Flat Earth vs Globe Earth and Why it Matters to You

It has taken me about three months to put out this first post on this topic. It took about two of those three months to process the emotional elements associated with a paradigm shift and the remaining month to more positively embrace and learn about what originally seemed as an archaic and outlandish pile of beefdirt (slightly different from hogwash).

Before considering anything, I want you to first try an experiment. Regardless of what you believe about anything, I want you to approach someone, perhaps a teacher, a lawyer, or someone else of repute and simply make a statement. In order to get them to cooperate, I recommend prefacing the questions with something like this: “I wanted to get your feedback on a few people I know and their positions on things”  The first survey question is this:

“Someone I know believes that earth is a kind of experiment and that aliens from another planet put us here. This guy basically believes in aliens. What do you think?”

Now, we are not looking here for their opinion, nor do we care about our own. What we are looking for is their *reaction*.  Now it’s time for the second question to the same person:

“Someone else I know believes that there is a God. Like a real person who created the whole world. What do you think about this?”

Again, we don’t care about their opinion or ours, just their *reaction*. Finally, the third and final one:

“This other guy I know believes that the earth is flat and that everything we’ve been taught in our textbooks about the ‘ball earth’ may not be true.”

And note the reaction between all three.

It has been my experience that people will react politely and with respect to the first two. They may disagree, think they are ridiculous or like a fairy tail, but there still an element of respect in the way they communicate. However, what is most intriguing to me is that when someone is presented with the idea that the earth is flat, for some reason this one creates a very clear reaction. It goes like this:

1. Shocked Disbelief

In this first stage you typically hear things like “You’ve got to be joking, right?” and “You aren’t serious, are you?” and “HA, HA, HA!!!”

2. Insulting Ridicule

During this stage, and it comes right away, statements like “Did this person even go to elementary school?” and “Did this person die in the dark ages and wake up today?” or even things like “Does this person even have a brain?”  The tone is often quite insulting and loaded with ridicule -akin perhaps to an adult who believes in Santa.

3.  Separation

During this stage you will notice that people around the flat earther who is considering the idea that the earth might be flat will be treated as if they had just dropped a nasty fart.  Slowly and politely people start separating from them and try to avoid being connected with this person.  This person is now socially awkward.  Keep in mind that green aliens were not…

4. Anger

Should the person who is considering the flat earth model make it through stages 1 to 3, the next stage is more challenging.  Family, friends and anyone else in the tight circle will begin to get a bit angry.  Without any in depth study of the model, they will make bold statements such as ‘You’re wrong” and “You need to drop this flat earth thing” and “You are crazy and I don’t want to talk about this any more” or “Seriously, WTF is wrong with you?”  You know – angry statements.

So unlike the alien or deities, for some odd reason this topic shakes people up.  It really gets to their core.  It stirs something up inside of them that other discussion topics don’t.  I was left to truly ponder this and think about why it was that such emotions and reactions were incited.  In fact, it was these reactions that propelled me to study it beyond a surface glance.

Then I thought about 9/11.

The 9/11 incident used to be in a similar position.  When Loose Change came out, it was highly unpopular to discuss the possibility that a power higher than the public authorities and governments may have been involved in the destruction of the buildings and the innocent lives on USA land.  Yet after much investigation it is quite obvious that there is either ‘significant proof’ or ‘a strong reason to dispute the public report’.  Yet, all of the above stages/reactions could be observed if one were to present such an unpopular idea.

Yet, many of the people I know who believe that 9/11 was an inside job still display the above stages towards me when I present the flat earth idea to them.  Even though there is significant physical evidence to support the model, the reactions overpower the willingness to look.

So I was forced again to think about why the flat earth is even more unpopular than 9/11 as a inside job.  I have now concluded that the reason is quite simple.

The Bible clearly preaches the flat earth model.

The world hates God, has an agenda against the Bible, and fights tooth and nail against all truth found therein.

Other such examples of faith-based emotion-stirring topics are:

• we evolved from monkeys randomly  VS a loving God created us thoughtfully
• me and my interests are most important VS God and God’s interests are most important
• store up treasures in earth VS store up treasures in heaven
• if someone hits you, hit them back VS if someone hits you, turn and let them hit the other cheek, too
• if someone wrongs you, it’s ok to hate them VS forgive your enemy continually
• divorce is ok VS divorce is not ok
• abortion is ok VS abortion is not ok
• homosexuality is normal VS homosexuality is not normal
• we are specks of random dust, on a random ball, flying through space VS we are created beings, on a flat surface on the centre stage of everything God made for us

And so my conclusion is that in order for this topic to be so vehemently opposed, and with such gusto, there must be truly something here worth investigating further.

Stay tuned as I slowly explore this most interesting topic.