Hello,
As I often found myself writting this out, I thought I would write out a general response to it. I wouldnt mind any comments.
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Does the bible say the earth is Flat?
The answer to this is Important to creationists, as you would assume it would need to say the earth is round and not flat for them to be able to say they truly take the bible literally, unless they decide to join the Flat Earth Society.
So does the bible say the earth is round or Flat.
Verses
My favorite verse about this is Isaiah 40:22:
Isa 40:22** [It is] he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof [are] as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
I will get to why this supports a Flat Earth later, however first I want to explain why its my Favorite.
It's my favorite because it hasnt been brushed off like other verses have. Often verses that refer to the four corners of the earth are brushed off as being a non literal descriptive way to talk, or another way of saying the Four directions. However, Isa 40:22 is often used in an attempt to support a spherical earth, so we know they are not brushing it off.
AIG says, it is clear from such passages as Isaiah 40:22 that the Bible implies it is spherical.
http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs/1138.asp
And
Christian Answers Says, A spherical earth is also described in Isaiah 40:21-22 - "the circle of the earth."
http://christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-c015.html
So as we can see, both groups, which are biblical literalist groups, accept this verse as being literal.
About Isaiah 40:22
and why it says the earth is Flat.
Isa 40:22** [It is] he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof [are] as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
The Strongs Definition of the Hebrew word used for circle is,
Chuwg: 1) circle, circuit, compass
http://www.blueletterbible.org/cgi-bin/words.pl?word=02329&page=1
The definition of a Circle is:
Circle:
1. A plane curve everywhere equidistant from a given fixed point, the center.
2. A planar region bounded by a circle.
3. Something, such as a ring, shaped like such a plane curve.
4. A circular course, circuit, or orbit: a satellite's circle around the earth.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=circle
So As you can see, a Circle is Not a sphere. Its a bounding region, and it outlines a flat 2D object, a disk. This fits the early Hebrew drawings of a Flat earth with heaven spread out like a dome over it. It would also be of interest to note that the two other words used to define Chuwg are very similar to the definition of a "Circle".
It is also interesting that they used Chuwg instead of Duwr, which has this definition:
duwr:
1) ball, circle
a) circle
b) ball
http://www.blueletterbible.org/cgi-bin/words.pl?word=01754&page=1
A Ball often being a sphere like object.
An interesting Commentary on another verse that uses Chuwg, suggests that the originally belief was that the earth was flat. It also supports many of the drawings of the early hebrew earth:
Proverb 8:27
27. when he set .*.*. depth--marked out the circle, according to the popular idea of the earth, as circular, surrounded by depths on which the visible concave heavens rested.
-Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown
http://blueletterbible.org/Comm/jfb/Pro/Pro008.html
Matthew 4:8 also supports a flat earth,
Mat 4:8** Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
It is impossible to see All the kingdoms of the world from a single mountain, on a spherical earth, however it is possible on a flat earth. So this supports a flat earth.
Arguments against Isa 40:22
There are a couple arguments against Isa 40:22 saying the earth is flat.
1) There is no Hebrew word for Sphere so circle was used instead.
Response: this defense still falsifies the claim that Isa 40:22 really means sphere. It has been seen from drawings and other verses that when the bible was written, it was believed the earth was flat. Just like my answer to number two, you would assume that if someone wanted to describe something and they didnt have the words, they would use a word closer to what they meant.
2) Duwr does not mean sphere because of its different usage in other verses.
Response: You can see other words in the bible that seem to have different meanings depending on the context. However, a ball like object is still much more sphere like than a circle. Thus I would assume that they would want to use a word that better described the shape of the earth. Especially since it was then believed the earth was a flat circle, if they truly wanted to say different, then it would have been smart to stay away from words that meant Flat Circle, and go with words that meant a 3d object, like a ball.
Conclusion
It was not believed the earth was a sphere, as we can see that the verse often used to show the earth as a sphere, does not mean sphere, but circle. We can also conclude that it is more than likely that it was believed that the earth was flat and wrote that belief into the bible.
What does this mean to christians?, not much. The Earth was believed to be flat, but it being written in the bible doesnt change the main points. In my opinion, since the bible is not a science book, the earth was called flat to get the message across. We can look back in history and see what happens when people go against the general belief (like Geocentric vs Heliocentric), and I would think that the bible wouldnt need all of that as well, when it was trying to get its original message across.
What does this mean to literal biblicalists? It means that they must either start believing the earth is flat, as it literally says in the bible, ignore what it says in the bible and believe the earth is round, or try and interpret the bible to fit their own views.
An interesting aspect of this is that a Flat earth appears to have more literal scripture than a 6000 year old earth. The belief of a 6000 year old earth has come about from back tracking geneologies and other events in the bible, however there is no scripture that states the earth is 6000 years old. Above I have showed scripture that states the earth is a flat circle, thus providing more scripture than a 6000 year old earth.
-Ari
As I often found myself writting this out, I thought I would write out a general response to it. I wouldnt mind any comments.
-----
Does the bible say the earth is Flat?
The answer to this is Important to creationists, as you would assume it would need to say the earth is round and not flat for them to be able to say they truly take the bible literally, unless they decide to join the Flat Earth Society.
So does the bible say the earth is round or Flat.
Verses
My favorite verse about this is Isaiah 40:22:
Isa 40:22** [It is] he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof [are] as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
I will get to why this supports a Flat Earth later, however first I want to explain why its my Favorite.
It's my favorite because it hasnt been brushed off like other verses have. Often verses that refer to the four corners of the earth are brushed off as being a non literal descriptive way to talk, or another way of saying the Four directions. However, Isa 40:22 is often used in an attempt to support a spherical earth, so we know they are not brushing it off.
AIG says, it is clear from such passages as Isaiah 40:22 that the Bible implies it is spherical.
http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs/1138.asp
And
Christian Answers Says, A spherical earth is also described in Isaiah 40:21-22 - "the circle of the earth."
http://christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-c015.html
So as we can see, both groups, which are biblical literalist groups, accept this verse as being literal.
About Isaiah 40:22
and why it says the earth is Flat.
Isa 40:22** [It is] he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof [are] as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
The Strongs Definition of the Hebrew word used for circle is,
Chuwg: 1) circle, circuit, compass
http://www.blueletterbible.org/cgi-bin/words.pl?word=02329&page=1
The definition of a Circle is:
Circle:
1. A plane curve everywhere equidistant from a given fixed point, the center.
2. A planar region bounded by a circle.
3. Something, such as a ring, shaped like such a plane curve.
4. A circular course, circuit, or orbit: a satellite's circle around the earth.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=circle
So As you can see, a Circle is Not a sphere. Its a bounding region, and it outlines a flat 2D object, a disk. This fits the early Hebrew drawings of a Flat earth with heaven spread out like a dome over it. It would also be of interest to note that the two other words used to define Chuwg are very similar to the definition of a "Circle".
It is also interesting that they used Chuwg instead of Duwr, which has this definition:
duwr:
1) ball, circle
a) circle
b) ball
http://www.blueletterbible.org/cgi-bin/words.pl?word=01754&page=1
A Ball often being a sphere like object.
An interesting Commentary on another verse that uses Chuwg, suggests that the originally belief was that the earth was flat. It also supports many of the drawings of the early hebrew earth:
Proverb 8:27
27. when he set .*.*. depth--marked out the circle, according to the popular idea of the earth, as circular, surrounded by depths on which the visible concave heavens rested.
-Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown
http://blueletterbible.org/Comm/jfb/Pro/Pro008.html
Matthew 4:8 also supports a flat earth,
Mat 4:8** Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
It is impossible to see All the kingdoms of the world from a single mountain, on a spherical earth, however it is possible on a flat earth. So this supports a flat earth.
Arguments against Isa 40:22
There are a couple arguments against Isa 40:22 saying the earth is flat.
1) There is no Hebrew word for Sphere so circle was used instead.
Response: this defense still falsifies the claim that Isa 40:22 really means sphere. It has been seen from drawings and other verses that when the bible was written, it was believed the earth was flat. Just like my answer to number two, you would assume that if someone wanted to describe something and they didnt have the words, they would use a word closer to what they meant.
2) Duwr does not mean sphere because of its different usage in other verses.
Response: You can see other words in the bible that seem to have different meanings depending on the context. However, a ball like object is still much more sphere like than a circle. Thus I would assume that they would want to use a word that better described the shape of the earth. Especially since it was then believed the earth was a flat circle, if they truly wanted to say different, then it would have been smart to stay away from words that meant Flat Circle, and go with words that meant a 3d object, like a ball.
Conclusion
It was not believed the earth was a sphere, as we can see that the verse often used to show the earth as a sphere, does not mean sphere, but circle. We can also conclude that it is more than likely that it was believed that the earth was flat and wrote that belief into the bible.
What does this mean to christians?, not much. The Earth was believed to be flat, but it being written in the bible doesnt change the main points. In my opinion, since the bible is not a science book, the earth was called flat to get the message across. We can look back in history and see what happens when people go against the general belief (like Geocentric vs Heliocentric), and I would think that the bible wouldnt need all of that as well, when it was trying to get its original message across.
What does this mean to literal biblicalists? It means that they must either start believing the earth is flat, as it literally says in the bible, ignore what it says in the bible and believe the earth is round, or try and interpret the bible to fit their own views.
An interesting aspect of this is that a Flat earth appears to have more literal scripture than a 6000 year old earth. The belief of a 6000 year old earth has come about from back tracking geneologies and other events in the bible, however there is no scripture that states the earth is 6000 years old. Above I have showed scripture that states the earth is a flat circle, thus providing more scripture than a 6000 year old earth.
-Ari
