Ancient Norse, German, Japanese, and Chinese believed in a flat earth as well.Įven in the days of Christopher Columbus, it was a common belief that the earth was flat and that if one sailed too far from shore, they would fall off the edge of the earth. Even the Jain and Buddhist religious traditions also taught a flat earth belief. Well respected philosophers such as Thales, Leucippus, Democritus, and others believed the earth was flat until about the 5th century B.C. Likewise, poets such as Homer and Hesiod believed the same. For the record, early Egyptians and Mesopotamians believed the earth was a flat disc floating on the sea. Unfortunately, those who make these comments are ignorant of the facts of history and what the Bible says concerning the same.įirst, history is full of examples of many civilizations and respected individuals that believed the earth was flat. Because of this, Christians are often called ‘flat earthers” as a derogatory term to indicate their stupidity and to belittle their beliefs. This implies that the Devil presented this temptation to Jesus through some means other than literal human sight.It is commonly stated that because of ignorance, Christians at one time did not believe that the earth was round until the scientific evidence was so overwhelming that they changed their beliefs. The parallel account at Luke 4:5 says that the Devil showed Jesus “all the kingdoms of the inhabited earth in an instant of time,” which would not be possible through normal human vision. This could be similar to the way a person uses a projector and a screen to show someone pictures of various places on earth. The Devil showed Jesus not only all the kingdoms but also “their glory.” Such details could not be seen from a great distance, so it seems that the Devil used some sort of vision to show these to Jesus. There is no literal mountain on earth from which all the kingdoms of the world are visible. Consider why this conclusion is reasonable. However, the “unusually high mountain” in this account seems to be a metaphor and not a physical location. To tempt Jesus, “the Devil took him along to an unusually high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.” ( Matthew 4:8) Some claim that this Bible account teaches that the entire world is visible from a single spot on a flat earth.
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