Written by: Christopher Sernaque
Dear Readers,
Round Earth and Sabbath Worship
“God rested on the seventh day, and set it apart for man to observe in honor of His creation of the heavens and the earth in six literal days. He blessed and sanctified and made holy the day of rest. When men are so careful to search and dig to see in regard to the precise period of time, we are to say, God made His Sabbath for a round world; and when the seventh day comes to us in that round world, controlled by the sun that rules the day, it is the time in all countries and lands to observe the Sabbath.” 3SM 317.1
“The Sabbath was made for a round world, and therefore obedience is required of the people that are in perfect consistency with the Lord’s created world.” {Lt167-1900.6} (also in 3 SM 317,318)
Refuting Geocentrism
The hand of God is continually guiding the globe in its continuous march around the sun. The same hand which holds the mountains, and balances them in position, guides and keeps in order the respective planets. All the wonderful glories in the heavens are but doing their appointed work. Vegetation flourishes because of the agencies employed by the great and mighty God. He sends the dew and the rain and the sunshine that verdure may spring forth, and spread its green carpet over the earth; that the shrubs and the fruit-trees may bud and blossom and bring forth fruit. It is not to be supposed that a law is set in operation for the seed to work of itself,—that the leaf appears because it must do so of itself. It is through the immediate agency of God that every tiny seed breaks through the earth, and springs into life. Every green leaf grows, every flower blooms, through the working power of God. {Christian Educator April 1, 1899, par. 5}
“Upon all created things is seen the impress of the Deity. Nature testifies of God. The susceptible mind, brought in contact with the miracle and mystery of the universe, cannot but recognize the working of infinite power. Not by its own inherent energy does the earth produce its bounties, and year by year continue its motion around the sun. An unseen hand guides the planets in their circuit of the heavens. A mysterious life pervades all nature—a life that sustains the unnumbered worlds throughout immensity, that lives in the insect atom which floats in the summer breeze, that wings the flight of the swallow and feeds the young ravens which cry, that brings the bud to blossom and the flower to fruit.”-Medical Ministry pg. 9
“It is not because of inherent power that year by year the earth produces her bounties, and continues her motion around the sun. The hand of God guides the planets, and keeps them in position in their orderly march through the heavens. He “bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.” [Isaiah 40:26.]- Christian Education 195.1
“Nature in her work testifies of the intelligent presence and active agency of a Being who moves in all His works according to His will. It is not by an original power inherent in nature that year by year the earth produces its bounties and the world keeps up its continual march around the sun.”- Seventh-Day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 6, p. 1062.5
“Nature in her work testifies of the intelligent presence and active agency of a being who moves in all His works according to His will. It is not by an original power inherent in nature that year by year the earth yields its bounties and continues its march around the sun. The hand of infinite power is perpetually at work guiding this planet. It is God’s power momentarily exercised that keeps it in position in its rotation.” 8T pg. 259.4
“God is the superintendent, as well as the Creator, of all things. The divine Being is engaged in upholding the things that He has created. The same hand that holds the mountains and balances them in position guides the worlds in their mysterious march around the sun.“- Be Like Jesus 237.2
“It is not by an original power inherent in nature that year by year the earth produces its bounties, and the world keeps up its continual march around the sun.” General Conference Daily Bulletin February 18th, 1897, Art. A, par.9
“God furnished the matter and the properties with which to carry out His plans. Nature is but the Lord’s agency. The hand of God is continually guiding the globe in its mysterious march around the sun. The same hand that holds the mountains and balances them in position guides and keeps in order the respective planets. All these wonderful glories in the heavens are but doing the work appointed them.”- Manuscript 92-1898 (July 6, 1898) par. 6
Round Earth Proof:
Globe: a spherical or rounded object, the earth.
“So long as they obeyed His word, and worked in connection with Him, they could not fail. Go to all nations, He bade them. Go to the farthest part of the habitable globe and be assured that My presence will be with you even there. Labor in faith and confidence; for the time will never come when I will forsake you.” AA pg. 29.1
“God has qualified His people to enlighten the world. He has entrusted them with faculties by which they are to extend His work until it shall encircle the globe. In all parts of the earth, they are to establish sanitariums, schools, publishing houses, and kindred facilities for the accomplishment of His work.” A Call to Medical Evangelism and Health Education 30.1
“As the rays of the sun penetrate to the remotest corners of the globe, so God designs that the light of the gospel shall extend to every soul upon the earth. If the church of Christ were fulfilling the purpose of our Lord, light would be shed upon all that sit in darkness and in the region and shadow of death.”—Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 42
“So long as they obeyed His word, and worked in connection with Him, they could not fail. Go to all nations, He bade them. Go to the farthest part of the habitable globe, but know that My presence will be there. Labor in faith and confidence, for the time will never come when I will forsake you.”- DA 822.1
“How often those who trusted the word of God, though in themselves utterly helpless, have withstood the power of the whole world—Enoch, pure in heart, holy in life, holding fast his faith in the triumph of righteousness against a corrupt and scoffing generation; Noah and his household against the men of his time, men of the greatest physical and mental strength and the most debased in morals; the children of Israel at the Red Sea, a helpless, terrified multitude of slaves, against the mightiest army of the mightiest nation on the globe; David, a shepherd lad, having God’s promise of the throne, against Saul, the established monarch, bent on holding fast his power; Shadrach and his companions in the fire, and Nebuchadnezzar on the throne; Daniel among the lions, his enemies in the high places of the kingdom; Jesus on the cross, and the Jewish priests and rulers forcing even the Roman governor to work their will; Paul in chains led to a criminal’s death, Nero the despot of a world empire.” Education 254.2
“Christ’s last words to His disciples were: “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations.” Go to the farthest bounds of the habitable globe, and know that wherever you go My presence will attend you…. “-Evangelism 15.1
“The improvements in printing have given an impetus to the work of circulating the Bible. The increased facilities for communication between different countries, the breaking down of ancient barriers of prejudice and national exclusiveness, and the loss of secular power by the pontiff of Rome have opened the way for the entrance of the word of God. For some years the Bible has been sold without restraint in the streets of Rome, and it has now been carried to every part of the habitable globe.” GC 288.1
“Thus he persevered in his labors until the message of the judgment had been carried to a large part of the habitable globe. Among Jews, Turks, Parsees, Hindus, and many other nationalities and races he distributed the word of God in these various tongues and everywhere heralded the approaching reign of the Messiah.”- GC 361.3
“God has qualified His people to enlighten the world. He has entrusted them with faculties by which they are to extend His work until it shall encircle the globe. In all parts of the earth they are to establish sanitariums, schools, publishing houses, and kindred facilities for the accomplishment of His work.”- Medical Ministry 330.5
“In the matchless gift of His Son, God has encircled the whole world with an atmosphere of grace as real as the air which circulates around the globe. All who choose to breathe this life-giving atmosphere will live and grow up to the stature of men and women in Christ Jesus.” Steps to Christ 68.1
“In all parts of the globe, the message is to be carried. And as we understand the Word of the Lord, we say to our people, Arise and shine, for thy light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon thee. ” {Ms138-1908.2}
AT Jones Statements
“Of course every American schoolboy knows that before Columbia discovered America the Catholic Church insisted that the earth was flat. But it is too sadly true that along with this the impression is left, if not actually inculcated, upon the minds of the school-children that at that time all the world supposed the earth to be flat. But that is a great mistake. All except the Catholic world knew then that the earth is round. The ancients knew that the earth is round. The Jews knew it always. Aristotle taught it; so did Ptolemy the Geographer. Indeed, this was a familiar truth among the people of those times. It was the church fathers who, with the many other falsehoods of the great apostasy, brought in the dogma that the earth should be flat. The chief of the church fathers, and the chief author of the dogma that the earth was flat, was Augustine—the father also of the Inquisition—tho in point of time Lactantius preceded him in advocating the dogma.” The Signs of the Times, vol. 25 January 11, 1899, page 1 par. 4-6
Ancient Jesuit Geocentrism
The Roman Catholic Jesuit order was required to adhere to geocentrism and ignore the heliocentric teachings of Copernicus and his followers, even though they were becoming standard in European astronomy. –Needham, Volume 3, p.438-439
Modern Catholic Geocentrism
Robert A. Sungenis is an American Traditionalist Catholic known for his Catholic apologetics and his advocacy of a pseudoscientific belief that the Earth is the center of the universe. He has made statements about Jews and Judaism which have been criticized for being anti-Semitic.
Scientific Sources that refute the Flat Earth Model:
http://creation.com/a-direct-test-of-the-flat-earth-model-flight-times
https://answersingenesis.org/answers/books/taking-back-astronomy/
“Why can’t an airplane just fly into space? Why do we need rockets?” NASA. NASA, n.d. Web. 31 May 2017. <https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/review/dr-marc-technology/rockets.html>.
Note:
Reference to the above articles does not mean that I am in total agreement with everything else on the above websites.
Note II:
Those that promote the Flat/Geocentric Earth have to forsake all experimental science. As Dr. Robert Carter said, “If the earth is flat, we cannot use physics to explain how things work. Essentially, the universe becomes a place of magic where things happen that simply defy explanation.” I had a conversation with a Flat-Earther, who claimed that it is impossible for rockets to work. If this is true than we have to throw out all of physics, specifically Newton’s Third Law of Motion, upon which rockets work. Newton’s Third Law of Motion states that “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Have you every launched a balloon by inflating it and then letting it go without tying a knot? If you have, that is basically how a rocket works. The rocket uses its very high-speed exhaust gases to propel itself off its launch pad. I had one Flat-Earther claim that rockets could not work because their fuel needs oxygen to burn, and the higher you go up in the earth’s orbits, the less oxygen there is. Rocket scientists easily solve this problem by providing their rockets with oxygen tanks that mix with the fuel prior to the fuel being burned. To quote Dr. Carter again, “If the earth is flat, one has to reject mountains of clear observational evidence. From the shadow of the earth on the moon to the fact that people in the northern and southern hemispheres see different stars, none of it can be true. You have to reject experimental science, and nearly all physical science going back centuries.”
Note III:
The Geocentric viewpoint is not biblical. The Bible teaches that the earth rotates on its axis and that is what is responsible for the sun “rising and setting.” In the book of Job we find the following proof that the earth rotates: “Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place…? It (the earth) is turned as clay to the seal…” (Job 38:12,14). This verse is poetically describing the earth rotating on its axis by comparing it to clay being rotated on a potter’s wheel.
Note IV:
Psalm 19, is one of my favorite Psalms, and is the first Psalm that I memorized. Psalm 19 does not teach geocentrism. Psalm 19:6 states the following: “His (the sun’s) going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.” This verse is commonly used to support geocentrism, but that is not what this verse is indicating. Psalm 19:6 is teaching that the sun, like the planets orbiting it, has a circuit all of its own. Our sun is moving through space in its very own “circuit” throughout the Milky Way Galaxy.
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