Does the Bible Promote a Flat Earth Cosmology? Part 1

Does the Bible promote a flat Earth cosmology or a modern cosmology? This is the first of three posts that will address that question.

First let us think about what a flat Earth cosmology actually means. In this view the earth is stationary. Stretched out over it is a solid dome-like structure, the firmament. The stars, moon and sun are relatively small (much smaller than the Earth), and travel across the firmament. Above the firmament are the waters above, and below the earth are the waters of the deep.

The ancient Greeks first proposed a spherical world as early as the sixth century BC, but it was not until the third century BC that it was accepted by Greek astronomers, and it took a long time to spread. Many notable Christians continued to believe in a flat Earth until around the fourth century AD - and used the Bible to support that position. It was, of course, much later that geocentrism was abandoned.

In this first post of three I will be looking at Genesis 1, and seeing how it confirms the flat Earth cosmology (FEC).

Genesis 1: 6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

Genesis 1:14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons,[f] and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

The whole of the first chapter of the Bible makes sense in a FEC, but I have selected these verses for brevity.

Genesis starts with God dividing the waters above from the waters below. In FEC, the waters below are what lies under the world - they supply water to the fountains of the deep during the Flood. The waters above exist over the firmament, and that is whee rain comes from.

Note that prior to God creating the sun, there was already day and night - the sun is just a little thing that marks the time, not the thing that provides daylight. Remember, God has already made all the plants before he creates the sun, and they flourish fine in the daylight before the sun is there.

More importantly, God created the world first, then set the sun and stars about it. The Earth is at the centre of the system. Note that God creates the firmament before he places the sun, moon and stars there (many modern Bibles use "expanse" rather than firmament, presumably because the Apollo rockets failed to collide with a firmament; I have quoted KJV). In modern cosmology, the Earth orbits the sun, so it would have to be created after the sun.

Interesting also that God sets the stars "for signs". That would be for astrology?