Maybe you're the wrong person to ask, since it isn't your point of view, but how do flat earth theorists respond when asked why it's a different time of day or night for that other person when speaking on the phone with someone on a continent other than South America?
Most modern flat earthers believe that the earth is a flat, circular plane with the North Pole at its geometric center. The sun, according to them, moves in a circular path also centered on the North Pole, in a plane parallel to the earth's plane, about 3,000 or so miles or so above the earth's surface. The time of day for any given location depends on where the sun is in its circular path in relation to the line of longitude on which that location lies, just as with the globe earth. When the sun is directly over the line of longitude that passes through a given location, it is noon at that location.
They haven't a clue about how it would be possible for the sun to appear for every possible observer anywhere on earth, to go from sunrise to sunset at a constant angular velocity of 15 degrees per hour, with no discernable change in angular size or appreciable change in brightness (except for immediately after sunrise until immediately before sunset), which would be absolutely geometrically and physically impossible if the sun were moving in a circular path in a parallel plane only a few thousand miles above earth's surface, but makes perfect sense if and only if the earth were a globe rotating with respect to a sun that is an enormous distance away compared to the size of the earth. If their hypothesis were correct, the only possible vantage point from which the sun could appear to move at a constant angular velocity with no discernable change in angular size would be at the North Pole. And from that vantage point the sun could never vary in its height above the horizon throughout its entire 360 of revolution, much less appear to rise from or set below the horizon. Their attempts (or rather failure) to explain away these observations in terms of a flat earth (which I will not take time to go into here) are amazingly ludicrous and never fail to make me laugh! If you want a good belly laugh, google some of their videos.
No precept or claim is more likely to be false than one that can only be supported by invoking the claim of Divine authority for it--no matter who or what claims such authority.
“If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; but if you really make them think, they'll hate you.”
― Harlan Ellison
I have 2 stepsisters. One of them introduced me to WorldNetDaily, sending me a link to an article about some paranoid conspiracy about the Arc of the Covenant. The other one hosted fundraisers for Bill Clinton. Same parents. Go figure.
"The great problem of any civilization is how to rejuvenate itself without rebarbarization." - Will Durant "We've kept more promises than we've even made" - Donald Trump "Of what meaning is the world without mind? The question cannot exist." - Edwin Land
Thanks for taking the time to type that up, Gunnar. I appreciate you.
You're more than welcome. I am both fascinated and dismayed by the mentality of modern day flat earth advocates, small in number though they still are. I have little doubt that today's diehard conservative Republican's eagerness to abandon science and reality whenever it conflicts with what they would rather believe or want to accomplish, has helped create the growing disdain for education and critical thought that has made some people vulnerable to such delusions as flat earth and the anti-vaccination movement. They have been engaged in a decades long campaign to disparage and diminish the public school system and dumb down the populace. Trump has replaced highly qualified educators and scientists who formerly led the Departments of Education, EPA, Energy and Interior, etc., with poorly qualified, ignorant hacks whose openly avowed goals are to destroy or diminish the importance of the very agencies they were placed in charge of. They have even gone so far as to forbid use of terms such as "evidence based" or "science based" in government published or sponsored documents. Congressional oversight committees for science and technology are largely led by scientifically ignorant people with an open disdain for science, while congress members with actual scientific expertise who try to get on these committees have sometimes been rejected, not in spite of their expertise, but precisely because of it.
No precept or claim is more likely to be false than one that can only be supported by invoking the claim of Divine authority for it--no matter who or what claims such authority.
“If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; but if you really make them think, they'll hate you.”
― Harlan Ellison
I think it is in my blood to jump in and correct misinformation as I come across it, and while doing so on social media a lot gets lost in the fold so it probably comes across as more confrontational than intended. It isn't intended as personal, and no I don't do this for the benefit of the person I'm arguing with so much as onlookers. I'm sorry if I offended you, I didn't mean "conspiracy theorist" as a slur or anything like that. I have friends who never came across a conspiracy they didn't embrace. Some people just go for that kind of thing, whereas I've become more evidence based in my philosophy on life, religion and politics. You'll probably be sad to know I'm no longer in the Church. My wife is but we've been married nearly 20 years and it hasn't caused any major issues. Probably because she's not really LDS in any sense other than social. I spent about 15 years as an apologist for the Church when in my own research, learned that Joseph Smith couldn't translate ancient documents which was in my view, empirically demonstrated by the Book of Abraham being translated from funerary papyri. I spent a good decade debating that issue with myself as well as other BYU professors such as John Gee, Brian Hauglid and Daniel Peterson. At the end of the day it cost me my testimony, but I don't regret my Mormon experience. I try to look on it fondly and I have no desire or intention to do or say anything to dissuade current members from keeping their faith. Some people I couldn't imagine any other way if they weren't LDS. Having said all that, it put a smile on my face to flip through your Dad's profile and to see photos of you and your sisters. Fond memories indeed. Everyone appears to be doing very well in life, and that makes me happy.
She replied back quickly:
Yes that does make me sad. For the very reason I said earlier. “Theories of man mingled with scripture”. I have lost several friends and family to the church due to the theological abyss. It is heartbreaking for those who do have testimonies to watch those we love take that first step off the path that we know is a righteous path to explore the world from a philosophical approach. The answers will never be there because we believe in faith. My testimony is simple. Definitely room for improvement but it’s just not in me to deny the spiritual revelations I’ve had. But I respect you non the less.
I chuckled when I read,”I decided to respond anyway.”
Well, if you’re like me, few, we’ll, NONE of the TBMs I’ve tried to forge friendships with want anything to do with me when coming to the conclusion I’m not a candidate for membership in the church, no matter how much of a Jesus lover I am. Doesn’t take you by surprise does it?
Maybe you put that baby to bed with your response.
"The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.” Psalm 145:18-19 ESV
Crazy Dave, huh? Are we practically neighbors? Sounds like something you might see here in the South.
"The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.” Psalm 145:18-19 ESV
For the very reason I said earlier. “Theories of man mingled with scripture”. I have lost several friends and family to the church due to the theological abyss. It is heartbreaking for those who do have testimonies to watch those we love take that first step off the path that we know is a righteous path to explore the world from a philosophical approach. The answers will never be there because we believe in faith. My testimony is simple. Definitely room for improvement but it’s just not in me to deny the spiritual revelations I’ve had. But I respect you non the less.