Good post. What I simply don't get about flat earthers is... if there is a great conspiracy to hide the "truth" that the earth is flat, what would be the benefit? If the Earth really were flat, well... so it's flat. What benefit would there be to trying to cover this up?
So there is a good debate point. When I ask Flat-Earthers this, they usually can't answer it.
I find that arguing against people who hold strong beliefs usually doesn't work. It just makes them withdraw further into their beliefs. So such tactics are worthless and counterproductive. But asking questions about the foundations of their belief often does have some effect, if only to make them think about things and planting the seed of doubt in their mind.
They claim it's to hide God from us. I guess god can't make spheres for some reason that I'm unclear about. Alternatively, other claims are to control us, and to hide the land that is hidden past Antarctica that the elites are mining for profit as our expense... oh, and also to make us feel small and insignificant. Because somehow living on a flat plane under a dome makes us more significant...
Well, c'mon, spheres are difficult to make ;)
I think I would respond to the "they are hiding God from us" by using a similar argument to the one atheist make: If God is indeed God (and yknow, all-knowing) and if God is good, after death we will still be rewarded because we were prevented from knowing him and he knows that; if on the other hand God would punish us for being prevented from knowing him, he is evil and we are all screwed, the people who hid him and the people from whom he was hidden alike.
I understand the appeal of conspiracy theory. We all want to feel special, and the idea that we are privy to some secret knowledge makes us feel special. But the flat-earth thing is just silly.
Hah. I usually take a tactic of something like "Well, you must not have very much faith in your god if you think he couldn't create a spinning ball flying through space, and that in all of his incredible power and mystery that you think his creation must make logical sense to you. Perhaps he's testing your faith, and you are denying his creation."
Lol. They are pretty insane.
i'd be happy on a ball earth if that is what it is.
but something inside me told me there was something wrong... something wasn't right about the path of the sun. i kept watching it. i also found i loved the truman show. but didn't know why it resonated with me.
then, after all my conspiracy research, the one i'd never touched, didn't want to touch, seemed to ridiculous... then i freaked. got ridiculed for talking about it, even asking... just like with you, but in real life.
guess it makes me stronger, better able to stand for what i see regardless of what others around me say. i always take the good from anything.
peace brother, you know i love this world. i'm fighting/loving it to be a better place.
God is all things, there is nothing that is not God.
therefor you are a part of God. you cannot not be, there is nothing else.
the angry God of the bible is a lie. you will not be punished, all punishment comes at your own hand here and now for what you do here and now. when you die you will return to the source, to the all that is.
you don't understand, it isn't a theory, i put it into practice. i trained myself to think different, and now i get different results... things that can't have been mere chance happen in my life all the time. but you wouldn't believe it, you'd just call me lucky. well it wasn't always this way for me.
free will . God gave you free will. God wants you to listen because you want to.
I think you should listen because God's way is joyful, fun, loving, kind, generous, forgiving..
the angry God of the bible doesn't exist, there is only peace and love.
ten commandments is misnamed. i see them now as things i would never do because it would cause injury to myself.
besides, just get your own, there is so much plenty on this bountiful earth... even with all the damage that has been done, but all can be reversed.
that is just one reason.
to hide God from you. make you feel small. instead of being on a small, hand made planet, you would be on a random collection of rocks, you would be an accident of existence, you life, your survival, always in doubt.
in this state you can be controlled.
if you know you are one with God, you are very hard to control.
super religious types frustrate everyone, because you can't argue with people that don't have the authority to decide for themselves what they believe, they defer to the church. best to let them be, free will and all, as long as they don't harm anyone else.
that is what i'm doing. but beyond where you think you are. i'm sure i'll be changing too, given time, i don't claim to know it all, but humbly seek to be better than i was before, always forever.
peace, namaste