Yeah I mean "Misuse of Scripture".
I genuinely thought the Flat Earth thing was an interent prank thing, that maybe some people were actual true believers but mostly it was a misdirected joke that maybe had got away. But then I find out that no, it has some very dedicated followers.
Now the whole idea of a over arching conspiracy of tricking people into think it's a sphereical earth when its actually flat...no even if that were actually possible I cannot see any reason to do that. I don't think there is a glass like dome with electrical lights above us. No, but that aside there's those that have a side conspiracy dovetailed into it & it relates to Biblical Scripture. Those folks are by & large more likely to call themselves Christians but you might not be doing so well if you're taking Scripture out of context to try & prove you're evil over arching control by others theory.
The main passage I would expect to be used or rather misused is Isaiah 11:12 (here in KJV)
12. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall
assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the
dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
The basis for flat is there's 4 corners. That kind of fails on 2 seperate fronts, the scientific method & the actual meaning of the Scripture using "proper in context exegesis"
Science first, for there to be for corners (and the Scripture means from all over the entire earth...all of it) then it might work as a very basic poetic phrase but it's kinda a fall short because it has to be taken literally for the flat earth suggestion to actuall work. So it's not poetic licence, its an accurate literal comment.
THAT CAN'T WORK...because for a flat object to have 4 corners it has to be a square, a rectangle or one of nobody know how many Irregular Quadulaterals.
Why can't that work for a Flat Earth to exist?
Well it can only have 4 corners if the object (the earth) is 2 dimensional. So as a literal literary device, it fails.
Scripture second. Well if you basis a complicated premise of one single word (ok 2 words "four corners") that's going to be very dodgey and is best avoided. But lets look at it.
In the Original Old Hebrew the word for corners is...
כנעף or in English "Kanaph" and remember this is Old Testament Hebrew so there can be multiple meanings before translation depending on the context it is being used. If you look it up, here is what you'll see as a definition...
Kanaph
- wing, extremity, edge, winged, border, corner, shirt
- wing
- extremity
- skirt, corner (of garment)
The context is He is going to gather the Dispersed Jews or people of Israel that are all between here & the furthermost point (from you) on the planet. They're going to come from everywhere between you that furtherest point, the entire earth.
Is that poetic phrase or literal?
Depends a bit & some ask do you read the Bible literally or allegorically and the correct answer is probably both depending on which one applies because it can vary.
So do I read it literally or poetically? Probably be most honest if I say never thought about it until today. Just knew what I thought it meant & never went any further.
So poetically, yes it means the from all over the entire planet but some will say it cannot work literally if the earth is a sphere so it must be poetically & meaning the entire sphere so poeticially it could mean flat earth.
Yes, maybe except there is a thing...I can't get it to work literally & figuratively with a flat earth but perhaps it can work literally & figuratively with s spherical earth.
Imagine you mark on dot where you are, now shoot off a perfect straight line in any direction. Now from the same dot, fire off a line in the exact opposite direction. Well unless I'm wrong if there world is a sphere & the lines remain perfect straight leaving the same point at 180 degrees, at some point they're going to join. Somewhere on that line is the Kanaph, the extremity...the furtherest point from you. Now to know where that furtherest point actually is along that line, what is the simplest way of working it out without GPS or computer modelling?
Well start at your starting dot again & fire a perfectly straigh line off in a direction that is exactly 90 degrees to the other. Then fire another line off in the exact opposite direction. You now have 4 perfectly straight lines that start at your starting dot that are 90 degrees away from each other. Where these line intersect on the other side of the planet is the furtherest point from you. Everything between your starting do & that far away intersection (at the extremity) is the entire planet.
Now here's a fun point, guess what else is at that Kanaph? Well the 4 lines intersect creating...you guess it 4 corners. If the furtherest 4 corners of the earth mean what they say they mean...it makes sense literally.
You see, in this context, the context the Scripture is using, there is "four corners" of the world being the furtherest most reaches. Its only really how (this) sphere (called earth) can have four corners.
So whatever way Flat Earthers try to use Scripture, they have to misuse it very very badly to make it appear like it works. But you have to take one word, Kanaph, out of one sentence out of 66 books in the Bible & use only one of the possible definitions that suit your purpose that kinda doesn't align with Scripture at all.
So Flat Earthers...Fail.
Scripture, No Fail.
Now apparently they have also used "firmament" to support their flat earth claim. I haven't looked at that one. Maybe I will one day. But if they're keen on the Kanaph I think they're klinging to the ka-ka premise with no foundation.
