formula approximates to √(2Rh). That is, horizon distance is proportional to the square root of the observer’s height, e.g. a lookout on a crow’s nest with eyes 8 m above sea level would see twice as far as observers on a deck with an eye level 2 m above. In particular, if horizon distance is in km and observer’s height is in m, this comes to d ≅ 3.57√h. For distance in miles and height in feet, the formula is d ≅ 1.22√h.

The reverse is true: if you were sailing in a low yacht with eyes at sea level on a clear day, you could see the top of hill 100 m high from 35.7 km, but mounds only 1 m high could not be seen until 10 times closer: 3.57 km away.

To calculate the distance (D) at which an object at h₂ will be visible to an observer at height h₁, just add the horizon distance from h₁ to the horizon distance from a hypothetical observer at h₂. So the formula for km and m is D ≅ 3.57(√h₁ + √h₂). For example, a lookout at 9 m high could see a 100-m-tall tower from a distance up to 3.57 (3 + 10) km = 46.41 km. (There is even an online Distance to the Horizon Calculator that works for both sets of units, and even with nautical miles, for varying h₁ and h₂.)

Note also, since the horizon distance is proportional to the square root of the height, the amount the surface drops away due to the earth’s curvature (c) is proportional to the distance squared. That is, c ≅ (d/3.57)² for km and m, and c ≅ (d/1.22)² for miles and feet (which gives a rule of thumb: c ≅ ⅔d²). For example, many have correctly heard that the earth curves 8 inches (⅔ foot) in 1 mile. But to curve 6 feet or 72 inches, nine times as much, it doesn’t require a distance of nine times further but only three (√9) times.

Also, as surveyors have known for about 200 years, a small correction is needed for atmospheric refraction. An approximate correction is for the calculation to substitute an ‘effective radius’ of the earth, R′, instead of the real radius, R, such that: R′ = R × 7/6. This led to an older rule of thumb: 7 times the height in feet = 4 times the square of the distance to the horizon in miles.

Here is a horizon calculator that includes this approximate correction for refractive effects. A more precise correction takes into account the air temperatures at the surface and object. Some flat-earth agitprop claims that not enough of an object is hidden, but they usually use the plain calculators that ignore the (small) refractive effects. More importantly, they ignore the simple fact that nothing should be hidden on a flat earth—the fact that parts of the object are hidden shows that there must be some curvature!

Another easy observation is that as you go higher, the horizon generally looks hazier and hazier. That is simply because the horizon is more distant, so light must travel through more of the atmosphere. On a flat earth, there should be no horizon, just a flat surface eventually disappearing into the haze. Also, on a globe earth, we should observe the horizon getting further below eye level as we climb higher, and of course, this is just what we do observe.

But there is much more observational evidence that shows the curvature of the earth. Anyone standing on a shore can see that there are points along the shore that are not visible. But if that person walks along the shore to the edge of what they could see at the starting point, new things appear in front of them and things that were once visible in the other direction have since disappeared. The simplest explanation for this is that the earth is curved. You can do this yourself. Just take a drive along a shoreline on a clear day and take photos of what you can see at different points along your journey.