Why Do People Think the Earth Is Flat?

by Rob Webb on June 21, 2024

First Name: Kylar
First Letter of Last Name: T
Grade: 5
What is your favorite planet or star?: Earth
What is your favorite rocket?: American Space Shuttles
Question: If the earth is round (which it is), why do some people think it is flat?

Hi Kylar, thanks for your question! Hey, you happen to have the same favorite planet as me—the earth! I really like earth because it’s the only place in the whole universe that’s “just right” for us to inhabit and call home (Isaiah 45:18). In fact, the more we find and study other planets in the universe, the more we understand just how unique the earth is—specially designed by God for us!

And I also really like the old space shuttles! I remember when I was a kid watching some of the launches on TV—which actually helped inspire me to become a rocket scientist when I grew up!

Atlantis shuttle launch

Photo credit: NASA/Dick Clark

Now to your question, why do some people believe the earth is flat? Well, I’ve met quite a few people who sadly have bought into this lie, and I’ve noticed that the reasons are a bit different for each person. But for the most part, the flat-earthers I’ve met think that the Bible somehow “teaches” that the earth is flat (more on that in a moment).1 And they usually come to this (false) conclusion after watching a video or two on the internet of some popular flat-earther showing the “proof” that the earth is flat.

Flat earth illustration

By the way, I’m very glad that you know the earth is round (a sphere).2 And yes, science overwhelmingly confirms that the earth is a sphere, which the Bible does not deny. In fact, humans have known the true shape of the earth for over 2,000 years—using only simple observation and geometry!3

Cartoon

Credit: Dan Lietha

But the question that flat-earthers will ask is how do you actually know that the earth is a sphere? I think most kids today will say that we have photos of earth from space, like the ones taken by Apollo astronauts or ones taken from the International Space Station (ISS), that clearly show the curvature of the earth. However, just about every flat-earther I’ve met will ask how we know those photos are actually real and have not been “faked” using a computer program. (I hope you know how to answer that!)

Image of the earth from Apollo 17

The “Blue Marble” image of the earth from Apollo 17. Photo credit: NASA

Of course, those photos are real! And yes, humans really have been to space—and even the moon! But again, the question of the earth’s shape has been settled for a really long time—since way before astronauts even started going to space! So this means there are better answers for how we know the shape of the earth. Here are just a few good reasons for knowing that the earth is a sphere:4

  • The earth’s shadow during a lunar eclipse (when the moon is opposite the sun, which can only happen during a full moon)5 is always a circle—no matter what time of night—and the only shape that can do that every time is a sphere.6
    Types of lunar eclipses

    Image showing different types of lunar eclipses. Photo credit: NASA

  • The visibility of stars in the sky depends on your latitude (how far north or south you are on earth), meaning that only certain stars will be visible from where you live, which can only happen because the earth is a globe.7 For example, I live in Northern Kentucky (in the northern hemisphere) where I can see the North Star.8 But if I were to travel to Australia (in the southern hemisphere) then I will no longer be able to see the North Star. Plus, I could also see other stars in Australia that I couldn’t see before in Kentucky (like the Southern Cross).
    North Star and movement of stars

    Image of the North Star (in the center) and the movement of stars around the north celestial pole over several hours. Photo credit: NASA/Preston Dyches

  • The curvature of the earth (in the east-west direction) causes time differences, meaning that the sun will rise/set at different times around the world. For example, the sun will rise three hours earlier from where I live in Kentucky than it does for my family members living in California.
    Sun over earth’s horizon taken from ISS

    Image of the sun over the earth’s horizon, taken from the ISS, as it was flying over North America. Photo credit: NASA

  • Ships start to disappear as they sail away (with more and more of the ship disappearing from the bottom up) due to the curvature of the earth.9 And on the flip side, ships become more visible as they approach. For example, take a look at this series of eight photos taken by our resident astronomer (Dr. Danny Faulkner) with the first four photos showing a ship becoming more visible as it came closer, and the last four photos showing a ship becoming less visible as it moved away:10
    • Fig. 1

      Figure 1. Photo credit: Danny Faulkner

    • Fig. 2

      Figure 2. Photo credit: Danny Faulkner

    • Fig. 3

      Figure 3. Photo credit: Danny Faulkner

    • Fig. 4

      Figure 4. Photo credit: Danny Faulkner

    • Fig. 5

      Figure 5. Photo credit: Danny Faulkner

    • Fig. 6

      Figure 6. Photo credit: Danny Faulkner

    • Fig. 7

      Figure 7. Photo credit: Danny Faulkner

    • Fig. 8

      Figure 8. Photo credit: Danny Faulkner

We could keep going with a bunch more reasons why we know the earth is a sphere. But here’s the point: these kinds of observations can easily be done by anyone! (In fact, I encourage you to go outside and try these observations for yourself!) And so, yes, the shape of the earth can be directly observed.

But you’re probably wondering, after flat-earthers see all that evidence, why do they still remain . . . well . . . flat-earthers? Why do they seem to just ignore these simple observations? It’s because they’ve been “blinded” (deceived) by their deeply held flat-earth beliefs—so they fail to really “see” these things! Rather, their beliefs form their worldview (which is kind of like a pretend pair of glasses) that causes them to see everything differently, and so they choose to only see things that fit in their worldview.

Intepretation of evidence on man’s word and worldview.

Where did these beliefs come from? For those who don’t believe in God (atheists), I can’t say for sure. But for those who do claim to believe in God, as born-again Christians who trust the Bible, it mainly comes from a very bad reading of the Bible. In other words, many of them don’t do a good job handling the Word of God (2 Timothy 2:15)—by reading into the Bible their own man-made ideas. For example, here are just a few popular verses that they say “support” a flat earth (but actually don’t):

  • The earth has a hard “dome” (like a snow globe). Flat-earthers get this idea from verses like Genesis 1:6, “Let there be a firmament [raqia in Hebrew] in the midst of the waters” (KJV), and they think the firmament is that dome. But that’s not what the word means! A better word for raqia is expanse (as used in modern translations), and it’s what we would simply call space or sky. So it does not mean that God made a hard dome over the earth!
  • The earth has “ends” (like edges of a circle). Flat-earthers get this idea from verses like Psalm 67:7, “God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!” And so, they say that the earth cannot be a sphere and must be flat. But this is simply a figure of speech—talking about the people scattered all over the world. So it has nothing to do with the shape of the earth!11
  • The earth has “pillars” (like “holding up” the earth). Flat-earthers get this idea from verses like Job 9:6, “Who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble.” And so, they say that the earth cannot be moving through space. First, this is poetic language, so it’s not supposed to be taken literally. And second, this has nothing to do with the earth’s shape anyway—which means they have to read their flat-earth beliefs into the text!

There are a lot more verses that flat-earthers will twist to try to “prove” their tale. But in every one of these cases, they fail to read these verses correctly by trying to mix in beliefs that are outside the Bible (which they won’t admit, but that is exactly what is happening).

Plus, there’s one more major problem—almost nobody else in church history (over the past 2,000 years) held this flat-earth view! Most Christians in the past did not read their Bible and think that the earth was flat. And in fact, an overwhelmingly large number of Christians have opposed a flat-earth view.12

Belief that the earth is a sphere was already settled—even before the church was started—and God’s Word does not go against that view. So, yes, the earth is definitely NOT flat!

But most importantly, this should be a reminder that we, as Christians, must always be careful to not take outside ideas and try to mix them together with Scripture. We have to trust all of what God’s Word says—since he knows everything!

God’s Word is our thinking in EVERY area!

Footnotes

  1. As a sidenote, before coming to work at Answers in Genesis, I was totally unaware of just how many Christians have actually fallen for this flat-earth myth! In fact, I frequently meet at least one after giving a presentation at the Creation Museum or Ark Encounter. For obvious reasons, it truly is sad to see so many people getting deceived by this flat-earth movement. So it’s definitely an important topic to discuss!
  2. It’s important we say sphere (or globe) because “round” can also refer to a flat disk shape.
  3. The earliest record is from Pythagoras in the sixth century BC, who correctly understood that lunar eclipses are due to the shadow of the earth falling on the moon.
  4. It’s beyond the scope of this article to fully explain (and debunk) the flat-earth myth. With a parent’s help, you can learn more about the scientific and biblical arguments from Dr. Danny Faulkner’s book Falling Flat, which is available for sale here: https://answersingenesis.org/store/product/falling-flat.
  5. Also, in case you’re wondering why we don’t see an eclipse every month, that’s because the moon’s orbit is tilted (about 5 degrees compared to the plane of earth’s orbit around the sun). So this means sometimes the shadow is too low under the earth, or sometimes the shadow is too high above the earth, and other times the shadow is “just right” to produce an eclipse.
  6. Yes, it is true that if the earth was a flat round “disk” (like a plate) it still could cast a circular shadow as well. But that could only happen for lunar eclipses that occur at midnight. At any other time of night, it would cast a different shape (like an ellipse or a rectangle).
  7. Also, because of the earth’s orbit, the visibility of certain stars/constellations depends on the time of year.
  8. Fun fact! An easy way to find the North Star (Polaris) is by first finding the Big Dipper and then tracing an imaginary line using the two stars on the end of the “cup” (opposite side of the “handle”), which points the way to the North Star (on the tip of the Little Dipper).
  9. Note, this doesn’t always work on warm spring and summer days because of something called temperature inversion, which can bend light along the earth’s curvature and thus allow you to actually see things that would normally be hidden by the earth’s curvature.
  10. These photos came from one of Danny’s blog posts in 2021. With a parent’s help, you can read the full article here: https://answersingenesis.org/blogs/danny-faulkner/2021/06/10/more-evidence-earth-is-a-globe/.
  11. Some flat-earthers will also say the earth has “corners” (like a rectangle, I guess?) by pointing to verses like Revelation 7:1, “After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth.” But again, this is not meant to be taken literally, so it does not literally mean the earth has four corners! (Not to mention, this is a meaningless argument anyway—because a flat disk also does not have corners!)
  12. Yes, you read the right! The claim that most Christians once believed in a flat earth is a flat-out myth (pun intended). And it’s a myth that was invented by atheists in the late 1800s—who were trying to undermine Christianity and the Bible! This is another reason why it’s sad to see so many Christians buying into this (relatively modern) deception that tries to discredit God’s Word.