I've read the first 7 pages of this, and I find that I am not entirely surprised to find Flat Earthers here. In fact, if memory served, I put out a post several months ago asking if there were any flat earthers. The thread went nowhere.
Before I begin, let me say this: To believe that the Earth is flat, one must discount everything we know about just about everything. WE start, of course, with Cosmology. If the earth is flat, then everything we know about cosmology is wrong. In Oceanography, the movement of the currents is irrevocably tied to the shape and movement of the earth. So, if everything we know about cosmology is wrong, so is everything we know about Oceanography. Clearly tied with Oceanography, we have Meteorology. The Sun is the driiving force of weather; heating the atmostphere and earth's surface at different temperatures at different times, where the weather then reacts to balance heat and moisture. So, not only is everything we know about cosmology and oceanography wrong, so is everything we know about meteorology. Tied with oceanography, cosmology and meteorology is, of course, geology. If the earth is not spherical with a molten iron core in the middle where the earth is in a constant state of being pulled to its iron core when heavy then melting and rising, giving the changes of earth layers through this action, then everything we know about geology is wrong. To make a blatant statement that everything we know about everything: Cosmology, Geology, Paleontology, Oceanography, Meteorology; is wrong? Now, that is a bold and totally ignorant statement.
Now. Allow me to begin evaluating some of the specifics ...
Scripture is replete with a multitude of clear references to the Earth being not a globe suspended in space, but a flat surface. Just a few of these descriptions would be:
<snipped>
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Yes, the same books that stated that leprosy can be healed by killing pigeons and lists bats as fowl? The Bible is not a science book, nor was it intended to be.
1.) Gyroscopic navigation successfully used for decades would not be possible upon a spinning globe Earth. The reference gyros would continuously precess and move as the globe Earth spins. Planes, ships, and missles would crash..
We are moving as well. You are viewing the craft as a separate entity of the gyro. Think of the gyro and the craft and all within the craft as one object.
2.) A globe Earth would not continuously spin around the Polaris star, as the Earth hurtles in three axis motion through space in the Solar System, Galaxy, and Galaxy Cluster, all moving at millions of miles per hour.
I guess you've never taken a road trip through Western Kansas or Eastern Colorado. Here, we see that silo in the distance; but we must travel many miles before it moves but a degree or two in our field of view. This phenomenon can be noticed on any highway by noticing the telephone poles whipping by while the hillside in the distance seems to crawl by. This is a matter of perspective. The laws of perspective do not magically stop at the edge of our atmosphere.
On a further note: Please research "North Star". Our current North Star has not always been the North Star; and this is clearly documented throughout history as sailors in one century referenced a different star or the same star in a different correction than the preceding. Another instance for reference is that the 3 pyramids of Giza were, when built, in line with the belt of Orion; which, today, they no longer are.
What you expect to see -- stars not set in the skies -- you do see; but due to perspectives of viewing such great distances, this happens very slowly ... like the silo in the plains and like the hillside moving slowly by your window while the telephone poles whip by.
3.) There exist no actual photos of the Earth taken from space vehicles. All NASA Earth images from them are admitted by them to be "composite images" artificially produced. As well, those images never show sky blue atmosphere around the Earth as we see it from the Earth.
Composite images vs. actual images has been previously discussed.
The "clear blue canopy of sky" is an illusion created by the bending of light by vapor in our atmosphere. It is also a matter of perspective; as above the earth, we are outside of that vapor, thus the light is not filtered and bent outside of the atmosphere the same way it is filtered and bent going through the atmosphere, finally reaching our eyes or camera lenses.
This is the same kind of argument as "water on mars" or "moon landing hoax" or "strange objects mounted under 9/11 planes". The arguments are always perpetrated by those who have no knowledge of the physics of light or the science of photography.
4.) A thousand mph surface speed at the spinning equator of a globe Earth would have long ago forced all of the crustally mobile continents to move to the equator. But, this has not happened.
Ever heard of the Equatorial Bulge?
5.) There is no physical mechanism to cause the Earth's atmosphere to spin at the same rate as the surface of a spheroid Earth. The wind at the equator of a globe Earth should be supersonic, but it is not.
Of course there is. It's called "gravity". Mass attracts mass. The elements that make our atmosphere is mass. Through the force of gravity, that mass is pulled towards the core of the earth and held firm; same as you and me.
GPS is not in the Bible. So, it is inconsequential to God. Follow Him.
This is a clever and ineffective deflection of the original question, which was, "Do you have an explanation for GPS?" The answer to this question should be very simple: "Yes" or "No". So, let's ask again and let's have a real answer this time: "Do you have an explanation for GPS?"
Did you forget to remember the most recent Astrophysical Evidence shows "gravity" is actually a pushing force coming from the far reaches of the Universe?
It is true that we do not know what gravity is; but we do know enough about it to do amazing things, such as lift airplanes into the sky and allow a man in a parachute to land as soft as a feather under the canopy of a parachute, or build bridges and structures capable of supporting their own weight. Now, I'm leaving out other amazing achievements of mankind; such as discovering exoplanets, putting men on the moon, GPS and satellites, and landing probes on passing asteroids. To believe in a flat earth, you must disbelieve these claims.
Hypocrisy alert: You claim that God surpasses human understanding yet exists; then claim that gravity must not exist because it surpasses human definition? How quaint.
I personally lean towards the belief that the Earth is relatively flat. The Buddhist scriptures also seem to speak of a flat earth. If I'm not mistaken, most ancient religions taught of a flat earth, and people have believed in a flat earth for millenia except for the last couple hundred years. I doubt anyone here have actually seen the shape of the Earth from a high enough vantage point to know for themselves either way, myself included.
Actually, the first person to deduce a spherical earth was Pythagoras in 6th century BCE. He actually calculated the diameter of the earth with impressive accuracy. Man has known for almost 3,000 years that the Earth was spherical. We are not the late comers; it is the flat earthers who, for reasons of their own, refuse to believe the self-evident.
If the Earth was truly a sphere, and
spinning around its axis, spinning around the sun, and spinning around the galaxy, the positions of the stars should show huge variations on a daily basis, but they don't.
They do. Laws of perspective prevent this from being self-evident in a lifetime or even several lifetimes. The backdrop of the stars in the sky is not permanent. To hold them to be permanent is small thinking from the perceptions of a very finite individual living a very finite span of time.
That's nice. Here's my evidence then:
That is not evidence; but let's plan on this.
According to this website:
http://www.travelmath.com, the flight time from Sao Palo to New York is 10 hours. According to the same website, from New York to Melbourne is approx. 21 hours. So, if we were leave Sao Palo and fly to Melbourne, we'd expect to fly in a Northerly direction for approx. 10 + 21 = 31 hours. But that's not how it happens. We actually fly in an Easterly direction, with a stopover in Africa, and arrive from Sao Palo to Melbourne in about 17 hours.
With that in mind, let's think about tailwinds and jet streams. Well, jet streams exist mostly in the Northern hemisphere; but, if everything we know about meteorology is wrong, let's go ahead and put one conveniently located from Sao Palo to Melbourne so that we can fly "easterly" direction with a strong tailwind and get us there faster. Most jet streams are about 200 mph; but let's buff that up to 250, just for giggles. An additional 250 mph does not equate to 1/2 the flight time expected from NYC to Melbourne; especially since we are flying in a semicircle to get to where we need to go, greatly increasing the flight distance required.
Flight times and flight distances do not jive with this silly flat earth model.
Oh; and about Antarctica being banned from human travel?
It's quite a tourist attraction; actually; civilians flying over Antarctica...
