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.