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Traditional Catholic Faith => Fighting Errors in the Modern World => The Earth God Made - Flat Earth, Geocentrism => Topic started by: Matthew on October 12, 2023, 09:01:04 AM

Title: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Matthew on October 12, 2023, 09:01:04 AM
I understand that many truth-seekers need to have thick skin these days, with the whole world (almost) against you.

However, that being said, sometimes it's TOO MUCH when fellow Trad Catholics start throwing the same mindless ad-hominems, vomiting the same talking points at you, as your ignorant non-Catholic co-workers and family members. I can understand why this leads to some occasional emotion and/or frustration!

It's one thing to have an opinion. But you don't have to consider your opponent bad-willed or stupid. Those aren't the only options. Especially a subject which is difficult to ascertain the truth about.

For those who dismiss Flat Earth as "way out there" or "crazy", what makes you so sure? Because "everyone" thinks that? How many times have you been to outer space? Have you gone up in a rocket and seen the "globe earth"? Have you ever observed "the curve" in ANY way? Somehow I doubt it. You're just vomiting what you were taught in public school. Even Protestant and Catholic schools have fallen for the lie, as the Globe Earth is the Big Lie that's dominated everyone for so long.

Why don't you give your brother in Christ the benefit of the doubt? There is PLENTY of reason to do so. Just for starters: which is more compatible with the devil's lies?

Imagine a puzzle:
On one side you have two index cards, Flat Earth and Globe Earth.

On the other side you have TWO OPPOSING CAMPS:
outer space/aliens/atheistic evolution/billions of years/earth is nothing special/transhumanism/possibility of true generalized AI/the Singularity/Climate Crisis

the Bible/the Firmament/Man was created in God's image, the only intelligent life in the physical realm/the Flood/Adam and Eve/personal Creation by God/Man can't destroy Earth; God will destroy Earth by fire at the end of the world

You tell me, with a straight face, which group Globe Earth belongs in -- and which one Flat Earth belongs in.

Until the Crisis in the Church, we didn't have a group of stubborn truth seekers willing to believe in the International J3w|sh conspiracy to dominate the world and bring about the NWO and Antichrist. Trads are jaded enough with governments and Church authorities to be willing to question things that were formerly never questioned. That is the crux of the matter.

Trads see the big picture. They know what it's like to be outnumbered but 100% in possession of the objective truth.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Matthew on October 12, 2023, 09:03:05 AM
My point?

What I can't stand are logical fallacies. And instantly siding with NASA, wicked governments, Google, Apple, Wikipedia, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and Bill Nye over your brother in Christ, your fellow Catholic, WITHOUT EVEN CONSIDERING that MAYBE HE'S RIGHT.

Ad Hominem - "You're stupid. You're a moron"
Bandwagon - "Everyone believes the Earth is a globe. NASA, governments, Google, Apple, Wikipedia, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye!"
Begging the Question - "The Earth is clearly a globe, because how else do you explain The Curve?"

Sorry, but as a Trad, the Bandwagon doesn't work on me. If it did, I'd be attending the Novus Ordo at my local parish.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 12, 2023, 09:07:49 AM
My point?

What I can't stand are logical fallacies.

THIS^^^.  When I get frustrated here, it's almost always due to logical fallacies.  And you listed the main ones for FE, ad hominems and petitio principii (begging the question) in particular.  There's also the argumentum ab auctoritate, argument from so-called "authority", which is related to bandwagon.  So the anti-FEs blend these 3/4 fallacies masterfully.

At the end of the day, I just want to know the truth, and if I saw evidence proving the earth was a globe, well, then I'd change my mind, and my life would go on largely unaffected.  But don't throw the fallacies at me.  To me, the fact that so many cling to the globe using fallacies also speaks to the fact that we've been brainwashed and mind-controlled and programmed into believing the earth is a globe, and it's hard for some people to let go.  We saw the globe on our kindergarten teacher's desk and our first science project was creating a solar system model with styrofoam balls.  Heck, many infant mobiles are ball-solar-system representations.  Then we see pictures of globes everywhere, and the movies are filled with space themes with the globe assumption.  Some FE put together a video interviewing Globe Earth believers on the street to present their best evidence for the globe ... if they couldn't use "NASA" as their evidence.  Of the 20 or so, a single person even made an attempt, and his proof was the one of boats appearing to disappear over the horizon.  That was it.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: EdgarLovesMary on October 12, 2023, 09:24:07 AM
Satan is the father of lies. It seems he's been "loosed" for a while now. And he's a much older, much "smarter," much higher-ordered creature than us. Fooling us is easy... 

I don't know if the earth is flat or not and I'm not uncomfortable holding the "I don't know" position. 

I'm much closer to certainty on geocentrism.

The modern Tychos Model (Brahe's model with the updated caveat that the Sun & Mars [red dwarf] are a binary pair) aligns flawlessly with the observable, while the heliocentric models (with strange eliptical planetary orbits--except Mars with its highly irregular orbit) are full of logical leaps and verbose justifications/explinations. 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Yeti on October 12, 2023, 09:24:47 AM
Traditional Catholics have believed the earth was a globe for nearly 2,000 years. Particularly since the age of discovery, when it actually became a relevant and practical question what the shape of the earth is, the traditional Catholics of those times constantly portrayed the earth as a globe, and have done so ever since. And using this portrayal they were able to navigate successfully to the smallest islands in the most remote parts of the earth.

Flat earth belief among traditional Catholics is a historical anomaly peculiar to only the last ten or twenty years. I had never heard of trads thinking the earth was flat as recently as a decade ago, and the movement has particularly grown in the last few years. Of the flat earthers on this forum, I suspect almost none of them believed the earth was flat ten years ago.

From a historical perspective, the idea is an intellectual fad. None of the Catholic kings, scholars, explorers, or conquistadors in the age of discovery or after ever thought the earth was anything but a globe. So I don't think it's accurate to lump globism in with evolution, old universe, aliens, or any other pagan error.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: AnthonyPadua on October 12, 2023, 09:34:44 AM
https://youtu.be/MQQ8LctTTyA?si=gWuC_p6aM4jjfjhK

This guy puts it well "no one wants to be a flat earther".
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: AnthonyPadua on October 12, 2023, 09:36:43 AM
Satan is the father of lies. It seems he's been "loosed" for a while now. And he's a much older, much "smarter," much higher-ordered creature than us. Fooling us is easy...

I don't know if the earth is flat or not and I'm not uncomfortable holding the "I don't know" position.

I'm much closer to certainty on geocentrism.

The modern Tychos Model (Brahe's model with the updated caveat that the Sun & Mars [red dwarf] are a binary pair) aligns flawlessly with the observable, while the heliocentric models (with strange eliptical planetary orbits--except Mars with its highly irregular orbit) are full of logical leaps and verbose justifications/explinations.
How does this work with earth not moving and being the centre?
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: EdgarLovesMary on October 12, 2023, 09:39:05 AM
Traditional Catholics have believed the earth was a globe for nearly 2,000 years. Particularly since the age of discovery, when it actually became a relevant and practical question what the shape of the earth is, the traditional Catholics of those times constantly portrayed the earth as a globe, and have done so ever since. And using this portrayal they were able to navigate successfully to the smallest islands in the most remote parts of the earth.

Flat earth belief among traditional Catholics is a historical anomaly peculiar to only the last ten or twenty years. I had never heard of trads thinking the earth was flat as recently as a decade ago, and the movement has particularly grown in the last few years. Of the flat earthers on this forum, I suspect almost none of them believed the earth was flat ten years ago.

From a historical perspective, the idea is an intellectual fad. None of the Catholic kings, scholars, explorers, or conquistadors in the age of discovery or after ever thought the earth was anything but a globe. So I don't think it's accurate to lump globism in with evolution, old universe, aliens, or any other pagan error.

This certainly does not prove globe earth, but it is a serious point that must be taken under consideration. 

It's also worth noting that throughout most of the above timeframe, Catholics also believed in geocentrism.  
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: EdgarLovesMary on October 12, 2023, 09:43:21 AM
How does this work with earth not moving and being the centre?
The Earth does move in the geocentric Tychos model, just very slowly.

From this website: https://www.tychos.info/

"In the TYCHOS, Earth is located at / near the barycenter of our Sun-Mars binary duo; it rotates around its axis once daily and revolves at about 1 mph around its circular Polaris-Vega-Polaris (PVP) orbit once every 25344 solar years. Polaris and Vega are the two most notable Northern stars under which Earth transits in the course of its 25344-year journey, commonly-known as the “precession of the equinoxes"
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: St Giles on October 12, 2023, 10:07:07 AM
The earth has mountains and hills, therefore it is not flat. 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 12, 2023, 11:16:58 AM
The earth has mountains and hills, therefore it is not flat.

touché
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: ElwinRansom1970 on October 12, 2023, 11:47:37 AM
(https://i.imgur.com/eefshVG.png)
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Miser Peccator on October 12, 2023, 12:16:38 PM
People say it doesn't matter but consider how even the Baltimore Catechism now states that there could be alien beings on other planets.  :facepalm:

Plus we have Donald Trump's Space Farce gearing up to fight the fake alien invasion.  "May the Farce be with you"!  :clown:

Trump knows we never went to the moon just as all the other presidents know, including Nixon who faked a phone call from his White House rotary phone landline to the astronauts.  :laugh2:

The moon landing hoax has not aged well.  :P

The flat earth model is the only one with a firmament.  The firmament puts an end to all of the space alien nonsense.

Anyway, this 2min video shows how the horizon rises to eye level as you gain altitude.  On a ball earth the opposite would happen. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVo5nZt55LQ


It demonstrates in real life what this simulation shows:


A Simple Horizon Test Take 2

44seconds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmQO-YSrdBE


I've asked ball earth believers to explain this and have never received a good answer.



When looking out the cockpit window on the tarmac or at 30,000 feet the horizon line is always at eye level.  That is only possible on a flat earth.

Those photos from weather balloons 20 miles up should have no horizon line at all.  It would have dropped away beneath you if you were over a ball.



Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Angelus on October 12, 2023, 12:49:25 PM
St. Thomas Aquinas on Aristotle:

Proof of the earth's spherical shape from motion
https://aquinas.cc/la/en/~DeCael.L27

Proofs of the earth's sphericity from the angle of motion of its parts and from astronomy
https://aquinas.cc/la/en/~DeCael.L28
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 12, 2023, 12:52:03 PM
People say it doesn't matter but consider how even the Baltimore Catechism now states that there could be alien beings on other planets.  :facepalm:

Right.  When I said that it wouldn't affect how I live my life, I was just speaking about myself (and about others who have the Catholic faith).

But it matters tremendously for the general public.

Let's just assume for a minute that the Earth is in fact flat, and has a firmament covering it.  It would be nearly impossible to persuade any thinking person that it all happened by chance and without an Intelligent Designer.  When you have swirling balls coalescing into spheres as the basis of your cosmology, combined with "gravity", you can try to explain it as just swirling motion that creates order out of the chaos.  Big Bang and all the other atheistic science nonsense absolutely requires a globe earth.  And that's precisely why they've engaged in hiding FE ... in addition to the alien agenda that they've been planning.

There are a couple of notable Flat Earthers who had been atheists but came to believe in God solely due to their having become convinced of the Flat Earth.  How many millions have lost their faith, or at least natural belief in God, which would put them closer to the faith, due to the modern "science" that a Father Paul Robinson extols as some kind of idol.  So, yes, it does matter.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 12, 2023, 12:55:57 PM
St. Thomas Aquinas on Aristotle:

Proof of the earth's spherical shape from motion
https://aquinas.cc/la/en/~DeCael.L27

Proofs of the earth's sphericity from the angle of motion of its parts and from astronomy
https://aquinas.cc/la/en/~DeCael.L28

This is nothing more than a Commentary on Aristotle and is purely "scientific".  Last time I checked, St. Thomas was a Doctor of Doctrine/Theology, and not a Doctor of Physics.  So this is an incredibly weak and pathetic "appeal to authority" when St. Thomas is no authority on matters of science.  This would be like me appealing to the authority of a professor of Latin for a matter of science.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Angelus on October 12, 2023, 12:57:42 PM
This is nothing more than a Commentary on Aristotle and is purely "scientific".  Last time I checked, St. Thomas was a Doctor of Doctrine/Theology, and not a Doctor of Physics.  So this is an incredibly weak and pathetic "appeal to authority" when St. Thomas is no authority on matters of science.  This would be like me appealing to the authority of a professor of Latin for a matter of science.

Why don't you read it? Maybe you would learn something.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 12, 2023, 12:59:45 PM
Why don't you read it? Maybe you would learn something.

Pathetic response.  It's been read and discussed here numerous times, and explained why Aristotle's proofs fail.  Nor did you bother to respond to exposure of your false argument from "authority" ... because you can't.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: EdgarLovesMary on October 12, 2023, 02:30:59 PM
Why don't you read it? Maybe you would learn something.

The same chapter includes the Saint's commentary on the philosopher's proof of geocentrism. 

Big Bang and all the other atheistic science nonsense also requires a heliocentric solar system... 

Geocentrism provides extremely strong evidence to support Creationism. It's what the Church has believed for most of Her history. And it works with Flat/Globe/Young/Old Earth models & theories.

It also works with ALL observable astronomy.

The "Tychos model" (Tycho Brahe's model + with the post-Brahe notion of binary systems = Mars & Sun are a binary pair orbiting Earth; Mars being the red dwarf; moonless Mercury & Venus are actually the Sun's moons) even provides a beautiful representation of the unseen reality. The math within it greatly elevates the importance of the Moon and its relation to all other nearby heavenly bodies...

In the Tychos binary model, one can find in the difficult-to-look-directly-at Sun a representation of the Father--creator & sustainer of all life; in Mars, we see a "sacrificed" red dwarf star that can be stared at directly from Earth. Mars can be seen as a type for the Son -- especially as it is visible but its true glory is hidden here in the Church Militant (as within the Eucharist). The Sun & Mars' beautifully-mapped binary trochoidal orbit around Earth can be seen as a type of the Holy Spirit. And the Moon can be seen as a type for Mary -- the Moon is, after all, below Her feet. And she is the "glue" that holds it all together. 

Perhaps the most compelling evidence for the binary Sun & Mars geocentric model is the fact that modern astronomy has determined that the Sun is the only observable star in the sky that *is not* part of a binary pair. The size ratio between the Sun and its red dwarf (Mars) is identical to other observable binary pairs.  
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Marulus Fidelis on October 12, 2023, 02:36:32 PM
The same chapter includes the Saint's commentary on the philosopher's proof of geocentrism.

Big Bang and all the other atheistic science nonsense also requires a heliocentric solar system...

Geocentrism provides extremely strong evidence to support Creationism. It's what the Church has believed for most of Her history. And it works with Flat/Globe/Young/Old Earth models & theories.

It also works with ALL observable astronomy.

The "Tychos model" (Tycho Brahe's model + with the post-Brahe notion of binary systems = Mars & Sun are a binary pair orbiting Earth; Mars being the red dwarf; moonless Mercury & Venus are actually the Sun's moons) even provides a beautiful representation of the unseen reality. The math within it greatly elevates the importance of the Moon and its relation to all other nearby heavenly bodies...

In the Tychos binary model, one can find in the difficult-to-look-directly-at Sun a representation of the Father--creator & sustainer of all life; in Mars, we see a "sacrificed" red dwarf star that can be stared at directly from Earth. Mars can be seen as a type for the Son -- especially as it is visible but its true glory is hidden here in the Church Militant (as within the Eucharist). The Sun & Mars' beautifully-mapped binary trochoidal orbit around Earth can be seen as a type of the Holy Spirit. And the Moon can be seen as a type for Mary -- the Moon is, after all, below Her feet. And she is the "glue" that holds it all together.

Perhaps the most compelling evidence for the binary Sun & Mars geocentric model is the fact that modern astronomy has determined that the Sun is the only observable star in the sky that *is not* part of a binary pair. The size ratio between the Sun and its red dwarf (Mars) is identical to other observable binary pairs. 
If in your model the Earth moves then it's not what the Church Fathers believed nor does it escape the Holy Office's condemnation.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: St Giles on October 12, 2023, 02:53:36 PM


Anyway, this 2min video shows how the horizon rises to eye level as you gain altitude.  On a ball earth the opposite would happen. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVo5nZt55LQ

Horrible video proof. The marker the guy uses is a reflection of a building on the ground. If they are moving away from the ground, the reflection of what's on the ground will also change. And it is an unsteady video, and short, low altitude ascent. Figuring out what is optical illusion and how things would really look on a globe earth without error are beyond most people's abilities. Let us not open ourselves to being so easily deceived by things that are of relatively little importance to our purpose in life.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Marulus Fidelis on October 12, 2023, 03:06:25 PM
Horrible video proof. The marker the guy uses is a reflection of a building on the ground.
Reflection? What reflection?


Quote
If they are moving away from the ground, the reflection of what's on the ground will also change. 

If they don't move away from the ground how are they supposed to see what happens to the horizon when you ascend?

Quote
And it is an unsteady video, 

Steady enough to see the horizon go up.

Quote
and short, low altitude ascent. 

And...? The horizon still went up, which was the point.
Quote
Figuring out what is optical illusion and how things would really look on a globe earth without error are beyond most people's abilities. 

True, it's hard to imagine the impossible, but we have computer simulations that can demonstrate certain features that should characterize the ball earth, such as shadows on the under side of clouds and the falling horizon.

Quote
Let us not open ourselves to being so easily deceived

I agree, y'all were really too easy to deceive.

Quote
 by things that are of relatively little importance to our purpose in life.

True for us Catholics, not true for everyone else. The general public would immensely benefit from seeing the truth of the matter. The positive effect would be enormous.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Matthew on October 12, 2023, 03:08:43 PM
Figuring out what is optical illusion and how things would really look on a globe earth without error are beyond most people's abilities.

For the most part, I agree with you there.

But on the other hand, some degree of common sense also enters into it. We've never seen the curve, water seeks its own level, you shouldn't be able to see buildings/mountains/land masses "below the bulge" which has happened countless times, etc. I certainly don't feel any kind of motion, despite there supposedly being SEVERAL high-speed forces acting on us at the present moment (spin of the earth, orbit of the earth, and the motion of the whole solar system through the galaxy).

Gravity has also never been observed in the laboratory. There's supposedly some magic point where mass is supposed to start attracting other mass. But this has never been observed. Gravity is just a theory. Even the atheists admit gravity is one of the "weakest forces in the universe". Oh, and they had to come up with Dark Matter and Dark Energy to save their Big Bang/spinning planets cosmological model.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: EdgarLovesMary on October 12, 2023, 03:11:35 PM
If in your model the Earth moves then it's not what the Church Fathers believed nor does it escape the Holy Office's condemnation.

The Tychos Model is not "my" model.

It is a compelling secular model that provides very strong evidence for geocentrism, which is a concept that Holy Mother Church has proclaimed for most of Her existence. And still, today, geocentrism is dismissed almost as callously and quickly as "flat earth."  

I bring attention to it here because it doesn't show up when I do searches--leading me to believe many regulars around here may not be exposed to it. 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Marulus Fidelis on October 12, 2023, 03:19:05 PM
The Tychos Model is not "my" model.

It is a compelling secular model that provides very strong evidence for geocentrism, which is a concept that Holy Mother Church has proclaimed for most of Her existence. And still, today, geocentrism is dismissed almost as callously and quickly as "flat earth." 

I bring attention to it here because it doesn't show up when I do searches--leading me to believe many regulars around here may not be exposed to it.
Interesting way of avoiding the points I raised.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: EdgarLovesMary on October 12, 2023, 03:34:48 PM
Interesting way of avoiding the points I raised.

Your points, as best as I can observe them, are that:

1. Any model that involves any movement of the Earth goes against what all of the Church fathers believed.
2. The Holy Office has condemned all models wherein Earth moves in any way. 

I am very ignorant on these matters. As such, I am not in a position to contest your points.

I also wasn't avoiding your points.

In my ignorance, I was clarifying that the Tychos model is not my own.

And while secular, I believe the Tychos Model is useful in helping people grasp that schoolbook astronomy is largely anti-Christian propaganda. Even in this secular Tychos model, types of the unseen reality can be found. I find that interesting. And helpful in our efforts to evangelize the full Traditional Catholic Truth. 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Marulus Fidelis on October 12, 2023, 03:43:05 PM
Your points, as best as I can observe them, are that:

1. Any model that involves any movement of the Earth goes against what all of the Church fathers believed.
2. The Holy Office has condemned all models wherein Earth moves in any way.
Correct. Try finding a Church Father who believed the earth moved.

Point 2 is likewise easily proven:


Quote
The Sacred Tribunal being therefore of intention to proceed against the disorder and mischief thence resulting, which went on increasing to the prejudice of the Sacred Faith, by command of His Highness and of the Most Eminent Lords Cardinals of this supreme and universal Inquisition, the two propositions of the stability of the Sun and the motion of the Earth were by the theological Qualifiers qualified as follows:

The proposition that the Sun is the centre of the world and does not move from its place is absurd and false philosophically and formally heretical, because it is expressly contrary to the Holy Scripture.

The proposition that the Earth is not the centre of the world and immovable but that it moves, and also with a diurnal motion, is equally absurd and false philosophically and theologically considered at least erroneous in faith.


If you're interested in geocentrism Daly's study is a must-read. https://www.ldolphin.org/geocentricity/Daly.pdf

I am very ignorant on these matters. As such, I am not in a position to contest your points.

I also wasn't avoiding your points.

In my ignorance, I was clarifying that the Tychos model is not my own.

And while secular, I believe the Tychos Model is useful in helping people grasp that schoolbook astronomy is largely anti-Christian propaganda. Even in this secular Tychos model, types of the unseen reality can be found. I find that interesting. And helpful in our efforts to evangelize the full Traditional Catholic Truth.
All good my man, you did avoid my points,. however.

FE is even better for evangelization and I find arguing for it much easier than only geocentrism. Gets too technical.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 12, 2023, 05:09:52 PM

Disney starting kids early with globalist indoctrination.    

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whEHGvgqWB4
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on October 12, 2023, 05:56:53 PM
Edit in post below.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on October 12, 2023, 06:10:00 PM
Disney starting kids early with globalist indoctrination.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whEHGvgqWB4


Sorry, but the real indoctrination from the film was the push of the false idea that in the middle ages it was commonly believed that the Earth was flat. This was a falsehood perpetrated by Washington Irving in his embellished life of Christopher Columbus. BTW: His biography of Columbus also highlights his prejudice against the Catholic Church.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Miser Peccator on October 12, 2023, 06:41:37 PM
Horrible video proof. The marker the guy uses is a reflection of a building on the ground. If they are moving away from the ground, the reflection of what's on the ground will also change. And it is an unsteady video, and short, low altitude ascent. Figuring out what is optical illusion and how things would really look on a globe earth without error are beyond most people's abilities. Let us not open ourselves to being so easily deceived by things that are of relatively little importance to our purpose in life.

Youtube is bizarre.  In my own library history, it won't pull up any flat earth videos I've watched in the past.  It will only pull up debunker videos.  I have to remember the name of the video or the channel and search it out all over again.  Why? :confused:


Anyway, here is the original video. 


1min 51 secs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyacKCR9zKM


It's not a reflection.  It's very clear and real life demonstration of something that can only happen on a flat plane and not on a ball.

It shows how the vanishing point perspective rises as you rise in altitude just like the other demo video with the rising balloon I showed.

Here, the graphics were improved in this one:
1min 4sec

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjkERI3L3Fw


On a ball, the horizon line would drop down lower and lower as you rise higher and higher.  

But that never happens.



Vanishing point.  Not curve.
(https://i.imgur.com/p8TUBG0.png)

The horizon line is not from the curve but from your visual limitations.

It rises as you rise which can only happen on a flat plane.

On a ball it would drop down lower.

Artists understand this.  The three drawings below are from a graphic design website.  What do you think is happening with the horizon line in these three drawings? 

(https://i.imgur.com/I3yA6SY.png)


The graphic design instructor explains:


Quote
In this illustration, the horizon line is where the blue sky meets the brown street.
Perhaps in the left hand drawing the viewer is sitting on the sidewalk, so the horizon line is low.  In the right hand drawing the viewer is standing on the roof of a building, therefor the horizon line is higher
https://graphicdesign2013.blogs.kpbsd.k12.ak.us/2013/03/06/perspective-scene/

On a ball earth, the horizon line would be the exact opposite.  The line for the person sitting on the ground would be low and the person on the roof top would be higher.


According to the ball earth Drop chart the horizon line 100 miles away should DROP down over a mile below you.  It doesn't.

Distance
Curvature

1 mile
0.00013 miles = 0.67 feet

2 miles
0.00051 miles = 2.67 feet

5 miles
0.00316 miles = 16.67 feet

10 miles
0.01263 miles = 66.69 feet

20 miles
0.05052 miles = 266.75 feet

50 miles
0.31575 miles = 1667.17 feet

100 miles
1.26296 miles = 6668.41 feet

200 miles
5.05102 miles = 26669.37 feet

500 miles
31.5336 miles = 166497.53 feet

1000 miles
125.632 miles = 663337.65 feet





(https://i.imgur.com/KUyNwJa.jpg)

This is also why you "level out" when you reach cruising altitude otherwise you would have to adjust the plane nose down

and after flying 500 miles the plane would have to adjust downwards

31 miles!!

Have you ever felt your plane going nose down?  Say a quick act of contrition if you do!




The horizon line RISES to eye level and doesn't DROP. 

That's the opposite of what would happen if you were rising above a ball.



I don't like calling people names, but the photos in this meme demonstrate it further.

You should not even see a horizon line in the top photo.  It should have dropped away below you as you look out over the ball.

(https://i.imgur.com/ItPfNMu.png)





(https://i.imgur.com/XyPTMeR.jpg)
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Cera on October 12, 2023, 06:42:26 PM
Right.  When I said that it wouldn't affect how I live my life, I was just speaking about myself (and about others who have the Catholic faith).

But it matters tremendously for the general public.

Let's just assume for a minute that the Earth is in fact flat, and has a firmament covering it.  It would be nearly impossible to persuade any thinking person that it all happened by chance and without an Intelligent Designer.  When you have swirling balls coalescing into spheres as the basis of your cosmology, combined with "gravity", you can try to explain it as just swirling motion that creates order out of the chaos.  Big Bang and all the other atheistic science nonsense absolutely requires a globe earth.  And that's precisely why they've engaged in hiding FE ... in addition to the alien agenda that they've been planning.

There are a couple of notable Flat Earthers who had been atheists but came to believe in God solely due to their having become convinced of the Flat Earth.  How many millions have lost their faith, or at least natural belief in God, which would put them closer to the faith, due to the modern "science" that a Father Paul Robinson extols as some kind of idol.  So, yes, it does matter.
100 yes. The enemy has engaged in psy ops for centuries in preparation for the final decpetion -- the fake, staged, "alien" invasion which is built on a foundation of
atheism which forms the foundation for the lies of:

old earth which is necessary to support evolution
and
evolution which is falsely "supported" by old earth.

Both of these lies form the foundation for the lies of:
globe earth spinning on its axis,
spinning around the sun with "planets",
spinning around in the "galaxy"
galaxies which are spinning around.

These lies froms the foundation for Big Lie that
innumerable possibilites for alien life to exist outside of earth.
Another lie of the enemy is that we must have "humility" to believe that when Jesus died on the Cross for us, it applied only to one small corner of the universe.

All of these lies form a cohesive lie which forms the foundation for the lies needed for the fake, staged, "alien" invasion.

Previous discussions on CI have cited Vatican Jesuit astronomers who have repeatedly supported the lies of "alien" life and have said "Maybe they will Baptise us."
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Cera on October 12, 2023, 06:45:06 PM
repeat
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Cera on October 12, 2023, 06:50:31 PM
Youtube is bizarre.  In my own library history, it won't pull up any flat earth videos I've watched in the past.  It will only pull up debunker videos.  I have to remember the name of the video or the channel and search it out all over again.  Why? :confused:
Youtube is owned by globalists who are in on the Big Lie.

Those who control the past control the present.
Those who control the present control the future.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: St Giles on October 12, 2023, 07:08:55 PM
Youtube is bizarre.  In my own library history, it won't pull up any flat earth videos I've watched in the past.  It will only pull up debunker videos.  I have to remember the name of the video or the channel and search it out all over again.  Why? :confused:


Anyway, here is the original video. 


1min 51 secs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyacKCR9zKM


It's not a reflection.  It's very clear and real life demonstration of something that can only happen on a flat plane and not on a ball.

It shows how the vanishing point perspective rises as you rise in altitude just like the other demo video with the rising balloon I showed.

Here, the graphics were improved in this one:
1min 4sec

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjkERI3L3Fw


On a ball, the horizon line would drop down lower and lower as you rise higher and higher. 

But that never happens.



Vanishing point.  Not curve.
(https://i.imgur.com/p8TUBG0.png)

The horizon line is not from the curve but from your visual limitations.

It rises as you rise which can only happen on a flat plane.

On a ball it would drop down lower.

Artists understand this.  The three drawings below are from a graphic design website.  What do you think is happening with the horizon line in these three drawings? 

(https://i.imgur.com/I3yA6SY.png)


The graphic design instructor explains:

https://graphicdesign2013.blogs.kpbsd.k12.ak.us/2013/03/06/perspective-scene/

On a ball earth, the horizon line would be the exact opposite.  The line for the person sitting on the ground would be low and the person on the roof top would be higher.


According to the ball earth Drop chart the horizon line 100 miles away should DROP down over a mile below you.  It doesn't.

Distance
Curvature

1 mile
0.00013 miles = 0.67 feet

2 miles
0.00051 miles = 2.67 feet

5 miles
0.00316 miles = 16.67 feet

10 miles
0.01263 miles = 66.69 feet

20 miles
0.05052 miles = 266.75 feet

50 miles
0.31575 miles = 1667.17 feet

100 miles
1.26296 miles = 6668.41 feet

200 miles
5.05102 miles = 26669.37 feet

500 miles
31.5336 miles = 166497.53 feet

1000 miles
125.632 miles = 663337.65 feet





(https://i.imgur.com/KUyNwJa.jpg)

This is also why you "level out" when you reach cruising altitude otherwise you would have to adjust the plane nose down

and after flying 500 miles the plane would have to adjust downwards

31 miles!!

Have you ever felt your plane going nose down?  Say a quick act of contrition if you do!




The horizon line RISES to eye level and doesn't DROP. 

That's the opposite of what would happen if you were rising above a ball.



I don't like calling people names, but the photos in this meme demonstrate it further.

You should not even see a horizon line in the top photo.  It should have dropped away below you as you look out over the ball.

(https://i.imgur.com/ItPfNMu.png)





(https://i.imgur.com/XyPTMeR.jpg)
Ah, yes, I remember that old post which I refuted back in the day.  I will admit I misinterpreted which white line he was talking about in the video, but that doesn't matter. It's unfortunate that pictures and videos are so poor at conveying 3D details even if they were noticeable under the conditions in the examples you use. I know, because I am often disappointed by the image quality of things I want a picture of. Details that I could see in person become practically impossible to see in a picture. "Perspective not magic" can just as easily be used to argue against flat earth, but I'd rather spend my time doing something useful like memorizing St. James' epistle.


Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Miser Peccator on October 12, 2023, 07:48:31 PM
Youtube is bizarre.  In my own library history, it won't pull up any flat earth videos I've watched in the past.  It will only pull up debunker videos.  I have to remember the name of the video or the channel and search it out all over again.  Why? :confused:


Anyway, here is the original video. 


1min 51 secs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyacKCR9zKM


It's not a reflection.  It's very clear and real life demonstration of something that can only happen on a flat plane and not on a ball.

It shows how the vanishing point perspective rises as you rise in altitude just like the other demo video with the rising balloon I showed.

Here, the graphics were improved in this one:
1min 4sec

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjkERI3L3Fw


On a ball, the horizon line would drop down lower and lower as you rise higher and higher. 

But that never happens.



Vanishing point.  Not curve.
(https://i.imgur.com/p8TUBG0.png)

The horizon line is not from the curve but from your visual limitations.

It rises as you rise which can only happen on a flat plane.

On a ball it would drop down lower.

Artists understand this.  The three drawings below are from a graphic design website.  What do you think is happening with the horizon line in these three drawings? 

(https://i.imgur.com/I3yA6SY.png)


The graphic design instructor explains:

https://graphicdesign2013.blogs.kpbsd.k12.ak.us/2013/03/06/perspective-scene/

On a ball earth, the horizon line would be the exact opposite.  The line for the person sitting on the ground would be low and the person on the roof top would be higher.


According to the ball earth Drop chart the horizon line 100 miles away should DROP down over a mile below you.  It doesn't.

Distance
Curvature

1 mile
0.00013 miles = 0.67 feet

2 miles
0.00051 miles = 2.67 feet

5 miles
0.00316 miles = 16.67 feet

10 miles
0.01263 miles = 66.69 feet

20 miles
0.05052 miles = 266.75 feet

50 miles
0.31575 miles = 1667.17 feet

100 miles
1.26296 miles = 6668.41 feet

200 miles
5.05102 miles = 26669.37 feet

500 miles
31.5336 miles = 166497.53 feet

1000 miles
125.632 miles = 663337.65 feet





(https://i.imgur.com/KUyNwJa.jpg)

This is also why you "level out" when you reach cruising altitude otherwise you would have to adjust the plane nose down

and after flying 500 miles the plane would have to adjust downwards

31 miles!!

Have you ever felt your plane going nose down?  Say a quick act of contrition if you do!




The horizon line RISES to eye level and doesn't DROP. 

That's the opposite of what would happen if you were rising above a ball.



I don't like calling people names, but the photos in this meme demonstrate it further.

You should not even see a horizon line in the top photo.  It should have dropped away below you as you look out over the ball.

(https://i.imgur.com/ItPfNMu.png)





(https://i.imgur.com/XyPTMeR.jpg)






Oops, I misstated this:
(https://i.imgur.com/hYA2Wxd.png)

The graphic design instructor explains:

Quote
In this illustration, the horizon line is where the blue sky meets the brown street.

Perhaps in the left hand drawing the viewer is sitting on the sidewalk, so the horizon line is low.  In the right hand drawing the viewer is standing on the roof of a building, therefor the horizon line is higher
https://graphicdesign2013.blogs.kpbsd.k12.ak.us/2013/03/06/perspective-scene/



I said:
On a ball earth, the horizon line would be the exact opposite.  The line for the person sitting on the ground would be low and the person on the roof top would be higher.



That should say:

On a ball earth the line for the person sitting on the ground would be high (like the drawing on the right)

and it would be low if you were on a rooftop (like the drawing on the left)

because it would DROP lower and lower as you get higher up.

Imagine if you are standing on top of a basketball.  It gets lower and lower the farther away from you it extends and this would be magnified if you gained altitude.



Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 12, 2023, 07:49:55 PM

Sorry, but the real indoctrination from the film was the push of the false idea that in the middle ages it was commonly believed that the Earth was flat. This was a falsehood perpetrated by Washington Irving in his embellished life of Christopher Columbus. BTW: His biography of Columbus also highlights his prejudice against the Catholic Church.

That's funny, I constantly find historical proof that Christendom knew the earth was flat.  From Enoch, to St. Augustine to St. Hildegard of Bingen, plus dozens of saints and Fathers of the Church, not to mention the digression on the subject by greats like Robert Bellarmine against heliocentrism in the 1600's, a position supported by at least 3 popes at the time, but also the fascinating typology expounded on by early saints likening the flat earth to a house, church architecture, the mass, the Ark of the Covenant, Noah's Ark and the Temple. Until the globe indoctrination escalated in the 15th century, the idea that earth was a globe was found largely in the pagan philosophies while the rest of the Christian world accepted the biblical view.  So, while Irving was only reiterating common knowledge against the encroaching indoctrination of a globe earth, even if he was anti-Catholic, he echoed the common understanding of saints, the Fathers of the Church, Scripture of course, and supported the reasonable history of truth against the pagan fantasies anti-Catholic lying NASA promotes to this day.  
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: EdgarLovesMary on October 12, 2023, 08:02:56 PM
.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: EdgarLovesMary on October 12, 2023, 08:04:50 PM
Ah, yes, I remember that old post which I refuted back in the day.  I will admit I misinterpreted which white line he was talking about in the video, but that doesn't matter. It's unfortunate that pictures and videos are so poor at conveying 3D details even if they were noticeable under the conditions in the examples you use. I know, because I am often disappointed by the image quality of things I want a picture of. Details that I could see in person become practically impossible to see in a picture. "Perspective not magic" can just as easily be used to argue against flat earth, but I'd rather spend my time doing something useful like memorizing St. James' epistle.
Pretty decent argument against pursuing flat earth "truth" AND sedevacantism.

It's clear that the enemy is running rampant and we're living under severe chastisements... 

Outside of recognizing these truths, making reparations and clinging to the traditional mass and sacraments wherever we can access them, does anything else really matter?

Not saying I'm 100% with you, but I certainly ain't against you.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Miser Peccator on October 12, 2023, 08:05:47 PM
Traditional Catholics have believed the earth was a globe for nearly 2,000 years. Particularly since the age of discovery, when it actually became a relevant and practical question what the shape of the earth is, the traditional Catholics of those times constantly portrayed the earth as a globe, and have done so ever since. And using this portrayal they were able to navigate successfully to the smallest islands in the most remote parts of the earth.

Flat earth belief among traditional Catholics is a historical anomaly peculiar to only the last ten or twenty years. I had never heard of trads thinking the earth was flat as recently as a decade ago, and the movement has particularly grown in the last few years. Of the flat earthers on this forum, I suspect almost none of them believed the earth was flat ten years ago.

From a historical perspective, the idea is an intellectual fad. None of the Catholic kings, scholars, explorers, or conquistadors in the age of discovery or after ever thought the earth was anything but a globe. So I don't think it's accurate to lump globism in with evolution, old universe, aliens, or any other pagan error.

I actually stopped believing in the spinning globe back in the 90's when I worked as a flight attendant.

I felt like I was the only person in the world asking questions about things such as:

-Flying times being about the same going east to west and west to east when the earth is spinning below us

-Why we flew over the northern arctic when it was wayyyy out of the way.  (when I saw a FE map years later it all made sense)

-Why we can easily feel the plane lean aft, port or starboard but never ever nose down when the earth is dropping below us and if we don't make adjustments and fly level we will end up flying straight out into space

-How planes can fly upside down over Australia :confused:

-Why from the cockpit of a 747 over the Pacific at 30,000 feet we still couldn't see that curve that hides tall ships.  I really wanted to see for myself how water could curve but it wasn't there.

and more.

One of the pilots told me I would have to be a Freemason to understand.    Whaaaa?

I didn't have the internet to look these things up or see if anybody else out there was asking the same questions. 

It's the same with the moon landings and evolution and other lies.

People who questioned the narrative felt alone and crazy.

Now with the internet people are able to share info and they know they are not the only ones asking logical questions about the lies we are told.

That plus the Nikon p900 shows people they can see too far.  They can see things that should be hidden beneath the curve.

Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Miser Peccator on October 12, 2023, 08:08:10 PM
Pretty decent argument against pursuing flat earth "truth" AND sedevacantism.

It's clear that the enemy is running rampant and we're living under severe chastisements...

Outside of recognizing these truths, making reparations and clinging to the traditional mass and sacraments wherever we can access them, does anything else really matter?

Not saying I'm 100% with you, but I certainly ain't against you.


Sadly, this is what keeps people in the Novus Ordo and believing aliens can be baptized

and Trump's Space Farce is going to save us all!
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Marulus Fidelis on October 13, 2023, 12:21:57 AM
Pretty decent argument against pursuing flat earth "truth" AND sedevacantism.

It's clear that the enemy is running rampant and we're living under severe chastisements...

Outside of recognizing these truths, making reparations and clinging to the traditional mass and sacraments wherever we can access them, does anything else really matter?

Not saying I'm 100% with you, but I certainly ain't against you.
Ah yes, one of those "truth is a distraction" types.

Sure, don't look into FE, but you're going to regret bitterly that you recognized antichrists as popes and the abomination of desolation as the Mass.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: AnthonyPadua on October 13, 2023, 01:25:31 AM
Ah yes, one of those "truth is a distraction" types.

Sure, don't look into FE, but you're going to regret bitterly that you recognized antichrists as popes and the abomination of desolation as the Mass.
I disagree with them being bitter for recognising a heretic Pope, as lay people aren't clergy, it's one thing for a lay person to think a heretic can be Pope as it's not really expected for them to be able to do anything about it, the clergy should be doing something..., it's another thing entirely to agree with a heretic Pope in his heresies.

However I do think the new mass is a big problem and much worse than the Pope question.
Title: A challenge to CI Flat Earthers - $10,000 reward
Post by: Afonso on October 13, 2023, 01:31:55 PM
https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/index.php?topic=31104.0

From poster Greg:


Quote
I've just signed a new client, so have a little extra cash.

CathInfo has a flat earth thread so here is my challenge for $10,000 plus all their travel costs paid.

https://www.cathinfo.com/the-earth-god-made-flat-earth-geocentrism/the-earth-is-flat/ (https://www.cathinfo.com/the-earth-god-made-flat-earth-geocentrism/the-earth-is-flat/)

All commercial jets fly through the air and carry a maximum amount of fuel.  The maximum range of these jets are known and widely published.  The jet used to make every flight is easily established by looking at it from the outside and its serial number.  All such jets are tracked in real time.  Everyone on this forum and Cathinfo can follow it.

Cathinfo members discuss debate and agree on a flat earth map which is as close as possible to the flat earth they believe to exist and an impossible scheduled flight, such as Chile to Australia, which would require refuelling because the straight line distance on a flat earth is beyond the range of that or any aircraft.  Probably a southern hemisphere flight but they can pick any flight they wish that is impossible on a flat earth.

If the world is flat then for this scheduled flight to happen they either need to be refuelled in mid-air or land at a secret South Pacific location and re-fuel.  Otherwise the plane would run out of fuel and crash into the sea.

Cathinfo members take that flight and they make a timestamped video recording of the refuelling aircraft getting into position easily visible from the windows or their refuelling stop in the secret island.

If the video evidence is produced I will pay for their travel costs and give CathInfo $10,000 which Matthew can distribute as he sees fit.  If they cannot produce that evidence and the flight lands after a single take off and landing, then Cathinfo must admit that the world is a globe and pick up the cost of the flights themselves.

I'm banned from the website, for pointing out Matthew did not know how to read his water-meter, so someone who is not banned is welcome to post my offer on there.

If they don't take this offer up, then given that Matthew is always asking for funds to run the website, one can assume that they are not sincere about "seeking the truth", which is what Matthew CLAIMS to be in the opening post on the thread listed above.

If I've missed anything or this does not constitute a proof, then please feel free to point out the error.

Title: Re: A challenge to CI Flat Earthers - $10,000 reward
Post by: Marulus Fidelis on October 13, 2023, 01:43:28 PM
https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/index.php?topic=31104.0

From poster Greg:
HAHAHAHA what a stupid challenge.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Soubirous on October 13, 2023, 01:53:54 PM
Who needs Hamas when the trad digital circular firing squad is this busy today. :facepalm:
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Matthew on October 13, 2023, 02:27:13 PM
https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/index.php?topic=31104.0

From poster Greg:
He needs to read this:
https://www.cathinfo.com/the-earth-god-made-flat-earth-geocentrism/16-emergency-plane-landings-proving-flat-earth

(https://www.cathinfo.com/the-earth-god-made-flat-earth-geocentrism/16-emergency-plane-landings-proving-flat-earth)Also, planes don't have to "nose down" every 1-2 minutes so they don't fly into outer space. You'd notice that. Pilots would definitely know if they're doing this or not. And don't say "gravity has you" because if gravity "had" the planes, and they weren't able to maneuver independent of natural "gravity" they'd be in trouble, wouldn't they? (They'd crash). Why would gravity pull more down on the nose than the rest of the plane? It's ridiculous. It is a piss-poor explanation, which doesn't pass the common sense test much less the rigors of science.

Pilots (including military) are given gems like this in their training: "Assume a flat earth." or words to that effect. They aren't give the FIRST INSTRUCTION how to deal with a globe earth beneath them. Zero consideration for something so fundamental to a pilot. Keep in mind planes travel at many hundreds of miles per hour. Run the calculations how often they'd have to nose-down to correct their altitude if they kept flying in a straight line.

The horizon is always the same. It never drops below, as it would on a Ball. No matter *how high* they go.

Also, submarines don't hide from radar in the curve, which they should be able to do, if the earth were round.

Just the tip of the iceberg. TONS of evidence the Earth is flat, ZERO evidence it's round, once you discount NASA. And NASA has been caught lying hundreds of times, falsifying them completely. Ergo.

As for the idiot who said "Anyone who's been on a flight for 30 min. knows the earth is a ball" is a moron. The thick windows in a commercial jet are convex, which distort what you see outside, especially towards the edges. That is not evidence.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 13, 2023, 07:06:42 PM
The horizon is always the same. It never drops below, as it would on a Ball. No matter *how high* they go.

Really, the horizon line not dropping is incredibly compelling.  One of the things that has always struck me is that if you've ever seen that footage from those amateur balloons at 120,000 feet ... if you were to look from one end of the state of Kansas to the other side, lengthwise, there would be a curvature "drop" of ... nearly 120,000 feet, the same as the altitude of those balloons (flying at 4x the height of commercial airliners).  That kind of a "bulge" or "curve" would absolutely be noticeable from those very balloons.

There have been dozens of laser tests conducted over many miles (I think the longest distance was like 27 miles), photogaphs taken by non-FE amateur photogaphers of the Alps from 700 miles away, where they should have been hidden by 85 MILES of curvature, photograph of a lighthouse that stands 150 feet above sea level at its top (again by a non-FE) from something like 230 miles away when it too should have been hidden by miles of curvature, the tests done by Dr. John D (publicly and pre-announced) where he conducted a two-way laser experiment, which blows away the "refraction" nonsense, since an increase in air density in one direction would mean a decrease in the other direction and therefore upward refraction (but both lasers were spotted), Dr. John D's "black swan" wind turbine videos, the world-record 800-mile "line of sight" UHF signal beam, the 237-mile "line of sight" microwave broadband connection over the Mediterranean, and on and on and on.  Unless someone could posit an alternative theory about why this happens besides "refraction" about how light always bends around the "globe" due to some kind of electromagnetic force, then ... apart from such an explanation ... the "globe" is dead in the water.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: St Giles on October 13, 2023, 07:16:35 PM
Really, the horizon line not dropping is incredibly compelling.  One of the things that has always struck me is that if you've ever seen that footage from those amateur balloons at 120,000 feet ... if you were to look from one end of the state of Kansas to the other side, lengthwise, there would be a curvature "drop" of ... nearly 120,000 feet, the same as the altitude of those balloons (flying at 4x the height of commercial airliners).  That kind of a "bulge" or "curve" would absolutely be noticeable from those very balloons.


Maybe if you were strapped to the balloon, and had no confirmation bias. As best as I can remember, some of the weather balloon and rocket videos show the horizon dropping, but it is hard to really get a sense of that when looking at a screen. It could just be my own confirmation bias, but I think not.
Title: Re: A challenge to CI Flat Earthers - $10,000 reward
Post by: St Giles on October 13, 2023, 07:22:46 PM
https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/index.php?topic=31104.0

From poster Greg:
What a waste of $10,000. How many trads could benefit from a little piece of that to fix a minivan, or get some house repair done? Matthew could even use some to buy Reading Water Meters for Dummies.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Pax Vobis on October 13, 2023, 08:01:50 PM

Quote
I've just signed a new client, so have a little extra cash.

CathInfo has a flat earth thread so here is my challenge for $10,000 plus all their travel costs paid.

:facepalm: :jester: Greg...what a loser to be so concerned with Flat Earth and Cathinfo.  It's absolutely pathetic.  :jester:

Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Matthew on October 13, 2023, 09:39:40 PM
What a waste of $10,000. How many trads could benefit from a little piece of that to fix a minivan, or get some house repair done? Matthew could even use some to buy Reading Water Meters for Dummies.

GGreg went off on me when I couldn't accurately read a water meter. I don't know why I'm expected to know that, when it's the water company's job and no one else's. It's not like it was digital or something. It was certainly old, dirty and in a hole in the ground -- a hole which has held snakes in the past. Not exactly in a comfy position on a clean desk in an air conditioned office. I can't remember if I missed the x100 or added it when it shouldn't be there. Either way, I ended up being off in my calculation of gallons used as a result. And I couldn't "sanity check" my numbers either because I was (and still am) lousy at ballpark-guessing how many gallons were in a large volume of water. You know, more than a person could reasonably be expected to know.

Unless you work in the inground pool industry or something, that's not exactly common sense or common knowledge. Who knows how many hundred, thousand, ten thousand, or millions of gallons are in a lake, a man-made lake, a pond, or a water leak of X days. Sorry, that's not my field. I don't have those figures and calculations in my head.

And let me list those who I would mock for not being able to read a water meter: water company employees, workers at a water meter factory. <END OF LIST>

But not only was he going off/mocking me about it, he wouldn't let it drop. He was extremely uncharitable. And zero compassion. And I didn't have to take it from him, so I banned him. Because frankly he's a puffed up jerk, and it comes across in all his writings.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 13, 2023, 10:30:59 PM
But not only was he going off/mocking me about it, he wouldn't let it drop.

Yeah, that's usually a cover for intellectual dishonesty, where he's using it as a regular ad hominem in an attempt to discredit anything you might have to say about other, more serious, matters.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 13, 2023, 10:35:17 PM
I just read his post and it's nonsense.  Commercial airliners can now travel close to 10,000 miles without refueling.  Even on the FE map, the entire circuмference (tracing Antarctica) would be 60,000 miles.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/the-worlds-longest-nonstop-flights-updated/
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Matthew on October 13, 2023, 10:45:31 PM
Really, the horizon line not dropping is incredibly compelling.  One of the things that has always struck me is that if you've ever seen that footage from those amateur balloons at 120,000 feet ... if you were to look from one end of the state of Kansas to the other side, lengthwise, there would be a curvature "drop" of ... nearly 120,000 feet, the same as the altitude of those balloons (flying at 4x the height of commercial airliners).  That kind of a "bulge" or "curve" would absolutely be noticeable from those very balloons.

There have been dozens of laser tests conducted over many miles (I think the longest distance was like 27 miles), photogaphs taken by non-FE amateur photogaphers of the Alps from 700 miles away, where they should have been hidden by 85 MILES of curvature, photograph of a lighthouse that stands 150 feet above sea level at its top (again by a non-FE) from something like 230 miles away when it too should have been hidden by miles of curvature, the tests done by Dr. John D (publicly and pre-announced) where he conducted a two-way laser experiment, which blows away the "refraction" nonsense, since an increase in air density in one direction would mean a decrease in the other direction and therefore upward refraction (but both lasers were spotted), Dr. John D's "black swan" wind turbine videos, the world-record 800-mile "line of sight" UHF signal beam, the 237-mile "line of sight" microwave broadband connection over the Mediterranean, and on and on and on.  Unless someone could posit an alternative theory about why this happens besides "refraction" about how light always bends around the "globe" due to some kind of electromagnetic force, then ... apart from such an explanation ... the "globe" is dead in the water.

The nαzιs had a VHF or UHF (line of sight) radar they used to guide their planes during the bombing of Britain. If the earth weren't flat, the radio guides wouldn't have worked. VHF and UHF don't bounce off the ionosphere (firmament?) or the ground, like lower frequency radio signals do.

There are so many proofs of Flat Earth, but I'm reminded of a quote: "For the believer, no proof is necessary. For the atheist, no amount of proof is enough."

I wouldn't go so far as to say no proof is necessary for me -- I'm not a "believer" but a rational person who is also grounded in reality. I'm going to think for myself and ask unconventional questions. When scientists get crazy and go off in left field, building castles in the sky, someone needs to ground them with pointed questions like the little boy who (alone) said: "The emperor doesn't have any clothes on at all!"

Because one thing I've noticed: they have an excuse for everything. The catch: it's a lame excuse that doesn't hold water. But it sounds good. ALWAYS. Until you think about it, or apply common sense.

Like the 100 foot by 100 foot column of thin air above JFK airport. Somehow those sparse molecules of oxygen, even 30,000 feet up, are each attached to the ground beneath it like an iron bar connected them! Does that seem reasonable? Not to me.

And if the earth is a spinning ball with gravity and outer space, why can't man go into space with "spaceships" even for short periods? Because everything NASA has ever done has been falsified (proven false). And why can't NASA go up and take a single PHOTO of the globe earth? It's always a computer generated image. I could go on for hours, but I won't.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Matthew on October 13, 2023, 10:52:35 PM
LoRa radio signal (line of sight) goes 830 miles -- proof of flat earth:
https://www.cathinfo.com/files/830milelora.mkv

Rockets going sideways, even down, instead of up -- adults rationalize and deceive themselves, while a child has common sense:
https://www.cathinfo.com/files/ItLooksBadToMe.mkv

https://www.cathinfo.com/files/nasa-screwed-up.webm
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: roscoe on October 13, 2023, 10:53:36 PM
Traditional Catholics have believed the earth was a globe for nearly 2,000 years. Particularly since the age of discovery, when it actually became a relevant and practical question what the shape of the earth is, the traditional Catholics of those times constantly portrayed the earth as a globe, and have done so ever since. And using this portrayal they were able to navigate successfully to the smallest islands in the most remote parts of the earth.

Flat earth belief among traditional Catholics is a historical anomaly peculiar to only the last ten or twenty years. I had never heard of trads thinking the earth was flat as recently as a decade ago, and the movement has particularly grown in the last few years. Of the flat earthers on this forum, I suspect almost none of them believed the earth was flat ten years ago.

From a historical perspective, the idea is an intellectual fad. None of the Catholic kings, scholars, explorers, or conquistadors in the age of discovery or after ever thought the earth was anything but a globe. So I don't think it's accurate to lump globism in with evolution, old universe, aliens, or any other pagan error.
The closest you are coming to the truth is by use of the term " age of discovery":  IT IS COLUMBUS -- almost by himself-- who shows us that E is a globe,,,, :popcorn:
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 14, 2023, 09:37:34 AM
Scripture is a flat earth book.  The globe earth has never been able to be reconciled with any passages, although there are feeble attempts to suggest contradictory things. Like the sun doesn't really move, the earth spins. Or that there really are no "ends" to the earth. Or that there is no water above the firmament. So, the globe theory is casually accepted by people who are ignorant or contemptuous of God's Word by suggesting Scripture isn't about science or geography or that the writers were ignorant or mistaken.  Pope Leo XIII called such notions "surely fallacious", "wrong and forbidden" and without equivocation, the pope declared it a matter of faith in all aspects because the Holy Spirit is the author.  This means globe earthers have to reconcile their model with Scripture before it can be taken seriously.

The paragraphs below provide the official teaching of the Catholic Church and if it is too far above someone to understand these teachings, or, if they are ignorant about the relevant passages in Scripture they are contradicting, they have no business arguing against flat earth, let alone in favor of the globe, nor is it an unimportant matter. 

  Galileo would have us believe that there is an absolute separation in Holy Scripture between matters of faith and morals and matters pertaining to the physical sciences. That such is not at all the case, Pope Benedict XV assures us in Spiritus Paraclitus (Sept. 15, 1920):... by these precepts and limits [set by the Fathers of the Church] the opinion of the more recent critics is not restrained, who, after introducing a distinction between the primary or religious element of Scripture, and the secondary or profane, wish, indeed, that inspiration itself pertain to all the ideas, rather even to the individual words of the Bible, but that its effects and especially immunity from error and absolute truth be contracted and narrowed to the primary or religious element. For their belief is that that only which concerns religion is intended and is taught by God in the Scriptures; but that the rest, which pertains to the profane disciplines and serves revealed doctrine as a kind of external cloak of divine truth, is only permitted and is left to the feebleness of the writer. It is not surprising then, if in physical, historical, and other similar affairs a great many things occur in the Bible, which cannot at all be reconciled with the progress of the fine arts of this age. There are those who contend that these fabrications of opinions are not in opposition to the prescriptions of our predecessor [Leo XIII] since he declared that the sacred writer in matters of nature speaks according to external appearance, surely fallacious. But how rashly, how falsely this is affirmed, is plainly evident from the very words of the Pontiff.

Pope Leo XIII in Providentissimus Deus (1893), paragraph numbers 124-127.(16)It may also happen that the sense of a passage remains ambiguous, and in this case good hermeneutical methods will greatly assist in clearing up the obscurity. But it is absolutely wrong and forbidden either to narrow inspiration to certain parts only of Holy Scripture or to admit that the sacred author has erred. As to the system of those who, in order to rid themselves of these difficulties, do not hesitate to concede that divine inspiration regards the things of faith and morals, and nothing beyond, because (as they wrongly think,) in a question of the truth or falsehood of a passage we should consider not so much what God has said as the reason and purpose which He had in mind in saying it -- this system cannot be tolerated.For all the books which the Church receives as sacred and canonical are written wholly and entirely, with all their parts, at the dictation of the Holy Spirit; and so far is it from being possible that any error can coexist with inspiration, that inspiration not only is essentially incompatible with error, but excludes and rejects it as absolutely and necessarily as it is impossible that God Himself, the supreme Truth, can utter that which is not true.This is the ancient and unchanging faith of the Church, solemnly defined in the Councils of Florence and of Trent, and finally confirmed and more expressly formulated by the Council of the Vatican. These are the words of the last:The books of the Old and New Testament, whole and entire, with all their parts, ... are to be received as sacred and canonical. And the Church holds them as sacred and canonical not because, having been composed by human industry, they were afterwards approved by her authority; nor only because they contain revelation without errors, but because, having been written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God for their Author.

Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on October 14, 2023, 10:27:35 AM
Scripture is a flat earth book.  


This is getting really out of hand. :facepalm::facepalm::facepalm:
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 14, 2023, 10:36:17 AM

This is getting really out of hand. :facepalm::facepalm::facepalm:
Read the Church's teaching provided.  If you're unaware Scripture is a flat earth book, perhaps you should read that too.  
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 14, 2023, 11:14:31 AM
So, I took a minute to examine the alleged Santiago to Melbourne flight.  I say alleged because FEs have tried to book the flight but they get cancelled every time they've tried where they've either had their money refunded or were switched to a 1-stop flight days before the flight.

Let's assume that the Gleason Map is 100% accurate.  It's an Azimuthal projection of what they believe to be a globe, so based on that, the Southern Hemisphere is going to be somewhat elongated.  But assuming for now that Gleason is 100% accurate, running the geometry, the distance between the two would be roughly 14,000 miles on the Gleason's map.  I can show the math but it's pretty simple, since both Melbourne and Santiago are at both between 33 and 35 degrees south latitude, which would put each one around 8,500 miles from the north pole ... given the alleged distance of about 12,000 miles from pole to pole.  That would put it at 17,000 miles if one flew from Santiago to the North Pole and then from the North Pole to Melbourne.  But the route wouldn't go over the North Pole, but would instead cut across the side a bit.  On the Gleasons map, there's about 20 degrees cut off from the 180 degrees hemisphere dividing line, creating a triangle in relation to the North Pole, allowing the calculation on the Gleason's map of about 14,000 miles (vs. the 17,000).

As I said, the Gleason's map is a projection of an assumed globe, is probably closer to reality (for reasons I'll explain later) than other projections, but may be off.  To me, South America is tilted a bit too far to the East beneath North America.  If it were straightened out a bit, and Australia shifted a bit East, that would significantly cut down the mileage even from he 14,000 calculated there.

Here's Gleason's for visual reference ...
(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/mDYAAOSw67Vho5Zo/s-l1600.jpg)

If South America were tilted and straightened a bit more under North America (instead of being "crooked" as depicted in Gleason's), and the size of the Pacific reduced a little bit (as it seems to be stretched out), the distance could easily be closer to 10,000 rather than 14,000 miles.

Standard Airbus planes have an advertised cruising speed of just under 700 MPH.  That would allow them to traverse the 10,000 - 11,000 miles in about 14 hours, which is the stated flight time.  Meanwhile, the distance between Santiago and Melbourne alleged on a globe is a little over 7,000 miles.  That would mean that the Airbus is travelling roughly at 500 MPH (vs. it having a cruising speed of nearly 700).  Not sure why they would travel nearly 200 MPH below the plane's advertised cruising speed when they could cut the 14-hour flight down to 10 by taking advantage of the plane's capabilities ... and that would be a huge selling point for the flight.

So, just the difference between the 500MPH and the 700MPH is nearly sufficient to account for the difference between 7,000 miles and, say, 11,000 miles (given a relatively small margin of error on the Gleason's map).  Not to mention that it's common for planes to take advantage of jet streams in order to give them up to an extra 100-200 MPH.  And, of course, the 700 max cruising speed is just what's "listed" by Airbus, and the plane can probably do more than that.  We had the Concorde jet in service for a while that could do double that, close to 1400MPH.

As has been pointed out, nearly all "Southern Hemisphere" to "Southern Hemisphere" flights make an inexplicable stop in the Northern Hemisphere on route to their destination, inexplicable if the earth is a globe.

But let's have another look at the Azimuthal Equidistant map.  Here's the thing about those.  As you get farther from the central point of the azimuthal projection, everything gets distended and warped, elongated.

So here's an Azimuthal projection map from the South "Pole".
(https://i.ibb.co/cQxPWGx/Azimuthal-South-Pole.png)

You'll notice how things north of about the Equator are badly distorted to the point that they're almost unrecognizable and are far larger and wider than they appear on something like a standard Mercator map (the one we all know from school).

But now let's take a look at an Azimuthal projection from the North pole.

(https://i.ibb.co/WBM6k4X/Azimuthal-North-Pole.png)

Hmmm.  Strange.  Everything apart from Antarctica is very recognizable.  You would expect the Southern half of Africa to be as fat/wide as the Northern, the Southern part of South America to be almost as fat/wide as the Northern, but both continents retain their familiar shape.

Ah, but you say, Africa and South America are much bigger than they should be?  Apart from the fact that their shapes should be distorted, are they really too big?  That perception is due to everyone being acquainted with Mercator.  Later, there was a projection called Gall-Peters developed that claimed that the Northern Hemisphere continents were way too big and the Southern way too small ... on the typical Mercator map, and so they developed a projection where they claim that the Southern Hemisphere continents have their true relative size.

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/Gall%E2%80%93Peters_projection_SW.jpg/1200px-Gall%E2%80%93Peters_projection_SW.jpg)

In terms of size, this seems very close to the North Pole Azimuthal projection above.

So why is it that the South Pole Azimuthal distorts the Northern Hemisphere badly (to the point of making it unrecognizable) while the North Pole Azimuthal retains the shapes, the outlines, and even the relative sizes of the continents (when taking the Gall-Peters "correction" into account)?  North Pole Azimuthal should have the Southern parts of both Africa and South America getting wider and wider until the shapes of those continents would look almost like a square.

What this mean is that the North Pole Azimuthal projection is a close reflection of reality, that the Gleason's map is "closer" to actual reality.

In any case, there are dozens upon dozens of different map "projections" out there, and they vary wildly.  So the best we can say is that Gleason's or Azimuthal North Pole projections are "closer" to reality than the flat square maps.  But since they're projections off of an assumed globe, they're not going to be 100% accurate.  We don't actually know the true distance between Santiago and Melbourne.  But, as I pointed out, given the capabilities of those Airbus planes (even without modification) and some inaccuracy on Gleason's, it's entirely doable.

There's all kinds of funny-business going on with cartography.  Here's a presentation from Herve Riboni about how even at smaller scales, there's clear distortion on many maps.  Herve participated in competitions to sail around the world, and he did sail around the world, and is expert at navigation, maps, etc.  He's done a number of presentations on the various distortions being used to hide a Flat Earth and he's become a Flat Earther himself.  Here's one presentation about how maps are distorted even on smaller scales, much less for maps of the entire world, which are all distorted due to various "projections".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vndunNSYqbU
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 14, 2023, 11:39:48 AM
Eclipse of the sun today. It ends in about 1 hr and 1/2.   Mostly visible in the Western US.  I tried to get video and photos, but am having problems with my camera.  Live coverage here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=035uI4SZZ4I
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 17, 2023, 08:32:58 AM
I don't even believe the eart is flat and I thought that Greg was way out of line to post that.  I noticed that one person in the thread called him out for being a coward for posting it to SD rather than Cathinfo.  His excuse was that he got banned from CI so he could not post it here.  But he made another account here after his ban, Tallin Trad, that he used for years.  Greg has no problem with ignoring his ban and posting here when he wants to.

He had the hypocrisy to claim that he was opposing Flat Earth because it makes trads look bad.  He should consider all the ways that he makes Trads look bad, instead of virtue signalling for his buddies on SD.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: AnthonyPadua on October 17, 2023, 09:18:04 AM
Posting this from the bladder thread.
From a Rothschild...

Quote
Finally, I must I think mention an objection to pasteurization which I put into the serious category though some of your Lordships may feel it hardly merits this treatment. I refer to that type of person who knows from personal experience and observation that the earth is flat and not round, and who say such things as: "What nature produces is good enough for me, so better not tamper with it; it might be dangerous; I like my milk raw."
spooky
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 17, 2023, 09:33:53 AM

That's funny, I constantly find historical proof that Christendom knew the earth was flat.  From Enoch, to St. Augustine to St. Hildegard of Bingen, plus dozens of saints and Fathers of the Church, not to mention the digression on the subject by greats like Robert Bellarmine against heliocentrism 
Enoch was not accepted into the canon of Scripture. It is not relevant.  St. Augustine is considered by most scholars to have believed the earth is a globe, but there is some controversy.  For St. Hildegard and St. Robert, there is no controversy that I have heard of.  They believed the earth is a globe.  Why do you think they believed it was flat?  

Can you actually name a dozen Saints who believed the earth is flat and give quotes to back up your claim?  I would be very surprised, given how widespread belief in globe earth was in Catholic history.  
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 17, 2023, 10:40:56 AM
Enoch was not accepted into the canon of Scripture. It is not relevant.  St. Augustine is considered by most scholars to have believed the earth is a globe, but there is some controversy.  For St. Hildegard and St. Robert, there is no controversy that I have heard of.  They believed the earth is a globe.  Why do you think they believed it was flat? 

Can you actually name a dozen Saints who believed the earth is flat and give quotes to back up your claim?  I would be very surprised, given how widespread belief in globe earth was in Catholic history. 

Your obloquy against Enoch is silly and even disrespectful. While his writings are not within the canon of Scripture, he still carries great clout in Christendom and his writings should not be tossed out with the garbage, as you casually suggest. Before Scripture was even written, the flat earth that Enoch saw with his own eyes, and describes in great detail, fits perfectly with Scripture making his writings on the matter gloriously prophetic! Enoch's writings are good enough to be sourced in Scripture, yet heliocentric writers are afforded belief before he is? 

There is no Catholic exegesis based on Scripture to support the idea earth is a globe. However, there is plenty of exegesis for the flat earth. Typology of great beauty written by saints and Fathers with incredible substance also perfectly align with Scripture.  As far as St Hildegard, her iconic paintings show a flat earth as described by Enoch. They also fit with Scripture. Her drawings do not reflect the globe, nor do they work with the heliocentric theory at all, something already covered here in CI flat earth pages. St. Robert Bellarmine was also covered here and at the heart of one of the most famous controversies about creation and St. Robert Bellarmine's defense against the pagan model was strictly based on Scripture showing that it is worthy of belief on all related matter. Not only was the heliocentric model soundly and entirely condemned by St. Bellarmine, to say that he believed earth is a globe, is insupportable and remains on you to prove.   
 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 17, 2023, 12:30:39 PM
Can you actually name a dozen Saints who believed the earth is flat and give quotes to back up your claim?  I would be very surprised, given how widespread belief in globe earth was in Catholic history. 
Given Tradman's response to this, I take it the answer is no.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 17, 2023, 01:17:46 PM
Given Tradman's response to this, I take it the answer is no.

Catching up with what has already discussed here on CI at length, to include the saints who so eloquently expounded on the typology of Scriptural flat earth, might help you understand the argument and even provide the list of names you're looking for. After you study the flat earth pages and find the information you seek and become better informed, we can all carry on discussing the subject.    
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 17, 2023, 03:11:15 PM

Catching up with what has already discussed here on CI at length, to include the saints who so eloquently expounded on the typology of Scriptural flat earth, might help you understand the argument and even provide the list of names you're looking for. After you study the flat earth pages and find the information you seek and become better informed, we can all carry on discussing the subject. 
I have been following discussions of Flat Earth on Cathinfo for many years, longer than this childboard has existed for the topic. I remember when it was created around six years ago. I have also read through the articles on the Flat Earth Trads website.  Nowhere in these sources has anyone produced quotes from dozens (or even one dozen) of Saints supporting the idea that the earth is flat. 

While I do not know enough about science to participate in that aspect of the discussion, I have a good understanding of Catholic history.  There have been virtually no Catholics, Saints or otherwise, who wrote in support of flat earth since St. Bede wrote that the earth is globe in 725.  This recent flat earth movement among Catholics is a novelty.

Here is a quote from St. Bede: ‘The reason why the same days are of unequal length is the roundness of the Earth, for not without reason is it called ‘‘the orb of the world’’ on the pages of Holy Scripture and of ordinary literature. It is, in fact, a sphere set in the middle of the whole universe. It is not merely circular like a shield [or] spread out like a wheel, but resembles more a ball, being equally round in all directions ...’ (Bede, The Reckoning of Time, translated by Faith Wallis (Liverpool University Press, 1999), p. 91).

The last time I checked the Flat Earth Trads site, they could only produce a handful of quotes from the Church Fathers in support of flat earth.  St. John Damascene (himself a Church Father) summarized the views of the Fathers by saying that they disagreed on the shape of the earth but it was not a question of spiritual significance.

After the Patristic period there was over a thousand years of virtual unanimity among Catholics that the earth is a globe, although this has consistently been seen as a matter of science and not faith.  Since it is a matter of science, we are free to discuss whether science supports flat earth.  We are not free to make up things about the history of Christendom that never happened.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 17, 2023, 04:47:20 PM
I have been following discussions of Flat Earth on Cathinfo for many years, longer than this childboard has existed for the topic. I remember when it was created around six years ago. I have also read through the articles on the Flat Earth Trads website.  Nowhere in these sources has anyone produced quotes from dozens (or even one dozen) of Saints supporting the idea that the earth is flat. 

While I do not know enough about science to participate in that aspect of the discussion, I have a good understanding of Catholic history.  There have been virtually no Catholics, Saints or otherwise, who wrote in support of flat earth since St. Bede wrote that the earth is globe in 725.  This recent flat earth movement among Catholics is a novelty.

Here is a quote from St. Bede: ‘The reason why the same days are of unequal length is the roundness of the Earth, for not without reason is it called ‘‘the orb of the world’’ on the pages of Holy Scripture and of ordinary literature. It is, in fact, a sphere set in the middle of the whole universe. It is not merely circular like a shield [or] spread out like a wheel, but resembles more a ball, being equally round in all directions ...’ (Bede, The Reckoning of Time, translated by Faith Wallis (Liverpool University Press, 1999), p. 91).

The last time I checked the Flat Earth Trads site, they could only produce a handful of quotes from the Church Fathers in support of flat earth.  St. John Damascene (himself a Church Father) summarized the views of the Fathers by saying that they disagreed on the shape of the earth but it was not a question of spiritual significance.

After the Patristic period there was over a thousand years of virtual unanimity among Catholics that the earth is a globe, although this has consistently been seen as a matter of science and not faith.  Since it is a matter of science, we are free to discuss whether science supports flat earth.  We are not free to make up things about the history of Christendom that never happened.

You dismissed the patriarch Enoch in favor of modern science long ago condemned at the Galileo Affair, suggested that the shape of the earth is not a question of spiritual significance, then claim you're an expert on the shape of the earth. Why would anyone in their right mind bother casting pearls in your general direction?
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Marulus Fidelis on October 17, 2023, 04:59:40 PM
Not a good look Tradman. You expected to get away with claiming dozens of saints support FE without providing proof?

I'd love to see the quotes, I'm sure you have some from the Fathers, but I really doubt there is anything from later saints besides some visionaries and mystics.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 17, 2023, 05:06:20 PM
Enoch was not accepted into the canon of Scripture. It is not relevant.  St. Augustine is considered by most scholars to have believed the earth is a globe, but there is some controversy.  For St. Hildegard and St. Robert, there is no controversy that I have heard of.  They believed the earth is a globe.  Why do you think they believed it was flat? 

Can you actually name a dozen Saints who believed the earth is flat and give quotes to back up your claim?  I would be very surprised, given how widespread belief in globe earth was in Catholic history. 

I think that quite a few of the Church Fathers believed the earth to be flat, particularly those of the Antiochene school.  In addition, I dispute the notion that every Father who mentioned the term "sphere" would be a globe earther.  In point of fact, they were often talking about the shape of the entire world, including the spherical firmament (there was some debate about whether it was a sphere, a hemi-sphere, a cone / tent shaped).  St. Hildegard is unclear also, since she made a point of saying that the bottom of the earth was not inhabitable, since that's where the Great Deep and Sheol were.  I've also seen a larger context from Bede where the full quote made me doubt that he was thinking of the "ball" earth rather than a spherical world in general.  Dr. Sungenis made this mistake, where every time he saw the word "sphere," he immediately read into it (to use a favorite term of his, committed the error of "eisegesis", reading the ball model into the term "sphere"), and in one place he even saw the word circle and concluded this made the Father a ball-earther.  There was one segment where the Father clearly described a circle slicing through a sphere.  What does that mean on a ball?  It's clearly a reference to the flat surface cutting a cross-section through a sphere, i.e. the flat surface within the spherical world.  Sungenis opened by citing St. Ambrose, but then missed the fact that St. Ambrose was trying to explain how the waters (beyond the firmament), which they all took to be physical waters, could suspend the spherical earth within them, saying that some hold that the waters flowed down upon and rotated around the earth, others that it was suspended by God's power only.  But if he believed that the earth was suspended in the middle of the waters somehow, so, what?, the waters now are in contact with the surface of the earth?  What's there to keep them from inundating the earth?  That's clearly because he believed there was a solid, physical firmament that kept the waters off the surface of the earth we live on (and not just some pocket of air).  Fathers also did not believe in gravity, but density.  That too fueled the debate about how the earth/world could be at the center of the universe, as recounted by St. Augustine, because the solid matter of the earth would sink to the bottom.  St. Augustine arbitrated by saying that it would be OK to say that the earth is at the center BOTTOM of the universe, in that center bottom is still center (taking it for granted that it must be at the center).  He also entered the debate about the shape of the firmament.  Some held that it must be shaped like a tent, and not a sphere, because Scripture likened it to a tent and because a tent-like material cannot have a spherical shape.  St. Augustine answered by citing the example of a leather ball that would be formed into the shape of a sphere.  All this takes for granted that they were speaking about a physical firmament that kept physical waters from the surface of the earth, and that the first heaven was the air above it, the second in the firmament, and the third beyond the waters of the firmament, where was God's dwelling.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 17, 2023, 05:43:06 PM
Not a good look Tradman. You expected to get away with claiming dozens of saints support FE without providing proof?

I'd love to see the quotes, I'm sure you have some from the Fathers, but I really doubt there is anything from later saints besides some visionaries and mystics.

Just for you Marulus Fidelis, in case you haven't read the flat earth stuff here on CI

A fraction of quotes from saints and popes, from various sources on all aspects of the subject:

Theophilus of Antioch in the second century, Clement of Alexandria in the third, based on the seventh verse of the first chapter of Genesis, both taught that spread over the earth was a solid vault, "a firmament," and they added the passage from Isaiah in which it is declared that the heavens are stretched out "like a curtain," and again "like a tent to dwell in." From Moses, Enoch, Clement and Theophilus and many others, Cosmas also reiterates, that earth is like a house: the earth is its ground floor, the firmament its ceiling, under which the Almighty hangs out the sun to rule the day, and the moon and stars to rule the night. This ceiling is also the floor of the apartment above, and in this is a cistern, shaped, as one of the authorities says, "like a bathing-tank," and containing "the waters which are above the firmament."

Besides those above, there are Methodius, Severian, bishop of Gabbala, St. John Chrysostom, Eusebius, see the Proep. Ev., xv, 61. St. Basil, see the Hexaemeron, Hom. ix. For Lactantius, see his Inst. Div., lib. iii, cap.

3; also citations in Whewell , Hist. Induct. Sciences, London, 1857, vol.

i, p. 194, St. Martin, Histoire de la Geographie, pp. 216, 217.

St. Basil: "In the midst of the covering and veil, where the priests were allowed to enter, was situated the altar of incense, the symbol of the earth placed in the middle of this universe; and from it came the fumes of incense." (The Mystic Meaning of the Tabernacle, Bk V, Ch VI; Clement of Rome, Stromata, Bk V)

Cosmas of Indiocopleustes expands on this subject of the tabernacle being a form of the earth (according to Moses) and the firmament is the 'veil'. Cosmas' book Christian Topography describes earth like a two story house with heaven above and the flat earth/hell below.



"1605-1621 - Reign of Pope Paul V, who issued a 1616 decree condemning Copernicanism.
1623-1644 - Reign of Urban VIII, who issued a 2nd decree [1633] condemning Copernicanism.
1655-1657 - Reign of Pope Alexander VII, who issued a Bull [1644] reinforcing that Copernicanism was heretical...." (p.1 of O’Hanlon’s 4 page intro.)


(Paul VI's) Notification of 14 June 1966 does not mention the words "abrogate" or "abolish" in relation to the Index of Forbidden Books. Rather, it states that the Index retains "its moral force" (suum vigorem moralem)

The Fathers were unanimous that earth is at the center of creation. The early Church Fathers such as Augustine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo) and Origen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origen) argued against the heliocentrism of the pagan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paganism) Greeks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeks) well before Copernicus' time.  Wiki (2007)  


From The Dolorous Passion of Anne Catherine Emmerich: 

"I learned also that the prophet having related what had happened to him, the spot received the name of Calvary. Finally, I saw that the Cross of Jesus was placed vertically over the skull of Adam. I was informed that this spot was the exact centre of the earth; and at the same time I was shown the numbers and measures proper to every country, but I have forgotten them, individually as well as in general. Yet I have seen this centre from above, and as it were from a bird's-eye view. In that way a person sees far more clearly than on a map all the different countries, mountains, deserts, seas, rivers, towns, and even the smallest places, whether distant or near at hand."    http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/pjc/pjc68.htm (http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/pjc/pjc68.htm)     

*St. Jerome, the greatest authority of the early Church upon the Bible, declared, on the strength of this utterance of the prophet, that Jerusalem could be nowhere but at the earth's center; in the ninth century Archbishop Rabanus Maurus reiterated the same argument; in the eleventh century Hugh of St. Victor gave to the doctrine another scriptural demonstration; and Pope Urban, in his great sermon at Clermont urging the Franks to the crusade, declared, "Jerusalem is the middle point of the earth"

•The great authority of Augustine, and the cogency of his scriptural argument, held the Church firmly against the doctrine of the antipodes; all schools of interpretation were now agreed--the followers of the allegorical tendencies of Alexandria, the strictly literals exegetes of Syria, the more eclectic theologians of the West. For over a thousand years it was held in the Church, "always, everywhere, and by all," that there could not be human beings on the opposite sides of the earth, even if the earth had opposite sides; and, when attacked by gainsayers the great mass of true believers, from the fourth century to the fifteenth, simply used that opiate which had so soothing an effect on John Henry Newman in the nineteenth century--securus judicat orbis terrarum. 

•pg 104 War Between Science and Theology…White

Pope Urban VIII said the false Pythagorean doctrine (heliocentrism) was "the most perverse subject matter that one could ever handle"
Because it involved pedophilia, orgies, sodomy, and ritual child sacrifice.
The cult of Pythagoras was the continuation of the demonic mystery religions he learned in Egypt: the Kabbalah. 

The following is from Wiki lists flat earth Fathers who agreed with Cosmas that earth is shaped like the OT Tabernacle, the Ark, and the Temple:
*Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Methodius, Ephrem Syrus, Gregory of Nyssa, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Cyril of Alexandria, Theodoret of Cyrus, and Procopius of Gaza all offered an intriguing exegesis of the Tabernacle.  (the same as Cosmas' exegesis on the flat earth in his book Christian Topography)

Wiki continues:
Examining the Apostolic Constitutions, Book VII, Chapters 33-37, and Book Viii, Chapter 12, we find its further influence on Constantine's (and Cosmas') method.  The verses quoted in both the Apostolic Constitutions and Christian Topography to describe the structure of the universe are taken from the books of Psalms, Isaiah, and Job rather than from the account of Creation in Genesis giving them a homiletic application to articulate and illustrate a specific physical shape of the cosmos.  

More from Wiki
The created universe is portrayed in both words and pictures as a vaulted rectangle.  The Tabernacle, the Temple and the Ark were all depicted in the same way, since they were made "according to the pattern shown to thee in the mount" EX 25:40

The sanctuary and its vessels are symbolic representations of the Creation. 

The Ark represents the earth and the part of the "Holy" in the Tabernacle, while the upper, vaulted, section represents both heaven and the most sacred area, the "Holy of Holies".  With the angels spreading their wings to cover the Ark.    

The interpretation of scripture by the Church fathers is asserted by the geocentrists to be unanimously in favor of a geocentrist position[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]. The early Church Fathers such as Augustine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo) and Origen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origen) argued against the heliocentrism of the pagan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paganism) Greeks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeks) well before Copernicus' time. Modern geocentrists often quote these works which seem to admonish that scriptural references about geocentrism not be interpreted as allegorical or phenomenological since such an interpretation could lead to the appearance that the Holy Spirit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Spirit) (the inspirer of the Scriptures) might be lying.


St. John Chrysostom: For He not only made it, but provided also that when it was made, it should carry on its operations; not permitting it to be all immoveable, nor commanding it to be all in a state of motion. The heaven, for instance, hath remained immoveable, according as the prophet says, "He placed the heaven as a vault, and stretched it out as a tent over the earth." But, on the other hand, the sun with the rest of the stars, runs on his course through every day. And again, the earth is fixed, but the waters are continually in motion; and not the waters only, but the clouds, and the frequent and successive showers, which return at their proper season. (Homilies to Antioch, Homily XII)


•St. John Chrysostom (considered a “doctor of the Church”, bishop of Antioch, archbishop of Constantinople in 398) –opposed the earth’s sphericity based on Scripture.  Regularly refers to the Earth having four corners as the Bible does in his sermons.  For example, the following quotations come from Homilies Against the Jews: “every corner of the earth”, “her action is known in every corner of the earth”, “every corner of the earth seen by the sun” [27]  Exerted his influence against a spherical earth. [2]  He is quoted by Kosmas (Cosmas) as stating “Where are those who say that the heaven is in motion?  Where are those who think it is spherical?  For both these opinions are here swept away.”(in commenting on Hebrews 8:1.)Knew that truly ending the ‘heretical’ study of the Greeks meant wiping out Greek writings –  happily declared, “Every trace of the old philosophy and literature of the ancient world has vanished from the face of the earth.”

•In his“Homily 2, Trinity, Sophists, Philosophers”, Para 5, he takes pleasure in the fact that the Church is successfully silencing the Greeks – “And as for the writings of the Greeks, (who promoted the spherical earth model) they are all put out and vanished, but this man’s shine brighter day by day.  …since then the (doctrines) of Pythagoras and of Plato, which seemed before to prevail, have ceased to be spoken of, and most men do not know them even by name.”   [77], [78]  He continues to claim, “Pythagoras… practiced there ten thousand kinds of sorcery…. but by his magic tricks he deceived the foolish.  And neglecting to teach men anything useful.”  He then calls Pythagoras a “barbarian”!

St. Chrysostom was “definitely a strong fundamentalist if not an absolute Biblical literalist and he believed the earth was flat.  Like Tertullian, he was skeptical of any ‘pagan’ knowledge which seemed to cast doubt on any aspect of the Bible.


•"Greek gýros turns up in its transliterated form gyrus--present in Roman literature as early as Lucretius (mid-first century BC)--in the Latin versions of the Bible as well.27 St. Jerome (c. 340-420), the early Latin Church's master linguist and Bible translator, began his work on the Old Testament by creating a standard version from the several unreliable Old Latin recensions then in existence, using as a valuable aid Origen's fair copy of the Hexapla which he consulted in the library at Caesarea around 386 AD.28 The Old Latin recensions were based on the LXX and commonly rendered this same portion of Isa. 40:22a as "qui tenet gyrum terrae."29 Later, when he prepared a new version from the Hebrew that would become part of the Vulgate, he kept the Old Latin reading, changing only the verb tenet, "dwells," to sedet, "sits."30 And in his Commentary on Isaiah, Jerome, who is regarded by critics today as a competent and careful scholar,31 specifically rejected the notion that in this verse the prophet is referring to a spherical earth." 32


Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 17, 2023, 05:59:08 PM
Wiki admits that the historical Christian understanding is that the entire universe is in the form of a globe as Ladislaus has explained so many times. So when you see an icon with Christ holding a globe, it isn't just the earth, but all of creation: heaven above, flat earth in the middle, hell below.   

Wiki:
A possible non-literary but graphic indication that people in the Middle Ages believed that the Earth (or perhaps the world) was a sphere is the use of the orb (globus cruciger (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globus_cruciger)) in the regalia of many kingdoms and of the Holy Roman Empire. It is attested from the time of the Christian late-Roman emperor Theodosius II (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodosius_II) (423) throughout the Middle Ages; the Reichsapfel was used in 1191 at the coronation of emperor Henry VI (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VI,_Holy_Roman_Emperor). However the word 'orbis' means 'circle' and there is no record of a globe as a representation of the Earth since ancient times in the west till that of Martin Behaim (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Behaim) in 1492. Additionally it could well be a representation of the entire 'world' or cosmos (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmos). 

Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 17, 2023, 06:08:23 PM
Another pope.
Pope St. Boniface (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02656a.htm) accused Vergilius of teaching a doctrine (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05075b.htm) in regard to the rotundity of the earth, which was "contrary to the Scriptures". Pope Zachary's decision in this case was that "if it be proved (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12454c.htm) that he held the said doctrine (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05075b.htm), a council be held, and Vergilius expelled from the Church (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03744a.htm) and deprived of his priestly (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12406a.htm) dignity" (Jaffe, "Biblioth. rerum germ.", III, 191

Virgil of course, recanted and became a bishop of the Church. 




From the 6th century Cosmas of Indiocopleustes, Catholic monk:

The Christian Topography is a production of which It may be truly said τὸ πάρεργου κρει̃ττου του̃ ἔργου. It is essentially controversial, its professed design being to refute, from Scripture and common sense, the impious Pagan cosmography, according to which the earth is a sphere; and the centre around which the heaven, which is also a sphere, revolves with all its luminaries.

Cosmas states and re-states with the most wearisome pertinacity, and holding them to be most vital verities, sanctioned alike by common sense and the paramount authority of divine Scripture, denounces again and again "those reprobate Christians who, instead of accepting them, prefer, through their perverse folly or downright wickedness, to adopt the miserable Pagan belief |xx that earth and heaven are spherical, and that there are Antipodes on whom the rain must fall up.


•Moses, likewise, in describing the table in the Tabernacle, which is an image of the earth, ordered its length to be of two cubits, and its breadth of one cubit. So then in the same way as Isaiah spoke, so do we also speak of the figure of the first heaven made on the first day, made along with the earth, and comprising along with the earth the universe, and say that its figure is vaultlike… and God [130] having then stretched it out extended it throughout the whole space in the direction of its breadth, like an intermediate roof, and bound together the firmament with the highest heaven, separating and disparting the remainder of the waters, leaving some above the firmament, and others on the earth below the firmament, as the divine Moses explains to us, and so makes the one area or house two houses----an upper and a lower story.

And just as it is said in Job that the heaven has been welded to the earth, so do we again also say the same. Having learned, moreover, from Moses that the earth has been extended in length more than in breadth, we again admit this, knowing that the scriptures, which are truly divine, ought to be believed. But further, when God had produced the waters and angels and other things simultaneously with the earth and the highest heaven itself, he on the second day exposed to their vision this second heaven visible to our eyes, which, as if putting to use the creations of his own hands, he formed from the waters as his material. In appearance it is like the highest heaven, but not in figure, and it lies midway between that heaven and the earth; 



Be this then the book which we have entitled Christian Topography, embracing the whole world and deriving its proofs from the truly divine scriptures, regarding which a Christian is not at liberty to doubt.

•[128] Since then the heaven and the earth comprise the universe, we assert that the earth has been founded on its own stability by the Creator, according once more to the divine scripture, and that it does not rest upon any body; for in the Book of Job it is written: He hangeth the earth upon nothing; and again (xxxviii, 4, 5, 6): Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? etc. And in like manner in David (Psalm cii, 5) it is said: He who laid the foundations of the earth upon its own stability. By the power, therefore, of the Deity who created the universe, we say that it was founded and is supported by him. Upholding all things, as the Apostle saith, by the word of his power.


• For, saith the Prophet Isaiah (xlix, 22): He who established heaven as a vault. With regard, moreover, to the glueing together of the heaven and the earth, we find this written in Job: He has inclined heaven to earth, and it has been poured out as the dust of the earth. I have welded it as a square block of stone.16 Do not the expressions about inclining it to the earth and welding it thereto clearly show that the heaven standing as a vault has its extremities bound together with the extremities of the earth? The fact of its inclination to the earth, and its being welded with it, makes it totally inconceivable that it is a sphere.17 

Then when he had come down from the Mountain he was ordered by God to make the Tabernacle, which was a representation of what he had seen in the Mountain, namely an impress 17 (http://www.sacred-texts.com/earth/ct/ct07.htm#17) of the whole world. For see, said He, that thou make all things according to the pattern shown thee in the Mount.18 (http://www.sacred-texts.com/earth/ct/ct07.htm#18) Now the blessed Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews has declared that the first Tabernacle was a pattern of this world, for he says: For the first had also ordinances of divine service and a worldly sanctuary; for there was a tabernacle made; the first wherein was the candlestick, and the table and the shew-bread, which is called the Sanctuary.19 (http://www.sacred-texts.com/earth/ct/ct07.htm#19) In calling it worldly [197] he indicated that it was, so to speak, a pattern of the world, wherein was also the candlestick, by this meaning the luminaries of heaven, and the table, that is, the earth, and the shew-bread, by this meaning the fruits which it |146 produces annually: which, he says, is called the Sanctuary, by this meaning the first Tabernacle. Afterwards he speaks of the second in these terms: We have such an high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man;20 (http://www.sacred-texts.com/earth/ct/ct07.htm#20) and again: But Christ being come a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us;21 (http://www.sacred-texts.com/earth/ct/ct07.htm#21) and again: for Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.22 (http://www.sacred-texts.com/earth/ct/ct07.htm#22) In this last passage he says that heaven is the true tabernacle, while the things which were prepared by Moses are antitypes. He therefore calls the things of Moses things made by hands, but the real things not made with hands. Having then been commanded to make the Tabernacle he made it according to the pattern which had been shown to him, and also its appurtenances according to their pattern, the Ark of testimony, and the Mercy-seat above, and the two Cherubim stretching out their wings, and overshadowing the Mercy-seat above, and in like manner the veil and the table and the candlestick, and the hangings of the Tabernacle (namely the first coverings) and curtains made of goats' hair (that is stypta 23 (http://www.sacred-texts.com/earth/ct/ct07.htm#23)) and these again were the second coverings of the Tabernacle. In like manner also the third coverings made of skins dyed red and sky-blue, that is, of what is |147 called leather, and all things cunningly worked and wonderful. We have depicted the Tabernacle thus.
Here Moses, after he had been privileged to witness the terrible scenes on the Mount, is commanded by God to make the Tabernacle according to the pattern which he had seen in the Mount, this being a pattern of the whole world. For see, saith He, that |150 thou make all things according to the pattern which was shown thee in the Mount.32 (http://www.sacred-texts.com/earth/ct/ct07.htm#32) Since therefore it had been shown him how God made the heaven and the earth, and how on the second day he made the firmament in the middle between them, and thus made the one place into two places, so he, in like manner in accordance with the pattern which he had seen, made the Tabernacle and placed the veil in the middle, and by this division made the one Tabernacle into two, an inner and an outer. The Apostle therefore declared the outer to be a pattern of this world, saying thus:For the first Tabernacle had ordinances of divine service and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a Tabernacle prepared, the first, wherein were the candlestick and the table and the shew-bread [200] which is called the Holy place,33 (http://www.sacred-texts.com/earth/ct/ct07.htm#33) as if he said, it exhibits a pattern of the world, in which are the earth, and the monthly fruits and the luminaries (of heaven). And then when explaining the second Tabernacle he speaks thus: But Christ having come a high priest of the good things to come, through the greater and more perfect Tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the Holy place having obtained eternal redemption;34 (http://www.sacred-texts.com/earth/ct/ct07.htm#34) as if he said: Just as the high priest once a year enters into the inner Tabernacle through the blood of goats and calves, making propitiation for the people, so also Christ entered into the Tabernacle not made with hands, that is, into heaven, having once for all procured eternal redemption. And again: For Christ is not entered into the Holy place made with hands which is an image of the true, but into heaven itself; and again he says: For the law had a shadow of good things to come;35 (http://www.sacred-texts.com/earth/ct/ct07.htm#35) for, as in an outline, by the inner Tabernacle he has signified the ascension of Christ after the flesh, and the entrance into it of just men. Wherefore he again admonishes us in these words: Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the Holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having a great high-priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart;36 (http://www.sacred-texts.com/earth/ct/ct07.htm#36) and again in declaring that Christ is in heaven he says: Whom God set forth to be a propitiation by his blood;37 (http://www.sacred-texts.com/earth/ct/ct07.htm#37) since the |151 Propitiatory (Mercy-seat) was placed within the second Tabernacle. And many other such references are contained in the Epistles of the Apostle, and throughout divine scripture.

(Cosmas' works) flourished at the time when Christianity perhaps most entirely and exclusively controlled a major area of the civilized world; and he seems conscious, not of a feeble and barbarized mind, but rather of having all knowledge for his province. He was not without profane science, but he now saw it (and saw through it) in the light of theology, the crown of sciences. REFERENCES:*Beazley, C., The Dawn of Modem Geography, volume I, pp. 273-303.*Brown, L.A., The Story of Maps, pp. 91-102.*Harley, J.B., The History of Cartography, Volume One, pp. 261-63, 319, 348, Figures 15.1, 15.2.*McCrindle, J.W., The Christian Topography of Cosmas, an Egyptian monk, Hakluyt Society, Series I, vol . 98, 1897.  



Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 17, 2023, 06:11:25 PM
More from the Easter Catholic Church

FLAT EARTH COSMOLOGY Byzantine Support for Cosmas' interpretation manifested in Church archtechture.

Emperor JustinianThe Cosmological Philosophy of Imperial Orthodox Christian Byzantium was Mosaic Biblical Flat Earth Cosmography.  In 'The Madaba Map Centenary 1897-1997:  Travelling Through the Byzantine Ummayad Period' Dr. Irfan Shahid of Dumbarton Oaks contributed an article entitled 'The Madaba Mosaic Map Revisited:  Some New Observations on Its Purpose and Meaning' which states the following on page 151:"That Imperial Byzantium was also aware of Moses the Cosmographer in the sixth century is reflected in the fact that none other than Justinian himself spoke against the pagan Greek spherical view of the Universe and clearly implied strong support for the opposite conception, originally owed to Moses in Genesis, and held strongly by the school in Antioch, when he thundered his anathemas against Origenism at the Synod of Constantinople in AD 553."

Consistent with all Orthodox Churches, the architecture of the Hagia Sophia of Constantinople and all Churches which Emperor Justinian built is a model of the Cosmos:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia) The excellent, learned, and exhaustive Madaba Map Book containing the quotation above may be obtained through the Madaba Map website:http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/mad/index.html (http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/mad/index.html)


Although the term "flat earth" isn't exactly used by the Fathers, like the hidden pearl of Mary's Immaculate Conception is tucked between the pages of scripture and remains a bit of a treasure hunt, their exegeses brings to light incredible typology regarding the shape of the earth comparing it to the Ark of the Covenant, the Tabernacle, the liturgy, and likened the physical form of the earth to a two-story house, and even to the architecture of churches with their pillars, domes, altars, candles and windows. Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Methodius, Ephrem Syrus, Gregory of Nyssa, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Cyril of Alexandria, Theodoret of Cyrus and Procopius of Gaza also offer intriguing exegesis of the Tabernacle. Also cited is the Apostolic Constitutions Books VII and VIII. It also links Christian liturgy to Jєωιѕн liturgy in which typology and history already account. Historian Andrew Dickson White (who disagreed with St. Clement) explains in his book, "A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom," says: "St. Clement of Alexandria demonstrated that the altar in the Jєωιѕн tabernacle was "a symbol of the earth placed in the middle of the universe": nothing more was needed; the geocentric theory was fully adopted by the Church and universally held to agree with the letter and spirit of Scripture."(41)

Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 17, 2023, 06:25:31 PM

Out of respect for Enoch I have to add: 

I saw the ends of the earth whereon the vault of heaven rests. (1 En 33:2)

Cosmas of Indiocopleustes expands on this view explaining that the tabernacle is a 'type' for the earth, the vault, pitched like a tent (according to Moses) the firmament is the 'veil' between heaven and earth. 

Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 17, 2023, 07:20:19 PM
I think that quite a few of the Church Fathers believed the earth to be flat, particularly those of the Antiochene school. 
It is easy enough to find people who claim that, but this is not supported with quotes.  The Flat Earth Trads site, for example, claims that the "Church Fathers were almost unanimous in their opinion that the earth was flat" but only has citations from four. And I think the site is correct in its selection of quotes. People who attempt to go over that number, end up quoting things that are not actually saying anything about flat earth or including quotes from sources who are not Catholic Saints, such as Cosmas. (Cosmas has no authority whatsoever, nor was he influential in Catholic thought.)

I've also seen a larger context from Bede where the full quote made me doubt that he was thinking of the "ball" earth rather than a spherical world in general.
Could you be more explicit about what makes you think this?  I can not think of anything in the context that could support such a conclusion.  Given how extensively St. Bede quotes Pliny in the larger context, the obvious way to understand him is that he shares Pliny's model of a globe earth.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 17, 2023, 07:34:01 PM
 Historian Andrew Dickson White (who disagreed with St. Clement) explains in his book, "A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom," says: ...

White is not a reliable source.


Historian of science Lawrence M. Principe (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_M._Principe) writes, "No serious historians of science or of the science-religion issue today maintain the warfare thesis...The origins of the warfare thesis lie in the late 19th century, specifically in the work of two men - John William Draper and Andrew Dickson White. These men had specific political purposes in mind when arguing their case, and the historical foundations of their work are unreliable." [2] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_History_of_the_Warfare_of_Science_with_Theology_in_Christendom#cite_note-2)
Principe goes on to write "Despite appearances, White’s arguments are scarcely any better than Draper’s. White uses fallacious arguments and suspect or bogus sources. His methodological errors are collectivism (the unwarrantable extension of an individual’s views to represent that of some larger group of which he is a part), a lack of critical judgement about sources, argument by ridicule and assertion, failure to check primary sources, and quoting selectively and out of context. White popularized the baseless notions that before Columbus and Magellan, the world was thought to be flat and that the Earth’s sphericity was officially opposed by the Church (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myth_of_the_flat_Earth). He is also responsible for the equally fallacious notion that the Church forbade human dissection. The notion - eternally repopularized by Hollywood - that the medieval Church condemned all science as devilry runs throughout White; this view is likewise baseless."[3] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_History_of_the_Warfare_of_Science_with_Theology_in_Christendom#cite_note-3)
In his course on science and religion, Principe points out a couple of examples of White's poor scholarship, "Let’s start with a simple and a notorious example: the idea that before Columbus people thought that the world was flat. Well, in fact, it is Draper and White, specifically, both of them, who bear most of the blame for popularizing this baseless view to the extent that nowadays, 80 percent of school teachers still foist this upon poor innocent school children. The fact is that of course the sphericity of the Earth was well established by the fifth century BC by the Greeks, and a good measure of its circuмference made by the third century BC. And these facts were never forgotten in learned Western Culture."
Principe goes on to say, "White tells of a brave Columbus who fought mightily for the revolutionary notion of the earth’s sphericity. And here he helps us out (damning himself) with a footnote that reads “W. Irving, Life of Columbus” Yes, indeed, this is Washington Irving (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Irving) of Rip Van Winkle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rip_Van_Winkle) and headless horseman (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headless_horseman) fame, who wrote a fictionalized account of Columbus in 1838. Yet White uses it as a historical source. This is an error of critical judgement."[4] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_History_of_the_Warfare_of_Science_with_Theology_in_Christendom#cite_note-4)
Principe sums up White's book this way: "Refuting White is like shooting fish in a barrel. With his combination of bad sources, argument by assertion, quoting out of context, collectivism, and general reliance on exclamation, rather than evidence and argument, White’s is not a book to be taken seriously. Its real value is as a relic of its particular time and place, and as a museum of how not to write history...While we can look today with astonishment upon the shoddy character of Draper and White’s writings, their books have had enormous impact, and we can’t deny that. Much of this is due to their great success in their creating a myth for science as a religion. Their myth of science as a religion is replete with battles, and martyrdoms, and saints, and creeds. And as we know, or should know, myths are often much more powerful than historical realities."[5] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_History_of_the_Warfare_of_Science_with_Theology_in_Christendom#cite_note-5)

Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 17, 2023, 08:08:05 PM
White is not a reliable source.


Historian of science Lawrence M. Principe (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_M._Principe) writes, "No serious historians of science or of the science-religion issue today maintain the warfare thesis...The origins of the warfare thesis lie in the late 19th century, specifically in the work of two men - John William Draper and Andrew Dickson White. These men had specific political purposes in mind when arguing their case, and the historical foundations of their work are unreliable." [2] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_History_of_the_Warfare_of_Science_with_Theology_in_Christendom#cite_note-2)
Principe goes on to write "Despite appearances, White’s arguments are scarcely any better than Draper’s. White uses fallacious arguments and suspect or bogus sources. His methodological errors are collectivism (the unwarrantable extension of an individual’s views to represent that of some larger group of which he is a part), a lack of critical judgement about sources, argument by ridicule and assertion, failure to check primary sources, and quoting selectively and out of context. White popularized the baseless notions that before Columbus and Magellan, the world was thought to be flat and that the Earth’s sphericity was officially opposed by the Church (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myth_of_the_flat_Earth). He is also responsible for the equally fallacious notion that the Church forbade human dissection. The notion - eternally repopularized by Hollywood - that the medieval Church condemned all science as devilry runs throughout White; this view is likewise baseless."[3] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_History_of_the_Warfare_of_Science_with_Theology_in_Christendom#cite_note-3)
In his course on science and religion, Principe points out a couple of examples of White's poor scholarship, "Let’s start with a simple and a notorious example: the idea that before Columbus people thought that the world was flat. Well, in fact, it is Draper and White, specifically, both of them, who bear most of the blame for popularizing this baseless view to the extent that nowadays, 80 percent of school teachers still foist this upon poor innocent school children. The fact is that of course the sphericity of the Earth was well established by the fifth century BC by the Greeks, and a good measure of its circuмference made by the third century BC. And these facts were never forgotten in learned Western Culture."
Principe goes on to say, "White tells of a brave Columbus who fought mightily for the revolutionary notion of the earth’s sphericity. And here he helps us out (damning himself) with a footnote that reads “W. Irving, Life of Columbus” Yes, indeed, this is Washington Irving (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Irving) of Rip Van Winkle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rip_Van_Winkle) and headless horseman (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headless_horseman) fame, who wrote a fictionalized account of Columbus in 1838. Yet White uses it as a historical source. This is an error of critical judgement."[4] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_History_of_the_Warfare_of_Science_with_Theology_in_Christendom#cite_note-4)
Principe sums up White's book this way: "Refuting White is like shooting fish in a barrel. With his combination of bad sources, argument by assertion, quoting out of context, collectivism, and general reliance on exclamation, rather than evidence and argument, White’s is not a book to be taken seriously. Its real value is as a relic of its particular time and place, and as a museum of how not to write history...While we can look today with astonishment upon the shoddy character of Draper and White’s writings, their books have had enormous impact, and we can’t deny that. Much of this is due to their great success in their creating a myth for science as a religion. Their myth of science as a religion is replete with battles, and martyrdoms, and saints, and creeds. And as we know, or should know, myths are often much more powerful than historical realities."[5] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_History_of_the_Warfare_of_Science_with_Theology_in_Christendom#cite_note-5)


Lol.  White is not a reliable source according to you, but Principe is? White was clearly anti-Catholic yet, because he was an reputable historian, he painstakingly quoted Catholic Fathers and saints who promoted flat earth even though he disagreed with them.     

What's even more humorous is your modern science guy Principe was admittedly an active alchemist.  And you believe a demonic alchemist over Fathers, saints and popes? 

Even worse, you shamelessly avoided any acknowledgment of the trustworthy Catholic sources provided, including Scripture, St. Jerome, St. Chrysostom, Cosmas, St. Athanasius, St. Augustine, Virgilus, Methodius, Lactanctius, St. Clement of Alexandria, Moses, Enoch, Severian of Gabala, Pope Paul V, Pope Urban VIII, Pope Alexander VII, Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich and the multitude of other saints and Fathers and Catholics that you prefer to ignore. :laugh1: 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 17, 2023, 09:12:10 PM
Could you be more explicit about what makes you think this?  I can not think of anything in the context that could support such a conclusion.  Given how extensively St. Bede quotes Pliny in the larger context, the obvious way to understand him is that he shares Pliny's model of a globe earth.

I'll see if I can find the quote, but I don't have it handy.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: AnthonyPadua on October 17, 2023, 10:20:37 PM

From The Dolorous Passion of Anne Catherine Emmerich:

"I learned also that the prophet having related what had happened to him, the spot received the name of Calvary. Finally, I saw that the Cross of Jesus was placed vertically over the skull of Adam. I was informed that this spot was the exact centre of the earth; and at the same time I was shown the numbers and measures proper to every country, but I have forgotten them, individually as well as in general. Yet I have seen this centre from above, and as it were from a bird's-eye view. In that way a person sees far more clearly than on a map all the different countries, mountains, deserts, seas, rivers, towns, and even the smallest places, whether distant or near at hand."    http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/pjc/pjc68.htm (http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/pjc/pjc68.htm)   

Maybe we should make a map with Calvary in the centre?
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 17, 2023, 10:44:19 PM
Maybe we should make a map with Calvary in the centre?

Here you go (Azimuthal projection from Jerusalem)  Seems like it might be a bit off, perhaps due to the fact that the base data is wrong, lies about the current map being magnified into a bad projection (including their supposition about Antarctica, but something like this might work ... with some modification.


(https://i.ibb.co/nLYy8hG/Jerusalem-Center.png)
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Marulus Fidelis on October 18, 2023, 02:56:12 AM
Thank you Tradman for the resources, unfortunately there is still work to do with tracking down specific proof-texts. I haven't the time now but certainly I'll look into it later 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 18, 2023, 05:34:24 AM
That map above could almost work with some adjustments:

1) straighten out South America a bit
2) Put Antarctica back around the edges.
3) possible adjustments to the Pacific Ocean
4) shape/dimensions of Australia

Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 18, 2023, 03:03:59 PM
Even worse, you shamelessly avoided any acknowledgment of the trustworthy Catholic sources provided, including Scripture, St. Jerome, St. Chrysostom, Cosmas, St. Athanasius, St. Augustine, Virgilus, Methodius, Lactanctius, St. Clement of Alexandria, Moses, Enoch, Severian of Gabala, Pope Paul V, Pope Urban VIII, Pope Alexander VII, Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich and the multitude of other saints and Fathers and Catholics that you prefer to ignore. :laugh1:
If we threw out your quotes that do not actually support flat earth and the ones that are not actually from Saints we would be left with the same four Fathers that are cited on the Flat Earth Trads site.  That is apparetly run by somebody who agrees with you about flat earth but understands how to recognize relevant quotes. 

Cosmas is not a "trustworthy Catholic source".  He was a random monk who had faded into obscurity until intellectually dishonest anti-Catholics pretended that he representative of Catholic thinking in order to make Catholics look bad.  (Contrast him with the globe-earth- supporting St. Bede, an influential writer, Saint, and Doctor of the Church. It should be obvious which one really represents Catholic thinking.)

Similarly, while there were a few early Christians who believed the so-called books of Enoch were actually written by the Patriarch of that name and should be included in Scripture, this view was rejected by the Church.  Catholics consider these writings to be apocryphal and there is no reason to see them as a "trustworthy Catholic source".

Some of your quotes do come from genuine Catholic sources, but you are conflating geocentrism with flat earth and treating support for geocentrism as if it were support for flat earth.  Perhaps you noticed in my Bede quote earlier in the thread that he supported both globe earth and geocentrism.  This was a very common position among Catholics throughout history so it is incorrect to treat quotes about geocentrism as you have.




Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 18, 2023, 04:54:33 PM
If we threw out your quotes that do not actually support flat earth and the ones that are not actually from Saints we would be left with the same four Fathers that are cited on the Flat Earth Trads site.  That is apparetly run by somebody who agrees with you about flat earth but understands how to recognize relevant quotes.

Cosmas is not a "trustworthy Catholic source".  He was a random monk who had faded into obscurity until intellectually dishonest anti-Catholics pretended that he representative of Catholic thinking in order to make Catholics look bad.  (Contrast him with the globe-earth- supporting St. Bede, an influential writer, Saint, and Doctor of the Church. It should be obvious which one really represents Catholic thinking.)

Similarly, while there were a few early Christians who believed the so-called books of Enoch were actually written by the Patriarch of that name and should be included in Scripture, this view was rejected by the Church.  Catholics consider these writings to be apocryphal and there is no reason to see them as a "trustworthy Catholic source".

Some of your quotes do come from genuine Catholic sources, but you are conflating geocentrism with flat earth and treating support for geocentrism as if it were support for flat earth.  Perhaps you noticed in my Bede quote earlier in the thread that he supported both globe earth and geocentrism.  This was a very common position among Catholics throughout history so it is incorrect to treat quotes about geocentrism as you have.
What quotes do not support flat earth that you think need thrown out? And which four saints are you referring to?

Why would you suggest Cosmas not a "trustworthy Catholic source"? If you have information, please provide it. Cosmas' bio tells us he was very well respected, accomplished, and trusted (see below). Cosmas also wrote similar exegeses of Scripture that several of the Fathers and saints did, teaching about typology in Scripture regarding the form of the earth as the pattern for man's worship and dwelling places: the Tabernacle, the Ark, Noah's Ark, the Temple, church architecture and even Catholic liturgy. This kind of exegesis doesn't come out of thin air, but provides a common theme throughout historical Christendom. Not to mention, it is quite compelling in and of itself.  If you're Catholic you should read it (as well as the others) and study it before you dismiss it.  Conversely, there is no exegesis, by any historical Catholic figure whatsoever, of earth being a globe, let alone even one parallel the globe might have with places of worship, or houses, the Church or the Mass.  Cosmas also finished out his priestly life in cloister, so he was a man of prayer.       

BIOGRAPHY OF COSMAS. (Christian Topography)


The Topography fortunately contains passages which throw light on the personal history of its author, and enable us also to fix with certainty the date at which he wrote. He was most probably a native of Alexandria, and may have been of Greek parentage. His education was confined to the more elementary branches of knowledge, such as would fit him for the career he pursued in the earlier part of his life----that of a merchant. But though he was not instructed, as he tells us himself,2 (http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/cosmas_00_2_intro.htm#2) |v in the "learning of the schools," yet so inquisitive was his turn of mind and so sharp his intellect that he eventually acquired such a knowledge of literature and science as raised him to the level of the culture of his time, and to his being accepted as a capable exponent and defender of the Christian faith.

Cosmas was well traveled, well received at Court, and was permitted by the King, who professed the Christian faith and could speak Greek, to travel freely through his dominions. Cosmas, when all his travels were over, returned to Alexandria, perhaps after paying a visit to Jerusalem; and, abandoning the secular life, retired to the seclusion of the cloister, where he devoted his leisure to the composition of works on descriptive geography, cosmography, and Scriptural exegesis.

The language he uses is simple, and his descriptions are not only remarkably vivid, but are, above all things, truthful.  They also say: he was a man who had a supreme regard for truth, and who was at once an acute observer, and shrewd in judging the value of the information which he received from others.
====================================================================================
More info on the book, Christian Topography by Cosmas Indiocopleustes

"The Christian Topography" has been preserved in two copies: one a parchment manuscript of the 10th century belonging to the Laurentian Library in Florence, and containing the whole work except the last leaf; the other, a very fine unical manuscript of the eighth or ninth century, belonging to the Vatican Library, and containing sketches drawn by Cosmas himself, but wanting entirely the twelfth book, which is the last.  There is, besides, in the Imperial Library in Vienna, a Cosmas manuscript, but this contains only a few leaves of the Topography.  This treatise, completed around 547 A.D., remained rather obscure until 1706 when it was first published in its entirety (the Florentine codex collated with that of the Vatican) by a Benedictine monk, Father Montfaucon, as part of a larger work entitled Nova Collectio Patrum et Scriptorum Graecorum.

The Christian Topography contains references to nearly seventy authorities selected from among philosophers, historians, travelers, doctors of the Church, soldiers, and statesmen. Comas’ primary objective and motivation in writing the treatise was to discredit the “false and heathen doctrine of a spherical earth”.  This he accomplishes with reprehensible religious zeal in the first book [chapter].  In order to disprove the pagan writers with such stature as Plato, Aristotle, Strabo, Pythagoras, Eudoxus, Pytheas of Marseilles, Ptolemy, Eratosthenes, and many others, Cosmas used two very effective weapons: the words of God and his common sense.
=====================================================================================
I'll stop there, this is getting long. You'll have to justify your dismissal of Cosmas who left us a treasure of Catholic information.

Btw, that trad flat earth site is pretty old and doesn't seem to get updated. 

Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Pax Vobis on October 18, 2023, 04:55:27 PM
Quote
Similarly, while there were a few early Christians who believed the so-called books of Enoch were actually written by the Patriarch of that name and should be included in Scripture, this view was rejected by the Church.  Catholics consider these writings to be apocryphal and there is no reason to see them as a "trustworthy Catholic source".
:facepalm:  I could challenge all of your points in the previous posts, which are filled with half-truths and generalizations, but i'll stick to this one.

Both Christ and St James quoted the Book of Enoch in Scripture; yes, at the time when Christ lived (i.e. early Christianity), the Book of Enoch was considered inspired by Old Testament Jews.  The reason it wasn't included in the Catholic Bible by the Church in the 400s, was due to many Jєωιѕн books being lost during the destruction of Jerusalem.  When the book was "found" by Jєωιѕн leaders in the 300s-400s, Catholic scholars noted many differences and couldn't trust the source.

Now, whether or not the "newest found" book of the 1800/1900s is legit, is up for debate.  I'd probably trust Protestants over Jews.  But either way, i'm not sure if the V2-led church can be trusted to review this source, and it's not going to be added to Scripture, so the issue is irrelevant.

However, i've read the newest edition of the book of Enoch a few times and I don't see much that is contrary to Catholicism.  In fact, much in it supports Catholicism which means it probably wasn't messed with by Protestants.  This further leads to it's *marginal* credibility.

And even if this newest found version was edited by Protestants/Jews/Muslims, they probably would only edit the doctrinal/theological subjects, and not topics such as science/cosmos/geography.  So the fact that such topics support flat earth is *more* believable because its *possible* that these were actually written by Enoch himself.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 19, 2023, 05:49:36 AM
:facepalm:  I could challenge all of your points in the previous posts, which are filled with half-truths and generalizations, but i'll stick to this one.

Both Christ and St James quoted the Book of Enoch in Scripture; yes, at the time when Christ lived (i.e. early Christianity), the Book of Enoch was considered inspired by Old Testament Jews.  The reason it wasn't included in the Catholic Bible by the Church in the 400s, was due to many Jєωιѕн books being lost during the destruction of Jerusalem.  When the book was "found" by Jєωιѕн leaders in the 300s-400s, Catholic scholars noted many differences and couldn't trust the source.

Now, whether or not the "newest found" book of the 1800/1900s is legit, is up for debate.  I'd probably trust Protestants over Jews.  But either way, i'm not sure if the V2-led church can be trusted to review this source, and it's not going to be added to Scripture, so the issue is irrelevant.

However, i've read the newest edition of the book of Enoch a few times and I don't see much that is contrary to Catholicism.  In fact, much in it supports Catholicism which means it probably wasn't messed with by Protestants.  This further leads to it's *marginal* credibility.

And even if this newest found version was edited by Protestants/Jews/Muslims, they probably would only edit the doctrinal/theological subjects, and not topics such as science/cosmos/geography.  So the fact that such topics support flat earth is *more* believable because its *possible* that these were actually written by Enoch himself.

Yeah, let's be honest, and minimizing / dismissing the Book of Enoch is simply a distortion of fact and shows dishonesty.  As you point out, not only did several prominent Church Fathers hold that it was inspired Scripture, but Our Lord and St. James quoted from yet.

Nor did the Church "reject" the book, but simply did not hold it to be inspired.  Not everything every written by a figure in the Old (or New) Testament was inspired.  I'm sure St. Paul wrote other stuff that was not inspired.  But just because something was not technically inspired does not make it illegitimate or "rejected" by the Church.  That is to grossly overstate the case.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 19, 2023, 06:33:04 AM
Similarly, while there were a few early Christians who believed the so-called books of Enoch were actually written by the Patriarch of that name and should be included in Scripture, this view was rejected by the Church.  Catholics consider these writings to be apocryphal and there is no reason to see them as a "trustworthy Catholic source".

You're conflating the two concerns.  Simply because the Church did not hold the book to be inspired Scripture does not meant it was not "written by the Patriarch of that name".  Not everything written by a figure in the Old Testament would be ipso facto inspired Scripture.  Simply not holding it to be inspired makes no other statements whatsoever regarding the authenticity (or lack thereof) of the work.

As has been pointed out, the book was quoted by Our Lord Himself and by St. James ... which I suspect is one of the reasons some Church Fathers considered it to have been inspired, but it's also not true that just because Our Lord cited something means it was inspired Scripture.  Though Our Lord's citation does at least suggest that it was authentic and of value.  I doubt Our Lord would cite some strange heretical forged work and give it more credibility than it deserves.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 19, 2023, 06:42:18 AM
Eventually I'll complete my study of the Church Fathers, who were grossly misrepresented and distorted by Dr. Sungenis (applying his own "eisegesis" to them), but by and large when they refer to a "sphere", they're almost always clearly talking about the shape of the entire world, including the firmament.

This idea that they believed in a ball-shaped earth that people walked on as it floated through space is absurd, and we can't read the "NASA ball" into every reference to a sphere (and even once time a circle), as Sungenis does.

What is clear is that they all universally believed in a solid firmament and that it was solid enough to hold real physical waters from the face of the earth.  There were debates (some recounted by St. Augustine) regarding the shape of this firmament.  There were debates (recounted by another Father, whose name slips my recall right now) about what it was made of, i.e. how the heavenly luminaries move if the firmament is solid enough to keep water out.  Some argued that the heavenly bodies to not move within the firmament (since it's solid) but that the entire firmament rotates, others that it was made of some substance in between solid and liquid (perhaps like a plasma) where things could move through it, even though it was solid enough to keep waters out.  We also have to recall that they did not have a concept of "gravity", so the notion of things sticking to the bottom of something would be strange and bizarre.  In fact, some of the Father who believed the world to be shaped like a hemisphere believed that because they felt that the heavier elements would sink to the bottom of the cosmic water, while St. Ambrose made a case for how it might be suspended amid the waters.  So they understood density, not gravity.  St. Augustine chimed in by saying it would be acceptable to hold that the earth was at the bottom center of the cosmos (and therefore shaped like a hemisphere), since bottom center is still center.

So this idea of a ball floating around the vacuum of space at no point entered the minds of any Church Fathers, despite the fact that some try to read it into them.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on October 19, 2023, 08:23:29 AM
Eventually I'll complete my study of the Church Fathers, who were grossly misrepresented and distorted by Dr. Sungenis (applying his own "eisegesis" to them), but by and large when they refer to a "sphere", they're almost always clearly talking about the shape of the entire world, including the firmament.

This idea that they believed in a ball-shaped earth that people walked on as it floated through space is absurd, and we can't read the "NASA ball" into every reference to a sphere (and even once time a circle), as Sungenis does.

What is clear is that they all universally believed in a solid firmament and that it was solid enough to hold real physical waters from the face of the earth.  There were debates (some recounted by St. Augustine) regarding the shape of this firmament.  There were debates (recounted by another Father, whose name slips my recall right now) about what it was made of, i.e. how the heavenly luminaries move if the firmament is solid enough to keep water out.  Some argued that the heavenly bodies to not move within the firmament (since it's solid) but that the entire firmament rotates, others that it was made of some substance in between solid and liquid (perhaps like a plasma) where things could move through it, even though it was solid enough to keep waters out.  We also have to recall that they did not have a concept of "gravity", so the notion of things sticking to the bottom of something would be strange and bizarre.  In fact, some of the Father who believed the world to be shaped like a hemisphere believed that because they felt that the heavier elements would sink to the bottom of the cosmic water, while St. Ambrose made a case for how it might be suspended amid the waters.  So they understood density, not gravity.  St. Augustine chimed in by saying it would be acceptable to hold that the earth was at the bottom center of the cosmos (and therefore shaped like a hemisphere), since bottom center is still center.

So this idea of a ball floating around the vacuum of space at no point entered the minds of any Church Fathers, despite the fact that some try to read it into them.

Not to get into another argument with you about this, but don’t you think that all of this FE stuff would have been exposed during the Galileo trial? To put it another way, if the Church Fathers believed in some sort of FE model, this would have been front and center during the trial, but to my knowledge, FE wasn’t even considered.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Thed0ctor on October 19, 2023, 09:19:39 AM
Not to get into another argument with you about this, but don’t you think that all of this FE stuff would have been exposed during the Galileo trial? To put it another way, if the Church Fathers believed in some sort of FE model, this would have been front and center during the trial, but to my knowledge, FE wasn’t even considered.
I think the argument is that it was taken for granted that it was a snow globe and not a globe globe. There are contexts that are like this today where we interpret something phrased back then as something else. 

Every old looking photo or explanation I can find though doesn't seem to suggest a snow globe though. Like I'm hunting around for old Ptolemaic pictures and what I find are globe globes or at least they look that way with the earth being at the "center" instead of the bottom. I guess if the photos I'm seeing are top down instead of "3d" that may give some evidence to a snow globe conception. Do we have anything that suggests this or an explanation Lad? Or evidence these photos like the one attached are recreations and not originals
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 19, 2023, 10:07:01 AM
Not to get into another argument with you about this, but don’t you think that all of this FE stuff would have been exposed during the Galileo trial? To put it another way, if the Church Fathers believed in some sort of FE model, this would have been front and center during the trial, but to my knowledge, FE wasn’t even considered.


My comments in blue, everything else is sourced.

Your question was covered earlier discussions about flat earth. If you haven't read them, here's a recap with additional information. Although the shape of earth wasn't directly covered at the Galileo trial, the point made on CI was that the Fathers soundly condemned the heliocentric model, and specifically, the movement of earth. As we see in the next paragraph, that was the key offense because o
nce the enemies of Scripture had the earth moving, it became a spheroid (Encyclopedia Britanica*). However, in only condemning the movement of earth didn't mean they weren't condemning all the heresies that went with the "Pythagorean Doctrine", because they mention all the problems in the docuмents surrounding the trial itself.  Related heresies in the docuмents regarding the dangers of Pythagorean Doctrine (heliocentrism) included transmigration of souls (reincarnation) multiple worlds, and worship of the phallus among other things. They didn't condemn those either, because the entire theory that included the globe was condemned. And those who think earth a geocentric globe is a wild assumption as we'll see.


*‘The period from Eratosthenes to Picard can be called the spherical era of geodesy.  A new ellipsoidal era was begun by Sir Isaac Newton and Christiaan Huygens. In the Ptolemaic astronomy it had seemed natural to assume that the Earth was an exact sphere with a centre that, in turn, all too easily became regarded as the centre of the entire universe. But, with a growing conviction that the Copernican system is true – the Earth moves around the Sun and rotates around its own axis – and with the advance in mechanical knowledge due chiefly to Newton and Huygens, it seemed natural to conceive the Earth as an oblate spheroid.--- Encyclopaedia Britannica, chapter: Earth, p.535.

From the book Burned Alive,

Holy Office condemnation: 'the false Pythagorean doctrine,
altogether contrary to the Holy Scripture’...

Pope Urban VIII said the false Pythagorean doctrine was "the most perverse subject matter that one could ever handle"

because it involved pedophilia, orgies, sodomy, and ritual child sacrifice.



The cult of Pythagoras was the continuation of the demonic mystery religions he learned in Egypt: the Kabbalah.





Ambassador Niccolini explained in a letter that the Pope’s concern was not about science: ‘the Pope believes that this involves many dangers for the Faith, not that we are dealing here with mathematical matters, but about the Holy Scripture, about religion and about the Faith.’




And in April the Pope reiterated the gravity of Galileo’s crime: ‘it pains His Holiness that he [Galilei] has entered into this matter, which he [the Pope] still considers to be extremely grave and of great consequence for the [Catholic] religion.'

Not only is there no proof that anyone in authority during the Galileo Affair thought the earth was a globe, there is some proof that none of the Church authorities at the Galileo trial were convinced earth was a globe because it was at odds with Scripture.




In his essay, John Fohne continues his assessment as to why the Holy Office of 1616 condemned the heliocentric heresy of the Earthmovers. ‘Galileoism is the fruit of Gnosticism,’ writes Fohne, a heresy that denied a true literal Genesis.

Galileo historian AA Martinez from the book Burned Alive

24th February 1616: The theological qualifiers of the Holy Office censure heliocentrism as heretical. This qualification is not in its own right an ecclesiastical condemnation, but serves as the basis for the authoritative acts which follow. 25th February 1616: Galileo is notified that the Holy See has censured heliocentrism as heretical (showing that the Pope had confirmed the censure in question) and ordered to desist from teaching it or holding it. 5th March 1616: The Sacred Congregation of the Index condemns all heliocentric writings on the grounds of their being contrary to Holy Scripture. 22nd June 1633: Galileo is condemned as vehemently suspect of heresy – namely of holding heliocentrism, and required to abjure it. The Pope orders the text of his condemnation and abjuration to be widely circulated in order to prevent others from falling into the same error. 1664 and 1665: Pope Alexander VII renews with full papal authority the condemnation of all works favouring heliocentrism.

Pg 135 and 136

Furthermore, Bellarmine reasserted traditional interpretations of scriptures. So he denied the Earth’s motion. In 1611 Bellarmine quoted Psalm 103:5 from the Latin Vulgate, that God established the Earth on its foundations, it cannot be moved forever and ever’. Bellarmine commented that God put Earth in the centre of the world, and that its ‘weight rests on its eternal stability’.159 He also quoted Psalm 118:8, that God ‘established the Earth and permanently’. Bellarmine explained this phrase: ‘it almost says that you [God] established the Earth immovable, and it always remains immobile.’ He added: ‘God ordained, on the contrary, that heaven or the Sun move always.’160 These statements matter, because they show Bellarmine truly believed that the Earth does not move. So, its motion was not one of the questions he sent to the Collegio Romano. He only asked about the telescopic phenomena Galileo had described. The Earth’s motion had been censured by the consultors of the Inquisition in the works of Bruno. Strangely, historians hardly ever mention this key point when discussing Galileo.


Here we see that not only did Bellarmine not believe earth moves, he believed God established the earth on foundations. No one even remotely suggests earth somehow has a foundation dangling in space.  Bellarmine and the Pope also tell us that earth is covered by a firmament with water above the firmament.  That also means they didn't believe in outer space.  Inchofer's argument against earth being "a Great Orb" is also telling. 


Sixth Argument against heliocentrism in the Galileo docuмents, Inchofer

According to Genesis 1, there are waters in heaven above the firmament and beneath it. ‘Therefore the Earth’s Water is not contained only in the solidity of the Earth, and consequently the natural place of the Earth is not the centre, but possibly, outside it and carried in circular motion in a Great Orb.’ 


pg217
Antipodes

Inchofer cited Lactantius and Augustine for having criticized the theory of the antipodes. In City of God, Augustine denied the antipodes as a ‘fable’ that had not been proved, because, he said, even if the Earth indeed were spherical, one would have to prove that it has lands throughout, not just bare waters, plus, one would have to prove that there were people there, and descended from Adam.224 Augustine preferred biblical and historical evidence over scientific conjectures. Similarly, Inchofer argued that the Earth’s motion was imaginary and false.

pg 23  (view of Lactanctius)


In this preface, Copernicus also took the opportunity to criticize those who stupidly argued about mathematical topics without understanding them. In this connection, he briefly criticized Lactantius, an ancient Christian authority, noting that although he was a celebrated writer, he was not a mathematician. Copernicus complained that Lactantius spoke in a childish way about the shape of the Earth, in saying that it is ‘ridiculous’ that its shape is spherical.2 


Obviously, the theologian, Inchofer's words above, the bishop who summed up the entire Affair, as well as the thoughts of the Pope and St Bellarmine, showed they were not convinced earth is a globe but their focus was upon preserving the literal interpretation of Scripture. If the Pythagorean Doctrine was entirely condemned, where is the lifting of the condemnation of the globe included in the heliocentric theory? 

Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Marulus Fidelis on October 19, 2023, 10:40:31 AM
if the Church Fathers believed in some sort of FE model, this would have been front and center during the trial
Non sequitur.

But I would agree that if Bellarmine et al. believed in some sort of FE model then that would have been front and center during the trial.

However, Divine Providence required the globular theory to spread in order for the present atheistic apostasy to come about, just as Baptism of Desire was allowed to spread as a foot in the door for Vatican II.

If one honestly reads just the Fathers instead of second-hand accounts or modern scientists and theologians one will invariably reject both the globe and BoD.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 19, 2023, 10:54:12 AM
Non sequitur.

But I would agree that if Bellarmine et al. believed in some sort of FE model then that would have been front and center during the trial.

However, Divine Providence required the globular theory to spread in order for the present atheistic apostasy to come about, just as Baptism of Desire was allowed to spread as a foot in the door for Vatican II.

If one honestly reads just the Fathers instead of second-hand accounts or modern scientists and theologians one will invariably reject both the globe and BoD.

Great points. The Great Apostasy had to happen. Lies and attacks on Scripture and on Baptism were no doubt great strides to that end. Look at the world today.  It's a post Christian era of unbelievers and weak Catholics who place modern science above their Faith. People don't think sacramental baptism is necessary and they all believe in a whirling globe earth born of the mystery religions like Gaia, Freemasons and Kabbalah. It goes to show that evil prevails only when good Catholics do nothing.  
 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 19, 2023, 10:54:43 AM
Not to get into another argument with you about this, but don’t you think that all of this FE stuff would have been exposed during the Galileo trial? To put it another way, if the Church Fathers believed in some sort of FE model, this would have been front and center during the trial, but to my knowledge, FE wasn’t even considered.

No, it didn't come up.  They were specifically examining Sacred Scripture and the Fathers with regard to the contention that the earth moved.  Regardless, no determination was made regarding the shape of the earth ... one way or the other.

They probably should have looked into it, as the Church Fathers were unanimous that there was a physical firmament that kept physical waters off the earth ... as is clearly found in Sacred Scripture.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 19, 2023, 10:58:47 AM

Great points. The Great Apostasy had to happen. 

Correct.  That's also why God allowed "Baptism of Desire" to take hold and the concept to get expanded ... since without it, the Great Apostasy could never have happened, since all of Vatican II depends on it.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Pax Vobis on October 19, 2023, 11:43:12 AM

Quote
Eventually I'll complete my study of the Church Fathers, who were grossly misrepresented and distorted by Dr. Sungenis (applying his own "eisegesis" to them), but by and large when they refer to a "sphere", they're almost always clearly talking about the shape of the entire world, including the firmament.
I definitely would read your study.  Most people would learn a great deal about the Faith, by reading the Church Fathers, especially on doctrinal issues.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 19, 2023, 11:56:50 AM
No, it didn't come up.  They were specifically examining Sacred Scripture and the Fathers with regard to the contention that the earth moved.  Regardless, no determination was made regarding the shape of the earth ... one way or the other.

The theory that earth is a globe, intrinsic to the Pythagorean Doctrine heliocentric model, (although not to the geocentric model), was never specifically redeemed from the Holy Office condemnations.
Someone would have to explain how the globe fits with Scripture, as well as prove that the Church authorities didn't include the globe in the condemnations. Flat earth is a drawn conclusion in this matter, but it's inarguable that the Pythagorean Doctrine and heliocentrism were "altogether condemned", and included the whole of it, because it was extremely dangerous to the Faith and contrary to Scripture. Was the globe excluded?  Why didn't they say so? For the same reason it wasn't necessary to itemize and then condemn every aspect of the false religion. It is included. Catholic authorities condemned two specifics along with the heresy in toto.  Any proof to the contrary is what this discussion is about, so anyone with other information should bring it out in the forum. 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Marulus Fidelis on October 19, 2023, 12:08:34 PM

The theory that earth is a globe, intrinsic to the Pythagorean Doctrine heliocentric model, (although not to the geocentric model), was never specifically redeemed from the Holy Office condemnations.
Someone would have to explain how the globe fits with Scripture, as well as prove that the Church authorities didn't include the globe in the condemnations. Flat earth is a drawn conclusion in this matter, but it's inarguable that the Pythagorean Doctrine and heliocentrism were "altogether condemned", and included the whole of it, because it was extremely dangerous to the Faith and contrary to Scripture. Was the globe excluded?  Why didn't they say so? For the same reason it wasn't necessary to itemize and then condemn every aspect of the false religion. It is included. Catholic authorities condemned two specifics along with the heresy in toto.  Any proof to the contrary is what this discussion is about, so anyone with other information should bring it out in the forum.
Utter nonsense. The Church condemned what it condemned, nothing less, nothing more. If the inquisitors meant to condemn the globe they would certainly have said so explicitly at least once in the official acts. But we not only don't see any mention of the issue in the official condemnation, but even private correspondence is completely free of the globe theory.

However much I wish FE was addressed and the consensus of the Father pointed out to the doubters, it wasn't. 

Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 19, 2023, 12:20:05 PM
Utter nonsense. The Church condemned what it condemned, nothing less, nothing more. If the inquisitors meant to condemn the globe they would certainly have said so explicitly at least once in the official acts. But we not only don't see any mention of the issue in the official condemnation, but even private correspondence is completely free of the globe theory.

However much I wish FE was addressed and the consensus of the Father pointed out to the doubters, it wasn't.

The Church condemned heliocentrism more than once.  According to The Earthmovers, both Pope Paul V in 1616 and Pope Urban VIII in 1633 condemned Heliocentrism and the Pythagorean heresies of Galileo. With Urban VIII universally publicizing the verdict:


Quote
On 2nd, July 1633, under orders of Pope Urban VIII, the condemnation of heliocentrism was made universally public, not just confined to Galileo alone as some apologists would argue later. Copies of the sentence and Galileo’s abjuration were sent to all vicar nuncios and inquisitors who in turn made them known to professors of philosophy and theology throughout the Catholic world. - Prologue, p. 9

 
The globe is a necessary component of heliocentrism.  It's not possible they condemned a heresy and not include it's details.  
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Marulus Fidelis on October 19, 2023, 12:32:49 PM

The Church condemned heliocentrism more than once.  According to The Earthmovers, both Pope Paul V in 1616 and Pope Urban VIII in 1633 condemned Heliocentrism and the Pythagorean heresies of Galileo. With Urban VIII universally publicizing the verdict:


Quote
On 2nd, July 1633, under orders of Pope Urban VIII, the condemnation of heliocentrism was made universally public, not just confined to Galileo alone as some apologists would argue later. Copies of the sentence and Galileo’s abjuration were sent to all vicar nuncios and inquisitors who in turn made them known to professors of philosophy and theology throughout the Catholic world. - Prologue, p. 9

 
The globe is a necessary component of heliocentrism.  It's not possible they condemned a heresy and not include it's details. 
The existence of the Earth is also a necessary component of heliocentrism. Who decides which details are implicitly included and which aren't?
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 19, 2023, 01:39:05 PM
You're conflating the two concerns.  Simply because the Church did not hold the book to be inspired Scripture does not meant it was not "written by the Patriarch of that name". 
It is true that authorship and inspiration are related but not identical concerns.  However, in the case of the wrtings attributed to Enoch, a consensus that he was not the author arose around the same time that the writings were definitively excluded from the Canon of Scripture.

The Catholic Encyclopedia (pre-Vatican II, with imprimatur) says: 
Passing to the patristic writers, the Book of Henoch enjoyed a high esteem among them, mainly owing to the quotation in Jude. The so-called Epistle of Barnabas twice cites Henoch as Scripture. Clement of Alexandria (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04045a.htm), Tertullian (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14520c.htm), Origen (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11306b.htm), and even St. Augustine (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02084a.htm) suppose the work to be a genuine one of the patriarch. But in the fourth century the Henoch writings lost credit and ceased to be quoted. After an allusion by an author of the beginning of the ninth century, they disappear from view.

So great was the oblivion into which they fell that only scanty fragments of Greek and Latin versions were preserved in the West. The complete text was thought to have perished when it was discovered in two Ethiopic (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05566a.htm) manuscripts (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09614b.htm) in Abyssinia (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01075e.htm), by the traveler Bruce in 1773. Since, several more copies in the same language have been brought to light. 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 19, 2023, 01:55:16 PM
Utter nonsense. The Church condemned what it condemned, nothing less, nothing more. If the inquisitors meant to condemn the globe they would certainly have said so explicitly at least once in the official acts. But we not only don't see any mention of the issue in the official condemnation, but even private correspondence is completely free of the globe theory.
There was no reason for the subject of the shape of the earth to arise because at that point in history it was completely uncontroversial.  Everyone agreed that the earth is a globe. including the inquisitors. This was part of the Ptolemaic (geocentric) model held by the majority, part of Tycho Brahe's model, and left unquestioned by Galileo. Everybody took it for granted.

How often do we see posts on Cathinfo proving the existence of God?  The topic is rarely, if ever, mentioned because everyone here agrees.  But there hundreds, even thousands, of posts on the subjects where we disagree.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 19, 2023, 02:08:16 PM
The existence of the Earth is also a necessary component of heliocentrism. Who decides which details are implicitly included and which aren't?

The existence of earth doesn't depend on it being a globe so your sentence doesn't compute. In determining what is included or not, I'm just looking at what the Church said. I think it would be hard to prove the globe wasn't included in the condemnation when the words of the Holy Office used were: ‘the false Pythagorean doctrine, altogether contrary to the Holy Scripture’.  Do you really think their words show intention to maintain some of Pythagorean doctrine? Doesn't appear Church authorities had any exemptions in mind. Even though the condemnation didn't specifically include or exclude the globe, they called Pythagorean doctrine (of the globe), false altogether. Again, just reading the words.            

 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 19, 2023, 02:12:20 PM
So this idea of a ball floating around the vacuum of space at no point entered the minds of any Church Fathers, despite the fact that some try to read it into them.

As I recall, the idea of "vacuum of space" was not part of secular science then either.  They (secular thinkers) generally thought the earth was a sphere nested inside a series of other spheres which held the heavenly bodies.  Some of the Church Fathers, if not all, would have been familiar with this model.  According to Pliny, even uneducated people were aware that the earth is a sphere.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 19, 2023, 02:20:06 PM
They generally thought the earth was a sphere nested inside a series of other spheres ...

Bullshit.  Now you're showing your complete dishonesty.  Church Fathers unanimously believed that the WORLD was a sphere (including the firmament) and that it was suspended in water (or at the bottom and covered by water).  Most of them followed the Hebrew cosmology (since it's rooted in Sacred Scripture), and not the pagan / Pythagorean system.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 19, 2023, 02:27:51 PM
Bullshit.  Now you're showing your complete dishonesty.  Church Fathers unanimously believed that the WORLD was a sphere (including the firmament) and that it was suspended in water (or at the bottom and covered by water).
I am not sure why you thought the word "they" in my post referred to Church Fathers.  After seeing your misunderstanding I modified my post to make it even clearer.

I did this after seeing the first version of the above, which was merely the word "bullshit".  I'm not sure I would have thought it worth responding to you if I had seen your false accusation of dishonesty. 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Pax Vobis on October 19, 2023, 03:12:01 PM

Quote
However, in the case of the writings attributed to Enoch, a consensus that he was not the author
It was determined that Enoch was not the author of the "found" docuмents (by the Jews) which were lost during the destruction of Jerusalem.  The original, pre-Jerusalem-destruction-book-of-Enoch was considered inspired by the OT Jєωιѕн religion.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 19, 2023, 03:42:30 PM
It was determined that Enoch was not the author of the "found" docuмents (by the Jєωs) which were lost during the destruction of Jerusalem.  The original, pre-Jerusalem-destruction-book-of-Enoch was considered inspired by the OT Jєωιѕн religion.
Just wondering, who determined Enoch was not the author of the "found" docuмents?  Are we talking about the famous ones found in the 40's? Also,
what about docuмents of Enoch's in which the Vatican is in possession?  Do you have more information? 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on October 20, 2023, 06:33:08 AM
No, it didn't come up.  They were specifically examining Sacred Scripture and the Fathers with regard to the contention that the earth moved.  Regardless, no determination was made regarding the shape of the earth ... one way or the other.

They probably should have looked into it, as the Church Fathers were unanimous that there was a physical firmament that kept physical waters off the earth ... as is clearly found in Sacred Scripture.

What I’m suggesting is that, to me, it’s impossible to believe that the Earth’s shape didn’t come up since the Earth was certainly the central object in the controversy. This of course is assuming that the common opinion at the time was that the Earth was actually flat or variation there of.

You can even hear Saint Robert Bellarmine, the pope, and the trial judges saying, ‘this nut Galileo believes that the Earth is some sort of ball!!! Do you believe it’?

Now, if the common opinion was that the Earth was in fact a globe, then yes, it’s shape wouldn’t have been contested and thus not have been discussed and I would agree with you on this point.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 20, 2023, 07:07:48 AM
What I’m suggesting is that, to me, it’s impossible to believe that the Earth’s shape didn’t come up since the Earth was certainly the central object in the controversy. This of course is assuming that the common opinion at the time was that the Earth was actually flat or variation there of.

You can even hear Saint Robert Bellarmine, the pope, and the trial judges saying, ‘this nut Galileo believes that the Earth is some sort of ball!!! Do you believe it’?

Now, if the common opinion was that the Earth was in fact a globe, then yes, it’s shape wouldn’t have been contested and thus not have been discussed and I would agree with you on this point.

For whatever reason, the subject didn't come up.  Could simply have been that Galileo's focus was in the skies, and not on the earth and it wasn't a point of emphasis in his various writings.  Typically the Holy Office investigates only actual statements made by an individual and don't deal with broader doctrinal questions (which is usually addressed directly by popes).  Holy Office responds to specific cases rather than general doctrinal questions.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on October 20, 2023, 01:43:30 PM
For whatever reason, the subject came up.  Could simply have been that Galileo's focus was in the skies, and not on the earth and it wasn't a point of emphasis in his various writings.  Typically the Holy Office investigates only actual statements made by an individual and don't deal with broader doctrinal questions (which is usually addressed directly by popes).  Holy Office responds to specific cases rather than general doctrinal questions.

I think you meant: “the subject didn’t come up”?

Are you saying that it is *possible* that Galileo wasn’t convinced that the Earth was a globe and ultimately it had no bearing on his heliocentric theory? If so, I think that it’s almost impossible to believe.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 20, 2023, 02:11:35 PM
I think you meant: “the subject didn’t come up”?

Are you saying that it is *possible* that Galileo wasn’t convinced that the Earth was a globe and ultimately it had no bearing on his heliocentric theory? If so, I think that it’s almost impossible to believe.

Right, that was a typo.  I'm sure Galileo thought the earth was a globe, but I doubt it came up in his works.  He probably simply assumed it.  How many people who write about astronomy today even discuss the shape of the earth?  They simply take it for granted, and I imagine did as well, so I doubt there was mention of it in any of his writings.  Unless one is arguing with a Flat Earther, how many times would a modern astronomer even explicitly make the assertion, the statement "the earth is a globe".  They just assume this and take it for granted, and then start talking about quasars, nebulae, etc.  And if he barely if ever mentioned it in his works, it's not something the Holy Office would bother to address, since they only address concrete propositions.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 20, 2023, 02:31:48 PM
I think you meant: “the subject didn’t come up”?

Are you saying that it is *possible* that Galileo wasn’t convinced that the Earth was a globe and ultimately it had no bearing on his heliocentric theory? If so, I think that it’s almost impossible to believe.

I know this question was for Ladislaus, and he can handle his own responses, but I wanted to respond as well.  The subject of the globe did come up.  We have Inchofer, the bishop who assessed and recorded everything, in Galileo trial, the 6th argument against Galileo, regarding the "Great Orb", with water on the outside.  They are talking about how the globe doesn't work with the firmament, it's movement, the water outside, etc.  Now, you may have passed that up because it didn't say globe earth or flat earth or whatever, but is was an argument against Galileo. Now, you may ask, why wasn't it specifically condemned then? There was no reason to do so because they were going to throw the entire Pythagorean Doctrine out based on moving earth, no doubt, a much easier task. And thirdly, there's no doubt Church authorities were disgusted with Copernicus' petty jab at a Father of the Church, a fellow bishop and a man with which they all agreed, because Lanctantius rejected the globe as ridiculous. I don't think they agreed with Galileo who agreed with Copernicus earth was a globe, against someone they greatly respected, a pillar of the Church who thought it was stupid.  I've again provided the three sources from the AA Martinez Burned Alive because given any consideration, they speak for themselves.   


Sixth Argument against heliocentrism in the Galileo docuмents, Inchofer

According to Genesis 1, there are waters in heaven above the firmament and beneath it. ‘Therefore the Earth’s Water is not contained only in the solidity of the Earth, and consequently the natural place of the Earth is not the centre, but possibly, outside it and carried in circular motion in a Great Orb.’


pg217
Antipodes

Inchofer cited Lactantius and Augustine for having criticized the theory of the antipodes. In City of God, Augustine denied the antipodes as a ‘fable’ that had not been proved, because, he said, even if the Earth indeed were spherical, one would have to prove that it has lands throughout, not just bare waters, plus, one would have to prove that there were people there, and descended from Adam.224 Augustine preferred biblical and historical evidence over scientific conjectures. Similarly, Inchofer argued that the Earth’s motion was imaginary and false.

pg 23  (view of Lactanctius)


In this preface, Copernicus also took the opportunity to criticize those who stupidly argued about mathematical topics without understanding them. In this connection, he briefly criticized Lactantius, an ancient Christian authority, noting that although he was a celebrated writer, he was not a mathematician. Copernicus complained that Lactantius spoke in a childish way about the shape of the Earth, in saying that it is ‘ridiculous’ that its shape is spherical.2
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on October 20, 2023, 03:45:41 PM

I know this question was for Ladislaus, and he can handle his own responses, but I wanted to respond as well.  The subject of the globe did come up.  We have Inchofer, the bishop who assessed and recorded everything, in Galileo trial, the 6th argument against Galileo, regarding the "Great Orb", with water on the outside.  They are talking about how the globe doesn't work with the firmament, it's movement, the water outside, etc.  Now, you may have passed that up because it didn't say globe earth or flat earth or whatever, but is was an argument against Galileo.


Thanks for this, but I counter that this doesn’t necessarily make an argument against the geocentric model with a global Earth. It seems that the prosecutors are just pointing out how the Earth must be (tentatively?) motionless in order to keep stability.

First you write: “They are talking about how the globe doesn’t work the firmament” then you write: “you may have passed that up because it didn't say globe earth or flat earth or whatever”. Did they mention a globe or not? Can you give me the reference or direct me to the specific citation.

So I still contend that it was believed by all learned men at the time that the Earth was a globe and not flat or a “snow globe” type design. 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Pax Vobis on October 20, 2023, 04:31:14 PM

Quote
I'm sure Galileo thought the earth was a globe, but I doubt it came up in his works. 
Anyone that believes in heliocentrism HAS to believe the earth is a globe, or else how can the earth spin through space and orbit the sun?  You have to reduce the earth to a planet-shape, like all the others. 


Heliocentrism is a DIRECT attack on catholic scripture and it’s implied philosophy of the earth being the center of the universe, which Christ Redeemed.  

A globe earth does not pose as many problems, doctrinally or philosophically, though some issues still remain.  If Galileo had simply posited the earth was a globe, I doubt the Church would’ve gotten involved.  
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 20, 2023, 06:05:51 PM
Thanks for this, but I counter that this doesn’t necessarily make an argument against the geocentric model with a global Earth. It seems that the prosecutors are just pointing out how the Earth must be (tentatively?) motionless in order to keep stability.

First you write: “They are talking about how the globe doesn’t work the firmament” then you write: “you may have passed that up because it didn't say globe earth or flat earth or whatever”. Did they mention a globe or not? Can you give me the reference or direct me to the specific citation.

So I still contend that it was believed by all learned men at the time that the Earth was a globe and not flat or a “snow globe” type design.

Thanks for this honest treatment of the subject. It's a rare thing to see someone bother. 

Let's first discuss our individual positions.  You assume everyone thought earth was a globe.  I don't think they did.  The reason being, the long time assumption was the Hebrew concept of the universe/cosmos was accepted by Christendom.  Heaven above, earth in the middle under the firmament, and hell below.  The Fathers bear this out in their arguments against the pagans throughout history.  But we're discussing this matter so lets finish that.  The reason I bring this up is that your assumption will color your ability to determine what is being said.  Let's look at the details. 

They mentioned the globe, but said it like this, '
carried in circular motion in a Great Orb'.  The words before this are a complaining that earth is no longer at the center in Galileo's theory, not fixed, but is a globe circling (orb).  Remember, they have long defended the Hebrew cosmology as described above. No doubt they've heard this globe argument, it's not like it hasn't been long debated. The interesting thing is they are talking about it, and it winds up as the 6th argument against Galileo.  I understand that you're saying about it being a moving globe as opposed to a fixed globe, but again, that's because you assume they "knew it was a globe", just not moving.

Then we see they discuss Augustine who denied the antipodes as a ‘fable’ because, he said, even if the Earth indeed were spherical
, and he gives the conditions that he says must work if the earth is spherical. First, Augustine's statement says, "even if the Earth were spherical" shows it was not really accepted. Augustine's conditions were: one would have to prove that it has lands throughout, not just bare waters (their understanding is that earth sits upon water so what's the point if there's no land). This also proves they do not accept the globe because they don't even understand how it would work.  The statement continues: one would have to prove that there were people there (which doesn't make sense to them obviously), and descended from Adam.224  Then it says, "Augustine preferred biblical and historical evidence over scientific conjectures," showing he didn't buy it, which is verified by Leo Ferrari in his book about Augustine. 

Now let me add some things.  AA Martinez has only skimmed the surface of this subject because he is a globe believer.  There's no way he is pulling entire statements with the information we need to really know what they were saying in all instances because he isn't even looking for it. He too thinks everyone believed earth is a globe.  However, even Martinez concludes Augustine rejected the globe because he preferred biblical and historical evidence. It's not possible the Galileo trial Church authorities accepted the globe (although they generously appear to consider it) because it doesn't fit with Scripture. And also because Augustine rejected it. And he rejected 'scientific conjecture', the same thing they are facing in this trial. 

They are aware of the potshot by Copernicus against Lactantius, who also didn't believe earth is a globe. With two Fathers of the Church, in these statements alone, we can determine they didn't really believe earth is a globe, favoring the Fathers. Ultimately, we have many more Fathers and saints and typology and Scripture to prove the globe was not accepted by Catholics, even if it was working it's way into the system slowly but surely. 

I'm not sure I addressed your concerns but I'm trying to get to the truth and this is what I see.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 20, 2023, 06:24:27 PM
Anyone that believes in heliocentrism HAS to believe the earth is a globe, or else how can the earth spin through space and orbit the sun?  You have to reduce the earth to a planet-shape, like all the others.

Well, in theory, you could hold that the earth is a globe in the sense of a snow globe and somehow moves around the sun ... but I doubt anyone actually held that.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 20, 2023, 06:44:48 PM
Anyone that believes in heliocentrism HAS to believe the earth is a globe, or else how can the earth spin through space and orbit the sun?  You have to reduce the earth to a planet-shape, like all the others.


Heliocentrism is a DIRECT attack on catholic scripture and it’s implied philosophy of the earth being the center of the universe, which Christ Redeemed. 

A globe earth does not pose as many problems, doctrinally or philosophically, though some issues still remain.  If Galileo had simply posited the earth was a globe, I doubt the Church would’ve gotten involved. 

Correct.  It's possible the globe thing isn't as bad as moving earth because the Church attacked moving earth first. But then again, the Church authorities were fighting an entire paradigm, a philosophy, a false religion, and they knew the lie recreated the world in Satan's image and deny the reality of God's creation. So they debunked the whole thing via moving earth. It was a package deal they trashed by proving earth didn't move because it didn't jive with Scripture. I would argue that the globe is as equally as bad as the moving earth for several reasons.  It is a lie.  It denies reason.  It denies Scripture. It denies saints and Fathers. It denies words and concepts: like level, the firmament, earth as a foundation, ends of the earth, North South East and West being cardinal directions. It questions whether up is up when it's really 180 degrees outward above you. Down is no longer exactly down, water and things stick to the bottom of the earth, the firmament is forgotten, people are upside down, aliens are possible, other worlds might exist, evolution becomes plausible, Big Bang becomes plausible, God becomes questionable because everything is relative, etc.  Not judging the Church or how She condemned this garbage, She condemned it entirely. Just pointing to some of the particular problems of earth being a globe. 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 20, 2023, 06:45:26 PM
Well, in theory, you could hold that the earth is a globe in the sense of a snow globe and somehow moves around the sun ... but I doubt anyone actually held that.
:laugh1:
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 20, 2023, 08:01:09 PM
So I still contend that it was believed by all learned men at the time that the Earth was a globe and not flat or a “snow globe” type design.

Yes, that is right and it is very obvious when we look at how the subject was taught at the (Church sponsored) universities.  I have found an English translation of De Sphaera Mundi, the most widespread and influential textbook from its writing in 1230 for hundreds of years onward.  This work represents the long-held scientific consensus in Christendom that Galileo was arguing against.  http://esotericarchives.com/solomon/sphere.htm

 (http://esotericarchives.com/solomon/sphere.htm)Here is the section on the shape of the earth:  

THE EARTH A SPHERE. -- That the earth, too, is round is shown thus. The signs and stars do not rise and set the same for all men everywhere but rise and set sooner for those in the east than for those in the west; and of this there is no other cause than the bulge of the earth. Moreover, celestial phenomena evidence that they rise sooner for Orientals than for westerners. For one and the same eclipse of the moon which appears to us in the first hour of the night appears to Orientals about the third hour of the night, which proves that they had night and sunset before we did, of which setting the bulge of the earth is the cause.

FURTHER PROOFS OF THIS. -- That the earth also has a bulge from north to south and vice versa is shown thus: To those living toward the north, certain stars are always visible, namely, those near the North Pole, while others which are near the South Pole are always concealed from them. If, then, anyone should proceed from the north southward, he might go so far that the stars which formerly were always visible to him now would tend toward their setting. And the farther south he went, the more they would be moved toward their setting. Again, that same man now could see stars which formerly had always been hidden from him. And the reverse would happen to anyone going from the south northward. The cause of this is simply the bulge of the earth. Again, if the earth were flat from east to west, the stars would rise as soon for westerners as for Orientals. which is false. Also, if the earth were flat from north to south and vice versa, the stars which were always visible to anyone would continue to be so wherever he went, which is false. But it seems flat to human sight because it is so extensive.
SURFACE OF THE SEA SPHERICAL. -- That the water has a bulge and is approximately round is shown thus: Let a signal be set up on the seacoast and a ship leave port and sail away so far that the eye of a person standing at the foot of the mast can no longer discern the signal. Yet if the ship is stopped, the eye of the same person, if he has climbed to the top of the mast, will see the signal clearly. Yet the eye of a person at the bottom of the mast ought to see the signal better than he who is at the top, as is shown by drawing straight lines from both to the signal. And there is no other explanation of this thing than the bulge of the water. For all other impediments are excluded, such as clouds and rising vapors.
Also, since water is a homogeneous body, the whole will act the same as its parts. But parts of water, as happens in the case of little drops and dew on herbs, naturally seek a round shape. Therefore, the whole, of which they are parts, will do so.

This was what virtually all educated Catholics believed in the centuries before Galileo. He left the sphericity of the earth uncontested while arguing with other points that were commonly believed.  
  
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 20, 2023, 08:21:56 PM
  If Galileo had simply posited the earth was a globe, I doubt the Church would’ve gotten involved. 
There were no objections from the Church when St. Bede, St. Albert the Great, or St. Thomas Aquinas posited that the earth is a globe.  Rather, all three of these Saints were declared Doctors of the Church.  This seems unlikely if they were teaching something heretical or problematic.

It is reasonable to talk about differing views on the shape of the earth during the Patristic period.  St. John Damascene explicitly states that the Fathers disagreed.  But from St. Bede on there was a consensus on the question.  At the time of Galileo, it was around a thousand years since Catholics had believed in flat earth. 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 20, 2023, 10:10:47 PM
There were no objections from the Church when St. Bede, St. Albert the Great, or St. Thomas Aquinas posited that the earth is a globe.  Rather, all three of these Saints were declared Doctors of the Church.  This seems unlikely if they were teaching something heretical or problematic.

It is reasonable to talk about differing views on the shape of the earth during the Patristic period.  St. John Damascene explicitly states that the Fathers disagreed.  But from St. Bede on there was a consensus on the question.  At the time of Galileo, it was around a thousand years since Catholics had believed in flat earth.

Please prove with texts and sources where St. Bede, St. Albert the Great and St. Thomas Aquinas posited that the earth is a globe. 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on October 21, 2023, 05:02:37 AM

Yes, that is right and it is very obvious when we look at how the subject was taught at the (Church sponsored) universities.  I have found an English translation of De Sphaera Mundi, the most widespread and influential textbook from its writing in 1230 for hundreds of years onward.  This work represents the long-held scientific consensus in Christendom that Galileo was arguing against.  http://esotericarchives.com/solomon/sphere.htm

 (http://esotericarchives.com/solomon/sphere.htm)Here is the section on the shape of the earth: 

THE EARTH A SPHERE. -- That the earth, too, is round is shown thus. The signs and stars do not rise and set the same for all men everywhere but rise and set sooner for those in the east than for those in the west; and of this there is no other cause than the bulge of the earth. Moreover, celestial phenomena evidence that they rise sooner for Orientals than for westerners. For one and the same eclipse of the moon which appears to us in the first hour of the night appears to Orientals about the third hour of the night, which proves that they had night and sunset before we did, of which setting the bulge of the earth is the cause.

FURTHER PROOFS OF THIS. -- That the earth also has a bulge from north to south and vice versa is shown thus: To those living toward the north, certain stars are always visible, namely, those near the North Pole, while others which are near the South Pole are always concealed from them. If, then, anyone should proceed from the north southward, he might go so far that the stars which formerly were always visible to him now would tend toward their setting. And the farther south he went, the more they would be moved toward their setting. Again, that same man now could see stars which formerly had always been hidden from him. And the reverse would happen to anyone going from the south northward. The cause of this is simply the bulge of the earth. Again, if the earth were flat from east to west, the stars would rise as soon for westerners as for Orientals. which is false. Also, if the earth were flat from north to south and vice versa, the stars which were always visible to anyone would continue to be so wherever he went, which is false. But it seems flat to human sight because it is so extensive.
SURFACE OF THE SEA SPHERICAL. -- That the water has a bulge and is approximately round is shown thus: Let a signal be set up on the seacoast and a ship leave port and sail away so far that the eye of a person standing at the foot of the mast can no longer discern the signal. Yet if the ship is stopped, the eye of the same person, if he has climbed to the top of the mast, will see the signal clearly. Yet the eye of a person at the bottom of the mast ought to see the signal better than he who is at the top, as is shown by drawing straight lines from both to the signal. And there is no other explanation of this thing than the bulge of the water. For all other impediments are excluded, such as clouds and rising vapors.
Also, since water is a homogeneous body, the whole will act the same as its parts. But parts of water, as happens in the case of little drops and dew on herbs, naturally seek a round shape. Therefore, the whole, of which they are parts, will do so.

This was what virtually all educated Catholics believed in the centuries before Galileo. He left the sphericity of the earth uncontested while arguing with other points that were commonly believed. 
 

This is very good, thank you!
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Marulus Fidelis on October 21, 2023, 05:20:12 AM

Yes, that is right and it is very obvious when we look at how the subject was taught at the (Church sponsored) universities.  I have found an English translation of De Sphaera Mundi, the most widespread and influential textbook from its writing in 1230 for hundreds of years onward.  This work represents the long-held scientific consensus in Christendom that Galileo was arguing against.  http://esotericarchives.com/solomon/sphere.htm

 (http://esotericarchives.com/solomon/sphere.htm)Here is the section on the shape of the earth: 

THE EARTH A SPHERE. -- That the earth, too, is round is shown thus. The signs and stars do not rise and set the same for all men everywhere but rise and set sooner for those in the east than for those in the west; and of this there is no other cause than the bulge of the earth. Moreover, celestial phenomena evidence that they rise sooner for Orientals than for westerners. For one and the same eclipse of the moon which appears to us in the first hour of the night appears to Orientals about the third hour of the night, which proves that they had night and sunset before we did, of which setting the bulge of the earth is the cause.

FURTHER PROOFS OF THIS. -- That the earth also has a bulge from north to south and vice versa is shown thus: To those living toward the north, certain stars are always visible, namely, those near the North Pole, while others which are near the South Pole are always concealed from them. If, then, anyone should proceed from the north southward, he might go so far that the stars which formerly were always visible to him now would tend toward their setting. And the farther south he went, the more they would be moved toward their setting. Again, that same man now could see stars which formerly had always been hidden from him. And the reverse would happen to anyone going from the south northward. The cause of this is simply the bulge of the earth. Again, if the earth were flat from east to west, the stars would rise as soon for westerners as for Orientals. which is false. Also, if the earth were flat from north to south and vice versa, the stars which were always visible to anyone would continue to be so wherever he went, which is false. But it seems flat to human sight because it is so extensive.
Debunked by modern technology: https://www.cathinfo.com/the-earth-god-made-flat-earth-geocentrism/no-star-movement-during-flight-equals-flat-earth/
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on October 21, 2023, 05:32:21 AM
Debunked by modern technology: https://www.cathinfo.com/the-earth-god-made-flat-earth-geocentrism/no-star-movement-during-flight-equals-flat-earth/


Whether it’s been debunked or not, the point that she is lending support to is that all (or nearly all) learned men believed that the Earth is a globe in shape and not flat or a snow globe type system. Do you concede that point?
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: AMDGJMJ on October 21, 2023, 06:12:32 AM

Yes, that is right and it is very obvious when we look at how the subject was taught at the (Church sponsored) universities.  I have found an English translation of De Sphaera Mundi, the most widespread and influential textbook from its writing in 1230 for hundreds of years onward.  This work represents the long-held scientific consensus in Christendom that Galileo was arguing against.  http://esotericarchives.com/solomon/sphere.htm

 (http://esotericarchives.com/solomon/sphere.htm)Here is the section on the shape of the earth: 

THE EARTH A SPHERE. -- That the earth, too, is round is shown thus. The signs and stars do not rise and set the same for all men everywhere but rise and set sooner for those in the east than for those in the west; and of this there is no other cause than the bulge of the earth. Moreover, celestial phenomena evidence that they rise sooner for Orientals than for westerners. For one and the same eclipse of the moon which appears to us in the first hour of the night appears to Orientals about the third hour of the night, which proves that they had night and sunset before we did, of which setting the bulge of the earth is the cause.

FURTHER PROOFS OF THIS. -- That the earth also has a bulge from north to south and vice versa is shown thus: To those living toward the north, certain stars are always visible, namely, those near the North Pole, while others which are near the South Pole are always concealed from them. If, then, anyone should proceed from the north southward, he might go so far that the stars which formerly were always visible to him now would tend toward their setting. And the farther south he went, the more they would be moved toward their setting. Again, that same man now could see stars which formerly had always been hidden from him. And the reverse would happen to anyone going from the south northward. The cause of this is simply the bulge of the earth. Again, if the earth were flat from east to west, the stars would rise as soon for westerners as for Orientals. which is false. Also, if the earth were flat from north to south and vice versa, the stars which were always visible to anyone would continue to be so wherever he went, which is false. But it seems flat to human sight because it is so extensive.
SURFACE OF THE SEA SPHERICAL. -- That the water has a bulge and is approximately round is shown thus: Let a signal be set up on the seacoast and a ship leave port and sail away so far that the eye of a person standing at the foot of the mast can no longer discern the signal. Yet if the ship is stopped, the eye of the same person, if he has climbed to the top of the mast, will see the signal clearly. Yet the eye of a person at the bottom of the mast ought to see the signal better than he who is at the top, as is shown by drawing straight lines from both to the signal. And there is no other explanation of this thing than the bulge of the water. For all other impediments are excluded, such as clouds and rising vapors.
Also, since water is a homogeneous body, the whole will act the same as its parts. But parts of water, as happens in the case of little drops and dew on herbs, naturally seek a round shape. Therefore, the whole, of which they are parts, will do so.

This was what virtually all educated Catholics believed in the centuries before Galileo. He left the sphericity of the earth uncontested while arguing with other points that were commonly believed. 
 
Wow!  This is amazing!  Thank you for sharing! :cowboy:
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Miser Peccator on October 21, 2023, 06:26:02 AM

Whether it’s been debunked or not, the point that she is lending support to is that all (or nearly all) learned men believed that the Earth is a globe in shape and not flat or a snow globe type system. Do you concede that point?
One of the MAIN problems with interpreting the meaning of the Church Fathers and other historical figures discussing this topic is that BOTH sides of Flat Earth and Ball Earth can use the same terminology.

Globe:  can mean the Ancient Hebrew "Snow Globe" Earth with the firmament dome above a Flat Plane, or it can mean NASA's Ball Earth

Sphere:  likewise can also mean the Hebrew "Snow Globe" with firmament and Flat terrain inside a globe,  or it can refer to NASA's BAll with upside down Antipodes underneath.

Round:  Can refer to the round Flat Earth as seen in the Gleason Map, or it can refer to a Ball Earth model.



Here is a photo of the Ancient Hebrew model for reference:

(https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=9c53f93926&attid=0.1&permmsgid=msg-a:r-601547072118596534&view=fimg&fur=ip&sz=s0-l75-ft&attbid=ANGjdJ9WWsZIM5-HbMwlCzG5uLsd2olJ6SXsnk7OqO5qfaLBbDNyc6-sjYG8XfeAo8v1Mctt3WCHRlonmVX9Cz4GDxcwwfHgdkwRvdyrblo3yEyAl6lYRHXl0bWN1l0&disp=emb&realattid=ii_lm7cyg0a0)

So the Globus Cruciger can depict either model. 

Ball earth proponents will determine, "See!  Jesus is holding a ball, he is holding a ball..therefore the Earth is clearly a Ball with upside down people underneath it."

Well, maybe I guess, but I would love for NASA to take a photo of the upside down buildings and planes to provide some evidence for that. That shouldn't be hard to do, right?

Anyway, this is why I no longer say "globe earth" but say "ball earth" instead for clarity.


There is a lot of evidence that the Church Fathers were familiar with BOTH models

while we moderns have only had exposure to ONE model our entire lives thanks to the Masons who run NASA. 

So when they use the terms:  globe, sphere, and round

we assume they mean NASA Ball Earth

and picture the photoshopped Big Blue Marble that NASA artists create

when actually, they are often referring to the Hebrew snow globe model since they

unanimously

believed in a solid firmament holding back the waters above.

But St Augustine was clearly familiar with both models.

This source describes the early Christian understanding of the Hebrew "snow globe" earth vs the Hellenistic ball model which influenced St Augustine after his conversion to Christianity:


For more context on Augustine and his beliefs:
Leo Ferrari (a NASA "glober") explains that Augustine was influenced by his conversion to the Christian religion after being raised in the pagan mindset
and rejected the NASA "globe" (ball earth) because the Christians rejected it.

https://www.cathinfo.com/the-earth-god-made-flat-earth-geocentrism/biblical-flat-earth/msg899989/#msg899989


And God made a firmament and divided the waters that were under the firmament from those that were above the firmament, and it was so (Gen 1:7). And God called the firmament heaven .... (Gen 1:8).

Taking as a matter of fact, on the unquestionable authority of Sacred Scripture, 62 (http://www.rtforum.org/lt/lt47.html#FN_62) that God did make a firmament to divide the waters that were below from those that were above, St. Augustine sets out to determine what that firmament is. In his Confessions 63 (http://www.rtforum.org/lt/lt47.html#FN_63) and in his Unfinished Book on the Letter of Genesis, 64 (http://www.rtforum.org/lt/lt47.html#FN_64) he had entertained the idea that "the firmament was made between the spiritual waters above and the corporeal waters below," but he later retracted this interpretation as "having been stated without sufficient consideration, although the thing is extremely recondite." 65 (http://www.rtforum.org/lt/lt47.html#FN_65) In The City of God he expresses his mature opinion that the waters above and below the firmament are material water whose creation by God in indistinct form is expressed in verse 1 under the name of earth, or ground. 66 (http://www.rtforum.org/lt/lt47.html#FN_66)

        St. Augustine respected and adhered to the common opinion of his day that the ultimate constituents of matter are the Four Elements: earth, water, air, and fire, in that ascending order. 67 (http://www.rtforum.org/lt/lt47.html#FN_67) According to the model of the universe following from this, earth tended naturally to be situated at the bottom, with the water and the air successively above it and fire at the top. Thus, he says, the expression in Psalm 35:6, "who established the earth above the waters," cannot be taken literally, but only figuratively, because the normal place of the earth is below the water. 68 (http://www.rtforum.org/lt/lt47.html#FN_68) Nor, he adds, could water normally stay above the fiery heaven, 69 (http://www.rtforum.org/lt/lt47.html#FN_69) unless, perhaps, in tiny drops of vapor, 70 (http://www.rtforum.org/lt/lt47.html#FN_70) or as a sheet of solid ice. 71 (http://www.rtforum.org/lt/lt47.html#FN_71) Augustine doubts whether a sheet or globe of solid ice above the heavens can be seriously defended, and he appeals against any rash assertions in this regard. 72 (http://www.rtforum.org/lt/lt47.html#FN_72) But, he cautions, "in whatever way it exists and whatever kind of water it is, we have no doubt whatsoever that the water is there, because the authority of this writing exceeds the limits of all human imagination. 73 (http://www.rtforum.org/lt/lt47.html#FN_73)

https://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/artsci/anthro/Previous_Lectures/sustain/AugustineCosmology0.html (https://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/artsci/anthro/Previous_Lectures/sustain/AugustineCosmology0.html)



Miser:  Okay, y'all.  So Augustine is like: 

"Them waters is up there and we have to deal with it."


So in the Ball Earth NASA model----WHERE ARE THOSE WATERS?










So how did the Christians get from belief in the snow globe Hebrew cosmology to the

ball earth cosmology?


It appears it happened because they fell for the obvious lies of Erastothenes and Pythagoras:




HOW PYTHAGORAS AND ERATOSTHENES GAVE US THE FLAT EARTH TRUMP CARD

23min 39sec
https://www.bitchute.com/video/YNPh1fjo7HaD/


Ohhhhh, those ancient Greeks were sooooooo smart!  They simply MUST be believed!!! 

Yeah, no.  It's really dumb.


The crux of the matter is the FIRMAMENT dividing the waters above and below.

In the heliocentric model there is NO FIRMAMENT, and NO WATERS ABOVE.

The Church Fathers didn't just disregard that as some vague metaphor but as a REAL revelation that must be revered.






And as I have posted in the past:



It appears that the concept of the Firmament had to be discarded to allow for the modern understanding of "outer space" and heliocentrism and a spinning earth:




Models of the Firmament[edit (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Firmament&action=edit&section=2)]
The plurality of heaven[edit (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Firmament&action=edit&section=3)]
Perhaps beginning with Origen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origen), the different identifiers used for heavens in the Book of Genesis, caelum and firmamentum, sparked some commentary on the significance of the order of creation (caelum identified as the heaven of the first day (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empyrean), and firmamentum as the heaven of the second day).[8] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmament#cite_note-8) Some of these theories identified caelum as the higher, immaterial and spiritual heaven, whereas firmamentum was of corporeal existence.[9] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmament#cite_note-9): 237 

Christian theologians of note writing between the 5th and mid-12th century were generally in agreement that the waters, sometimes called the "crystalline orb", were located above the firmament and beneath the fiery heaven that was also called empyrean (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empyrean) (from Greek ἔμπυρος). One medieval writer who rejected such notions was Pietro d'Abano (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_d'Abano) who argued that theologians "assuming a crystalline, or aqueous sphere, and an empyrean, or firey sphere" were relying on revelation more than Scripture.[10] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmament#cite_note-10)

About this Ambrose (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrose) wrote: "Wise men of the world say that water cannot be over the heavens"; the firmament is called such, according to Ambrose, because it held back the waters above it.[11] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmament#cite_note-11)

This matter of the position of the "waters" above the firmament was considered by Augustine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine) in De Genesi ad litteram (perhaps his least studied work): "only God knows how and why [the waters] are there, but we cannot deny the authority of Holy Scripture which is greater than our understanding".

Corporeality[edit (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Firmament&action=edit&section=4)]
Early Christian writers wrote at length about the material nature of the firmament, the problem arising from the barrier said to be created when it divided the waters above and below it.[12] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmament#cite_note-12) At issue was the reconciliation of Scripture with Aristotle's cosmology.
Saint Basil (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Basil) rejected the notion that the firmament is made of solid ice, although Bede (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bede) in Hexaemeron (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexaemeron) ignores the problem of the motion of celestial bodies (stars) in a solid firmament and declares that the siderum caelum (heaven of the celestial bodies) was made firm (firmatum) in the midst of the waters so should be interpreted as having the firmness of crystalline stone (cristallini Iapidis).[13] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmament#cite_note-13)


History[edit (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Firmament&action=edit&section=5)]
Main article: Hebrew astronomy § Biblical cosmology (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_astronomy#Biblical_cosmology)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Flammarion.jpg/220px-Flammarion.jpg) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flammarion.jpg)

The Flammarion engraving (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flammarion_engraving) (1888) depicts a man crawling under the edge of the sky, depicted as if it were a solid hemisphere, to look at the mysterious Empyrean (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empyrean) beyond. The caption underneath the engraving (not shown here) translates to "A medieval missionary tells that he has found the point where heaven and Earth meet..."


The ancient Hebrews, like all the ancient peoples of the Near East, believed the sky was a solid dome with the Sun (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun), Moon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon), planets (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planets) and stars (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stars) embedded in it.[14] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmament#cite_note-14) Around the 4th to 3rd centuries BCE the Greeks, under the influence of Aristotle who argued that the heavens must be perfect and that a sphere was the perfect geometrical figure, exchanged this for a spherical Earth surrounded by solid spheres. This became the dominant model in the Classical and Medieval world-view, and even when Copernicus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copernicus) placed the Sun at the centre of the system he included an outer sphere that held the stars (and by having the earth rotate daily on its axis it allowed the firmament to be completely stationary). Tycho Brahe (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tycho_Brahe)'s studies of the nova of 1572 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Stella_Nova) and the Comet of 1577 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_of_1577) were the first major challenges to the idea that orbs existed as solid, incorruptible, material objects,[15] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmament#cite_note-FOOTNOTEGrant1996349-15) and in 1584 Giordano Bruno (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giordano_Bruno) proposed a cosmology without a firmament: an infinite universe in which the stars are actually suns with their own planetary systems.[16] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmament#cite_note-16) After Galileo began using a telescope to examine the sky it became harder to argue that the heavens were perfect, as Aristotelian philosophy required, and by 1630 the concept of solid orbs was no longer dominant.[15]

 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmament#cite_note-FOOTNOTEGrant1996349-15)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmament (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmament)







So it is easily proven that there is NO BULGE those poor deluded "intelligentia" , in whatever year they lived,  believed to be real

and they have no excuse for


getting rid of the Firmament:


The Kolbe Center is committed in a special way to defending the Catholic teaching that “the literal and obvious sense of Scripture” as intended by the sacred authors must be believed unless reason or necessity force us to reject that teaching in favor of an exclusively figurative interpretation. Pope Leo XIII emphatically upheld this teaching in his encyclical Providentissimus Deus, which has never been overruled by any subsequent magisterial teaching.

15. But he must not on that account consider that it is forbidden, when just cause exists, to push inquiry and exposition beyond what the Fathers have done; provided he carefully observes the rule so wisely laid down by St. Augustine-not to depart from the literal and obvious sense, except only where reason makes it untenable or necessity requires;(40) a rule to which it is the more necessary to adhere strictly in these times, when the thirst for novelty and unrestrained freedom of thought make the danger of error most real and proximate. Neither should those passages be neglected which the Fathers have understood in an allegorical or figurative sense, more especially when such interpretation is justified by the literal, and when it rests on the authority of many. For this method of interpretation has been received by the Church from the Apostles, and has been approved by her own practice, as the holy Liturgy attests; although it is true that the holy Fathers did not thereby pretend directly to demonstrate dogmas of faith, but used it as a means of promoting virtue and piety, such as, by their own experience, they knew to be most valuable.


Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 21, 2023, 07:47:11 AM
One of the MAIN problems with interpreting the meaning of the Church Fathers and other historical figures discussing this topic is that BOTH sides of Flat Earth and Ball Earth can use the same terminology.

This is true, especially in the Patristic period.  However, this does not mean that all authors are unclear.  The  passage that I just quoted from De Sphaera Mundi, for example, is unambiguously talking about a ball earth.  The proofs it gives (whether or not they are correct) only apply to a ball earth model.

Nor can it be claimed that this passage is about a spherical universe rather than a spherical earth.  The author is explicitly describing a spherical universe with a spherical earth at its center.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Miser Peccator on October 21, 2023, 07:52:08 AM
Since most people won't watch the video I posted...


That "bulge" thingy simply don't make sense whether you are an ancient Greek, a Catholic university professor in 1200 or whatnot:


Here we are at the top of the "bulge"


(https://i.imgur.com/Ad3X8aq.png)


You have to look down to see the horizon.


Here is the 1200 AD Catholic professor looking out at the horizon:



(https://i.imgur.com/bXGWnHC.png)



Yeah, he would have to look down to see it.  Have you ever had to look down to see the horizon?

I know he is a super duper Catholic professor from the 12th cent with special "knowledge" and "enlightenment" from the ancient Greeks and maybe he has super powers I don't have

but this has never been my experience.  Have you experienced this?


And well, let's just say he is lower down on

"the bulge"

well, this is what he would see when looking

straight out towards the horizon:







(https://i.imgur.com/fuJBPRu.png)



Man, that 12th cent Catholic professor needs to rethink his bulge theory and do a bit of math and all that and figure out that


they ain't no bulge

and they ain't no curve.



If you want to hear further analysis of this


COMMON SENSE

then watch this video starting at 14:32 about the


STUPID BULGE theory


https://www.bitchute.com/video/YNPh1fjo7HaD/


or watch the whole thing.


It's hard to accept we have been lied to, but indeed we have and it's better to accept the obvious truth than to continue to believe really dumb lies.    smh  :laugh1:



Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 21, 2023, 08:03:07 AM

Please prove with texts and sources where St. Bede, St. Albert the Great and St. Thomas Aquinas posited that the earth is a globe.

I posted such a passage from St. Bede on this very thread just a few days ago.  But thanks for the reminder that Ladislaus still hasn't gotten back with any support for his vague claim that something about the wider context suggests that the passage does not mean what it clearly says.

St. Albert and St. Thomas both wrote commentaries on Aristotle's De Caelo et Terra in which they agreed with the Aristotelean ball earth model.  I have not found an English translation of St. Albert's work online, but I have posted extensive quotes and discussion about that of St. Thomas here in the past.  Let me know if you can't find it and I'll find it for you.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 08:10:36 AM

Whether it’s been debunked or not, the point that she is lending support to is that all (or nearly all) learned men believed that the Earth is a globe in shape and not flat or a snow globe type system. Do you concede that point?

I'm not sure how that book proved anything whatsoever.  Does the mass production of model globes prove earth is a globe? Even if the entire world read it and half believed it, what would that prove except the church had enemies that try to undermine belief in Scripture.  
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 21, 2023, 08:13:00 AM
Since most people won't watch the video I posted...


That "bulge" thingy simply don't make sense whether you are an ancient Greek, a Catholic university professor in 1200 or whatnot:

Whether or not it makes sense is irrelevant to the point.  This work represents the scientific consensus of its time.  It shows us what Catholics were taught at university and what virtually all educated people believed.  And since the universities were essentially Church-run institutions, it also shows that the Church had no problem with people taking this position. 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Miser Peccator on October 21, 2023, 08:15:30 AM
I'm not sure how that book proved anything whatsoever.  Does the mass production of model globes prove earth is a globe? Even if the entire world read it and half believed it, what would that prove except the church had enemies that try to undermine belief in Scripture. 

But what if most of the learned men of the Church believed in the Arian heresy...that would prove it to be true, right?

or what if they believed in VII ecuмenism....surely you would concede, right?

or that the Muslim god, Allah, is the same as the Blessed Trinity?

or how about evolution?  I mean these are the brightest and the best of the Holy Roman Empire!

You think you know better?   LOL :P
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 21, 2023, 08:34:35 AM
Whether it’s been debunked or not, the point that she is lending support to is that all (or nearly all) learned men believed that the Earth is a globe in shape and not flat or a snow globe type system.
Another work that supports this point is Historia rerum ubique gestarum, written by Pius II before his papacy (1458-1464).  He begins this work by explaining “Almost everyone agrees that the shape of the world [= universe] is spherical [rotundam]; they likewise agree about this concerning the Earth.

An interesting thing about this work is that Christopher Columbus (who did not attend university) used it as the basis of his calculations and his personal copy of it with his notes still exists.

Speaking of Christopher Columbus, even the anti-Catholics who dishonestly asserted that Columbus was opposed by ignorant stupid Catholics when he claimed the earth to be a globe, don't deny that Catholics believed in a globe earth after his famous journey.  According to their false narrative, Catholics were forced to believe it because Columbus had proven it. (That, of course, is nonsense.  Educated Catholics had already reached a scientific consensus on globe earth centuries before that time.)  Anyhow, even these dishonest anti-Catholics had to admit that virtually everyone believed the earth to be a globe at the time of Galileo.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 08:50:16 AM
Another work that supports this point is Historia rerum ubique gestarum, written by Pius II before his papacy (1458-1464).  He begins this work by explaining “Almost everyone agrees that the shape of the world [= universe] is spherical [rotundam]; they likewise agree about this concerning the Earth.

An interesting thing about this work is that Christopher Columbus (who did not attend university) used it as the basis of his calculations and his personal copy of it with his notes still exists.

Speaking of Christopher Columbus, even the anti-Catholics who dishonestly asserted that Columbus was opposed by ignorant stupid Catholics when he claimed the earth to be a globe, don't deny that Catholics believed in a globe earth after his famous journey.  According to their false narrative, Catholics were forced to believe it because Columbus had proven it. (That, of course, is nonsense.  Educated Catholics had already reached a scientific consensus on globe earth centuries before that time.)  Anyhow, even these dishonest anti-Catholics had to admit that virtually everyone believed the earth to be a globe at the time of Galileo.


This is the worse attempt at reasoning while trying to justify a failed and heretical cosmic model that one could imagine. Most people attend the Novus Ordo Mass foisted on them in the 60's and 70's. Does that make it right or good? Does it make the larger percentage of Catholics geniuses? We all agree that spherical earth has been pushing its way into our consciences for centuries and has become widely accepted. We also know the Fathers of the Church, Scripture, Popes and saints fought it for centuries.   
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 21, 2023, 08:51:36 AM
I'm not sure how that book proved anything whatsoever.  
It shows that it is incorrect to assume that the condemnation of Galileo somehow includes the idea of globe earth.  The people who issued the condemnation were educated Catholics who almost certainly believed what they had been taught at university, i.e. the earth is a globe.  They would not have intended to condemn something that they themselves believed.

Belief in globe earth was wide-spread, probably universal at that time. If there were anything theologically objectionable about this, why would Church authorities be silent on the subject while condemning the errors of Galileo?
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 08:53:51 AM
It shows that it is incorrect to assume that the condemnation of Galileo somehow includes the idea of globe earth.  The people who issued the condemnation were educated Catholics who almost certainly believed what they had been taught at university, i.e. the earth is a globe.  They would not have intended to condemn something that they themselves believed.

Belief in globe earth was wide-spread, probably universal at that time. If there were anything theologically objectionable about this, why would Church authorities be silent on the subject while condemning the errors of Galileo?

No it doesn't prove any sort of truth.  It just proves the author fell for the lie and pushed the Pythagorean falsehood further by publishing nonsense.   
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on October 21, 2023, 09:00:43 AM
Since most people won't watch the video I posted...


That "bulge" thingy simply don't make sense whether you are an ancient Greek, a Catholic university professor in 1200 or whatnot:


Here we are at the top of the "bulge"


(https://i.imgur.com/Ad3X8aq.png)


You have to look down to see the horizon.


Here is the 1200 AD Catholic professor looking out at the horizon:



(https://i.imgur.com/bXGWnHC.png)



Yeah, he would have to look down to see it.  Have you ever had to look down to see the horizon?

I know he is a super duper Catholic professor from the 12th cent with special "knowledge" and "enlightenment" from the ancient Greeks and maybe he has super powers I don't have

but this has never been my experience.  Have you experienced this?


And well, let's just say he is lower down on

"the bulge"

well, this is what he would see when looking

straight out towards the horizon:







(https://i.imgur.com/fuJBPRu.png)



Man, that 12th cent Catholic professor needs to rethink his bulge theory and do a bit of math and all that and figure out that


they ain't no bulge

and they ain't no curve.



If you want to hear further analysis of this


COMMON SENSE

then watch this video starting at 14:32 about the


STUPID BULGE theory


https://www.bitchute.com/video/YNPh1fjo7HaD/


or watch the whole thing.


It's hard to accept we have been lied to, but indeed we have and it's better to accept the obvious truth than to continue to believe really dumb lies.    smh  :laugh1:


The point being made is that whether they (learned people) were right or wrong, they believed that the Earth was a sphere (round, bulge). What Jaynek posted gave a great degree for support to this. It’s description was not FE or a snow globe.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 21, 2023, 09:03:29 AM
We all agree that spherical earth has been pushing its way into our consciences for centuries and has become widely accepted. We also know the Fathers of the Church, Scripture, Popes and saints fought it the entire way.   
That is not something "we" know.  Some Fathers wrote that the Earth was flat.  St. Augustine, however, taught that Scripture is silent on the subject.  This was the view adopted by the Church and incorporated in Magisterial teaching. Catholics treated the shape of the earth as a matter of science, not faith, from the time of St. Bede onward. This is most of the history of the Church. Virtually all learned people, including Saints, accepted the science which taught that the earth is a globe.  Nobody was fighting it.  

(I have presented the supporting citations for all of this in previous posts.  This is just a summary.)

Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 21, 2023, 09:08:34 AM
Another work that supports this point is Historia rerum ubique gestarum, written by Pius II before his papacy (1458-1464).  He begins this work by explaining “Almost everyone agrees that the shape of the world [= universe] is spherical [rotundam]; they likewise agree about this concerning the Earth.

Apart from the fact that we really need the Latin here for the terms translated as "world" and "Earth", which are often equivocally translated into English, this is probably true by the time in question ... due almost entirely to the revival and renewed prominence of Aristotle in the scholastic era.

But ... so what?  They didn't have the equipment and resources to conduct real experiments.  They were still backing Aristotle's argument from the "ships disappearing over the horizon" ... even though a pair of modern binoculars could debunk this.  We have cheap binoculars made in China that are more powerful than Galileo's telescope.

Last time I checked, universal consensus about a purely scientific matter by "learned men" does not enjoy any kind of infallibility ... as you're fond of pointing out with your (mis)interpretation of Providentissimus Deus regarding the Church Fathers.

Where the Church Fathers differ is that they based their cosmology on a reading of Sacred Scripture.  While one could claim that they were divided regarding the shape of the earth, and while I agree that there isn't any unequivocal passage in Sacred Scripture that necessarily points to a flat earth, the sense of Sacred Scripture is clear, as the Church Fathers universally read it according to its plain sense, that the surface of the earth is covered by a solid firmament (not some metaphor for "space"), a firmament that is solid enough to keep actual physical waters from the surface of the earth, various "windows" on which were opened so that the waters above contributed to the Great Flood.  There's no other way to read Sacred Scripture, and all the Church Fathers did so read it.

And I absolutely dispute the false allegation that the Church Fathers predominantly believed that the earth was a ball.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on October 21, 2023, 09:13:22 AM
I'm not sure how that book proved anything whatsoever.  Does the mass production of model globes prove earth is a globe? Even if the entire world read it and half believed it, what would that prove except the church had enemies that try to undermine belief in Scripture. 

At this point we’re just discussing what people believed through the centuries, not FE vs GE.

The point is that most (if not all) learned men believed that the Earth was/is a globe shape and not flat or snow globe shaped. What Jaynek posted gave testimony to this.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Miser Peccator on October 21, 2023, 09:17:36 AM
Whether or not it makes sense is irrelevant to the point.  This work represents the scientific consensus of its time.  It shows us what Catholics were taught at university and what virtually all educated people believed.  And since the universities were essentially Church-run institutions, it also shows that the Church had no problem with people taking this position.

Well the thing I love most about the Catholic Faith is that

it makes sense!

So yeah, making sense is pretty relevant.  The Catholic Faith is logical.

The "bulge theory" of "bending, curving water" is not.  There is NO science to support that.

Water does not bend or curve and is always level.

Fill a bucket half way and tip it over and you will see,

it always REMAINS LEVEL.

Unless I'm mistaken.  Can you provide some scientific evidence for bending, curving bodies of water?

No.  There is none.  Bodies of water never curve or bend.

Never.

Ever.

Not possible.

Not verifiable.

Not seen.

Not scientifically proven.

And it would be easily proven if it were possible.

Frozen bodies of water would prove the "curve".

They would show the "bulge".

But no.

Never ever happened.

Nobody has ever proven it.

Ever.


So unfortunately a bunch of people have erroneously believed this blatant lie

including Catholic Universites!

That's sad and unfortunate.


As for Columbus, he set out to explore the "globe" with his SEXTANT

which doesn't work on a ball earth.

So whatever the narrative and source

he had to travel according to flat earth coordinates.

That's reality.

Unfortunately the Church has allowed heresies and gnosticism to run rampant again and again while trying to stamp them out.

Believing in those heresies and lies does not help anyone.





Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 21, 2023, 09:19:14 AM
That is not something "we" know.  Some Fathers wrote that the Earth was flat.  St. Augustine, however, taught that Scripture is silent on the subject.

Did you read the context of that quote from St. Augustine?  He was talking about whether the "earth" (aka world) was shaped like a sphere, a hemisphere, or a cone / tent ... all of which clearly referred to the shape of the firmament.  In fact, at one point, he was arguing why the sphere shape could be tenable for the shape of the firmament.  Some were claiming that it had to be shaped like a tent, or somewhat conical, because a passage in Scripture likened it (the firmament) to a tent.  He countered by using the example of a ball, which was a leather material shaped like a sphere.  He was discussing the shape of the earth in a manner that included the firmament.

He absolutely did not hold that Sacred Scripture was silent about the existence of a firmament that kept water from the face of the earth.  At another time, he discussed whether the world was a sphere or hemisphere because of the scientific contention that the dense material of earth would sink in the cosmos to the bottom, due to its higher density ... holding this was tenable.  But in all cases, they viewed the earth as submerged in actual physical water, and enclosed in a firmament to keep the water out.

If the ground we walked on were spherical, then the firmament in relation to the earth would have to be a concentric sphere surrounding the entire earth, with a pocket of air (the first heaven) in between, and there's no evidence anyone believed that.  In fact, at that point there would have been another debate as to why the bottom of the sphere didn't come into contact with the outer spherical firmament, because the density of the matter within would cause it to sink (as they did not believe in gravity) ... but there's no such debate.  All of that leads to the conclusion that they maintained the fundamental Jєωιѕн cosmology.

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61JOKNFNORL._AC_UL600_SR600,600_.jpg)

Those who believed that the firmament is spherical would have this picture above but with the firmament going 360 degrees around the entire thing rather than just 180 degrees.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 09:21:35 AM
That is not something "we" know.  Some Fathers wrote that the Earth was flat.  St. Augustine, however, taught that Scripture is silent on the subject.  This was the view adopted by the Church and incorporated in Magisterial teaching. Catholics treated the shape of the earth as a matter of science, not faith, from the time of St. Bede onward. This is most of the history of the Church. Virtually all learned people, including Saints, accepted the science which taught that the earth is a globe.  Nobody was fighting it. 

(I have presented the supporting citations for all of this in previous posts.  This is just a summary.)

Sadly, you haven't presented supporting citations for anything true, let alone all of what you claim. You just post words from enemies of the Church and declare it gospel.  You also refuse to either read or address anything contrary to your Pythagorean view that was long ago condemned by the Church.   
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 21, 2023, 09:25:31 AM
At this point we’re just discussing what people believed through the centuries, not FE vs GE.

The point is that most (if not all) learned men believed that the Earth was/is a globe shape and not flat or snow globe shaped. What Jaynek posted gave testimony to this.

And his point was ... so what?  That was probably true in the West due to the revival of Aristotle after the scholastic era.  And?

Apart from where the Church Fathers are interpreting Sacred Scripture, it means nothing.  Most "learned men" today believe that the earth moves.  Most "learned men" for a couple centuries believed that the sun was the center of universe ... and that it was stationary.  No "learned men" today believe this anymore.  Most "learned men" at the time of St. Robert Bellarmine believed that the earth was stationary and that the sun moved around it.  Not only that, but the CHURCH condemned heliocentrism as heretical.  Very few "learned men" still believe this today.  I am reminded of a statement made by one of the Church Fathers about how there's a new scientific theory that pops up every couple years, only to be discredited shortly later and replaced by another.

Really, the only "learned men" that matter here are 1) the Church and 2) the Church Fathers when unanimously interpreting Sacred Scripture.  Outside of matters related to the faith, mainstream "science" has been something of a joke throughout history.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Miser Peccator on October 21, 2023, 09:30:10 AM
And his point was ... so what?  That was probably true in the West due to the revival of Aristotle after the scholastic era.  And?


But they were "learned" and it was "most" of them.  smh  :P  
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Thed0ctor on October 21, 2023, 09:33:11 AM
Did the father's teach the firmament was solid keeping literal waters out as a matter of faith? Did they need to? Not sure if there are any stipulations on how the fathers agree on something in general vs something pertaining to the faith. 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 09:33:16 AM
At this point we’re just discussing what people believed through the centuries, not FE vs GE.

The point is that most (if not all) learned men believed that the Earth was/is a globe shape and not flat or snow globe shaped. What Jaynek posted gave testimony to this.

That's exactly right. What the general public is persuaded to believe is irrelevant.  From the beginning Jayne has tried to prove the Fathers, Scripture, saints, popes etc were teaching globe earth when they weren't. What Jayne is attempting to do now, having been proven wrong about Catholic teaching based in Scripture, is to translate her efforts into support for the Pythagorean Doctrine by way of general consensus of the public throughout history.   
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 21, 2023, 09:36:02 AM
Did the father's teach the firmament was solid keeping literal waters out as a matter of faith? Did they need to? Not sure if there are any stipulations on how the fathers agree on something in general vs something pertaining to the faith.

It's not required that they had to say explicitly that something is de fide.  In fact, they didn't really have that term then.  So it's a question of interpreting whether their unanimous consensus was due to either their interpretation of Sacred Scripture or due to something that had been received and handed down.  You can probably count on one hand the number of times a Church Father explicitly made a statement that X, Y, or Z proposition is "of faith".

It's possible for there to be a unanimous consensus for other reasons ... e.g. if something just happened to be the prevailing opinion not because it was handed down from the Apostles.  It could just be, for instance, that a certain Church Father who was highly respected made a good argument about something and everyone went with it.  But if an opinion can be traced to a specific Church Fathers, then it would appear that all the Fathers did not independently come to the same conclusion based on something handed down from the Apostles.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 21, 2023, 09:38:39 AM
Did you read the context of that quote from St. Augustine?

Of course I did.  Here is the passage with sufficient context to make its meaning clear: 
It is also frequently asked what our belief must be about the form and shape of heaven according to Sacred Scripture. Many scholars engage in lengthy discussions on these matters, but the sacred writers with their deeper wisdom have omitted them.  Such subjects are of no profit for those who seek beatitude, and, what is worse, they take up very precious time that ought to be given to what is spiritually beneficial.

What concern is it of mine whether heaven is like a sphere and the earth is enclosed by it and suspended in the middle of the universe, or whether heaven like a disk above the earth covers it over on one side?...


Hence, I must say briefly that in the matter of the shape of heaven the sacred writers knew the truth, but that the Spirit of God, who spoke through them, did not wish to teach men these facts that would be of no avail for their salvation.

We can see that he is contrasting the main contending theories of the time.  When he writes  "heaven is like a sphere and the earth is enclosed by it and suspended in the middle of the universe," this is clearly a description of the Ptolemaic (nested sphere) model.  (Augustine was highly educated and would have been very familiar with this.) He contrasts this to what we have been calling here the "snow globe" model, "heaven like a disk above the earth covers it over on one side."
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 09:39:01 AM
Did the father's teach the firmament was solid keeping literal waters out as a matter of faith? Did they need to? Not sure if there are any stipulations on how the fathers agree on something in general vs something pertaining to the faith.
Yes. They did.  And they did it because it is Scriptural.    


 Origen called the firmament “without doubt firm and solid” (First Homily on Genesis, FC 71). Ambrose, commenting on Genesis 1:6, said, “the specific solidity of this exterior firmament is meant” (Hexameron, FC 42.60). And Saint Augustine said the word firmament was used “to indicate not that it is motionless but that it is solid and that it constitutes an impassible boundary between the waters above and the waters below” (The Literal Meaning of Genesis, ACW 41.1.61).   


15. But he must not on that account consider that it is forbidden, when just cause exists, to push inquiry and exposition beyond what the Fathers have done; provided he carefully observes the rule so wisely laid down by St. Augustine-not to depart from the literal and obvious sense, except only where reason makes it untenable or necessity requires;PROVIDENTISSIMUS DEUS




Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 21, 2023, 09:47:28 AM
And his point was ... so what?  That was probably true in the West due to the revival of Aristotle after the scholastic era.  And?
And therefore the condemnation of Galileo does not include globe earth since this (rightly or wrongly) was taken for granted by virtually everyone. This further shows that it is incorrect to use passages written against heliocentrism as if they showed opposition to globe earth.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 21, 2023, 09:47:58 AM
Of course I did.  Here is the passage with sufficient context to make its meaning clear: 

That citation says exactly what I said it did, and you read what you wanted to read there ... as you always do.  Your rule of faith is modern science.  You've shown yourself to be a Modernist in your misinterpretation of Providentissimus Deus ... the same misinterpretation that led to the rise of Modernism in the first place.  You make the same arguments that the enemies of St. Robert Bellarmine made regarding how Sacred Scripture doesn't intend to teach about anything that's of no value to one's soul and ultimately salvation ... an argument which St. Robert Bellarmine rejected.

Did you read that second sentence?  He's talking about exactly what I was saying earlier ... basically whether the WORLD is suspended in the middle or whether it has sunk to the bottom (and is therefore a the bottom center).  Those are matters the Sacred Scripture is silent about.  Didn't you bother to notice that he's talking about the "shape of the heaven", i.e. the entire physical universe?  Of course not, because you're reading our NASA ball into everything from Sacred Scripture to the Church Fathers.

Nowhere does he make any kind of sweeping statement that anything of a scientific nature related in Sacred Scripture is of no importance or value.

But when something is clear in Sacred Scripture, as St. Robert Bellarmine explains, it can be a matter of faith because to deny it impugns the authority and inerrancy of Sacred Scripture (ex parte dicentis).
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 21, 2023, 09:54:53 AM
That citation says exactly what I said it did, and you read what you wanted to read there ... as you always do.  Your rule of faith is modern science.  You've shown yourself to be a Modernist in your misinterpretation of Providentissimus Deus ... the same misinterpretation that led to the rise of Modernism in the first place. 
And, as usual, you trot out the straw men and personal attacks. You actually weaken your position when you do this, because it makes it look like you are unable to make your case using logic.  It may please the people who already agree with you, but it makes a poor impression on the open-minded.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Miser Peccator on October 21, 2023, 09:57:06 AM
I can't read all of this :/

but there are more quotes from the Church Fathers here:

https://www.cathinfo.com/the-earth-god-made-flat-earth-geocentrism/problems-with-sungenis'-book/
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 21, 2023, 09:58:54 AM

What concern is it of mine whether heaven is like a sphere and the earth is enclosed by it and suspended in the middle of the universe, or whether heaven like a disk above the earth covers it over on one side?...


He's talking about whether HEAVEN is like a sphere, and therefore that the entire "world" (earth we walk on + firmament) is suspended in the middle or whether it's at the bottom and the heaven is above it.  When he goes into more detail, he speaks about the argument that it could be at the bottom due to the denser matter settling to the bottom.  He concludes that it's tenable because being center bottom still means that it's center, the implication of which is that it must be maintained that it's at the center.  Somehow he feels that THAT is important, so much so that he spent time on it.

This passage only backs up exactly what I've been saying, that he's talking about the shape of the world including the firmament, and here he explicitly says "shape of the Heaven", i.e. the first and second heaven, i.e. the shape of the atmosphere (first) and the firmament (second) ... the third Heaven being where God dwells.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 21, 2023, 10:07:49 AM
I recommend that people interested in the subject read Providentissimus Deus for themselves:https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/docuмents/hf_l-xiii_enc_18111893_providentissimus-deus.html (https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/docuмents/hf_l-xiii_enc_18111893_providentissimus-deus.html)

One can see the Augustine passage I quoted cited in section 18:

There can never, indeed, be any real discrepancy between the theologian and the physicist, as long as each confines himself within his own lines, and both are careful, as St. Augustine warns us, "not to make rash assertions, or to assert what is not known as known."(51) If dissension should arise between them, here is the rule also laid down by St. Augustine, for the theologian: "Whatever they can really demonstrate to be true of physical nature, we must show to be capable of reconciliation with our Scriptures; and whatever they assert in their treatises which is contrary to these Scriptures of ours, that is to Catholic faith, we must either prove it as well as we can to be entirely false, or at all events we must, without the smallest hesitation, believe it to be so."(52) To understand how just is the rule here formulated we must remember, first, that the sacred writers, or to speak more accurately, the Holy Ghost "Who spoke by them, did not intend to teach men these things (that is to say, the essential nature of the things of the visible universe), things in no way profitable unto salvation."(53) Hence they did not seek to penetrate the secrets of nature, but rather described and dealt with things in more or less figurative language, or in terms which were commonly used at the time, and which in many instances are in daily use at this day, even by the most eminent men of science. Ordinary speech primarily and properly describes what comes under the senses; and somewhat in the same way the sacred writers-as the Angelic Doctor also reminds us - `went by what sensibly appeared,"(54) or put down what God, speaking to men, signified, in the way men could understand and were accustomed to.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 21, 2023, 10:10:11 AM
He's talking about whether HEAVEN is like a sphere, and therefore that the entire "world" (earth we walk on + firmament) is suspended in the middle or whether it's at the bottom and the heaven is above it.  When he goes into more detail, he speaks about the argument that it could be at the bottom due to the denser matter settling to the bottom.  He concludes that it's tenable because being center bottom still means that it's center, the implication of which is that it must be maintained that it's at the center.  

Could you please produce the actual quote of these "more details" rather than your interpretation of them.  
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 10:23:38 AM
Could you please produce the actual quote of these "more details" rather than your interpretation of them. 

You'll need to play by the same rules.  So far you haven't.


Your arguments consistently include:

Condemned theories of Galileo
Ignoring statements by the Fathers of the Church
Anything but Scripture
Popular opinion
Secular opinion
Personal opinion
Pagan science
Modern science
Statements from enemies of the Church


Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 21, 2023, 10:31:18 AM
Your arguments consistently include:

Condemned theories of Galileo
Ignoring statements by the Fathers of the Church
Anything but Scripture
Popular opinion
Secular opinion
Personal opinion
Pagan science
Modern science
Enemies of the Church

It does not seem like you have actually understood my arguments.  I have been writing about what was historically believed by Catholics of various periods rather than presenting any personal views about the shape of the earth.

Your understanding of the subject is apparently based on the writings of Andrew Dickson White, an enemy of the Church who wished to discredit us.  I am not sure why you accuse me of what you yourself have done.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 10:41:32 AM
It does not seem like you have actually understood my arguments.  I have been writing about what was historically believed by Catholics of various periods rather than presenting any personal views about the shape of the earth.

Your understanding of the subject is apparently based on the writings of Andrew Dickson White, an enemy of the Church who wished to discredit us.  I am not sure why you accuse me of what you yourself have done.

Well, you won that argument.  Not that any of us disagreed with you about the shameful number of people who believed and still believe the false Pythagorean Doctrine of a whirling globe earth. The only good thing about Andrew Dickson White is that he provided quotes and citations of the Fathers of the Church against the globe model condemned by three Popes. AD White tried to make the Fathers look stupid but the quotes themselves are gold.   
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Pax Vobis on October 21, 2023, 10:47:11 AM

Just wondering, who determined Enoch was not the author of the "found" docuмents?  


—The Church determined this in the first couple of centuries, when the book was “found” post-70-AD-Jerusalem destruction.  

Are we talking about the famous ones found in the 40's? 

—No.

Also, what about docuмents of Enoch's in which the Vatican is in possession?  Do you have more information? 

—I don’t know anything about this. 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 21, 2023, 10:48:46 AM
Could you please produce the actual quote of these "more details" rather than your interpretation of them. 

Crux of it was right there in your quote ... which you misinterpreted due to your agenda.  I cited ir in my thread criticizing Sungenis' book.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Pax Vobis on October 21, 2023, 10:50:57 AM
Quote
There were no objections from the Church when St. Bede, St. Albert the Great, or St. Thomas Aquinas posited that the earth is a globe.
It’s debatable in what manner the use of ‘globe’ was used (ball earth vs snow globe), which you repeatedly and obnoxiously fail to admit.  You have an agenda.  
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 21, 2023, 10:51:48 AM
AD White tried to make the Fathers look stupid but the quotes themselves are gold. 

Yeah, that's a common tactic, assume the earth is a globe and only idiots believe it's flat, and then use that begged question as an attack mechanism.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 10:59:19 AM
Just wondering, who determined Enoch was not the author of the "found" docuмents? 


—The Church determined this in the first couple of centuries, when the book was “found” post-70-AD-Jerusalem destruction. 

Are we talking about the famous ones found in the 40's?

—No.

Also, what about docuмents of Enoch's in which the Vatican is in possession?  Do you have more information?

—I don’t know anything about this.
I think I thought the Church just couldn't be sure, so She didn't include it in the canon. But thank you.  
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 21, 2023, 11:06:29 AM

Well, you won that argument.  Not that any of us disagreed with you about the shameful number of people who believed and still believe the false Pythagorean Doctrine of a whirling globe earth.
The Ptolemaic/Aristotelean model that dominated Catholic history had a stationary (not whirling) globe earth.  The idea of a moving earth developed much later. 

Anyhow, your claim that there were "multitudes" of Catholics opposing globe earth depended on quotes that were actually about heliocentrism.  Once we exclude these, we are left with a handful of Church Fathers and (the entirely non-authoritative) Cosmas. 

The only good thing about Andrew Dickson White is that he provided quotes and citations of the Fathers of the Church against the globe model condemned by three Popes. AD White tried to make the Fathers look stupid but the quotes themselves are gold. 
 I suspect that your reliance on White is resposible for your misunderstanding concerning how widespread belief in flat earth was.  I have never seen a good argument that it was unanimous or even near unanimous even in the Patristic period and it had basically disappeared after that.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 21, 2023, 11:10:07 AM
I have never seen a good argument that it was unanimous or even near unanimous even in the Patristic period and it had basically disappeared after that.

That's due to your filtering it out with your confirmation bias.  Flat Earth was absolutely widespread (and I would argue nearly unanimous) among the Church Fathers.  Belief in the solid firmament and the universe outside the firmament consisting of water, however, was unanimous.  Arguments to the contrary always rely upon misreading the term "sphere" as a reference to ball earth and not considering that they're talking about the firmament ... as you demonstrated earlier by reading "heaven" being shaped like a "sphere" as meaning the "earth we walk on" is shaped like a ball.  False.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 21, 2023, 11:10:24 AM
It’s debatable in what manner the use of ‘globe’ was used (ball earth vs snow globe), which you repeatedly and obnoxiously fail to admit.  You have an agenda. 
I explicitly acknowledged this in post #130 of this thread. Apparently people have run out of logical arguments and have moved on to making up things about my supposed "agenda".
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 21, 2023, 11:13:02 AM
Crux of it was right there in your quote ... which you misinterpreted due to your agenda. 
 While you may convince your supporters that I have an agenda, I know that I am only interested in the truth, so this comment is not meant to convince me.  You are playing to your audience.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on October 21, 2023, 11:13:38 AM
And his point was ... so what?  That was probably true in the West due to the revival of Aristotle after the scholastic era.  And?

Apart from where the Church Fathers are interpreting Sacred Scripture, it means nothing.  Most "learned men" today believe that the earth moves.  Most "learned men" for a couple centuries believed that the sun was the center of universe ... and that it was stationary.  No "learned men" today believe this anymore.  Most "learned men" at the time of St. Robert Bellarmine believed that the earth was stationary and that the sun moved around it.  Not only that, but the CHURCH condemned heliocentrism as heretical.  Very few "learned men" still believe this today.  I am reminded of a statement made by one of the Church Fathers about how there's a new scientific theory that pops up every couple years, only to be discredited shortly later and replaced by another.

Really, the only "learned men" that matter here are 1) the Church and 2) the Church Fathers when unanimously interpreting Sacred Scripture.  Outside of matters related to the faith, mainstream "science" has been something of a joke throughout history.


These posts below, from the start of this thread, are the reason why the point was being forwarded:


Quote from Quo Vadis Domine:

Quote
Sorry, but the real indoctrination from the film was the push of the false idea that in the middle ages it was commonly believed that the Earth was flat. This was a falsehood perpetrated by Washington Irving in his embellished life of Christopher Columbus. BTW: His biography of Columbus also highlights his prejudice against the Catholic Church.


Quote from Tradman:

That's funny, I constantly find historical proof that Christendom knew the earth was flat.  From Enoch, to St. Augustine to St. Hildegard of Bingen, plus dozens of saints and Fathers of the Church, not to mention the digression on the subject by greats like Robert Bellarmine against heliocentrism in the 1600's, a position supported by at least 3 popes at the time, but also the fascinating typology expounded on by early saints likening the flat earth to a house, church architecture, the mass, the Ark of the Covenant, Noah's Ark and the Temple. Until the globe indoctrination escalated in the 15th century, the idea that earth was a globe was found largely in the pagan philosophies while the rest of the Christian world accepted the biblical view.  So, while Irving was only reiterating common knowledge against the encroaching indoctrination of a globe earth, even if he was anti-Catholic, he echoed the common understanding of saints, the Fathers of the Church, Scripture of course, and supported the reasonable history of truth against the pagan fantasies anti-Catholic lying NASA promotes to this day. 

Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 21, 2023, 11:22:00 AM
That's due to your filtering it out with your confirmation bias.  Flat Earth was absolutely widespread (and I would argue nearly unanimous) among the Church Fathers. 

And why should anyone believe that you are unaffected by confirmation bias?  There are four or five quotes from Fathers that explicitly support flat earth.  (Even the Flat Earth Trads site acknowledges this.) The rest of this alleged "widespread support" comes from reading the position into other statements.  

I think that anyone who claims that either position, flat eath or globe earth, had near unanimous support from the Fathers, is going beyond the evidence.  I think that you and Sungenis make the same error, but on different sides.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Pax Vobis on October 21, 2023, 11:23:22 AM

Quote
I think I thought the Church just couldn't be sure, so She didn't include it in the canon.
Yes, this is my understanding.  I don't think the Church was 100% sure either way, so She left it out.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on October 21, 2023, 11:28:22 AM
And why should anyone believe that you are unaffected by confirmation bias?  There are four or five quotes from Fathers that explicitly support flat earth.  (Even the Flat Earth Trads site acknowledges this.) The rest of this alleged "widespread support" comes from reading the position into other statements. 

I think that anyone who claims that either position, flat eath or globe earth, had near unanimous support from the Fathers, is going beyond the evidence.  I think that you and Sungenis make the same error, but on different sides.

Yes, I noticed that too. Lad draws the phrase “confirmation bias” like a sword when it can apply to him just as well.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 11:29:34 AM

These posts below, from the start of this thread, are the reason why the point was being forwarded:


Quote from Quo Vadis Domine:


Quote from Tradman:

That's funny, I constantly find historical proof that Christendom knew the earth was flat.  From Enoch, to St. Augustine to St. Hildegard of Bingen, plus dozens of saints and Fathers of the Church, not to mention the digression on the subject by greats like Robert Bellarmine against heliocentrism in the 1600's, a position supported by at least 3 popes at the time, but also the fascinating typology expounded on by early saints likening the flat earth to a house, church architecture, the mass, the Ark of the Covenant, Noah's Ark and the Temple. Until the globe indoctrination escalated in the 15th century, the idea that earth was a globe was found largely in the pagan philosophies while the rest of the Christian world accepted the biblical view.  So, while Irving was only reiterating common knowledge against the encroaching indoctrination of a globe earth, even if he was anti-Catholic, he echoed the common understanding of saints, the Fathers of the Church, Scripture of course, and supported the reasonable history of truth against the pagan fantasies anti-Catholic lying NASA promotes to this day. 

Not sure what your point is. 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Pax Vobis on October 21, 2023, 11:30:42 AM
Quote
I explicitly acknowledged this in post #130 of this thread.
Not really.  You only acknowledged it for the 'Patristic Period' and then act like everything since then is some kind of unanimous opinion, which is completely false.

Quote
I think that anyone who claims that either position, flat eath or globe earth, had near unanimous support from the Fathers, is going beyond the evidence. 
Untrue.  I've never seen a globe earth model which includes/explains the firmament.  But the Church Fathers are unanimous in their belief of a firmament, because it's explicitly stated in Scripture.  So...if a firmament is mentioned, then the model is some type of flat earth/snow globe.  Ergo, the Church Fathers believed in some type of flat earth.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 21, 2023, 11:31:08 AM
So the theory of the concentric spheres became popular after the revival of Aristotle in the scholastic era.  But what does that mean?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial_spheres

Quote
The celestial spheres, or celestial orbs, were the fundamental entities of the cosmological models developed by Plato, Eudoxus, Aristotle, Ptolemy, Copernicus, and others. In these celestial models, the apparent motions of the fixed stars and planets are accounted for by treating them as embedded in rotating spheres made of an aetherial, transparent fifth element (quintessence), like gems set in orbs. Since it was believed that the fixed stars did not change their positions relative to one another, it was argued that they must be on the surface of a single starry sphere.

In modern thought, the orbits of the planets are viewed as the paths of those planets through mostly empty space. Ancient and medieval thinkers, however, considered the celestial orbs to be thick spheres of rarefied matter nested one within the other, each one in complete contact with the sphere above it and the sphere below.

This is what the "learned men" of the period believed.  They did not believe in some force of gravity that could carry things along in some relatively-fixed orbit.  They used the spheres (a transparent semi-solid structure) to explain how the different planets could each have its own path, and then the stars all seemed to rotate together, in unison (because they were in the same sphere).

Here's one diagram of this model (from 1539):

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Ptolemaicsystem-small.png)

Have a look in the center there.  That doesn't like like NASA's ball earth to me.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 21, 2023, 11:34:49 AM
Untrue.  I've never seen a globe earth model which includes/explains the firmament.  But the Church Fathers are unanimous in their belief of a firmament, because it's explicitly stated in Scripture.  So...if a firmament is mentioned, then the model is some type of flat earth/snow globe.  Ergo, the Church Fathers believed in some type of flat earth.

THIS ^^^.  See, these "learned men" of the post-scholastic era still believed that there were semi-solid spheres responsible for carrying the planets around.  But modern science rejects their cosmology as well.  They most certainly did not believe (see my citation above) that the heavenly bodies floated around in empty space on account of some unseen force (gravity).  It's interesting to see how JayneK tries to impose modern cosmology onto the concentric spheres model ... which is completely false.  So in her view, she must reject the opinions of these "learned men" of that era.

Really the only way to reconcile the firmament with a ball earth would be to have the firmament completely encircle the entire globe.  But they would have had trouble understanding how the bottom of this solid globe would not rest on the bottom part of the firmament sphere, since they didn't believe in gravity, but density, and they believed in an absolute (vs. relative) up and down.  So the only thing that makes sense is the Hebrew model where the bottom part of the earth is Sheol + Great Deep.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 11:42:35 AM
So the theory of the concentric spheres became popular after the revival of Aristotle in the scholastic era.  But what does that mean?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial_spheres

This is what the "learned men" of the period believed.  They did not believe in some force of gravity that could carry things along in some relatively-fixed orbit.  They used the spheres (a transparent semi-solid structure) to explain how the different planets could each have its own path, and then the stars all seemed to rotate together, in unison (because they were in the same sphere).

Here's one diagram of this model (from 1539):

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Ptolemaicsystem-small.png)

Have a look in the center there.  That doesn't like like NASA's ball earth to me.

Beautiful.  Shows another misunderstanding of the word "sphere" by globe believers.    
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on October 21, 2023, 11:44:45 AM
Not really.  You only acknowledged it for the 'Patristic Period' and then act like everything since then is some kind of unanimous opinion, which is completely false.
Untrue.  I've never seen a globe earth model which includes/explains the firmament.  But the Church Fathers are unanimous in their belief of a firmament, because it's explicitly stated in Scripture.  So...if a firmament is mentioned, then the model is some type of flat earth/snow globe.  Ergo, the Church Fathers believed in some type of flat earth.


(https://i.imgur.com/StpTquX.jpg)


(https://i.imgur.com/6NHzv97.gif)





Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 21, 2023, 11:45:33 AM
Here's some more about the spheres ...
Quote
Following Anaximander, his pupil Anaximenes (c. 585 – c. 528/4) held that the stars, Sun, Moon, and planets are all made of fire. But whilst the stars are fastened on a revolving crystal sphere like nails or studs, the Sun, Moon, and planets, and also the Earth, all just ride on air like leaves because of their breadth. And whilst the fixed stars are carried around in a complete circle by the stellar sphere, the Sun, Moon and planets do not revolve under the Earth between setting and rising again like the stars do, but rather on setting they go laterally around the Earth like a cap turning halfway around the head until they rise again. And unlike Anaximander, he relegated the fixed stars to the region most distant from the Earth. The most enduring feature of Anaximenes' cosmos was its conception of the stars being fixed on a crystal sphere as in a rigid frame, which became a fundamental principle of cosmology down to Copernicus and Kepler.

It wasn't until Kepler/Newton that the idea of there being a solid enclosure around the earth was dispensed with.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Pax Vobis on October 21, 2023, 11:47:26 AM
Quote
 While you may convince your supporters ...You are playing to your audience.
Ladislaus has supporters, but mainly those who support truth/evidence.  I've never been the science-type, and never cared about space/stars/etc.  I only found out about flat earth a few years ago and I only support it because 

a) it makes sense Scripturally/theologically, 
b) there's tons of historical evidence for it in the ancient world, all of which lines up in most details, 
c) the ancient world learned directly from Noah, post-Flood, who would've learned directly from Adam as to the origins/nature of the earth
d) any notion of heliocentrism or the earth being a planet is pagan/occultic/satanic in nature, because it subverts God's order
e) any notion of 'infinite space' and 'galaxies' is a lie, meant to expand God's creation and make earth/humanity/salvation less important
f) God created everything for the purpose of salvation -- we are not meant to travel to the moon, or mars -- but only heaven.
g) Anything in space is meant to glorify God in its beauty, not to be part of a 'unexplored space' which distracts from our obligations to God.
h) All in creation is centered on earth, and anything which expands this notion into space/universe, minimizes the importance of the Church, and Christ's work here, and His continual, awe-inspiring sacrifice in Holy Mass.  
i) Pick any catholic chapel where Our Lord is in the tabernacle...THIS is the center of creation...HE is the center of all that is important.  Not mars or the moon.
j) God would not create 'infinite space' which is without Him, without grace, without Catholic truth.  This is purely a satanic distraction.
k) Philosophically and religiously, the whole idea of an explorable universe is anti-catholic.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 21, 2023, 11:50:47 AM
[spheres pictures]

So, do you believe that there's a solid sphere surrounding a globe earth and water outside of the solid sphere?  I doubt JayneK believes that.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Pax Vobis on October 21, 2023, 11:53:32 AM

Quote
It wasn't until Kepler/Newton that the idea of there being a solid enclosure around the earth was dispensed with.
Both of whom, like Galileo, were science-worshipping, church-hating, freemasons.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 21, 2023, 11:56:38 AM
While you may convince your supporters that I have an agenda, I know that I am only interested in the truth, so this comment is not meant to convince me.  You are playing to your audience.

You've made it clear that you have an agenda.  You're stuck on the validity of modern "mainstream science", and that's why you keep appealing to the same misinterpretation of Providentissimus Deus that the Modernists made, stating things like how Sacred Scripture doesn't intend to teach about scientific matters.

It's not about supporting me.  It's about supporting St. Robert Bellarmine, who stated that scientific matters can in fact also be matters of faith due to the principle of ex parte dicentis, supporting the inerrancy of Sacred Scripture.  We reject your notion that science is completely independent of Sacred Scripture.  Sacred Scripture cannot err ... period, since the Holy Spirit is it's primary Author, and there's not a single word in Sacred Scripture that He did not intend to be there.  But you would rather believe that Sacred Scripture erred than that modern science might be in error.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 12:01:29 PM

Even Wiki admits the term 'sphere' changed with Galileo.  Good thing the Church condemned the new "doctrine".  

Spherical variations[edit (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Primum_Mobile&action=edit&section=2)]
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/Ptolemaicsystem-small.png/300px-Ptolemaicsystem-small.png) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ptolemaicsystem-small.png)
The total number of celestial spheres (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial_spheres) was not fixed. In this 16th-century illustration, the firmament (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmament) (sphere of fixed stars) is eighth, a "crystalline" sphere (posited to account for the reference to "waters ... above the firmament" in Genesis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Genesis) 1:7) is ninth, and the Primum Mobile is tenth. Outside all is the Empyrean, the "habitation of God and all the elect (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election_in_Christianity)".
Copernicus and after[edit (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Primum_Mobile&action=edit&section=3)]
Copernicus accepted existence of the sphere of the fixed stars, and (more ambiguously) that of the Primum Mobile,[7] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primum_Mobile#cite_note-7) as too (initially) did Galileo (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo)[8] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primum_Mobile#cite_note-8) – though he would later challenge its necessity in a heliocentric system.[9] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primum_Mobile#cite_note-9)



Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Pax Vobis on October 21, 2023, 12:02:01 PM
"Separation of Church and State" is a heresy, just like "Separation of Church and Science".
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 12:10:39 PM

Wiki manages to remind Pythagoreans that the heliocentric system was not widely accepted until well after Copernicus.

The Ptolemaic system presented a view of the universe in which apparent motion was taken for real – a viewpoint still maintained in common speech through such everyday terms as moonrise and sunset.[3] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primum_Mobile#cite_note-3) Rotation of the Earth on its polar axis – as seen in a heliocentric (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliocentric) solar system, which (while anticipated by Aristarchus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristarchus_of_Samos)) was not to be widely accepted until well after Copernicus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copernicus)[4] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primum_Mobile#cite_note-4) 

Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 21, 2023, 12:23:04 PM
Not really.  You only acknowledged it for the 'Patristic Period' and then act like everything since then is some kind of unanimous opinion, which is completely false.

The words for describing shapes are usually ambiguous in themselves. It is therefore easy to misunderstand short quotes.  However, the larger context can sometimes make clear what model is under discussion. I gave the example of De Sphaera Mundi in which the context makes it very clear that he is talking about the nested sphere model.  And we know that this represents the consensus of the time because this is what was taught in Catholic universities.

 I've never seen a globe earth model which includes/explains the firmament.  But the Church Fathers are unanimous in their belief of a firmament, because it's explicitly stated in Scripture.  So...if a firmament is mentioned, then the model is some type of flat earth/snow globe.  Ergo, the Church Fathers believed in some type of flat earth.
St. Thomas supported the solid nature of the firmament in the Summa while believing the earth is a globe. https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1068.htm (https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1068.htm) Ergo, one cannot automatically assume that everyone who believes in a solid firmament believes the earth is flat.  They are separate issues.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Jaynek on October 21, 2023, 12:41:12 PM
  But modern science rejects their cosmology as well.  They most certainly did not believe (see my citation above) that the heavenly bodies floated around in empty space on account of some unseen force (gravity).  It's interesting to see how JayneK tries to impose modern cosmology onto the concentric spheres model ... which is completely false.

I have not said anything supporting empty space, gravity, or modern cosmology.  (Although I did mention that the idea of "vaccuм of space" did not exist in secular science at the time of the Church Fathers.)  I have been making factual, well-supported statements about the beliefs of Catholics throughout our history.  I'm not even interested in modern cosmology.  For the record, it is true that the concentric sphere model has virtually nothing to do with modern cosmology. There is, however, no reason to think that I believe otherwise.

As always happens on this topic, Ladislaus and others descend to intellectually dishonest personal attacks when they run out of logical arguments.  And I leave the discussion rather than push my ability to be polite and charitable past its limits. 

I'll probably post again the next time I stumble across something so egregiously wrong that I feel compelled to say something about it.  But I hope that this does not happen for a long time.

Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 21, 2023, 12:41:19 PM
St. Thomas supported the solid nature of the firmament in the Summa while believing the earth is a globe. https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1068.htm (https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1068.htm) Ergo, one cannot automatically assume that everyone who believes in a solid firmament believes the earth is flat.  They are separate issues.

Yes and no.  They're most certainly related.  So if there's a ball suspended somehow in the middle of a firmament, that would then have to go all the way around it, what is it suspended on at the bottom?  Recall that there was no concept of gravity at the time.  As with St. Hildegard, the bottom part of said sphere was most likely solid and resting on the bottom of said firmament, solid consisting of water and Sheol ... and was therefore not inhabitable.  You have to be aware of the nuances and not read a NASA ball floating through space into every mention of sphericity or rotundity.

Do you believe in a solid firmament with waters outside of it?  I doubt it.  Same question I asked Quo earlier.

If you look at the pictures post earlier of the Hebrew cosmology, the entire system most definitely has the shape of a sphere.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on October 21, 2023, 12:49:01 PM
So, do you believe that there's a solid sphere surrounding a globe earth and water outside of the solid sphere?  I doubt JayneK believes that.


If the Church teaches that infallibly, I believe it without question. I haven’t studied that question enough to say that it is dogmatic, but it seems to me that it is most likely true.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Marulus Fidelis on October 21, 2023, 12:58:03 PM

If the Church teaches that infallibly, I believe it without question. I haven’t studied that question enough to say that it is dogmatic, but it seems to me that it is most likely true.
It was never defined, obviously, but the firmament is mentioned around 130 times in the Bible in various contrxts which necessitate solidity (such as holding back water, opening the gates of heaven, etc.), so, according to the same principle Bellarmine outlined for geocentrism, that something contrary to the express meaning of Scripture is heretical, denying the existence or solidity of the firmament would square right around the same level as professiong heliocentrism, if we follow the logic of the Inquisition.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 12:59:15 PM
Yes and no.  They're most certainly related.  So if there's a ball suspended somehow in the middle of a firmament, that would then have to go all the way around it, what is it suspended on at the bottom?  Recall that there was no concept of gravity at the time.  As with St. Hildegard, the bottom part of said sphere was most likely solid and resting on the bottom of said firmament, solid consisting of water and Sheol ... and was therefore not inhabitable.  You have to be aware of the nuances and not read a NASA ball floating through space into every mention of sphericity or rotundity.

Do you believe in a solid firmament with waters outside of it?  I doubt it.  Same question I asked Quo earlier.

If you look at the pictures post earlier of the Hebrew cosmology, the entire system most definitely has the shape of a sphere.

Naturally, the Hebrews knew the shape of the earth because they held the true religion before Christ. 

  
To the ancient Hebrews the earth was the centre of the universe. Above it were the sky and the heavens, and below it were the Underworld, or Sheol, and the waters (eg. Exod 20.4; Ps 24.2; 136.6). (Though at times the Hebrews did cite only heaven and earth as composing the universe (eg. Ps 124.8), actually they held to this tripartite concept (eg. Phil 2.10). The earth, with Canaan at its centre (Ps 74.12), was believed to be one mass of land (cf the ‘ends of the earth’ (Ps 65.5) or its ‘four corners’ (Isa 11.12)) surrounded by an ocean. It rested on pillars (1 Sam 2.8; Job 9.6; Ps 75.3) or on firm foundations (Ps 104.5; but cf Job 26.7).” (298)

Firmament: (Heb raqia; Vulg Lat firmamentum, from LXX Gk stereoma ‘foundation’). The expanse of sky or heaven (Gen 1.8) separating the water below (rivers, seas, subterranean waters) from the waters above (precipitation). In ancient Israelite cosmogony the firmament may have been viewed as a dome or curtain (cf Ps 104.2) of beaten metal (cf Heb rq ‘beat out’; Job 37.18) from which were suspended the stars and planets (Gen 1.14-17). Rain and other heavenly blessings could pour down upon the earth through windows in the firmament (7.11; 2 Kings 7.2; Ps 78.23-24).” (p. 383)
— Myers, Allen C (Ed). The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987)


Hebrew cosmology pictured a flat earth, over which was a dome-shaped firmament, supported above the earth by mountains, and surrounded by waters. Holes or sluices (windows, Gen 7.11) allowed the water to fall as rain. The firmament was the heaven in which God set the sun (Ps 19.4) and the stars (Gen 1.14) on the fourth day of the creation. There was more water under the earth (Gen 1.7) and during the Flood the two great oceans joined up and covered the earth; sheol was at the bottom of the earth (Isa 14.9; Num 16.30.” (136)
— Browning. WRF Dictionary of the Bible. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996)


Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 21, 2023, 01:02:43 PM
Yeah, and the main thing I want to point out is that we can't read the modern NASA view of earth as a solid mass of earth formed into a ball floating around space on account of "gravity" into the writings of the ancients, the Fathers, or the Medieval "learned men", since the concept of gravity didn't come about until Newton, who applied it to Kepler's laws of motion.  There are many nuances here where you can't just say, "Aha, St. [whatever] used the word sphere, so he's talking about NASA's ball in space."
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Marulus Fidelis on October 21, 2023, 01:16:15 PM
Of course I did.  Here is the passage with sufficient context to make its meaning clear: 
It is also frequently asked what our belief must be about the form and shape of heaven according to Sacred Scripture. Many scholars engage in lengthy discussions on these matters, but the sacred writers with their deeper wisdom have omitted them.  Such subjects are of no profit for those who seek beatitude, and, what is worse, they take up very precious time that ought to be given to what is spiritually beneficial.

What concern is it of mine whether heaven is like a sphere and the earth is enclosed by it and suspended in the middle of the universe, or whether heaven like a disk above the earth covers it over on one side?...


Hence, I must say briefly that in the matter of the shape of heaven the sacred writers knew the truth, but that the Spirit of God, who spoke through them, did not wish to teach men these facts that would be of no avail for their salvation.
Thanks for the quote, yet another proof Augustine believed in a flat earth.

Both a spherical heaven with Earth in the middle and a disc of heaven and Earth below are flat earth models.

It's also perfectly consistent with Augustine's commentary on the solidity of the firmament.

How unfortunate that the wisdom of the Fathers was gradually lost.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on October 21, 2023, 01:24:51 PM
Not really.  You only acknowledged it for the 'Patristic Period' and then act like everything since then is some kind of unanimous opinion, which is completely false.
Untrue.  I've never seen a globe earth model which includes/explains the firmament.  But the Church Fathers are unanimous in their belief of a firmament, because it's explicitly stated in Scripture.  So...if a firmament is mentioned, then the model is some type of flat earth/snow globe.  Ergo, the Church Fathers believed in some type of flat earth.

I posted two models above. Here is another one:





Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on October 21, 2023, 01:31:18 PM
….
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on October 21, 2023, 01:34:31 PM
…..
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on October 21, 2023, 01:44:12 PM
It was never defined, obviously, but the firmament is mentioned around 130 times in the Bible in various contrxts which necessitate solidity (such as holding back water, opening the gates of heaven, etc.), so, according to the same principle Bellarmine outlined for geocentrism, that something contrary to the express meaning of Scripture is heretical, denying the existence or solidity of the firmament would square right around the same level as professiong heliocentrism, if we follow the logic of the Inquisition.


I don’t believe that your understanding of the firmament would be held in the same category as geocentrism, because there seems to be more nuances with the understanding of the firmament. 


 I just noticed that Lad used the word “nuances” too in a post above. I didn’t pinch that from you, Lad. :laugh1:
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 01:51:34 PM
…..

The pictures of "spheres" you provided show this picture* from a top down view and a shows celestial view of spheres.  And how heaven is above that. It doesn't depict globular planets of the heliocentric model at all.  Notice that some versions you provided have a "globe" center, and some show flat earth.  However, according to Fathers and Scripture, and even ancient Hebrews, the flat earth model is described, which further proves those that added their globe versions are willing to ignore the truth, or worse. 

*
(https://i.imgur.com/jhp4iIx.png)
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on October 21, 2023, 01:57:16 PM

The pictures of "spheres" you provided show this picture* from a top down view and a shows celestial view of spheres.  And how heaven is above that. It doesn't depict globular planets of the heliocentric model at all.  Notice that some versions you provided have a "globe" center, and some show flat earth.  However, according to Fathers and Scripture, and even ancient Hebrews, the flat earth model is described, which further proves those that added their globe versions are willing to ignore the truth, or worse. 

*
(https://i.imgur.com/jhp4iIx.png)


That’s not true, look at them.


These are unmistakable:

(https://i.imgur.com/VHYcToH.gif)
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 02:14:11 PM

That’s not true, look at them.

I did look at them. They fit the flat earth model, both by Catholic descriptions, and by the pictures themselves.  Again, I can see there are attempts to place a globe at the center of some, but they don't make sense because earth, according to Scripture and the Fathers, is at the bottom of creation and has a dome/firmament over the top, which fits the renderings.  Where are the details regarding the stars, windows, wind boxes, and heavens on the bottom side? Are they somehow under the earth just not on any of these versions?  I mean, you can try to extrapolate and add what isn't there, but what the Church held for over a thousand years is confirmed by the Fathers citing Scripture, not to mention the condemnations of heliocentrism by three Popes. It doesn't seem like a good idea to try to overturn Catholic teaching with contradictory drawings in an attempt to recreate the universe according to the pagans.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on October 21, 2023, 03:18:53 PM

I did look at them. They fit the flat earth model, both by Catholic descriptions, and by the pictures themselves.  Again, I can see there are attempts to place a globe at the center of some, but they don't make sense because earth, according to Scripture and the Fathers, is at the bottom of creation and has a dome/firmament over the top, which fits the renderings.  Where are the details regarding the stars, windows, wind boxes, and heavens on the bottom side? Are they somehow under the earth just not on any of these versions?  I mean, you can try to extrapolate and add what isn't there, but what the Church held for over a thousand years is confirmed by the Fathers citing Scripture, not to mention the condemnations of heliocentrism by three Popes. It doesn't seem like a good idea to try to overturn Catholic teaching with contradictory drawings in an attempt to recreate the universe according to the pagans.



In all seriousness, don’t you think it’s possible that you are misunderstanding or misinterpreting Holy Scripture and the Fathers?
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Miser Peccator on October 21, 2023, 03:30:26 PM
The words for describing shapes are usually ambiguous in themselves. It is therefore easy to misunderstand short quotes.  However, the larger context can sometimes make clear what model is under discussion. I gave the example of De Sphaera Mundi in which the context makes it very clear that he is talking about the nested sphere model.  And we know that this represents the consensus of the time because this is what was taught in Catholic universities.
St. Thomas supported the solid nature of the firmament in the Summa while believing the earth is a globe. https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1068.htm (https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1068.htm) Ergo, one cannot automatically assume that everyone who believes in a solid firmament believes the earth is flat.  They are separate issues.


copied from:  
http://flatearthtrads.com/




Flat-Earth Priest on St. Thomas


A priest of the resistance who is flat earth has responded eloquently to the claims that St. Thomas Aquinas was in favour of the globe.









(Here is the article misrepresenting St. Thomas :https://tradidi.com/st-thomas-held-and-taught-that-the-earth-is-round







Here is the original latin, with english translation: https://dhspriory.org/thomas/DeCoelo.htm )









The article:









S. THOMAS AQUINAS AND THE FLAT EARTH







In regard those who argue that St. Thomas would have defended the doctrine of the spherical earth, we must understand the following: when the Angelic Doctor made his comment on In Aristoteles Stagiritæ De Cælo et Mundo, there is no intention to agree with the thought of Aristotle, but simply to comment on the philosopher; moreover, that St. Thomas is a theologian and presents himself with such authority. The commentary on Aristotle's text is of a scientific-philosophical nature, and in this context St. Thomas did not intend to be a teacher, except in what would have relation to theology. Greek philosophers, however, included all the sciences in their philosophical work and they all commented on the question of the earth and the cosmos.







S. Thomas does not say that such a philosopher's opinion is right, or that Aristotle's opinion is perfect. He simply shows that Aristotle has the most logical opinion, according to the most accurate arguments of the philosophers of the time, mainly because they did not have the tools to visualize a greater distance and did not understand why the human vision does not reach the infinite of the horizon.







With this and other arguments, Aristotle argues that the earth can be spherical, but also the center of the cosmos, which is very different from a Heliocentric model, as defended by the Pythagoreans who were enemies of Aristotle. So, it´s important to understand that what is contained in the works of St. Thomas on this subject is only an exposition of the purely scientific cosmology of Aristotle completely outside the scope of his Theologian authority and outside of St. Thomas' custom of using the arguments philosophical arguments of Aristotle to conclude theological theories. Indeed, all we know is that the Heliocentric model is condemned by the Church because this doctrine is against the Scriptures and their interpretation by the Holy Fathers.







So, Let us see why Aristotle comes to such a conclusion and what St. Thomas actually comments:







1 - Platonic Astronomy:





First we need to know how Plato thought about it. For Plato, the cosmos is an orderly creation with perfectly ordered movements. In his writings he insists on the following ideas:





- Sphericity of the Universe





- sphericity of all celestial bodies, including Earth.





- central and immovable position of the Earth.





- The stars (planets, moon, sun, stars) spinning around the Earth at different distances.







2 - Aristotle (384-322 BC), the most celebrated of philosophers, assumes the cosmology of Plato and applies to solve the problems he presented. The Cosmos of Aristotle is a large but finite sphere centered on the Earth. In favor of the immobility of the Earth, (denied only by the Pythagoreans) Aristotle brings a series of arguments. Claudius Ptolemy (II century of our era) will lay the foundations in the Aristotle system and propose the theories of Astronomy that will prevail until the fifteenth century. In the exposition in this book (De cælo et mundo) Liber II in the lectio xx - xxviii St. Thomas is commenting on Aristotle about the question of whether the earth is spherical or round: Duæ adducuntur de terræ motu ac quiete sententiæ, de figura item ipsius terræ an spherica an rotunda inquirit.







However, the most important argument is that the earth cannot move. “ostendit quomodo obviabant rationibus contra se inductis” (he shows how they meet arguments brought against them) . And S. Thomas explains that Aristotle removed false ideas about it: “falsum intellectum qui ex his verbis haberi posset.”(removes the false understanding that could be obtained from these words) And he says: also Timæo proved the earth is firm and settled in the middle(probat terram in medio esse locatamet firmatam).







The reasons why the Earth would be spherical are 3 (all them in a scientific character according to the knowledge of that time.)  Probat terram esse sphericam rationibus astrologicis per tres probationes (he proves that the earth is spherical with astronomical arguments with three proofs)







The first proof is because of the lunar eclipse (prima, sumitur ex eclypsi lunæ);







Second: is based on the appearance of the stars that are round: secundum quæ sumitur ex apparentia stellarum.







Third: Because we can’t see the same horizon in any place and our vision does not go more than a few kilometers, so we could imagine that it is a proof that the world is round. In his enim qui habitant in sphera .Et ex hoc apparet quod terræ est figuræ rotondæ: Si enim esset superficiei planæ omnes habitantes in tota terræ superficie ad meridiem et septemtrionem haberent eumdem horizontem. (And from this it appears that the earth is rotund in shape especially according to its aspect at the two poles — for if it were flat, all those dwelling on the whole face of the earth to the south and north would have the same horizon).







And in that time, there were mathematics that calculated the diameter of the earth and also the diameter of the sun! (170 x bigger than the earth) mathematicorum et probant astrologi solem esse centies septuagesies majorem terra. We can see that all that the modern science claims the same things that the Greeks said more than 2000 years ago!







But, obviously today a simple observer of nature, with good instruments can explain and destroy the three arguments of the old philosophers proving that the earth is flat.







After having made this clear, let´s now try to understand the work of S. Thomas about Aristotle which say that the earth cannot move and, if the other arguments above were not available to him, he supposes that the better would be to consider that the earth is really flat!







He starts to say: Quidam, scilicet Pythagorici, posuerunt terram moveri circa medium mundi, ac si esset una stellarum,(the Pythagoreans, assumed that it is in motion about the middle of the world, as though it were one of the stars) ...dicunt eam revolvi circa medium cæli, idest circa axem dividentem cælum per medium,( assert that it is revolved about the "middle of the heavens," i.e., about the axis which divides the heaven through the middle) sed Philosophus ostendit quod impossibile est terram sic moveri.(but Aristotle shows that it is impossible for the earth to be thus in motion)







In other words: the Philosopher (Aristotle) excluded the opinions that the earth could spin: excludit opiniones eorum qui falsas opiniones circa terram habebant,







And also explains that all things move around the earth to the earth, so it must be stable and it can´t move in anyway: Assignat causam quietis terræ et dicit quod ex præmissis manifestum est quæ sit causa quietis ejus. Sicut enim dictum est, terra naturaliter est nata moveri ex omni parte ad medium :sicut sensibiliter apparet quod ignis naturaliter movetur a medio mundi ad extremum. Unde sequitur quod nulla particula terræ vel parva vel magna potest moveri a medio nisi per violentiam. Manifestum est quod multo impossibilis est quod tota terra moveatur a medio. (he assigns the cause of the earth's rest and he says that from the foregoing everything goes to the middle. For, as has been said, earth is naturally inclined to be borne to the middle from every direction, as our sense observations indicate — and similarly it is apparent to sense that fire is naturally moved from the middle of the world to the extreme. Hence it follows that no particle of earth, small or large, can be moved from the middle except by violence; so, it is plainly much more impossible that the entire earth be moved from the middle.)







Concludit propositum: quod terra sit in medio mundi quia omnia corpora gravia moventur ad medium terræ. (That the earth is in the middle of the universe and all heavy bodies are moved per se to the middle of the earth ) Et sic, ex præmissis, nihil movetur in loco ad quem naturaliter movetur, quia ibi naturaliter quiescit. Sed terra aliquando movetur ad medium mundi, (from the foregoing as follows: Nothing is moved in the place toward which it is naturally moved. But the earth is naturally moved to the middle of the world.) ut probatum est, ergo, terra nullo modo movetur. (Therefore the earth is not in motion in any way)







After all these commentaries, he concluded that to be stable, the earth must be flat: Necesse est terram, ad hoc quod quiescat, habere figuram latam:( that if the earth is to be at rest, it has to be flat.) nam figura sphærica facile mobilis est quia in modico tangit superficiem, sed figura lata secundum se totam tangit superficiem, et ideo est apta ad quietem. (For a spherical shape is easy to move, because so little of it is in contact with a plane; but a wide shape is totally in contact with a plane, and is consequently apt for rest and to be firm.)







Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 21, 2023, 03:50:17 PM
After all these commentaries, he concluded that to be stable, the earth must be flat: Necesse est terram, ad hoc quod quiescat, habere figuram latam:( that if the earth is to be at rest, it has to be flat.) nam figura sphærica facile mobilis est quia in modico tangit superficiem, sed figura lata secundum se totam tangit superficiem, et ideo est apta ad quietem. (For a spherical shape is easy to move, because so little of it is in contact with a plane; but a wide shape is totally in contact with a plane, and is consequently apt for rest and to be firm.)


hmmm.  Interesting.  I'll have to find and read what he says here.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 03:50:34 PM

In all seriousness, don’t you think it’s possible that you are misunderstanding or misinterpreting Holy Scripture and the Fathers?

I appreciate that you don't agree, but there's every reason to accept that earth is not a globe. In answer to your question above, why would I? Scripture doesn't describe a globe, but the globe casts doubt on the veracity of a lot of passages in Scripture. The Fathers of the Church rejected the globe. The globe is front and center in the pagan philosophies and mystery religions at odds with the Church.  Three Popes condemned the heliocentric model (and I dare say, the globe was included) With the dawn of electronic equipment it's proven that the earth doesn't curve.  Common words like sea level and horizon do not fit with the idea earth is a globe.
Google and Youtube have largely cancelled flat earth. NASA has lied over and over again, from man on the moon to water on Mars yet cram the globe down our throats, like the monsters who pushed the Covid vaccine. NASA admits they use photo shop in their graphics. NASA has been caught using green screens and swimming pools to fake space. No video of spinning globe earth exists. Scientists have done experiments and can't demonstrate curvature.  Pilots are coming forward and telling the world they don't have to allow for the curve while flying. 

This list literally goes on and on, but I'll stop here.  So, do you think it's possible that you misunderstood or misinterpreted before you were informed?  There's certainly no shame in that.  We all endured it. 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Thed0ctor on October 21, 2023, 03:59:55 PM
So in the Summa on the firmament he refers to the fimament as a sphere why wouldn't this be compatible with the earth being a globe. Doesn't a sphere go "all the away around"? How did the father's understand this? 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Thed0ctor on October 21, 2023, 04:16:30 PM
Also it seems Aquinas supports the idea that the firmament is the atmosphere?

"Another possible explanation is to understand by the firmament that was made on the second day, not that in which the stars are set, but the part of the atmosphere where the clouds are collected, and which has received the name firmament from the firmness and density of the air. "For a body is called firm," that is dense and solid, "thereby differing from a mathematical body" as is remarked by Basil (Hom. iii in Hexaem.)." From (https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1068.htm#article2)

Also here "If, however, we understand by the firmament that part of the air in which the clouds are collected, then the waters above the firmament must rather be the vapors resolved from the waters which are raised above a part of the atmosphere, and from which the rain falls." 

I was also looking at the Haydock commentary on the firmament and it suggested "atmosphere"

I agree it does seem there was a common opinion that the firmament was solid like a wall or something like that but from these quotes and the Haydock commentary it seems it was also an opinion that it wasn't so firm? 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 04:18:13 PM
So in the Summa on the firmament he refers to the fimament as a sphere why wouldn't this be compatible with the earth being a globe. Doesn't a sphere go "all the away around"? How did the father's understand this?

In order to accept what the Fathers have revealed, and what Scripture describes, as well as the condemnations of three Popes against heliocentrism, to include Aristotle didn't buy heliocentrism, one must recognize 2 things.  He could be mistaken in his use of the word "sphere" regarding the universe if he meant it was round.  Or Aristotle's use of the term "sphere" meant "realm".  
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 04:24:22 PM
Also it seems Aquinas supports the idea that the firmament is the atmosphere?

"Another possible explanation is to understand by the firmament that was made on the second day, not that in which the stars are set, but the part of the atmosphere where the clouds are collected, and which has received the name firmament from the firmness and density of the air. "For a body is called firm," that is dense and solid, "thereby differing from a mathematical body" as is remarked by Basil (Hom. iii in Hexaem.)." From (https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1068.htm#article2)

Also here "If, however, we understand by the firmament that part of the air in which the clouds are collected, then the waters above the firmament must rather be the vapors resolved from the waters which are raised above a part of the atmosphere, and from which the rain falls."

I was also looking at the Haydock commentary on the firmament and it suggested "atmosphere"

I agree it does seem there was a common opinion that the firmament was solid like a wall or something like that but from these quotes and the Haydock commentary it seems it was also an opinion that it wasn't so firm?

There's a lot of information provided here on CI that tell us the Fathers believed the 'firmament' meant both the atmosphere where the stars, sun and moon reside, as well as the hard dome between heaven and earth that held the upper waters back.  It was an all-encompassing view of an upside down bowl, tent, or dome over the earth.  So it isn't either/or, it's both. 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Thed0ctor on October 21, 2023, 04:35:36 PM

There's a lot of information provided here on CI that tell us the Fathers believed the 'firmament' meant both the atmosphere where the stars, sun and moon reside, as well as the hard dome between heaven and earth that held the upper waters back.  It was an all-encompassing view of an upside down bowl, tent, or dome over the earth.  So it isn't either/or, it's both.

But doesn't Aquinas say the waters above could mean vapors that "rise above". That seems like he's implying an opinion that the "separation" between the waters above and below is a non hard atmosphere vs both a hard dome and an atmosphere. 
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 21, 2023, 04:40:57 PM

There's a lot of information provided here on CI that tell us the Fathers believed the 'firmament' meant both the atmosphere where the stars, sun and moon reside, as well as the hard dome between heaven and earth that held the upper waters back.  It was an all-encompassing view of an upside down bowl, tent, or dome over the earth.  So it isn't either/or, it's both.


Most of the Fathers believed that the luminaries were IN the firmament, as Sacred Scripture states.  Consequently, there were debates about how these luminaries could move within the firmament, since it's solid.  Some therefore held that the firmament itself moved around the earth.  This later evolved into the multiple spheres concept, since the various planets did not follow the course of the stars in the firmament.  Others held that the firmament was made of some substance that was solid enough to keep water out, yet liquid enough so that the luminaries could move within it (something like a plasma, for instance).  They did not consider that the luminaries might be electromagnetic or plasma phenomena themselves.  But the common assumption among all of them in the debate was that there is a firmament that's capable of preventing waters from inundating the earth and that the heavenly luminaries were in said firmament.

In any case, they did not believe that things could just float through space on some kind of orbit unless they were in or attached to something physical.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 04:47:37 PM
But doesn't Aquinas say the waters above could mean vapors that "rise above". That seems like he's implying an opinion that the "separation" between the waters above and below is a non hard atmosphere vs both a hard dome and an atmosphere.

Aquinas does say he doesn't know of a consensus about the waters above the firmament. However, some Fathers say that since the waters at the beginning of creation were "divided", Gen 1:6,7, the water above the firmament was that which provided rain, and which was demonstrated when the windows in the firmament were opened for the Great Flood, (along with the fountains of the deep to well up and cover the mountains).  
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 04:50:28 PM
Most of the Fathers believed that the luminaries were IN the firmament, as Sacred Scripture states.  Consequently, there were debates about how these luminaries could move within the firmament, since it's solid.  Some therefore held that the firmament itself moved around the earth.  This later evolved into the multiple spheres concept, since the various planets did not follow the course of the stars in the firmament.  Others held that the firmament was made of some substance that was solid enough to keep water out, yet liquid enough so that the luminaries could move within it (something like a plasma, for instance).  They did not consider that the luminaries might be electromagnetic or plasma phenomena themselves.  But the common assumption among all of them in the debate was that there is a firmament that's capable of preventing waters from inundating the earth and that the heavenly luminaries were in said firmament.

In any case, they did not believe that things could just float through space on some kind of orbit unless they were in or attached to something physical.
You said it better.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Always on October 21, 2023, 05:02:37 PM


In any case, they did not believe that things could just float through space on some kind of orbit unless they were in or attached to something physical.

And what role, if any, did they believe the angels played in the movement of the stars?
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Miser Peccator on October 21, 2023, 05:08:45 PM
I found this:

 Attacking flat earth is censored by Church (https://flatearthtrads.forumotion.com/t286-attacking-flat-earth-is-censored-by-church#764)
(https://2img.net/i/empty.gif) by Admin Mon Oct 15, 2018 12:18 pm

Over on Cathinfo there is a very important post which shows that the Church censored flat earth criticism in 1620.

This shows that at least attacks on the flat earth are not permitted.

It can also be used to show that there were Catholic flat earthers in the 17th century, and also be used to strengthen the argument that flat earth is of faith.

here is the link and reproduction of the text.

https://www.cathinfo.com/the-earth-god-made-flat-earth-geocentrism/the-church-censors-flat-earth-criticism/ (https://www.cathinfo.com/the-earth-god-made-flat-earth-geocentrism/the-church-censors-flat-earth-criticism/)

Quote


I am reading a book called "Burned alive; Giordano Bruno, Galileo and the Inquisition" by Alberto Martinez. The author is strongly anti catholic and a globe believer.

In it the author makes a most remarkable statment:

"In 1620 the Index censored eleven sentences in Copernicus's book. Catholics could now read it making the required corrections. ... First the Index censored the passage in the Preface where Copernicus criticized Lactantius for not knowing mathematics and being wrong about the Earth's shape. "

Yes, you read that correctly.

The text of that censoring is available in "The Ponticial decrees against the Doctrine of the Earths movement and the Ultramontane defence of them" By Rev. William Roberts.

Found here http://www.ldolphin.org/geocentricity/Roberts.pdf (http://www.ldolphin.org/geocentricity/Roberts.pdf)

Go to page 62. It is latin. But not hard to understand.

Here is the text: In præfatione circa finem.—Ibi si fortasse dele omnia, usque ad verba,
hi nostri labores; et sic accommoda, coeterum hi nostri labores.

The text they are talking about can be found here:
http://www.geo.utexas.edu/courses/302d/Fall_2011/Full%20text%20-%20Nicholas%20Copernicus,%20_De%20Revolutionibus%20%28On%20the%20Revolutions%29,_%201.pdf (http://www.geo.utexas.edu/courses/302d/Fall_2011/Full text - Nicholas Copernicus, _De Revolutionibus (On the Revolutions),_ 1.pdf)

Here is the relevant part:

"Perhaps there will be babblers who claim to be judges of astronomy although
completely ignorant of the subject and, badly distorting some passage of Scripture
to their purpose, will dare to find fault with my undertaking and censure it. I
disregard them even to the extent of despising their criticism as unfounded. For it
is not unknown that Lactantius, otherwise an illustrious writer but hardly an
astronomer, speaks quite childishly about the earth's shape, when he mocks those
who declared that the earth has the form of a globe. Hence scholars need not be
surprised if any such persons will likewise ridicule me. Astronomy is written for
astronomers. To them my work"

You can see that there is nothing in it about mathematics. But the only topic is the spherical earth.
If you attack the defence of Gods creation... you deserve censorship...

So much for the Church believing in the globe in the middle ages and beyond. This is 1620 and the Church is defending the Truth.

This is a remarkable discovery and I hope my fellow flat earthers appreciate it.



https://flatearthtrads.forumotion.com/t286-attacking-flat-earth-is-censored-by-church
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 21, 2023, 05:19:05 PM
And what role, if any, did they believe the angels played in the movement of the stars?

While I haven't studied the matter, my guess is that they believed the angels were responsible for moving the spheres.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 05:39:59 PM
I found this:

Attacking flat earth is censored by Church (https://flatearthtrads.forumotion.com/t286-attacking-flat-earth-is-censored-by-church#764)
(https://2img.net/i/empty.gif) by Admin Mon Oct 15, 2018 12:18 pm

Over on Cathinfo there is a very important post which shows that the Church censored flat earth criticism in 1620.

This shows that at least attacks on the flat earth are not permitted.

It can also be used to show that there were Catholic flat earthers in the 17th century, and also be used to strengthen the argument that flat earth is of faith.

here is the link and reproduction of the text.

https://www.cathinfo.com/the-earth-god-made-flat-earth-geocentrism/the-church-censors-flat-earth-criticism/ (https://www.cathinfo.com/the-earth-god-made-flat-earth-geocentrism/the-church-censors-flat-earth-criticism/)



https://flatearthtrads.forumotion.com/t286-attacking-flat-earth-is-censored-by-church

So the Church censored the criticism of Lactantius's belief of the flat earth, a welcome move and certainly deserved.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on October 21, 2023, 06:45:01 PM

So the Church censored the criticism of Lactantius's belief of the flat earth, a welcome move and certainly deserved.


Why do you believe the writings of an author who is “strongly anti Catholic”?
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 07:15:08 PM
Why do you believe the writings of an author who is “strongly anti Catholic”?

I paused at this too, but looked closer at what Miser was saying because she understands the argument.  Upon closer examination, the Church is the one who censored Copernicus's book 11 different times and the censored part in question was for the criticism of Lactantius for being a flat earther.  It was just a surprise that the anti-Catholic pro-globe author would report it.     
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on October 21, 2023, 07:51:39 PM

I paused at this too, but looked closer at what Miser was saying because she understands the argument.  Upon closer examination, the Church is the one who censored Copernicus's book 11 different times and the censored part in question was for the criticism of Lactantius for being a flat earther.  It was just a surprise that the anti-Catholic pro-globe author would report it.   



I never ever trust an anti Catholic’s writings. He’s most likely reporting a falsehood in order to make the Church look bad in the eyes of modern man. Although I agree with him on GE, I would never trust him as a source.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Miser Peccator on October 21, 2023, 08:10:48 PM

I never ever trust an anti Catholic’s writings. He’s most likely reporting a falsehood in order to make the Church look bad in the eyes of modern man. Although I agree with him on GE, I would never trust him as a source.

I understand that.  Is there some way to verify it?
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 08:43:40 PM

I never ever trust an anti Catholic’s writings. He’s most likely reporting a falsehood in order to make the Church look bad in the eyes of modern man. Although I agree with him on GE, I would never trust him as a source.

Well, it's well-known that the Church censored Copernicus' book until it was amended (line item censored in this case). Lactantius was a Father of the Church, so there's little doubt Catholic authorities who condemned Bruno, heliocentrism and Galileo would support Lactantius and the flat earth. There's no reason to not believe the author in this instance because the facts bear out. Also, when you're writing a book on famous history you really do have to source it correctly or find your book at the bottom of a Walmart bin. What I do find a little weird is that you suggest it might make the Church look bad. The only reason the Church would look bad is if She was wrong for condemning heliocentrism and censoring Copernicus' book for no reason. That's not possible because She doesn't make mistakes. She did condemn heliocentrism and not only censored Copernicus' book, She placed it on the Index of forbidden books. The real take away is how well the heliocentric conspirators covered all this up for so long. We're lucky to get to know what really happened. Flat earth is hardly a shameful thing, except to uninformed heliocentric globe believers who suffer from human respect. Catholic flat earthers are used to being denigrated and slandered. Getting the truth out there is the right thing to do no matter the cost. And while some of us are wearied by the endless potshots, besides the proof in science, math and reason, we also have proof from Catholic tradition that earth is not a globe.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 09:05:07 PM
Here's some information on the censoring of Copernicus' book.  From what it says here, that author was telling the truth.  

Perhaps the most influential opponent of the Copernican theory was , a Catholic priest. Ingoli wrote a January 1616 essay to Galileo presenting more than twenty arguments against the Copernican theory.[119] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus#cite_note-Graney_2015,_p._68-69-127) Though "it is not certain, it is probable that he [Ingoli] was commissioned by the Inquisition to write an expert opinion on the controversy",[120] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus#cite_note-Finocchiaro_2010,_p._72-128) (after the Congregation of the Index's decree against Copernicanism on 5 March 1616, Ingoli was officially appointed its consultant).[120] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus#cite_note-Finocchiaro_2010,_p._72-128) Galileo himself was of the opinion that the essay played an important role in the rejection of the theory by church authorities, writing in a later letter to Ingoli that he was concerned that people thought the theory was rejected because Ingoli was right.[119] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus#cite_note-Graney_2015,_p._68-69-127) Ingoli presented five physical arguments against the theory, thirteen mathematical arguments (plus a separate discussion of the sizes of stars), and four theological arguments. The physical and mathematical arguments were of uneven quality, but many of them came directly from the writings of Tycho Brahe (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tycho_Brahe), and Ingoli repeatedly cited Brahe, the leading astronomer of the era. These included arguments about the effect of a moving earth on the trajectory of projectiles, and about parallax and Brahe's argument that the Copernican theory required that stars be absurdly large.[121] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus#cite_note-129) Two of Ingoli's theological issues with the Copernican theory were "common Catholic beliefs not directly traceable to Scripture: the doctrine that hell is located at the center of Earth and is most distant from heaven; and the explicit assertion that Earth is motionless in a hymn sung on Tuesdays as part of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Divine Office prayers regularly recited by priests."[122] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus#cite_note-Finocchiaro_2010,_p._73-130) Ingoli cited Robert Bellarmine in regards to both of these arguments, and may have been trying to convey to Galileo a sense of Bellarmine's opinion.[123] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus#cite_note-131) Ingoli also cited Genesis 1:14 where God places "lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night." Ingoli did not think the central location of the sun in the Copernican theory was compatible with it being described as one of the lights placed in the firmament.[122] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus#cite_note-Finocchiaro_2010,_p._73-130) Like previous commentators Ingoli also pointed to the passages about the Battle of Gibeon. He dismissed arguments that they should be taken metaphorically, saying "Replies which assert that Scripture speaks according to our mode of understanding are not satisfactory: both because in explaining the Sacred Writings the rule is always to preserve the literal sense, when it is possible, as it is in this case; and also because all the [Church] Fathers unanimously take this passage to mean that the sun which was truly moving stopped at Joshua's request. An interpretation which is contrary to the unanimous consent of the Fathers is condemned by the Council of Trent, Session IV, in the decree on the edition and use of the Sacred Books. Furthermore, although the Council speaks about matters of faith and morals, nevertheless it cannot be denied that the Holy Fathers would be displeased with an interpretation of Sacred Scriptures which is contrary to their common agreement."[122] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus#cite_note-Finocchiaro_2010,_p._73-130) However, Ingoli closed the essay by suggesting Galileo respond primarily to the better of his physical and mathematical arguments rather than to his theological arguments, writing "Let it be your choice to respond to this either entirely of in part—clearly at least to the mathematical and physical arguments, and not to all even of these, but to the more weighty ones."[124] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus#cite_note-Graney_2015,_p._70-132) When Galileo wrote a letter in reply to Ingoli years later, he in fact only addressed the mathematical and physical arguments.[124] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus#cite_note-Graney_2015,_p._70-132)
In March 1616, in connection with the Galileo affair (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_affair), the Roman Catholic Church's Congregation of the Index (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congregation_of_the_Index) issued a decree suspending De revolutionibus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_revolutionibus_orbium_coelestium) until it could be "corrected," on the grounds of ensuring that Copernicanism, which it described as a "false Pythagorean doctrine, altogether contrary to the Holy Scripture," would not "creep any further to the prejudice of Catholic truth."[125] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus#cite_note-archive48-133) The corrections consisted largely of removing or altering wording that the spoke of heliocentrism as a fact, rather than a hypothesis.[126] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus#cite_note-134) The corrections were made based largely on work by Ingoli.[120] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus#cite_note-Finocchiaro_2010,_p._72-128)

https://everipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Ingoli/ (https://everipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Ingoli/)


Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Tradman on October 21, 2023, 09:26:11 PM

Perhaps the most influential opponent of the Copernican theory was Catholic priest, Ingoli, who wrote a January 1616 essay to Galileo presenting more than twenty arguments against the Copernican theory. Though it is not certain, it is probable that Ingoli was commissioned by the Inquisition to write an expert opinion on the controversy.
Ingoli sent Galileo a letter in January 1616 listing several objections to Copernicanism, 

Here were the four theological objections

Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Miser Peccator on October 21, 2023, 10:30:03 PM

Yes, that is right and it is very obvious when we look at how the subject was taught at the (Church sponsored) universities.  I have found an English translation of De Sphaera Mundi, the most widespread and influential textbook from its writing in 1230 for hundreds of years onward.  This work represents the long-held scientific consensus in Christendom that Galileo was arguing against.  http://esotericarchives.com/solomon/sphere.htm

 (http://esotericarchives.com/solomon/sphere.htm)Here is the section on the shape of the earth: 

THE EARTH A SPHERE. -- That the earth, too, is round is shown thus. The signs and stars do not rise and set the same for all men everywhere but rise and set sooner for those in the east than for those in the west; and of this there is no other cause than the bulge of the earth. Moreover, celestial phenomena evidence that they rise sooner for Orientals than for westerners. For one and the same eclipse of the moon which appears to us in the first hour of the night appears to Orientals about the third hour of the night, which proves that they had night and sunset before we did, of which setting the bulge of the earth is the cause.

FURTHER PROOFS OF THIS. -- That the earth also has a bulge from north to south and vice versa is shown thus: To those living toward the north, certain stars are always visible, namely, those near the North Pole, while others which are near the South Pole are always concealed from them. If, then, anyone should proceed from the north southward, he might go so far that the stars which formerly were always visible to him now would tend toward their setting. And the farther south he went, the more they would be moved toward their setting. Again, that same man now could see stars which formerly had always been hidden from him. And the reverse would happen to anyone going from the south northward. The cause of this is simply the bulge of the earth. Again, if the earth were flat from east to west, the stars would rise as soon for westerners as for Orientals. which is false. Also, if the earth were flat from north to south and vice versa, the stars which were always visible to anyone would continue to be so wherever he went, which is false. But it seems flat to human sight because it is so extensive.
SURFACE OF THE SEA SPHERICAL. -- That the water has a bulge and is approximately round is shown thus: Let a signal be set up on the seacoast and a ship leave port and sail away so far that the eye of a person standing at the foot of the mast can no longer discern the signal. Yet if the ship is stopped, the eye of the same person, if he has climbed to the top of the mast, will see the signal clearly. Yet the eye of a person at the bottom of the mast ought to see the signal better than he who is at the top, as is shown by drawing straight lines from both to the signal. And there is no other explanation of this thing than the bulge of the water. For all other impediments are excluded, such as clouds and rising vapors.
Also, since water is a homogeneous body, the whole will act the same as its parts. But parts of water, as happens in the case of little drops and dew on herbs, naturally seek a round shape. Therefore, the whole, of which they are parts, will do so.

This was what virtually all educated Catholics believed in the centuries before Galileo. He left the sphericity of the earth uncontested while arguing with other points that were commonly believed. 
 


This is such a sad statement about "educated Catholics".   :(


This further explains why the view from the top of the mast is further than the view from the bottom of the mast:

CONVERGENCE AND VANISHING POINT EXPLAINED
4min 31sec
https://www.bitchute.com/video/U2cHQBBwGFpj/



Science is testable, repeatable and observable.

So if a drop of water is the same shape as a body of water,

because "the whole will act the same as its parts"

then are there examples of small bodies of water in the shape of a sphere?

I've never seen one myself. :/


(https://i.imgur.com/6anTQKn.png)





(https://i.imgur.com/wDgxmix.png)







(https://i.imgur.com/TGJ1Tiq.png)






(https://i.imgur.com/h9t58Jp.png)



No bulging water:

Frozen Lake Proves Water Doesn't Curve

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JVGh9SnqOY





This is a water level tool.  The ancients used this tech to level large buildings.  It's just as accurate as a laser.  Why?  Because water is always level.  Always.  Everywhere.  All the time.  Never bulges.

(https://i.imgur.com/nipzcoj.png)


The water level at each end of the tube will be at the same elevation, whether the two ends are adjacent or far apart, so a line between them will be horizontal at its midpoint and a shed base, building foundation or similar structure laid out using several such lines will be "horizontal" within building tolerances on any scale over which use of a water level is practicable.[1] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_level_(device)#cite_note-1) Water levels have been used for many years. The water level is lower-tech (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_technology) than the laser level (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_level), but it can be more accurate over long distances, and works without a sightline (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sightline), such as around corners. 

In geodesy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geodesy) and surveying (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveying), the use of a water level device extended over long distances (sometimes, kilometers) is termed hydrostatic levelling, after the principles of hydrostatic equilibrium (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrostatic_equilibrium) and levelling (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levelling).[2]
 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_level_(device)#cite_note-Kahmen_Faig_2012_p._560-2)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_level_%28device%29


(https://i.imgur.com/2zUeSZj.png)





Why do the stars in the southern hemisphere rotate in the opposite direction of the northern hemisphere?


This gives a possible explanation:

36min
https://www.bitchute.com/video/IpgsAe26OM3l/
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 22, 2023, 10:29:08 AM
Frozen Lake Proves Water Doesn't Curve

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JVGh9SnqOY

This is one of the best out there because the possibility of "refraction" is almost zero under such conditions, since cold air is capable of holding very little moisture / humidity (which would be needed for refraction).  On top of that, since the lights are just a foot above the ice, and you have 4 different lights about a mile apart, you would need the exact same amount of refraction between any two given lights for all of them to line up and remain visible on the same plane ... which is impossible.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: MiracleOfTheSun on October 22, 2023, 10:49:46 AM
There are a number of like experiments on the internet all showing measurements based on earth curve calculators.  What I've seen so far is that the earth curve calculators have a 100% Failure Rate.  I'm finding it more difficult to refute the flat earth model because these experiments have been repeated numerous times and have produced the same result - nothing is obscured by any curve.
Title: Re: The Earth is Flat
Post by: Ladislaus on October 22, 2023, 11:02:12 AM
There are a number of like experiments on the internet all showing measurements based on earth curve calculators.  What I've seen so far is that the earth curve calculators have a 100% Failure Rate.  I'm finding it more difficult to refute the flat earth model because these experiments have been repeated numerous times and have produced the same result - nothing is obscured by any curve.

Yeah, if there were just one or two such experiments out there, one could write it off as a fluke or even fraud ... but the results are almost 100% consistent in favor of flat earth.  Dr. John D would livestream his experiments, and announce them ahead of time so that independent observers could attend.  Some of the world-record long distance photographs, moreover, were created by non Flat Earthers, just professional photographers trying to get into the record books without considering the scientific implications of what they were doing.  One was a picture of a lighthouse, the peak of which was about 150 feet above sea level, from 230 or so miles away, and the photographer recorded his location and elevation, where the thing should have been hidden by miles of "curvature", and another showed the Alps from 700 miles way, when they should have been hidden by about 85 miles of curvature.

Now, if someone came up with a theory where light bends around the earth consistently and at all times due to some electromagnetic forces of the earth, maybe.  But "refraction" is utter hogwash.