I think we can be honest here. The main reason the wider Flat Earth community rejects FES and UA is because scripture says that the earth is fixed and immovable.
In my opinion this is not what scripture states, however.
Chronicles 16:30 says: "He has fixed the earth firm, immovable."
Usually this is interpreted to mean that the earth is not moving.
Other sections clarify what that means:
Psalm 104:5 clarifies: "Thou didst fix the earth on its foundation so that it never can be shaken."
Another translation of Psalm 104:5 states "He established the earth upon its foundations, So that it will not totter forever and ever."
I read the above as the purpose and function of the foundation being for bringing stability to the earth. It is immovable and fixed in the sense that it can't wobble or totter. In Job, in fact, we read that the earth isn't actually resting on a foundational plane or entity.
Job 26:7 ESV: "He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing."
The earth is over a
void. Further, the earth is being
hung. What do you do when you hang things? You lift them up. The above word "hangs" is a verb, an action word, something that is happening. If you hang something on nothing you will have to continue to hang it on nothing. Hanging also implies being pulled in the opposite direction from "gravity".
Scripture also says that the earth rests upon pillars:
Samuel 2:8 says, "For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s and he had set the world upon them."
Usually this is interpreted to mean solid and unmovable pillars.
Yet, in other areas of scripture, we see that pillars tend to move up and down:
Exodus 33:9 says "And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses."
Numbers 12:5 relates "And the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth"
We see that pillars can move vertically in scripture, and are not necessarily solid in nature.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the bible on this subject is how the earth's creation is portrayed. The following is the account of Genesis from the New American Standard Bible, which I have read is a more direct translation than others:
https://www.biblica.com/bible/nasb/genesis/1/The Creation
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so.
On the second day of creation God created the expanse. What is "the expanse"? Usually it has been interpreted, under the Round Earth mindset, to mean the firmament and the expanse of the heavens (as they believe in a large universe). But this does not make sense. On the first day of creation the heavens were already created. On day one of creation God created the heavens, and then on day two of creation God created the heavens again?
I am not alone in this confusion:
https://ichthys.com/mail-Waters-Above-Firmament-Genesis-Gap.htmunderstanding Genesis 1:6-8 as being an ex nihilo creation of space which was not there before does not jibe with the overall context of the seven days (the heavens are now created on day two while the earth existed before day one), makes no logical sense (for it requires light and the earth to exist outside of space), and, much more importantly, is completely inconsistent with Genesis 1:1 which tells us that God had already previously created the heavens (mentioned first) and the earth instantaneously:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1 NIV
How can this verse be consistent with earth existing before day one but with the heavens not created until day two?
Even creationscience.com
says that there are multiple interpretations for this section of Genesis on what is meant by "the expanse," and what is meant by heaven and heavens.
The definition of an expanse is the distance to which something can grow or expand, or a vast open surface.
We read a definition at
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/expanseex·panse (ĭk-spăns′)
n.
1. A wide and open extent, as of surface, land, or sky.
2.
a. Expansion.
b. The distance or amount of expansion.
expanse (ɪkˈspæns)
n
1. an uninterrupted surface of something that spreads or extends, esp over a wide area; stretch: an expanse of water.
2. expansion or extension
Day Two of creation depicts the Creator as dividing something
vertically to create the expanse. Could the Universal Accelerator have been created on the Second Day?
It would be interesting if a biblical scholar looked at these interpretations under the Flat Earth mindset. The concepts of inertia and acceleration may have not been in use at the time of writing, or were known differently than today.
Would the wider Flat Earth community be interested in any of this? I have previously written on how the Universal Accelerator
makes sense in other ways.
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