Isaiah 40:22 "It is He who sits above the circle (sphere) of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in."
Those who read their Bibles carefully always knew that the earth was round. Until the printing press came along, the Bible was rarely translated into the language of the common man and few had access to the Scriptures. Once that happened, western civilization changed dramatically - in all realms, including science.
Unfortunately, in post Christian Europe and now America, the concept of life, liberty and property being inalienable rights endowed to mankind by a Creator is being eroded on a daily basis. We are trailing Europe by 50 years or so but we are definitely heading in that direction, thanks in no small part, to a cultural rejection of the God of the Bible as Creator of mankind.
"Circle" does not denote "sphere." It more properly denotes "tabletop." Early Hebrew cosmology (from the book of Enoch) saw the Earth as flat, with the sky as a solid dome overhead. The stars were equivalent to angels and they, and the sun and moon, entered the dome through doors in its base, traversed the sky along set routes, and exited through doors on the other side.
A circle is NOT a sphere. A circle is a two dimensional shape - i.e. pancake - whereas a sphere is a three dimensional shape - i.e. ball.
That part of Isaiah uses the word circle and not sphere in the translations I am aware of.
And as you read further down in this section of Isaiah doesn't this also talk about the heaven covering the earth like a tent. So you want to tell me how Australia is supposed be covered by a tent?
What about those other sections of the bible talking about Jesus going up the mountain and could see all four corners of the earth etc.
The bible writers were flat earth folks. If you wanted guys who knew the earth was more of a three dimensional sphere I would suggest you check out the Greece area.
Those who read their Bibles carefully always knew that the earth was round.
No, those who read their bibles carefully read all about the earth's four corners, its "foundations", about a tree so high that it could be seen from the furthest reaches of the Earth, a mountain so high that the ends of the earth could be seen by someone on the mountain, that the earth is fixed and immovable, that the heavens are a "vault" etc.
The bible is consistent with a flat earth cosmology. (Which should be of no surprise, as this is consistent with the cosmology common to the near east at the time its authors wrote it. It is unsurprising that they had the beliefs of their contemporaries, and expressed that in their writings.)
Ironically, if rights were something that was granted to us by some authority figure, then they could not be inalienable. The authority figure could decide (for whatever incscrutable reason) to take them away. Just like the leftist's belief that rights are granted to us by the state ensures that their version of rights also could not be inalienable.
Europe's self-immolation comes from their pervasive embrace of collectivist ideologies in the last century. America was infected by communism & socialism too, but to a much smaller extent.