Flat Earth and God
« on: September 18, 2017, 03:47:18 PM »
Hello all,

I am new to this FE theory and I'm filled with questions. I want to believe the Earth is indeed not a sphere, but it's just hard accepting that I've been lied to all of my life. One question I have is: Does a person have to believe in God in order to believe that the Earth is flat?

Offline StinkyOne

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Re: Flat Earth and God
« Reply #1 on: September 18, 2017, 03:53:07 PM »
Hello all,

I am new to this FE theory and I'm filled with questions. I want to believe the Earth is indeed not a sphere, but it's just hard accepting that I've been lied to all of my life. One question I have is: Does a person have to believe in God in order to believe that the Earth is flat?

No, FE is not always religion-based. I do have to ask, why would you think the Earth is not round?
I saw a video where a pilot was flying above the sun.
-Terry50

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Offline Dither

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Re: Flat Earth and God
« Reply #2 on: September 19, 2017, 09:46:30 PM »
Does a person have to believe in God in order to believe that the Earth is flat?

No, but some Atheists have become Agnostics after making the switch.

In other words FET lends itself to a Creator myth, and it can magnify your religious convictions.
You bring whatever you have to the table, and if you have nothing, you'll probably look for something.
A lie will make it around the world before the truth has time to put on its shoes.

devils advocate

Re: Flat Earth and God
« Reply #3 on: September 19, 2017, 10:38:23 PM »
Does a person have to believe in God in order to believe that the Earth is flat?

No, but some Atheists have become Agnostics after making the switch.

In other words FET lends itself to a Creator myth, and it can magnify your religious convictions.
You bring whatever you have to the table, and if you have nothing, you'll probably look for something.

Excellent point Dither, Flat earth does need a "myth" to lean on. This is what causes the debates here to be so one sided: FE uses mythology, belief and denial whilst the RE simply use science and the latest accepted, provable fact.

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Offline juner

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Re: Flat Earth and God
« Reply #4 on: September 20, 2017, 12:30:15 AM »
Does a person have to believe in God in order to believe that the Earth is flat?

No, but some Atheists have become Agnostics after making the switch.

In other words FET lends itself to a Creator myth, and it can magnify your religious convictions.
You bring whatever you have to the table, and if you have nothing, you'll probably look for something.

Excellent point Dither, Flat earth does need a "myth" to lean on. This is what causes the debates here to be so one sided: FE uses mythology, belief and denial whilst the RE simply use science and the latest accepted, provable fact.

Except that is not what happens here save for maybe a few users who are particularly religious. I'd suggest reading the FAQ and wiki as it is obvious you haven't done so (otherwise you would avoid ignorant posts such as this).

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Offline Dither

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Re: Flat Earth and God
« Reply #5 on: September 20, 2017, 12:38:50 AM »
Flat earth does need a "myth" to lean on.

No it doesn't, you have purposely misrepresented my statement.
There are flat earthers who are Athiests as well, you can hold any position you like.

A worldview doesn't have to make sense, take Evolution for example,
And the Big Bang??? Nothing creating something??? Sorry but that doesn't work either.
We are not omniscient so everything we conceive will have an element of faith to it.
And the position a person holds may send them down different roads.

But some dont worry about the roads and can live with the paradox.


 



 
A lie will make it around the world before the truth has time to put on its shoes.

devils advocate

Re: Flat Earth and God
« Reply #6 on: September 20, 2017, 07:36:06 AM »
Flat earth does need a "myth" to lean on.

No it doesn't, you have purposely misrepresented my statement.
There are flat earthers who are Athiests as well, you can hold any position you like.

A worldview doesn't have to make sense, take Evolution for example,
And the Big Bang??? Nothing creating something??? Sorry but that doesn't work either.
We are not omniscient so everything we conceive will have an element of faith to it.
And the position a person holds may send them down different roads.

But some dont worry about the roads and can live with the paradox.

Apologies Dither, I was not trying to be offensive to your point of view, on reflection I did not phrase myself that well so sorry about that.

What I was trying to get to was that the RE debates mainly come from a scientific perspective based upon agreed, mutually supported evidence accepted by scientific disciplines. The FE position comes from either purely empirical observation or accepted "I don't know" stances whilst refuting all the scientific evidence presented as false without offering anything in return.

As for the big bang and evolution that's  a whole other debate. Again both concepts are supported by an absolute wealth of mutually supporting evidence whereas the creationist view has only the Bible as evidence and the concepts of intelligent design means it must be so.

I agree with you that any position we have comes with a caveat of faith in built; after watching "The Matrix" I guess none of us can ever be SURE we even exist as humans beings  :D

Offline Ga_x2

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Re: Flat Earth and God
« Reply #7 on: September 20, 2017, 08:16:55 AM »
While it's true that one can come to a position through faith, I personally think that the religious angle isn't particularly productive for a discussion.
The only leaps of faith we need to do are that logic and induction work (and these are two things we all take for granted, in order to function normally).
Beyond that, evolution, the shape of the planet, etc, are all things that can and should be investigated on the basis of shared observations.
If one is refusing to accept the evidence presented on the basis of a religious preconception, then there is no discussion. If you need to assert that (say) the earth is flat, because you will otherwise be damned to hell, there is precious little I can say to change your mind.
 
Beside that, in my limited experience, most of the FE who actually engage in conversations here in the upper fora, don't usually bring up religion or belief as a justification for anything.

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Offline Jura-Glenlivet

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Re: Flat Earth and God
« Reply #8 on: September 20, 2017, 09:20:11 PM »

Perhaps the best religious fit there is to the flat earth, is in the Norse mythology. Where the bit where we live corresponds to midgard, and the ice-wall and beyond represents Jotunheim, the dwelling-places of the giants, “described as deep, dark forests, mountain peaks where winter never eases its grip, “
Rather than being good Christians, these people are probably pagans.
Just to be clear, you are all terrific, but everything you say is exactly what a moron would say.

Offline 3DGeek

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Re: Flat Earth and God
« Reply #9 on: September 21, 2017, 03:32:43 PM »
While it's true that one can come to a position through faith, I personally think that the religious angle isn't particularly productive for a discussion.
The only leaps of faith we need to do are that logic and induction work (and these are two things we all take for granted, in order to function normally).
Beyond that, evolution, the shape of the planet, etc, are all things that can and should be investigated on the basis of shared observations.
If one is refusing to accept the evidence presented on the basis of a religious preconception, then there is no discussion. If you need to assert that (say) the earth is flat, because you will otherwise be damned to hell, there is precious little I can say to change your mind.
 
Beside that, in my limited experience, most of the FE who actually engage in conversations here in the upper fora, don't usually bring up religion or belief as a justification for anything.

Indeed.  If you say:

1) "I believe the Earth is Flat because it says so in {some religious book or other}."...and...
2) "I have FAITH that it's true because God(s) said so."...and...
3) "God(s) is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent."...

...then no argument of any kind can sway you.  An omnipotent god can tie light rays into pretzels - do any kind of magic trick needed to make flatness look like roundness.  He/she/it can edit the memories of astronauts, fritz with NASA's photographs.   Make ships do whatever he wants as the cross the horizon.

If you're prepared to say "God Did It" - then there is no possible contrary argument.

If that's the persons' position, then there can be no rational debate.   Blind dogma is unassailable.   BUT I can say:  "I don't believe in your god(s)."I don't observe any properties of the universe that back up your position." and "It's really not worth discussing anything with you...goodbye!".

People who take that position are deeply uninteresting to me...I find the algae in my backyard pond considerably more fascinating to talk to!


Hey Tom:  What path do the photons take from the physical location of the sun to my eye at sunset?