flat earth.

[pumpkinbread1567]

Just so as many people are informed, I'll post my argument against this idea from a biblical perspective, using Genesis as I think that the rising of this theory is part of a plot against humanity to distract them from what is about to fall upon Earth.

Please feel free to post any arguments to this thesis:
When God made Heavens and Earth, Heavens covered Earth from all sides, meaning that the Heaven is not a dome.

Genesis 1:6 - And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, to separate the waters from the waters.”

An amount of water was separate from the rest, meaning that the Heavens could not have been a dome. I suppose it could've been cube-like, but I think the most efficient shape for this would've been spherical. But don't quote me on that.

1:9 - And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, so that the dry land may appear.” And it was so.

For this, I suppose one could make an argument, saying, "the water was gathered, and the land was revealed and was flat".
Well... Remember that the Heavens are supposed to be ABOVE you and Earth. If the surface were flat, that logic would no longer apply, and you could no longer say "heavens above". Hence, the surface of the Earth has to look towards heaven. If the Heavens cover the Earth entirely from every direction, the Earth has to be exposed in every direction as well. And if the heavens are spherical, then the Earth would also have to be or look spherical (more or less). Nevertheless, it can't be flat due to the shape of the heavens.

There are other passages in the Bible that suggest that the shape is round.

Tell me your thoughts if you have any.

 

[Gideon300]

Just so as many people are informed, I'll post my argument against this idea from a biblical perspective, using Genesis as I think that the rising of this theory is part of a plot against humanity to distract them from what is about to fall upon Earth.

Please feel free to post any arguments to this thesis:
When God made Heavens and Earth, Heavens covered Earth from all sides, meaning that the Heaven is not a dome.


An amount of water was separate from the rest, meaning that the Heavens could not have been a dome. I suppose it could've been cube-like, but I think the most efficient shape for this would've been spherical. But don't quote me on that.


For this, I suppose one could make an argument, saying, "the water was gathered, and the land was revealed and was flat".
Well... Remember that the Heavens are supposed to be ABOVE you and Earth. If the surface were flat, that logic would no longer apply, and you could no longer say "heavens above". Hence, the surface of the Earth has to look towards heaven. If the Heavens cover the Earth entirely from every direction, the Earth has to be exposed in every direction as well. And if the heavens are spherical, then the Earth would also have to be or look spherical (more or less). Nevertheless, it can't be flat due to the shape of the heavens.

There are other passages in the Bible that suggest that the shape is round.

Tell me your thoughts if you have any.

I think that the Western world's education system is at fault. People are not taught to think any more. It's like a generation has graduated with honours in gullibility. It is impossible for the earth to be flat and there are many ways of proving this. That does nothing to change the mind of flat earthers. There are many conspiracy theories, most of which can be easily debunked. Yet people cling to them as if they actually mattered.

 

[2ndTimothyGroup]

Just so as many people are informed, I'll post my argument against this idea from a biblical perspective, using Genesis as I think that the rising of this theory is part of a plot against humanity to distract them from what is about to fall upon Earth.

Please feel free to post any arguments to this thesis:
When God made Heavens and Earth, Heavens covered Earth from all sides, meaning that the Heaven is not a dome.


An amount of water was separate from the rest, meaning that the Heavens could not have been a dome. I suppose it could've been cube-like, but I think the most efficient shape for this would've been spherical. But don't quote me on that.


For this, I suppose one could make an argument, saying, "the water was gathered, and the land was revealed and was flat".
Well... Remember that the Heavens are supposed to be ABOVE you and Earth. If the surface were flat, that logic would no longer apply, and you could no longer say "heavens above". Hence, the surface of the Earth has to look towards heaven. If the Heavens cover the Earth entirely from every direction, the Earth has to be exposed in every direction as well. And if the heavens are spherical, then the Earth would also have to be or look spherical (more or less). Nevertheless, it can't be flat due to the shape of the heavens.

There are other passages in the Bible that suggest that the shape is round.

Tell me your thoughts if you have any.

As I study for the Real Estate Brokers exam, I thought it was amazing that they teach "round earth" in their writings. Check this out . . .

"4) In the rectangular survey method, why is it necessary to have guide meridians, standard parallels, and quadrangles?

Because of the curvature of the earth, a rectangle drawn on the earth's surface using longitudinal lines as sides will be narrower on the side farther from the equator than on the side nearer the equator; thus, townships would become smaller and smaller as one moved farther north of the equator. The guide meridians, standard parallels, and quadrangles limit this variance caused by the earth being round."

 

[Lanolin]

my thoughts are that the earth is lumpy and squashed in some places and pointy and jagged in others.

 

[Handyman62]

To me the most obvious reason that explains why the ball earth exist is that you have at any one point in time half the earth being lit by the sun and the other half in darkness.

 

[2ndTimothyGroup]

To me the most obvious reason that explains why the ball earth exist is that you have at any one point in time half the earth being lit by the sun and the other half in darkness.

That's a solid point. I supposed flat-earthers would say that the sun is actually very close to the earth and because of this, when the sun is on the other side of the disc, the sun is not seen?

 

[ewq1938]

The bible speaks of the Earth as a circle and a sphere is a type of a circle. As others have said, the bible isn't a detailed technical manual for the Earth or science etc.

I was researching the bible for descriptions earlier and found this:

Job 37:12 And it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth.


"face of the world: is "פָּנִים (pânı̂ym) תֵּבֵל (têbêl)"

Face:


H6440
פָּנִים
pânı̂ym
paw-neem'
Plural (but always used as a singular) of an unused noun (פָּנֶה pâneh, paw-neh'; from 6437); the face (as the part that turns); used in a great variety of applications (literally and figuratively); also (with prepositional prefix) as a preposition (before, etc.): - + accept, a (be-) fore (-time), against, anger, X as (long as), at, + battle, + because (of), + beseech, countenance, edge, + employ, endure, + enquire, face, favour, fear of, for, forefront (-part), form (-er time, -ward), from, front, heaviness, X him (-self), + honourable, + impudent, + in, it, look [-eth] (-s), X me, + meet, X more than, mouth, of, off, (of) old (time), X on, open, + out of, over against, the partial, person, + please, presence, prospect, was purposed, by reason, of, + regard, right forth, + serve, X shewbread, sight, state, straight, + street, X thee, X them (-selves), through (+ -out), till, time (-s) past, (un-) to (-ward), + upon, upside (+ down), with (-in, + stand), X ye, X you.
Total KJV occurrences: 2120


So we have "the face of the world". On a persons head, the face is part of a roundish skull. Not perfectly round but it is spherical. Globalists (ball shaped) do not believe the Earth or any planet or moon is perfectly spherical just like FE does not deny there are valleys and mountains on a non-perfectly flat Earth.

Now, the very language of "the face of the world" strongly implies the bible is describing a spherical shaped Earth with a face or important part. If one was in heaven and looking at a distant Earth, the part "facing" heaven would be the "face of the world" but the rest of the world would still exist, just not visible until the Earth slowly rotates. That would be like a moving face and is still part of the rest of a sphere.

This is the strongest evidence of a spherical Earth in the bible using very colloquial language that most people at the time could understand since they knew people have a spherical head with a face in the front. The face can turn and so does the face of the world. Combine that with scripture that uses the term "circle" and the shape of the world is fairly clear.

 

[JStates]

From what I can tell, there does not appear to be another serious Biblical Flat Earther in here, or if so they are being rather quiet. I will attempt to answer what I can as best as I can, but I will mention that FE does not have all the answers as we are wrestling against the establishment which controls the consensus view and the current Flat Earth reawakening has only been here since about 2012-2014.

@pumpkinbread1567

Your thought that Flat Earth is a conspiracy and distraction does not make sense in light of the FACT that there have been pockets of serious Biblical Flat Earthers here and there in history. The last surge of "Zetetic Cosmogony" (as it was called then) was about 120 years ago to my knowledge. From that reawakening came numerous legendary serious Flat Earth books, such as the following list. I do believe that we are the cusp of something momentous in history RIGHT NOW, but I think Flat Earth is an awakening to long hidden truths in preparation for what is next, not a distraction from it. Flat Earthers, even those who are not Christians, are very open to the reality that this Earth realm is a habitation made for humanity by the Creator and that there is a spiritual purpose for us. Flat Earth points to God and to Biblical truth instead of detracting from it.

"Terra Firma: The Earth Not A Planet, Proved From Scripture, Reason, and Fact" by David Wardlaw Scott, 1901
"Zetetic Astronomy: Earth Not A Globe" by "Parallax" (Samuel Rowbotham), 1881
"Zetetic Cosmogony, or Conclusive Evidence That The World is not a ROTATING-REVOLVING GLOBE, but A STATIONARY CIRCLE" by "Rectangle" (Natal Durban), 1899
"Kings Dethroned" by Gerrard Hickson, 1922
"Is The Bible From Heaven? Is The Earth A Globe?" by Alex Gleason, 1890
"One Hundred Proofs That The Earth Is Not A Globe" by WM. Carpenter, 1885

A great deal of the rest of your post seems to derive from a misunderstanding (if I read you correctly) about what serious Biblical Flat Earthers actually believe. I have just posted a very long thread about this, or you could look up my YouTube video called "A Biblical Cosmology" by J.States for a similar exploration of the shape of the Earth from Scripture.

https://christianchat.com/conspirac...osmology-gods-flat-earth.203409/#post-4741480

@Gideon300

Yes, Western education is appalling but the problem is that children are taught WHAT to think and not WHY. Specifically in this instance, every child from the age of about 3 sees a globe in the classroom, at the beginning of many Hollywood movies (sacred holly wood of sorcery), and during most propaganda mainstream media news broadcasts. I've never heard of any child in a science class being encouraged to challenge globe doctrine ever. And "Flat Earth" is one of the Big Four censored and suppressed topics on YouTube and other establishment controlled social media sites. (Including "stolen election," "illuminati," "flat earth," "covid")

@Handyman62

Yes, this is an ASSUMPTION of the heliocentric model. Proving it is much harder. But the Flat Earth model has an explanation for periods of day and night as well (which actually differ through the different seasons, due to the "tilt of the Earth" according to globers and due to the sun moving inwards and outwards between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn according to the Flat Earthers).

 

[JStates]

That's a solid point. I supposed flat-earthers would say that the sun is actually very close to the earth and because of this, when the sun is on the other side of the disc, the sun is not seen?

Serious Flat Earthers would say that the atmosphere has weight and density, and carries smoke, smog, dust, water vapor, and other materials.

It's like having a lantern in the middle of a foggy woods at midnight. The lantern pushes light outwards in a sphere in all directions, but you're only going to be able to see it from a limited range.

Actually you can see "sunset" footage online of the sun simply fading out into the distance sometimes, instead of dropping "down" over horizon in what we think of as a usual sunset. In such a situation, the Sun is still within direct line of sight... but the visibility conditions simply don't allow the observer to see it.

 

[JStates]

The bible speaks of the Earth as a circle and a sphere is a type of a circle. As others have said, the bible isn't a detailed technical manual for the Earth or science etc.

I was researching the bible for descriptions earlier and found this:

Job 37:12 And it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth.


"face of the world: is "פָּנִים (pânı̂ym) תֵּבֵל (têbêl)"

Face:


H6440
פָּנִים
pânı̂ym
paw-neem'
Plural (but always used as a singular) of an unused noun (פָּנֶה pâneh, paw-neh'; from 6437); the face (as the part that turns); used in a great variety of applications (literally and figuratively); also (with prepositional prefix) as a preposition (before, etc.): - + accept, a (be-) fore (-time), against, anger, X as (long as), at, + battle, + because (of), + beseech, countenance, edge, + employ, endure, + enquire, face, favour, fear of, for, forefront (-part), form (-er time, -ward), from, front, heaviness, X him (-self), + honourable, + impudent, + in, it, look [-eth] (-s), X me, + meet, X more than, mouth, of, off, (of) old (time), X on, open, + out of, over against, the partial, person, + please, presence, prospect, was purposed, by reason, of, + regard, right forth, + serve, X shewbread, sight, state, straight, + street, X thee, X them (-selves), through (+ -out), till, time (-s) past, (un-) to (-ward), + upon, upside (+ down), with (-in, + stand), X ye, X you.
Total KJV occurrences: 2120


So we have "the face of the world". On a persons head, the face is part of a roundish skull. Not perfectly round but it is spherical. Globalists (ball shaped) do not believe the Earth or any planet or moon is perfectly spherical just like FE does not deny there are valleys and mountains on a non-perfectly flat Earth.

Now, the very language of "the face of the world" strongly implies the bible is describing a spherical shaped Earth with a face or important part. If one was in heaven and looking at a distant Earth, the part "facing" heaven would be the "face of the world" but the rest of the world would still exist, just not visible until the Earth slowly rotates. That would be like a moving face and is still part of the rest of a sphere.

This is the strongest evidence of a spherical Earth in the bible using very colloquial language that most people at the time could understand since they knew people have a spherical head with a face in the front. The face can turn and so does the face of the world. Combine that with scripture that uses the term "circle" and the shape of the world is fairly clear.

This is a bit of an iffy argument. The "face" of a human is actually if anything a more flattened and less rounded part of the head. And I would observe that analog clocks (which we Flat Earthers believe are inspired by the Earth system and the motion of the Sun over it) have a face also which is flat. In fact, I would actually argue that the words "face," "facet," or "surface" have the connotation of flatness. A facet, of a gemstone or prism for example, is a flat surface. The face of a watch or clock is flat. An open-faced sandwich is made on a flat piece of bread. A surface generally conjures a mental image of flatness, like a table surface, the surface of water which finds its level, or the surface of a counter. We would append adjectives to the word "surface" to denote anything other than flatness, for example "curved surface," "rough surface," etc.

 

[Gideon300]

From what I can tell, there does not appear to be another serious Biblical Flat Earther in here, or if so they are being rather quiet. I will attempt to answer what I can as best as I can, but I will mention that FE does not have all the answers as we are wrestling against the establishment which controls the consensus view and the current Flat Earth reawakening has only been here since about 2012-2014.

@pumpkinbread1567

Your thought that Flat Earth is a conspiracy and distraction does not make sense in light of the FACT that there have been pockets of serious Biblical Flat Earthers here and there in history. The last surge of "Zetetic Cosmogony" (as it was called then) was about 120 years ago to my knowledge. From that reawakening came numerous legendary serious Flat Earth books, such as the following list. I do believe that we are the cusp of something momentous in history RIGHT NOW, but I think Flat Earth is an awakening to long hidden truths in preparation for what is next, not a distraction from it. Flat Earthers, even those who are not Christians, are very open to the reality that this Earth realm is a habitation made for humanity by the Creator and that there is a spiritual purpose for us. Flat Earth points to God and to Biblical truth instead of detracting from it.

"Terra Firma: The Earth Not A Planet, Proved From Scripture, Reason, and Fact" by David Wardlaw Scott, 1901
"Zetetic Astronomy: Earth Not A Globe" by "Parallax" (Samuel Rowbotham), 1881
"Zetetic Cosmogony, or Conclusive Evidence That The World is not a ROTATING-REVOLVING GLOBE, but A STATIONARY CIRCLE" by "Rectangle" (Natal Durban), 1899
"Kings Dethroned" by Gerrard Hickson, 1922
"Is The Bible From Heaven? Is The Earth A Globe?" by Alex Gleason, 1890
"One Hundred Proofs That The Earth Is Not A Globe" by WM. Carpenter, 1885

A great deal of the rest of your post seems to derive from a misunderstanding (if I read you correctly) about what serious Biblical Flat Earthers actually believe. I have just posted a very long thread about this, or you could look up my YouTube video called "A Biblical Cosmology" by J.States for a similar exploration of the shape of the Earth from Scripture.

https://christianchat.com/conspirac...osmology-gods-flat-earth.203409/#post-4741480

@Gideon300

Yes, Western education is appalling but the problem is that children are taught WHAT to think and not WHY. Specifically in this instance, every child from the age of about 3 sees a globe in the classroom, at the beginning of many Hollywood movies (sacred holly wood of sorcery), and during most propaganda mainstream media news broadcasts. I've never heard of any child in a science class being encouraged to challenge globe doctrine ever. And "Flat Earth" is one of the Big Four censored and suppressed topics on YouTube and other establishment controlled social media sites. (Including "stolen election," "illuminati," "flat earth," "covid")

@Handyman62

Yes, this is an ASSUMPTION of the heliocentric model. Proving it is much harder. But the Flat Earth model has an explanation for periods of day and night as well (which actually differ through the different seasons, due to the "tilt of the Earth" according to globers and due to the sun moving inwards and outwards between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn according to the Flat Earthers).

Does FE have an explanation as to why the moon appears to be upside down in the northern hemisphere compared with the southern?

 

[ewq1938]

This is a bit of an iffy argument. The "face" of a human is actually if anything a more flattened and less rounded part of the head.

Less rounded but not flat plus the face is only one part of the head.

And I would observe that analog clocks (which we Flat Earthers believe are inspired by the Earth system and the motion of the Sun over it) have a face also which is flat. In fact, I would actually argue that the words "face," "facet," or "surface" have the connotation of flatness.

Those are three different words though.

A facet, of a gemstone or prism for example, is a flat surface. The face of a watch or clock is flat. An open-faced sandwich is made on a flat piece of bread. A surface generally conjures a mental image of flatness, like a table surface, the surface of water which finds its level, or the surface of a counter. We would append adjectives to the word "surface" to denote anything other than flatness, for example "curved surface," "rough surface," etc.

The surface of a globe is not flat. A sub sandwich is not flat either. There used to be this old show where big gag was how tall and huge of a sandwich the main would eat...again, not flat. The surface of moon isn't flat either, which is a globe shape. The moon looks like a circle but we know it's a sphere and it's face faces us.

Here's another well known face (also a sphere):

 

[2ndTimothyGroup]

Does FE have an explanation as to why the moon appears to be upside down in the northern hemisphere compared with the southern?

Wow. I hadn't heard that one before. I'd like to know why I consistently see the same stars at night. Does the earth spin at just the right speed that I don't see a varied array of stars? I mean, at night, I can only see a very small portion of the universes' stars. I wonder why I am not aware of like fifteen or twenty more different views? Ever since I was a little kid, I could almost always find the Big Dipper and the Seven Little Sisters . . . winter, summer, spring, fall, autumn . . . the views are almost always the same. Then again, I haven't really put haven't looked into it; just something that I've considered off and on.

I'm no expert on the subject nor do I ever intend to be. The Gospel is what matters to me.

 

[2ndTimothyGroup]

Actually you can see "sunset" footage online of the sun simply fading out into the distance sometimes

Yeah, but the sun never does the opposite at night. It never just fades in when it's pitch dark at night.

Speaking of pitch dark . . . if our galaxy is so flipping bright at night (when viewed a bajillion light years away - so they say), why is it darker the closer you get to the light (in other words, dark at night on earth)? How stupid.

Things just don't seem right; like we're not being told the Truth by the "higher ups." (The Pyramids on the Gaza strip are tombs. Sure. Sure they are.)

 

[JStates]

Does FE have an explanation as to why the moon appears to be upside down in the northern hemisphere compared with the southern?

Great question. I think this is considered THE "Gotcha!" for Flat Earth right now. And I'll freely admit I don't have a 100% solid answer but this one is pretty decent. This from a guy named Jeranism who does stuff with Globebusters.

The above video specifically addresses the subjectiveness of our individual perspectives as related (mostly) to the Sun. What is happening with the moon inversion you describe is almost certainly happening with the Sun as well, but we cannot perceive it easily because the Sun is so intensely bright that we cannot look directly at it or discern features on it easily.

But understand that whether we live on a globe or on a flat Earth realm, YOU CANNOT TRUST YOUR EYES ultimately. For example, while looking across a body of water, there will be more air humidity and air density right above sea level, a gradient which drops off with elevation. This causes a lensing effect and distortion at sea level. Gaining altitude helps mitigate this for the observer. But this is why, if you think about it, you are never actually seeing the Sun (or Moon, I guess) directly without some positional distortion. Jeran's video explains this very well.

We're told the human eye has an infinite view distance because we can see the stars infinitely far from us. What rubbish. Think about it a bit, it's a complete fantasy. Sorry, that's a rabbit trail, but the thought just popped into my head all of a sudden.

 

[JStates]

Yeah, but the sun never does the opposite at night. It never just fades in when it's pitch dark at night.

Speaking of pitch dark . . . if our galaxy is so flipping bright at night (when viewed a bajillion light years away - so they say), why is it darker the closer you get to the light (in other words, dark at night on earth)? How stupid.

Things just don't seem right; like we're not being told the Truth by the "higher ups." (The Pyramids on the Gaza strip are tombs. Sure. Sure they are.)

Lots of good thoughts in your posts. And I agree that the Gospel is the most important truth. I think other truths matter too though, just my 2c.

The predictability of the stars is a huge point in favor of a flat, fixed, nonrotating Earth. The heliocentric Earth which rotates at 1000 mph at the equator, shoots around the Sun at 66,600 mph, and hurtles through space at millions of mph should never see the same stars. The sky should be a chaotic swirl of light. And I agree, logically it makes no sense that we have "night" at all under the heliocentric model. If we can see starlight, it's reaching "planet Earth." All sides of the "planet" should be bathed in radiation from all angles at all times. There should be no such thing as night.

I don't know about the Sun fading in the same way it fades out. I think it could be possible, but it would not fade in from pitch black. Things would lighten up a bit first as the Sun lightens the atmosphere before it becomes visible itself. It would be hard to capture this on camera because you would have to know the general area of the horizon that the Sun would fade in from in order to set up your camera properly, whereas the fade out is easily captured if you just target the retreating Sun in frame.

Yes, the higher ups are definitely not being honest with us. Satan is the god of this world, and many of the world's elites are literally Luciferians. They call themselves this, and they know whom they serve, and they push his lies. Heliocentrism is part of their religion and their warfare against God. The Bible has much to say about those who worship the hosts of heaven instead of God. Here's a good expose of the Luciferian elite. Not for the sensitive, and quite long and detailed.

 

[ewq1938]

The predictability of the stars is a huge point in favor of a flat, fixed, nonrotating Earth. The heliocentric Earth which rotates at 1000 mph at the equator, shoots around the Sun at 66,600 mph, and hurtles through space at millions of mph should never see the same stars. The sky should be a chaotic swirl of light. And I agree, logically it makes no sense that we have "night" at all under the heliocentric model. If we can see starlight, it's reaching "planet Earth." All sides of the "planet" should be bathed in radiation from all angles at all times. There should be no such thing as night.

That makes no sense. The stars are everywhere around the Earth so at night, we will always see some stars. But, the Sun is not everywhere so when the Earth spins, certain areas get sunlight while others don't. That's why we have night and day.

 

[JStates]

That makes no sense. The stars are everywhere around the Earth so at night, we will always see some stars. But, the Sun is not everywhere so when the Earth spins, certain areas get sunlight while others don't. That's why we have night and day.

Prior to the arrival of NASA on the scene telling us what truth is, many writers and thinkers believed that space if it existed would be completely bathed in light and radiation if we could go there. One example off the top of my head is Jules Verne.

 

[ewq1938]

Prior to the arrival of NASA on the scene telling us what truth is, many writers and thinkers believed that space if it existed would be completely bathed in light and radiation if we could go there. One example off the top of my head is Jules Verne.

None of that has anything to do with why night and day fits a globe Earth.

 

[Gideon300]

Great question. I think this is considered THE "Gotcha!" for Flat Earth right now. And I'll freely admit I don't have a 100% solid answer but this one is pretty decent. This from a guy named Jeranism who does stuff with Globebusters.

The above video specifically addresses the subjectiveness of our individual perspectives as related (mostly) to the Sun. What is happening with the moon inversion you describe is almost certainly happening with the Sun as well, but we cannot perceive it easily because the Sun is so intensely bright that we cannot look directly at it or discern features on it easily.

But understand that whether we live on a globe or on a flat Earth realm, YOU CANNOT TRUST YOUR EYES ultimately. For example, while looking across a body of water, there will be more air humidity and air density right above sea level, a gradient which drops off with elevation. This causes a lensing effect and distortion at sea level. Gaining altitude helps mitigate this for the observer. But this is why, if you think about it, you are never actually seeing the Sun (or Moon, I guess) directly without some positional distortion. Jeran's video explains this very well.

We're told the human eye has an infinite view distance because we can see the stars infinitely far from us. What rubbish. Think about it a bit, it's a complete fantasy. Sorry, that's a rabbit trail, but the thought just popped into my head all of a sudden.

There is no "gotcha" for anti-FE. It's proven empirically and by observation that the earth is a sphere. I found out that the moon appears upside down yesterday. I've never doubted that the earth is a sphere.

We do not see the stars. We see the light transmitted by the stars. Some may not exist as the light has had to travel so far that the star could have been destroyed by the time the light gets to us. The problem with examining the sun is not its brightness. Filters can take care of that. The sun is constantly changing on the surface. The moon is constant.

People can see the moon without positional distortion. It's not at all distorted close to the moon because there is no atmosphere. The people who have walked on it can tell you that.