Why did early Christians think the world was flat?

Question

It IS in the bible too!Both the Earth is round and the notion that the entire Earth can be seen from atop a mountain, which means it is flat.Why is that?Did one set of authors not get God's memo and the others did?

ISA 40:22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:

MAT 4:8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

Astromical bodies are spherical, and you cannot see the entire exterior surface from anyplace. The kingdoms of Egypt, China, Greece, Crete, sections of Asia Minor, India, Maya (in Mexico), Carthage (North Africa), Rome (Italy), Korea, and other settlements from these kingdoms of the world were widely distributed

For all intent and purposes, this question is about what Christians believed until they were proved wrong.And so quoting some early Greek Hellenistic mathematician says nothing about what Christians believed.

It is also not helpful to say that I am mis-interpreting the Bible.I was not an early Christian who thought the Earth was flat and felt justified that it was flat because of what the Bible says.

Answer 1

I think the bible is the word of man; not the word of god.

Answer 2

The Hebrew word "chuwg" at Isaiah 40:22 means both "sphere" or "circle". The word sometimes rendered "on" at that verse also means "above", which makes better sense with the verses that say that the earth is God's footstool. (See examples at Isaiah 66:1 and Matthew 5:35. ) Notice, too, that Job 26:7 also says that "(God) is hanging the earth upon nothing", also something the quite-a-bit-later-than "'earliest' Christians" failed to believe.

Luke 4 describes the same incident in which Satan tempted Jesus. In verse 4:5, it says "so he brought him up and showed him all the kingdoms of earth in an instant of time." The words "mountain" or "high place" do not exist in the Greek text though many Bible versions insert them. The fact that the kingdoms were shown in "an instant" indicates the vision was supernatural.

At Matthew 4:8, it's called "an exceeding high mountain" or "an unusually high mountain". "All the kingdoms of the earth" would not be visible from even the highest mountains, which are located in Asia. The mountains in the area Christ was in were low.

The Bible is in harmony with science. Earliest Christians surely agreed with it. It was a later Church who enforced the idea that the earth was flat and even later decreed that believing that the notion that the earth was not the center of a mechanistic universe made of concentric crystal spheres was blasphemy.

Answer 3

Here's what I found at the first link below:

For the final temptation, the devil takes Jesus to a high place, which Matthew explicitly names a mountain, where all the kingdoms of the world can be seen. Interpretations of this are as follows:

* John Calvin supported the view that the devil took Jesus to a vision of a high place where he could see the entire world, and the Geneva Bible translates the passage in this way
* kingdoms could be a reference to power rather than geography
* all...of the world could refer only to the "known world", a comparatively small region at the time of Matthew
* the devil took Jesus to a mountain top and from there flew him around the entire world
* the devil took Jesus to a mountain top but then simply pulled out a map of the earth.


My opinion: We don't know if Satan was showing Jesus the entire world on a physical plane, or on a spiritual plane that would not be bound by four dimensions of height, width, depth and time. Since we're talking about a spirit being such as Satan, I think the explanation that this was more than a mere physical phenomenon makes perfect sense.

Answer 4

i think the way they described the earth is reasonable given the lack of knowledge at the time. To describe the earth as flat round with a dome on it is exactly what one would see even today if you stood on a hill and had a look. So some religous nuts assumed that the knowledge was perfect and absolute truth from a God who never lies. So therefore thought you couldnt budge from that view. Although some Greeks at the time new the earth was like a globe.
However many christians for many centuries did not believe the world was flat. This is a myth dating back about 100 years. At the time of Christopeher colombus the main body of the church had no problem with a spherical earth.

Answer 5

Neither of the verses you quote directly say "the earth is flat". You are deliberately skewing their information to fit your bad hypothesis.

Unfortunately, this is an all-too common occurance. Some of the church "fathers" in the Middle Ages did exactly the same thing, not only to explain the shape of the earth, but also to support their bad political hypothesis (crusades). Disagreeing with the "leadership" of the church was met with a high-falutin' arguement and a lot of verbal scriptural tap-dancing, the upshot of this was that to disagree with anything "the man" (NOT God) said was declared "against Scripture, and therefore blashpemy".

The problem wasn't "incorrect" scientific proclamations in Scripture. They aren't there. The problem was that the "accepted" thought in both scientific and theological circles wanted support, and that "educated men" were willing to twist anything, evidence, mathematics, even scripture, in order to support their pet theories. The vaguest scriptures (such as the ones you have chosen) were picked out for extensive exegesis, and twisted faaaaaaaar out of context.

As for the satan showing Jesus all the kingdoms of the earth, that shouldn't be too hard to imagine. I'm not even sitting on a mountain, and I can probably find pictures, artwork, and articles for anything we can imagine, PAST OR PRESENT, right here on my computer. Hmmmm, does that mean the earth is flat, or just that I have a different level of technology available to me right now?

Answer 6

At the time of Isaiah there were no Christians. Also for that matter you take verses out of context to suit your own purposes and end up quoting the Bible like the Devil. The Bible does not hint anywhere that the earth was flat. People of that age thought that the earth was flat. Why single out the Christians?

Answer 7

Dear Bunny,
As I was born in 1958, I cannot speak to what people long dead thought. Sssh, don't tell anyone else it will be our little secret, but, there weren't any Christians in the Old Testament, Christ had not yet come to earth!! People either worshiped the God of Abraham, Issac, and Moses, or the false gods that they made out of gold.
As to what Jesus could and could not see, Satan has dominion over the earth, it just says he took him onto a mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world. How did he show them, did he bring up some sort of vision or did he show him the actual kingdoms physically. The Bible doesn't elaborate so who really knows. Nice try but, no chocolate for you!!!

Answer 8

Let's look at it this way...if the Earth WERE flat, how would that affect God's Truth...one way or another?

Man comes to understand science a little more each day. Less than 100 years ago, many scientific minds did not believe that "Negroes" were human beings.

Science is simply another part of God's design. We figure it out little by little. Those who choose to interpret the Bible literally, and consider it to be a science text book, are cheating themselves out of the purpose of the thing.

It's purpose is to know God's Truth; not something to be used as an ancient plat book from the Registrar of Deeds' office.

Answer 9

Many people claim to be Christian, but have never read their Bible, if they own one. Many Bibles collect dust and are never given a thought. The Bible is God's letter to us and if everyone would read the Bible and follow its commandments--we would have no wars, no hatred, and no predjudice. Sadly, that is not the case. People in early times would have learned that the earth is round, if only they had trusted in God's Word for who else would know the shape of the earth? " Who laid the foundations of the earth, That it should not be moved for ever." ( Psalm 104:5)

Answer 10

Look, nowadays is very difficult to understand some prophecies (like some things in Revelations), and this is because we haven't lived those times yet.

I think the same happened before. Although it was written that the earth hanged from nothing, and that it was round, people wouldn't understand it completely.

It is also important to notice that now bibles are widely available, while in those time scriptures were only read in the sinagoges or certain privileged circles.

Answer 11

Your idea about Matthew 4:8 is incorrect Guy.
Round earth or flat earth, literally, all the kingdoms could not be seen. They would be to far away.

Satan, being the ruler of the world, was showing that the world governments are his, and he would give Jesus that position for an act of worship.

Satan shown his authority either through projection or even spiritual vision.

Notice, Jesus did not dispute that Satan controls man's governments.

Soon, Jesus will destroy all of man's rule and authority when the Kingdom of God takes over.

1Co 15:24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1Co 15:25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
1Co 15:27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
1Co 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.