So many people look to the Bible to try and proof and justify their claim that the earth is flat. But here is my question: why do you look for natural truth in a book that is meant to give us spiritual truth? You don’t go to a theological school to study to become a medical doctor or an engineer. While the Bible tells us that God created everything, it does not reveal or tell us specifically all of the details behind God’s creation. God did not intend for us to depend only on the Bible to learn all about Chemistry, Biology, or Engineering. The Bible’s primary purpose is NOT to teach us about science, history or the nature of the stars and the galaxies. NO! The Bible’s primary purpose, the Bible overarching purpose is to tell us how to be saved eternally. The Bible is salvation’s handbook, and it tells us salvation is only possible through Jesus, the Christ. The Old Testament foretold of His coming, the New Testament says He (Jesus) is here. The Old Testament foreshadow Jesus, the New Testament announces his life, death, resurrections and salvation.
When God commanded us to subdue the earth (Genesis 1:28), He provided us with the capability to observe and study nature so that we can carry out this command. God has gifted men intellectually (as we see in the likes of Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton). In ancient times, Pythagoras was credited with having been the first to teach that the Earth was spherical. To be crystal clear, the Bible does NOT explicitly say that the earth is flat. On the contrary, I think the Bible hints that the earth is spherical. Isaiah (40:22) tells us figuratively that God is enthroned on the ‘circle’ of the earth. Interestingly, if you look at the Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon, the word ‘Circle’ can be translated to mean ‘Sphere.’ Why anyone would interpret circle as flat (in this scripture context), is a tradition of man, not God. Sometimes, the Bible uses poetic language, idiomatic language, and figurative language. Are you able to differentiate or do you take it all literally? Believing that the Bible is literally true does not mean there are no metaphorical or poetic language in it at all.
As soon we learn to read the word of God for what it is without any strings attached; when we really surrender to God and ask, “What is the scripture really saying?” The Holy Spirit does his job of convicting us.
I’ll be keen to believe that the earth is flat if anyone can show me the edge of the earth. Multiple expeditions explored Antarctica, and no “edge” has been found there. You can walk or travel East on Earth forever, but you can only travel North so far before you’re headed South again. This makes logical sense if considering the earth to be spherical. Phases of the moon provide strong evidence that the earth is spherical. The shadow of the Earth on the Moon during a lunar eclipse is always a dark circle that moves from one side of the Moon to the other. The only shape that casts a round shadow no matter which direction it is pointed is a sphere, and the ancient Greeks deduced that this must mean the Earth is spherical. From a spherical point of view of the earth, astronomers not only can explain eclipses, but they can accurately predict when both lunar and solar eclipses will happen down to the minute, and where they will be visible from, even for several years into the future.
Proven that the earth is spinning on its axis as it revolves and tilts all the way around the sun, day and night time and all four seasons (summer, winter, spring and autumn) experienced in different parts of earth can be simply explained. The earth’s rotation is what gives us day and night everyday all year. Night time occurs if you are on the side of the earth that is facing away from the sun as the earth is spinning. And daytime occurs if you are on the side of the earth facing the sun. It’s summer if you are on the side of the earth as it tilts towards the sun – it would be warm and the daytime is longer. It’s winter if you are on the side of the earth that is titled away from the sun – it would be cold and the daytime is shorter. In-between this two seasons, we have spring and autumn. One full revolution of the earth around the sun is said to be a year (365 days).
If anyone should ever observe birds and airplanes flying in the sky, you must have seen that after a while they disappear out of view completely. Why is that? It is NOT because they have gone too far away, and my eyes cannot track them, no! Infact, if you are on a high vantage point with a telescope tracking an aircraft inflight, the aircraft will eventually completely disappear out of sight. In a completely flat world, this would not happen. However, because the earth is proven to be spherical in shape, this phenomenon occurs and can be explained as thus. As we observe on the horizon, boats disappear bottom to top, thus suggesting that the earth is indeed curved.
There are several pictures of the Earth from space. Some may say they don’t trust NASA, but why stop there? There are images of the Earth from the Japanese Himawari-8 satellite in geostationary orbit. There are plenty of other satellite images of a full Earth from geostationary orbit. Several nations have been into orbit, and the ISS (International Space Station) is active right now – none of them are managed by NASA. From all these photos taken in space, surely it is crystal clear to the naked human eyes that the earth has a spherical shape. I honestly think people who dedicate so much of their limited time on this earth arguing and debating whether the earth is flat or not are wasting valuable time.
You don’t need to have a PhD in Astronomy to simply understand that the earth has a spherical shape. If you disagree, please do reflect on what I have shared sincerely. I’ve tried here to simply explain why I hold strongly to the view that the earth is spherical without contradicting what the Bible says. The Bible tells us what God is like, but the Bible never suggests that we can comprehensively know everything that is to be known about God and the universe in this lifetime. I am convinced that even in Heaven, it’s going to take us eternity to comprehend the depth of the riches and knowledge of God. For now, we know in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. May God grant us all insight into all these things. May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, give us all the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that we may know him (Jesus) better.
In Christ Alone 