Continued---Flat Earth, was it a infalliable teaching?

[Kenandbarbie]

***This is regarding the thread that started… I think yesterday. No one is looking at that thread anymore so I’m continuing here. ***

Okay. I’m going to make an attempt here. All of you are much smarter than I am. Maybe that’s the problem. You’re all too smart and making a mess of a very simple thing.

What does the subject of the earth being round or flat have to do with faith and morals?

The Pope is only speaking infalliably when he is speaking in terms of faith and morals. Nothing else. I think someone else said this in an earlier thread…but no one paid attention.

The Church can have many views on any subject. There are a lot of things that are taught in theory. But when the Pope is sending forth Truth regarding faith and morals…it come from the Holy Spirit therefore-infalliable. I don’t think the earths shape fits this scenario.

I wish the Church new everything. The Church does try to understand everything and the Church will teach based on the knowledge they have obtained. These types of teachings are called theories. All of you brainies out there know this. The Church doesn’t “know” everything. God knows everything.

Tina

 

[JimG]

]
What does the subject of the earth being round or flat have to do with faith and morals?

Nothing.

That’s why there’s not much point discussing it on a religious forum.

 

[Roche42]

***This is regarding the thread that started… I think yesterday. No one is looking at that thread anymore so I’m continuing here. ***

Okay. I’m going to make an attempt here. All of you are much smarter than I am. Maybe that’s the problem. You’re all too smart and making a mess of a very simple thing.

What does the subject of the earth being round or flat have to do with faith and morals?

The Pope is only speaking infalliably when he is speaking in terms of faith and morals. Nothing else. I think someone else said this in an earlier thread…but no one paid attention.

The Church can have many views on any subject. There are a lot of things that are taught in theory. But when the Pope is sending forth Truth regarding faith and morals…it come from the Holy Spirit therefore-infalliable. I don’t think the earths shape fits this scenario.

I wish the Church new everything. The Church does try to understand everything and the Church will teach based on the knowledge they have obtained. These types of teachings are called theories. All of you brainies out there know this. The Church doesn’t “know” everything. God knows everything.

Tina

It is significant only in that many who criticize the Church cite her historical errors and claim that the Church throughout history has been rigid and intolerant. They claim that this must also then hold true for her teachings on faith and morals, that the Church is rigid and intolerant there too. I agree that this is not relevant when discussing the Church’s authority on faith and morals, however, it is relevant when discussing the Church’s place in history. We tend to have a very anglofied view of history, shaped by the anti-Catholic English historians who have written it. While the Church’s position on medieval scientific discovery may not really be relevant to her teaching on matters of faith and morals today–the fact remains that these things ARE used to slander and discredit the Church today. The Church may not be infallible on such matters, but it is my opinion that the very least we can do is to encourage an accurate view of history and defend the Church from undue slander. I hope that makes sense. God bless.

 

[twf]

I was under the impression that the intellectuals of the time always knew the earth was round (even Scripture says so…see Isa. 40:22)…the issue was, rather, whether or not the earth revolved around the sun, or if the sun (and the universe) revolved around the earth, as society (and the leadership of the Church) presumed. I recall reading that it is a common ‘urban myth’ that the Church thought that the earth was flat. (Certainly peasants would’ve assumed as much).

 

[Sacramentalist]

Every educated man in Colombus’s day knew that the earth was round. In fact, Colombus’s voyage had nothing whatsoever to do wit hthe roundness or flatness of the earth; the controversy was over how large the earth actually was. Colombus beleived it to be relatviely small, and did not anticipate the existence of two continents between Europe and Asia.

That’s it, guys. The current myth about Colombus comes from ANti-Catholic propoganda of the 19th century You won’t find a single serious source to collaborate it.

Not a one.

 

[Liberian]

twf:

I was under the impression that the intellectuals of the time always knew the earth was round (even Scripture says so…see Isa. 40:22)…the issue was, rather, whether or not the earth revolved around the sun, or if the sun (and the universe) revolved around the earth, as society (and the leadership of the Church) presumed. I recall reading that it is a common ‘urban myth’ that the Church thought that the earth was flat. (Certainly peasants would’ve assumed as much).

Folks,

Ptolemy, in his “Almagest” (which was the standard astronomical textbook of the ancient world, written in the second century AD) states firmly that the earth is round and that its size relative to the distances to the stars is infinitesimal. Not only has a flat earth never been an infallible Church teaching, it has never been a Church teaching at all.

The anti-Catholics who are looking for errors over which to attack the church need to look somewhere else.

• Liberian

 

[Kenandbarbie]

By the very definition of infallible an error can’t be made. The Church is only infallible when teaching faith and morals. This is the only thing we need to explain when an uncatechized Catholic or non-Catholic is inquiry. Going into a lengthy discussion, in defense of the Church, about historical errors is silly. Of course we made errors in our history and people are naive to think, that the Church thinks, we haven’t. Jesus appointed humans to run his Church…not divine beings.

Do you understand where I’m coming from?

On this subject forum users are going into lengthy dialogue about the sun, earth, shape, rotation…blah blah blah. It is nonsense to me.

Stop it…just stop it. I beg of you.

Tina