Most of us grew up learning that the Earth is a globe. Our textbooks included pictures from outer space showing a curved Earth and diagrams of spherical planets. Most people never even give a second thought to the form of our planet since they take it as a longtime fact, much like how they affirm that the sky is blue.
Yet an increasing number of individuals, especially amongst Christians, disagree concerning the shape of the earth. They imagine the earth is flat, and the Bible supports this theory. They claim all pictures of the Earth from space, whatever the source (equivalent to NASA), are falsified, and so they are adamant that the normal cosmology taught in most colleges and churches is improper. This belief is referred to as the Flat Earth Theory.
As followers of Jesus, what are we to make of those claims? Does it matter if a Christian affirms such a teaching?
To reply to this increasingly popular theory, propagated mainly online through social media, we must consider the history and biblical teachings supporting a flat earth. Only then can we start to discern scripture-based teaching from popular theory.
A Brief History of the Flat Earth Theory
Some civilizations prior to now believed that the earth was flat, equivalent to the traditional Egyptians and the Mesopotamians. These individuals assumed the world was like a disc with the celebrities, sun, and moon circling overhead. Hence, we sometimes hear concerning the old fear of sailing off the world’s edge.
The modern resurgence of the Flat Earth Theory, though, stems from the Nineteen Fifties with the establishment of a gaggle referred to as The Flat Earth Society. Although small in number, their ideas have increasingly spread due to the web, primarily through social media. Like many others, this group teaches a special cosmology than what’s accepted within the scientific community. According to Britannica, not all groups agree on every point, as some hold to a disc-like model of the earth as the traditional Egyptians taught, while others “envision a world hemmed in by Antarctica (which is believed to increase infinitely in all directions).” Like old views of a flat earth, newest flat earthers imagine in a dome surrounding the earth referred to as a firmament.
Critics have often pointed to ties between the Flat Earth Theory and Christianity. In the 1800s, Samuel Rowbotham developed an idea of a flat earth with alleged support from Scripture, and is credited with formulating the Zetetic Astronomy system, a system utilized by modern theorists. Of course, not all adherents are Christian. People can hold this belief no matter their worldview or religion. However, some have noted that those from a Christian fundamentalist background with a strictly literal approach to Scripture are more susceptible to imagine in a flat earth, as noted by Michael Marshall in an interview with Scientific American. Multiple Christian organizations and teachers have likewise identified the rise of this theory amongst Christians.
Regardless of their background, those that adhere to a flat-earth view are captivated with their beliefs and sometimes have a reason for holding to the idea. With the founding of organizations and official societies, they desire to be engaged logically as an alternative of mechanically dismissed.
Does Biblical Truth Support the Flat-Earth Theory?
Some verses used to support the Flat Earth Theory are related to mentioning “the 4 corners of the earth.” For example, Isaiah 11:12, Revelation 7:1, and Revelation 20:7-8 mention these corners of the world. Obviously, if taken hyper-literally, this description would imply a world that’s flat, though notably square.
Yet, if we have a look at the verses in context, the words are utilized in a literary sense as an alternative of strictly literally. In Isaiah, the phrase is used to talk of God’s gathering of the dispersed of Judah. Revelation also encompasses this sense of worldwide reach (in all directions) when it mentions angels holding back the wind from the earth or Satan being released to deceive the nations. These verses don’t teach us concerning the planet’s shape. Rather, they’re used symbolically to convey the worldwide extent of the events mentioned within the verses.
The temptation of Jesus within the wilderness can be used as support by those that imagine the world just isn’t round. Since the devil took Christ to a mountain and showed Him the kingdoms of the earth, then flat earth theorists claim that the earth needed to be flat to ensure that all of the kingdoms to be seen (Matthew 4:8). If the earth was round, then the offer allegedly wouldn’t have been as clear.
The emphasis of the passage, though, just isn’t the form of the earth. The temptation of Jesus shows His sinlessness and reliance on the Word of God to fight Satan. Nothing within the passage causes us to give attention to the situation of where the devil takes Christ, whether it was physically or spiritually shown. We diminish the passage’s teaching by forcing it to relate to a difficulty that just isn’t relevant to Jesus’ temptation.
Problems with the Flat-Earth Theory
One of the key issues, then, with this theory and its promotion inside Christian circles is that it is predicated on a very literal interpretation of Scripture. Literal interpretation, within the sense of reading the Bible plainly with an acknowledgement of its literary, historical, cultural, and biblical context, is a legitimate technique to read Scripture. However, after we follow a picket interpretation that denies genre and using metaphors and idioms, we encounter significant issues.
The Bible doesn’t teach that the earth is flat. Rather, there are multiple verses which might be utilized by flat earth theorists that truly support a spherical earth (Isaiah 40:22; Job 26:10). The book of Job, which is often used to argue for the thought of a sky dome, teaches that “[God] spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing” (Job 26:7, NIV).
Likewise, the church’s historical position concerning the shape of the world doesn’t align with the Flat Earth Theory. Critics often claim that Christianity hindered the event of science, arguing that religion is in opposition to science. Proponents of a flat earth also follow this line of reasoning, arguing that the church upheld a belief in a flat earth. However, the spherical reality of the earth had already been detailed by Greek philosophers, including Aristotle, and other people within the church, equivalent to the Venerable Bede and Thomas Aquinas. As the University of Glasgow notes in an article discussing the writings of the saint, ”Bede simply states that the explanation for the unequal length of days is on account of the globular shape of the earth, thus explaining the three-dimensional nature of the earth and refuting the notion that early medieval people believed that the earth was flat.”
Observational science also contradicts the claims of a flat earth. For example, the existence of gravity, ships sailing on the horizon, lunar eclipses, and the position of the celebrities are all powerful evidence that the earth is indeed curved and spherical. The natural workings of the earth that God set in place can be unattainable if the world were a disc.
Should Christians Believe within the Flat Earth Theory?
Although Scripture, church history, and science don’t support the Flat Earth Theory, adherents persist in a passionate belief in the idea. It may be difficult to persuade them to waver from their stance since there is commonly a reason behind their distrust of science or large organizations. Also, the logic used is commonly different from that which is utilized in support of a globular earth.
For this reason, believers should recognize the necessity for compassion and discernment when interacting with those that hold to the Flat Earth Theory. We must seek to grasp them as individuals and treat them kindly during conversations, as an alternative of dismissing them as “ignorant” or as mere supporters of a conspiracy theory. People usually are not less human for espousing a certain view of the form of the earth. Notably, an individual’s salvation can be not contingent on whether or not they imagine in a spherical world.
With that in mind, those that feel drawn to a view of a flat earth need to grasp that pushing a certain belief onto Scripture just isn’t a legitimate way of handling God’s Word. Wooden literalism can quickly result in erroneous beliefs and leave an individual vulnerable to false teaching. How we interpret the Bible, the inspired Word of our Lord, matters.
In addition, an individual’s witness to others may be affected because the Flat Earth Theory is commonly related to certain beliefs and stances. Thus, people may turn away from the gospel due to a person’s insistence that the earth is flat and can assume that to be a Christian means supporting a certain political party–– which becomes a stumbling block. And the one stumbling block to others ought to be the natural considered one of the cross, nothing from our lives (see 1 Corinthians 1:18, 23).
Another danger is to withdraw from those that don’t espouse a view of a flat earth, including one’s church community and family. Divisions can occur–especially if someone places their cosmology above Jesus’ teaching on love and unity (John 13:34-35; 17:20-21). Causing such trouble amongst other believers just isn’t price it merely to argue for a certain position.
Christians could, in theory, hold to a belief in a flat earth. There are many who do. However, adhering to this theory contradicts historical Christian belief, observational science, and may greatly undermine one’s Christian witness and relationships with others. Thus, it just isn’t a clever or preferrable option for a follower of Jesus.
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