Challenge

Can we all please stop feeding the trolls?

Ana the Ist said:

He's 19.

Didn't you know everything at 19?

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Well, I did know the world was round. And as I tell my students so did pretty much everyone else well before Columbus. They had calculated the circumference of the world back in Hellenistic times and were only four miles off. That's pretty remarkable if you ask me.

lesliedellow said:

A flat Earth is a special brand of nuttiness, which embarrasses even the majority of fundamentalists.

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Yeah, but if you are going to take Genesis literally, isn't that where you should end up?

MaxR1996 said:

There are no stars

There is no atmosphere

There is a reflection/highlight in the middle of the Earth.

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Show me a picture of new York with stars and an atmosphere.

Ana the Ist said:

I don't think it is...I've seen what evangelicals do to their children. It's legal, since you're allowed to teach your children whatever you like in this nation....but it looks monstrous to me.

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And if they are homeschooled they won't know any better.

[QUOTE="MaxR1996, post: 68986670, member: 380504"
We found the edge in 1958 in Antarctica.[/QUOTE]

"We" found the edge? You weren't even born in 1958.

I'm not sure I agree with you , Max R. Yu claim that God put these ideas into your head before you went to church. Well, ho do you know that? I'm more inclined to think your views on Genesis were subliminally picked u by you via the pervasive assumption of many Christians that Genesis is a true creation account. Another point is that while I believe in God, I hold the Genesis account is false and consists of two conflicting accounts. Again, I think you are going more on religious prejudice than God.

leftrightleftrightleft said:

Can we all please stop feeding the trolls?

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Mostly using the thread as an excuse to post awesome photos

Awesome pictures!

William67 said:

Here are a couple, showing not only the curvature of the earth, but also stars and sunlight reflecting off of dust in the upper atmosphere (that's the thin luminous line). The space station is on the "dayside" of earth, which is why the dust reflects so well.

Showing Sicily and the "boot" of Italy.

Showing Egypt. The bright area is the cities along the Nile river and Nile Delta.

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AV1611VET said:

I beg your pardon?What's this then:

2 Corinthians 12:2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, ( whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth; ) such an one caught up to the third heaven.

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The Ptolemaic system of the universe. But that is in the New Testament, not the Old.

AV1611VET said:

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

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Young's Literal Translation:

In the beginning of God's preparing the heavens and the earth --

MaxR1996 said:

Genesis IS literal. Its you versus God. Good luck.

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Not the way i read scripture as a Baha'i. In the 19th century there was an interesting dialogue between a Baha'i scholar by the name of Mirza Abu'l-Fadl and the head of the Ahmadi Muslim sect. Mirza Abu'l-Fadl. The third caliph of the Ahmadiyyas had asked Mirza Abu'l-Fadl whether the story of Noah living 950 years as stated in the Qur'an is to be taken literally or if it has another meaning. Mirza Abu'l-Fadl gives a rather complicated response. He points out that the story of Noah in the Qur'an is based on the Biblical story (something Muslims generally would not like to admit.)

Mirza Abu'l-Fadl then turns his attention to examining the nature of the Bible. He points out that while parts of the Bible are clearly
records of God's revelation (for instance the parts which begin "Thus speaketh the Lord") there are other parts which are historical
accounts and other material which make no claims to being revealed. He points out that when we consider the historicity of the biblical
accounts we must also compare them with other histories. In this context, he points out that the ancient histories of places like China
or India have no account of the flood. He even goes so far as to point out that Egyptian history does not substantiate the story of Moses or
the drowning of Pharoah's army in the Red Sea.

However, that somewhat begs the questions because these stories are found in the Qur'an all of which is regarded as revelation. And here
is where Mirza Abu'l-Fadl lays down a principle which I think is essential to understanding the proper relationship between religion
and science:

"The Prophet Muhammad said, "We, the concourse of Prophets, were commanded to address the people according to the capacity of their
minds," and, likewise, "Speak to the people of that with which they are familiar. Do you wish God and His Messenger to be accused of
lying?" Thus was it related by the learned judge Muhammad ibn Ahmad Rushd al-Andalusí [Averroes] "It is well known that the Prophets and
Manifestations of the Cause of God were sent to guide the nations, to refine their characters, and to bring the people nearer to their
Source and Ultimate Goal. They were not sent as historians, astronomers, philosophers, or natural scientists the Prophets indulged
the people in regard to their historical notions, folk stories, and scientific principles and spoke to them according to these. They conversed with them as was appropriate to their audience and hid realities behind the curtain of allusion." (Miracles and Metaphors p. 39)"It has, then, been established that the historian cannot depend for historical knowledge upon the outward meanings of Qur'anic verses and that Noah and his like are not mentioned in the rest of the ancient histories." (p. 40)

MaxR1996 said:

The shape of the Earth doesn't change over time.

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Nope, but people's conception of it obviously did.