Why do Flat Earthers insist that there are no photographs of the lunar surface, or of Earth as seen from space? I am flatly flabbergasted! I flat out can’t believe it! What lunacy are these lunatics up to?
Did you know the word ‘lunatic’ is derived from ‘lunar’ because people who went mad would bay at the Moon like a howling dog?
My personal belief is that the word is derived from ‘lunar’ meaning the Moon and ‘tick’ meaning a blood sucking insect. After the astronauts first bought back rock samples from the moon in the 1970s there was a notable uptick in lunacy. Tiny tick insects were found in those lunar samples and they must have spread as a contagion because after that time we have had a massive uptick in ‘man never went to the Moon’ and ‘Flat Earth’ beliefs.
This photograph was taken by Apollo 8 astronauts on the first mission to take humans to the Moon and back, launched on December 21, 1968. Earth was not flat back then. Why is it flat now, according modern Flat Earthers?
But that was not the first photo taken of Earth by a spacecraft from lunar orbit:
On Aug. 23, 1966, NASA’s Lunar Orbiter 1 snapped the first photo of Earth as seen from lunar orbit. While a remarkable image at the time, the full resolution of the image was never retrieved from the mission’s data. In 2008, this earthrise image was restored by the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project at NASA Ames Research Center.
NASA
Published: August 24, 2018 Historical Date: August 23, 1966
There are no stars seen in the sky because the aperture of the camera has to be reduced in size (f/stop) to prevent saturation of the film. In those days it would have been a mechanical Hasselblad film camera.
In the presence of a strong light source, like the earth and lunar surface in this case, the aperture would need to be reduced. Then the automatic gain control on a modern camera on board a spacecraft reduces the aperture of the camera because of the high albedo of the moon. High albedo means high reflectivity. The moon reflects a little more than 10% of the sunlight hitting its surface. The moon’s surface has about 1/3rd the albedo of the earth’s surface. The reduction of the camera aperture means less light entering the camera so not to saturate the CCD module in a digital electronic camera or saturate the film in a film camera.
There is no atmosphere on the moon. Thus there are no molecules to scatter sunlight. You learn that in high-school. Hence the sky is black. On earth we see a blue sky because of scattered sunlight. Blue light (shorter wavelengths than red light) is scattered in all directions by the molecules of air in Earth’s atmosphere. Blue is scattered more than other colours because of its shorter wavelengths. As a result when we look at the sky we preferentially see the blue light component of sunlight though it contains all the colours of the spectrum.
It is plain to see the earth and the moon are spheres. But why stop there? What about the other planets? They are all spheres too. The two below are recent photographs of Jupiter and Saturn taken by the James Webb Space Telescope.
7 To Him that made great lights, For His mercy endures forever: 8 The sun to rule by day: for His mercy endures forever: 9 The Moon and stars to rule by night: for His mercy endures forever.
Psalm 136:7-9
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Bible Science Forum 
7 responses to “Lunacy of a Flat Earth”
Hey Gideon,
Are you claiming that God and the Bible are idiots? What about this preacher? Can you prove him wrong (& God)?🤔
God bless!
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No I am not. I am saying that opposite.
Which preacher are you referring to?
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Hello Gideon, I am what they call a flat-earther and I believe in the firmament (Genesis 1:7 “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.”. What I actually am is born-again by the blood of our Christ Jesus. The Holy Bible teaches us we are all born sinners (Romans 3:23 – For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God) and the earth is firmly established (Isaiah 45:18 “For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.”). For our sins, Christ the Lord came perfect and lived on this earth, but we murdered Him on the cross, then He lived again on the 3rd day. If a person knows and believes this (John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”) we can be forgiven of our sins and live for eternity in peace with our Father. God bless you.
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.
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God bless you. I appreciate your love and faithfulness to the Lord. Follow Jesus Christ above all else.
However it is very dangerous to hang a theology on one word “firmament” in English. The source text was written in Hebrew and the word “raquia” should be translated “expanse”. Gen 1:20 “… birds fly through the open firmament of heaven (KJV)”. The word firmament might sound like something solid but in this case it means atmosphere. The word came from the Latin “firmamentum” in the Latin Vulgate bible. That came from the LXX Greek Septuagint where στερέωμα (stereoma) means “something established”. This is usually defined as ‘a solid body, a support, strength, firmness,’ and is used to mean a foundation, something immovable and solid.
Genesis 1:7 in no way describes a flat earth. Above or below do not force the earth below to be flat. A spherical surface is below a spherical atmosphere surrounding the spherical planet. The waters above in the atmosphere are divided from the waters below on the surface. See my post of “waters above”.
See my many posts on a Flat Earth
Note the list of other FE articles listed there.
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Greetings dear Gideon, I appreciate your thoughts on my comment. I don’t call myself a flat-earther but ,they might call me that. I don’t spend a minute on what people say about flat earth, so don’t fret one bit. God bless you. Your sister in Christ, DG in S.C.
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We know from the inspired Word of Yahweh in Genesis 1, that there are the heavens and the earth v1. An expanse was made in the midst of the waters, to separate the waters below from the waters above v7, called heaven v8. In the heavens there are lights, the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light and stars to govern the night v16. Birds fly above the earth, in the open expanse of the heavens. V20.
The Hebrew רקיע (Strong’s H7549) means ’expanse/firmament/visible arch of the sky’, according to Strong’s Lexicon ‘raqui’ “refers to the expanse or firmament that God created to separate the waters above from the waters below. It is often understood as the sky or the heavens, serving as a dome-like structure that encompasses the earth.”
There is no globe earth, nor planetary system in the Bible.
Astronomy is merely a scientific form of astrology. Both worship the sun, moon and stars, which is idolatry.
The Hebrew הבר (Strong’s H1895) translated ‘astrologers’ in Isa 47:13, means ‘to join, to unite, to bind together’, according to Brown-Driver-Briggs means ‘to cut in pieces, to divide in pieces’, fig. ‘to divide off, to determine’ the heavens, refers to the distinguishing of signs of zodiac or other astrological division of the sky, kosmologie of planets and constellations. It is equivalent to חבר (Strong’s H2267) ‘to conjure, to practice magic, a spell that binds’ Isa 47:10, 12.
In Deut 18:10 Not find with you who pass son and daughter in fire, witchcraft of witches, soothsayers and serpent/charmers, and sorcerers, and diviners חבר astrology חבר and enquirers mediums and familiar spirits and seeker god the dead.
In Acts 7: 41 – 43, Stephen said the nation of Israel made a calf, sacrificed to idols אליל, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands, and God turned away and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven. During the 40 years in the wilderness, they worshipped the tabernacle of סכת Molek מלכם and the star כוכב god of them אלהיכם Rompha רמפן, images they made to worship.
In Acts 7:43, the Hebrew soke סך translated ‘tabernacle’ in Acts 7:43 means ‘booth, shelter, thicket’ Strong’s H5520, from סכך that means ‘to cover, to hedge, to protect, to overshadow’ Strong’s H5526, and the Hebrew molek is mol מל that means ‘to reign, be king, rule’ Strong’s H4427, ‘king’ Strong’s H4428 מלך & H4430, or Molek Strong’s H4432, with the suffix כם that means ‘your’.
The tabernacle/covering and king in Acts 7:43 are referring to Satan, who in Ezek 28:12 – 19 is the king מלך of Tyre v12, who was in Eden, the garden of God and every precious stone was his covering סכ v13. He was the anointed cherub who covers סוכך, placed on the holy mountain of God, who walked in the midst of the stones of fire v14. He was blameless in his ways until unrighteousness was found in him v15, and he sinned and was cast profane from the mountain of God, and destroyed cherub covering סכך from the midst of the stones of fire v16, cast to the ground before kings that they may see him v17, turned to ashes on the earth in the eyes of all who see him v18, and the people were appalled at him, and he will cease to be forever v19.
In Acts 7:43 the Hebrew word translated ‘Rompha’ is the word rom רם that means ‘high place’ Strong’s H7413, ‘to cast, to shoot’ mostly translated ‘to deceive, to betray, to beguile’ Strong’s H7411, ‘to cast, to shoot’ Strongs H7412, or ‘worm’ as a cause and sign of decay Strong’s H7415, and the word pha פנה that means ‘turn’ Strong’s H6437, or ‘corner, chief’ Strong’s H6438. According to Strong’s Lexicon the Greek remphan (Strong’s G4481) is “associated with the worship of celestial bodies, particularly Saturn, and is mentioned in the context of idolatry and apostasy”.
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I agree with you on the idolatry of the celestial bodies, but not on any implications of a flat earth. The globe/sphere of the earth is implied in the biblical texts. The sphere is a fundamental property of the creation
No solid glass dome is implied in the Hebrew text for the “raquia” translated from the Latin firmamentum, meaning expanse or arch of the sky. Birds fly through it. Gen 1:20.
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