AATW is a Christian who thinks that the Bible is true and the word of God, but that God repeatedly lied about the nature of the earth, with numerous quotes and references suggesting a Flat Earth.
Nice straw man argument but no, that is not what I believe. I believe your interpretation of the Bible to be incorrect. As does every branch of the church, I don’t know any mainstream church that teaches a flat earth. Do you? Does your church teach that, if you have a church?
Yes, the Bible is true but that doesn’t mean it’s a science book and we should use it to determine the nature of reality. We have 2 verses, one talking about the circle of the earth, another talking about 4 corners of the earth. If you’re going to take both those verses literally then you are literally trying to square a circle - circles don’t have corners...
I believe Genesis is true but I believe it is teaching us deeper truths than the age of the universe or the exact process of creation. Were I born a few hundred years ago I’d probably believe the earth to have been created in 6 literal days a few thousand years ago. Now we know different so instead of denying all modern science I choose to think about how that Scripture should be understood. I don’t think God is lying, I just think He is trying to teach me deeper truths in early Genesis than the age of the universe.
Genesis teaches me that I and the earth and the universe are creations. It teaches me I was created by God. It teaches me that I was created separately from the rest of creation, in the image of God. And it teaches me of my rebellion from Him, the consequences of that and my need for Salvation. These are the important truths of Genesis, the exact timeline really isn’t that important.
As science progresses we have a choice as Christians. Do we deny all the science or, if science contradicts our understanding of scripture, do we think about how our interpretation of those scriptures may need to change. The Catholic Church did the former when they put Galileo under house arrest for promoting the Copernican heliocentric model. There are verses in the Bible which imply the earth is stationary. But, in the end, the scientific evidence won out and the Pope finally apologised to Galileo (in the 1990s,
embarrassingly). Again, there is no mainstream church I know of that promotes a geocentric model with a stationary earth. Science has changed our understanding of Scripture here too.
I don’t believe God is lying about the nature of the earth, I don’t think He’s trying to teach me about that through Scripture. That’s for science to work out. God teaches me about the nature of Himself through Scripture, not the earth. And Scripture itself tells us what else it’s for:
2 Timothy 3:16
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousnes”