Is the earth flat? What does the Bible say?

Here’s where I stand. I believe the Bible. If the Bible says it’s true, it’s true. I can’t prove the earth is flat or round. But I’ve seen so much compelling evidence that it’s flat, and that we’ve been lied to, that if I had to bet on it, I’d say it’s flat. And it isn’t a salvation issue. As one commenter put it, “I’m so glad this isn’t a salvation issue.”

Ashley Hays laid out the Scripture in “Scriptural Flat Earth vs. NASA’s Globe Earth”. Her point: ask the questions, read the verses, and draw your own conclusions. Here’s what the Bible says.

A firmament over the earth

“And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament” (Genesis 1:6-7). Job describes it as solid: “Hast thou with him spread out the sky, which is strong, and as a molten looking glass?” (Job 37:18). The heavens are stretched out “as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in” (Isaiah 40:22).

Even the man who ran NASA’s rocket program, Wernher von Braun, had a verse on his grave marker: Psalm 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.”

A circle, not a ball

“It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth” (Isaiah 40:22). The word for circle is chuwg (H2329), a circle or a compass. When Isaiah means a ball, he uses a different word: “toss thee like a ball” (Isaiah 22:18) is duwr (H1754). Ashley checked both words. And God says of the earth, “It is turned as clay to the seal” (Job 38:14), a seal pressed flat into clay.

It can’t be moved

“The pillars of the earth are the LORD’S, and he hath set the world upon them” (1 Samuel 2:8). God “laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever” (Psalm 104:5). “The world also shall be stable, that it be not moved” (1 Chronicles 16:30). “The world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved” (Psalm 93:1). As Ashley says, “can never be moved” means it can never be moved.

Scripture says the sun is what moves: “The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose” (Ecclesiastes 1:5). When God gave Joshua the victory, “the sun stood still, and the moon stayed... So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day” (Joshua 10:13).

Two great lights

“God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night” (Genesis 1:16). Two lights, not one light and a reflector. Ashley points to the moon having its own light: “the moon shall not cause her light to shine” (Isaiah 13:10), and one day “the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun” (Isaiah 30:26).

Where’s the curve?

The globe model says the surface drops about 8 inches per mile squared, which works out to roughly 66 feet over 10 miles. Ashley asks where that drop is. She shows a test between two buildings in Brazil, about 3,000 km apart, where the measurements at the bases and the tops came out the same, and a laser test over 16 miles of water where a camera 2 feet above the water still saw the laser.

Why it matters

Ashley’s bigger point is about who runs this world. “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not” (2 Corinthians 4:4), and he contradicts God on everything, including the shape of the earth. When Scripture and the classroom disagree, she says, we have to decide who we’re going to believe.

One commenter wrote, “Flat earth led me straight to Jesus.” Another: “I am really not concerned with whether the earth is flat or round. I love the Lord and that’s all that matters to me.” Both are fine. The earth is His either way.

Say it like this

“I believe the Bible. It says God sits ‘upon the circle of the earth,’ that there’s a firmament ‘strong, and as a molten looking glass,’ and that the world ‘cannot be moved.’ I can’t prove the shape either way, but if I had to bet, I’d say it’s flat. And it’s not a salvation issue. Jesus is.”

Keep reading: Isn’t the Bible full of contradictions? · What about aliens and UFOs? · Who made God?