Back in February I caused a minor brouhaha (have to love that word) when I blogged, “Christians Who Believe the Earth is Really Flat — Does It Get Any Dumber Than This?” I’m a Christian and biblical scholar who has a grasp of the fact that ancient Israelite cosmology describes a flat earth. But since it’s evident that the Bible was not produced to give us science, it’s logically fallacious to presume we need to believe that the earth is really flat to embrace things that the Bible does in fact ask us to believe. (Here’s a lecture I gave some years ago in church on that topic).
I was quite surprised by the number of angry comments the post generated. It was difficult to believe that people actually believed this today. in my judgment, it deflects people away from considering the gospel message since people will think they must embrace a flat earth to embrace biblical theology. As I noted in my post and my lecture, that’s poor thinking. It’s also imposing a modern context on an ancient work — the Bible. How that’s a legitimate interpretive strategy I don’t understand. But I digress …
I vowed never to blog on the subject again — and I won’t. But I never promised I wouldn’t ask scientists I know to chime in. Specifically, I asked Stuart Robbins, the host of the PseudoAstronomy podcast, to do an episode on the topic once he returned to podcasting. Stuart assured me he would and, true to his word, he has. I doubt I can take credit for that, since it’s evident Stuart had fielded such questions before. I’ve recommended Stuart’s podcasts before, as he has an entire series on Nibiru/Planet X myths, the alleged faking of the moon landings, the face on Mars and Cydonia, etc. I’ve also been on his show to discuss Zecharia Sitchin’s flawed work on Nibiru/Planet X. Stuart does a good job of treating even the most ridiculous ideas in a serious manner.
Here’s the first installment of Stuart’s discussion of flat earth science fallacies. I can hardly wait for Part 2.
Biblical scholar, E. W. Bullinger was a flat earther:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwihv9-emoXPAhXH6yYKHQhPD_wQFggeMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.testingtheglobe.com%2FPDFs%2FEWBullinger_Flat-Earther.pdf&usg=AFQjCNGSuCMVrpgrr0uHKRD3T9SVdlbCYg&sig2=gzXi16feXlpNgOGFMm-xsQ
The Bullinger report is pertinent to your article as will be shown in the following syllogism:
All modern flat earthers are stupid
E. W. Bullinger was a modern flat earther
Therefore, E. W. Bullinger was stupid
You may retort, “Ah, but he didn’t have access to photos from space, GPS, and satellite TV.” To which I reply, are these the great proofs of the heliocentric globular Earth model? Was not the heliocentric globular Earth model “proven” centuries ago?
As it stands, a sound deduction will verify that you are clearly asserting that Biblical scholar E. W. Bullinger was a dumb, stupid, gullible, mindless, irrational, deluded, willfully ignorant, dishonest, God dishonoring, simplistic, and easily led astray individual.
In Bullinger’s case (19th century) it wasn’t stupidity. It was lack of knowledge. Ignorance and stupidity are quite different. One is the absence of information; the other is resistance to it despite its transparent correctness. The latter = flat earthers, who have to say every picture of the earth from space is faked. Utter nonsense.
This is my first time to your website, so sorry about the old thread. It is of interest to me, since I realized my sister-in-law actually believes the earth is flat. She is intelligent, but I also suspect she is mentally ill. She is full of conspiracy theories, and doesn’t believe any governmental agency or “establishment profession” like medicine is anything but a “devil’s lie” – ironically, despite her son being a doctor. I believe there are precious few explanations for a modern belief in these bizarre ideas (and conspiracies): mental illness of some sort, dementia (I am no expert on dementia), or stupidity (lack of intelligence) combined with religious zealotry. In today’s world, mere ignorance is not a reasonable possibility.
Sorry, I still don’t buy the idea that the bible describes that earth as flat and solid-domed. That interpretation seems more like an attempt by scholars to grasp at straws to find errors in the bible.
Literal biblical cosmology does indeed describe a round flat earth with a dome (see the verses for that in my lecture):
https://drmsh.com/genesis-creation-class-3-of-4-from-grace-church-bellingham/
Don’t just watch the video — look up the verses. They’re pretty straightforward.
But this material isn’t an “error” in the Bible. It’s only an error if you think the Biblical material was intended to produce science. It wasn’t and couldn’t be, as the biblical writers didn’t have the tools of science — something God knew, so why would he pick them to write and ask them to write about science?
The whole premise that the Bible intentionally makes scientific statements is deeply flawed and makes the Bible vulnerable to criticisms which don’t make any sense (I’m angry at the Bible for not teaching something what it was never intended to teach). It’s like criticizing your dog for not being a cat.
I have watched this lecture twice. I don’t find it convincing at all. It seems to be an overly literal interpretation of these passages. As for “letting the bible be what it is”, I believe the bible is FULLY inerrant, all descriptions are accurate descriptions and all teaching are accurate teachings. I see no reason to make an arbitrary distinction between facts about nature and theological facts. These are merely man-made categories we put knowledge into. This view does leave the bible more open to criticisms, but I think it’s more than worth it. You just have to do the WORK to defend the bible from a scientific perspective, as many apologists do extremely well.
Yeah . . . I have this one friend/acquaintance who needs to listen to these two episodes . . . .
only one? you’re blessed.
Yes, I count them every day. My blessings, that is.
And the flat-earthers in my life just to make sure the list isn’t growing.
Yer killin’ me.
I appreciate the hard work Mr Stuart put into his article.
That said.
I suggested we launch Mr Dubay et al. into space via a Wiley Coyote/Acme slingshot so they could get a better look.
“Does it get any dumber than this?”
Yup. It does. Let us not go there. This’ll do, quite nicely, for now.
Best.
Thank you so much for this. I thought flat earthers were a rare breed of Christians and an issue that I would never have to actually look into… and then I come to find that I have a group of friends that believe this stuff.
http://fourhorsesasses.blogspot.com/2017/05/lets-make-appeal-to-authority-and-look.html