Hey y'all...this is my first post on Steemit of any real significance.
Reader Beware Watch your step, I may have left some grammatical errors here and there, beg your pardon hug emoji here
Flat earth caught my eye about a year ago, by chance, on the right side 'suggested for you' you tube video bar. Though I’ve always considered myself to be pretty open-minded, the possibility that the earth was anything other than a globe was something I’d never considered. In school, like most Americans, I grew up with, and accepted as reality, the same pictures of a beautiful blue and green globe earth spotted with pretty white clouds, never thinking to question if the structure I live on really is a huge ball spinning at an incredible speed, hurtling through a seemingly endless space. But one day, without provocation, I was confronted with this new possibility, and I thought it was interesting. Interesting not just because it was so different from everything I’d been taught, but because it was something I’d never even thought to dissect or analyze. It wasn’t just about the idea itself, it was mostly about the existence of the idea.
Science has never been my strong suit, so whatever research I do is based entirely upon the opinion and research of others who do excel in that field, and, after quite a bit of reading and watching of videos I’ve come to the conclusion that the earth is not spinning on a somewhat unstable axis at over 1041mph, flying around the sun at over 69 thousand miles per hour. I now wonder why it’s so acceptable to believe that we are moving away from our galaxy at over 15 thousand mph, flying around our milky way at over 446 thousand mph while our galaxy is careening through a universe at over 1.3 million miles per hour.
Those are numbers I read a few different places, so if I’m off, it’s because they are, and if you can prove it, be my guest, I’m open for discussion! You could say I'm simply regurgitating figures from other people, but in the end I think that's a lot of what we've ever been given on the shape of our planet and space in general...regurgitation of other people's theories and ideas.
But, really, why is it so easy to believe such incomprehensible and seemingly impossible figures as those we are provided by the theories and composite drawings from our so-called space explorers, but it is considered, by some, to be ridiculous to accept what our eyes suggests is the truth? Why is it so hard to consider the simple concept that we are on a fixed, motionless plain, under a firmament? I mean, have you ever seen the curve with your own eyes, not aided with the lens of someone elses camera? I haven't, but I have sat on a top floor balcony looking over the ocean and noticed how flat the water appears on the horizon.
I’m afforded the luxury of time, given my chosen profession and, after watching an embarrassing amount of you tube videos and reading a substantial amount of opinion pieces, (because that’s almost all we have in this discussion is opinion), I reached a comfortable place in the globe vs. flat earth debate. I simply no longer believed that the earth is a globe.
I was so excited about this new concept that to share it was the first thing that came to mind. My go-to for social media is 'the little blue bird', so I communicated via tweet first. Being that I have a really small list of followers the reaction was limited, but mostly positive, so this gave me hope. With this hope, I decided to try it out on 'the book of face' considering that I personally know, or am related to every person on my list of friends, I thought this would be safe. I couldn't have been more wrong. Posting that link to the video that introduced me to this new idea essentially ended my time on that particular social media site. I didn’t (and still don't) have any stake in this game, I’m really not ‘passionate’ about shapes in general even when it comes to earth…the shape really doesn’t make any difference to me. But some people get pretty heated, angry even, if you question globe earth. I have been confronted with sheer fury and ridicule when discussing the possibility that we are not living on a globe. I've been called names, laughed at, and even felt threatened by others for simply raising the question, 'what if the world isn't a ball?'. My experience is that this subject can be more divisive than race, religion, gender, sexual preference, all of which I’ve had enlightening conversations about over many years with many different people, but never have I encountered such intolerance as that which comes from some when flat earth is the subject. This both frightened and intrigued me more than the subject itself.
I mean, at the end of a long day, does the shape of the earth really make any difference to your life? So what if it is flat? How do you defend globe earth without using something from a company that
A) Rakes in billions of taxpayer dollars each year: https://www.thebalance.com/nasa-budget-current-funding-and-history-3306321
B) Was created by people with ties to the occult, look up Jack Parsons/Aleister Crowley. Here's an interesting video:
(but there are many others)
C) has been proven to lie to us time after time?
Hint: *just do a search on 'NASA lies'...you'll see what I'm talking about if you aren't already familiar.
To me, the importance lies not in the shape of the planet, but in the likelihood that we've been deceived, by whom, and for what purpose.
There is a lot at stake (over $19 billion estimated federal tax dollars slated for 2018, link above) to have American taxpayers believe in what they're told from this space agency, so it's no surprise that our government would defend globe earth, but why is it such a delicate topic that could cost you friends on social media or insight anger and make you the target of ridicule amongst family members?
I was literally warned not to bring up the subject in certain circles of people so as to avoid people looking at me like I'd turned 'idiot' overnight.
So, because I really have no-one else to discuss flat earth with in my real life (denying or even questioning globe earth can be a very isolating thing) I've come here to speak out. Feeling safer online with a bunch of strangers than in my own physical circle of influence seems a bit sad, doesn't it? That's one of a few significant things flat earth has taught me about humanity, the smallest of things can serve as a tool to bring strangers together and also to drive wedges between loved-ones.
Then again, it could just mean that I've surrounded my self with a bunch of dicks irl.
Although I'm a follower of Jesus Christ, this journey to what I'll call 'non-globe earth' (because I really don't know what shape it is, rather, I know what I think it's 'not') didn't initially have anything at all to do with Scripture for me. But the more I dig, and read, and watch, the more convinced I am that it is, at it's very foundation, a Biblical, fundamentally Christian, issue. I realize this admission will put some people off, because religion can be a touchy subject, but that's okay. I'm of the opinion that the flat earth idea was set before us relatively recently online, to divide us into three groups for harvest. The first group is those with eyes to see, the second group is those who blindly follow a false idol, the third group is that of undecided, but open minded enough to consider. You don't need to be 'religious' or a disciple of Christ to consider or believe in flat earth, but there's no disputing it's existence in the Bible.
Thanks for reading my big bundle of thoughts, hope you enjoyed them! Feel free to share your thoughts if you got this far and feel like commenting!