You may have read my more general post called Flat Earth vs. Globe Earth and Why it Matters to You
This was a more generic discussion of the topic focusing on some of the challenges one faces when starting down the journey – Bible believer or not.
I would like to now address a more specific matter: Why the Flat Earth Should Matter to Bible Believing Christians.
I used the word ‘should’ for a very specific reason: there are many, many things in the Bible that form answers to the question “Who am I?” Does the question ‘Who am I?” matter to you? If not, there’s an exit at the back of the hall with the sign ‘Refiners Fire’ above the door. Go there and then come back when you’re done. You need some more time in the flames and disappointments of life, apparently. For the rest of us who have already figured out that there must be more to life than the duplication of cells on a petri dish, let’s continue.
I have heard the following statements from well-meaning believers around town when I asked them to consider the flat earth:
- It’s not a priority topic like salvation through Jesus
- The Bible is not meant to be a scientific book
- It doesn’t affect my faith in God so it’s not a priority for me
Does the answer to the question ‘who am I?’ matter? It matters more than life itself. Some people will cross continents, jump out of planes (with parachutes), do wild and death-dancing drugs, get married more than once because the one they married wasn’t their ‘soul mate’, etc, etc. Some will even, tragically, kill themselves should they not in time find the answer to the question.
Indeed the answer to the question is more important than life itself. We are here for a short time and what we do here is dictated by who we are. If you think you are a meaningless piece of randomness floating through space just lucky enough to have ended up on the one floating ball with life on it, you will probably view the world a certain way and behave in accordance with those beliefs. On the other hand if you believe that the earth is a flat stage and the entire cosmos with the sun and moon was designed for you, spins around you, and was designed for you, you might act in yet a different way. If you thought you were the afterthought of a ballot box shook up and thankfully chosen to not not exist, you might act one way. However, if you thought that a Great Composer composed your life as a dramatic symphony for you, or an Amazing Artist painted this world as a piece of artwork for you and with only you in mind, you might think and act differently.
The answer to ‘Who am I?” is more important than life itself for if you don’t know who you are and why you are here – how then can you live at all?
So who are you anyway?
Have you heard both versions of the story, or have you only heard the story of your random nothingness?
What story are you going to believe when neither can be proven in a petri dish?
Here is a bullet point list of what I believe about who I am, by the grace of God, thanks to the faith He has given me:
- there was a creative God of love who always was
- at some point in eternity past, He sovereignly decided to create a place called earth
- the purpose of God’s creation was to create a home for a new creation called humans with whom God Himself will commune and share His love
- With amazing glory (see the cosmos), with unspeakable creativity (see how many variations of bees there are as a starter), and with great power (see Genesis 1) He, with His own matter-generating words of wisdom and power, spoke our earth into existence.
- in Genesis and many other places throughout the Bible this place is described as an immovable flat plane on a solid foundation upon which lie the depths of the oceans and the breadth of the land and over which the stars, moon and sun circle and where a solid firmament exists – far above us and separating us from the waters above.
- God crafted us with his hands, shaped us into His own image, and placed us at the pinnacle of His creation and then breathed His very life into us separating us from all other creation
- God made us the focal point of His everything – the centre of His attention – the apple of His eye
- This whole life is simply a stage upon which we act out the bitter-sweet scenes on our way to eventual and complete redemption
But there are those who cannot believe what I believe. I don’t have the answers as to why, other than they have not received the faith to believe. I now find anything that conflicts with the above set of beliefs to defy logic and the very heart that is found within me. It goes against everything my intuition, conscience and even mind is able to tolerate.
And so this topic of the flat earth and cosmology matters greatly as it speaks clear answers to the question “Who am I?”
Our world has failed us time and time again.
The lure of ‘scientism’ and their wild and spiritual faith-based theories has done nothing more than to leave us empty and thirsting for the truth. The more and more we thirst, the more and more they craft up theories to leave us more thirsty.
I have found the answer to who I am and now my life is incredible, and (bonus) my faith in my God of the Bible has reached levels I have not yet experienced.
I hope and pray that you will gaze into the cosmos and ask the question again:
“Who am I?”
