Julio

http://science.jrank.org/pages/2999/...ic-Theory.html
Is Matthew 4:8 the irrefutable proof?
“Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence.” NAB
That is, he is telling the story to his disciples, believing the Devil took him to a very high mountain from where he saw all the great kingdoms of a flat Earth in the center of the universe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocentric_model

aa5874

This can be easily resolved. It may be that the earth was flat when Jesus was on earth, but after he ascended, Jesus made it round.:constern01:

Julio

LOL! Brilliant deduction! That would be done to CORRECT his original mistake! Good show!!

Julio

Is there anything in that direction [flat Earth] inferred at Genesis 1:2?
"And the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters." NAB

avi

Julio, this may be considered nit picking by some on this forum, but "geocentrism" refers to the Platonic/Aristotelian hypothesis that the earth is the center of the solar system, and that the sun rotates about the earth, contrary to Aristarchus' theory, "heliocentrism", in which the earth rotates about the sun. Geocentrism has nothing to do with the false belief that the earth is flat.

The earth was considered flat, much later in history, by ignorant Europeans, i.e. those unfamiliar with Greek learning, but not by the ship going Phoenicians and other pre-common era navigators. Eratosthenes, who assumed the duties of head librarian at Alexandria, (after Aristarchus,) repository of the world's greatest collection of scrolls and manuscripts, at that time, i.e. ~250 BCE, was the first to compute the circumference of the (round) earth. How did he do this, Julio?

Eratosthenes' experiment was spectacular, at least in my opinion. He computed the circumference of the earth, relatively accurately, by today's standards, using nothing more than a knowledge of geometry, and two pieces of wood. His discovery served as one of the pedestals, upon which Columbus based his assurances to the Royalty of Spain, who intended to finance Columbus' search for a faster trade route to the gold and spices of the orient, by sailing west, instead of east. Columbus, like his contemporary, Copernicus, had encountered the Greek manuscripts brought to Italy, by the Christians fleeing the Muslims after the fall of Constantinople in the 1450's.

andrewcriddle

Formally speaking it is possible to have a round earth with all the inhabited land visible from one high point; ie as long as there are no inhabited antipodes.

Andrew Criddle

ApostateAbe

I take Matthew 4:8 to be an indication that the Greek gospel writers (not Jesus) believed in a flat Earth, not geocentrism. Jesus probably believed in the same thing.

aa5874

What!

That is absurd.

2000 years ago it was not possible to see all the inhabited lands from one single high point.

I forgot Jesus could see the whole world from any point.

GakuseiDon

The kingdoms could be seen "in their magnificence"/glory. For what it's worth, I doubt that the Gospel writer thought that all the kingdoms were in easy eye-distance.

mountainman

The Antipodes Problem

This was resolved by 4th and 5th century christians.
I forget was the resolution was now, but I think it may
have been something to the effect that there are
no descendants of Adam and Eve resident in the
antipodes and that therefore "The Good News" was
to be applicable only to those in the Northen Hemisphere.
This is a great relief to all Australians, South Africans
and South Americans.