Why is it so hard to believe men walked on the moon, yet we don't question the idea of God becoming man and walking among us? If the Earth is flat, why don't we ever hear about plans flying off the edge of it, or at least into the ice wall that surrounds Antarctica? Do people really expect to see the curvature of the earth when they look into the horizon? Do you have any idea how large our planet is? It's at least a little bigger than a basketball.
I think some people cling to these strange beliefs because they look around the world, they don't like what they see, and, well, anything we're taught by "the world" can't be good or right, can it? I mean, the whole world out there is evil, right? And even most people who call themselves christians are just sinners trying to get a free pass to heaven. They want to do the crime - sinning here on earth - but they don't want to do the time - never ending, conscious eternal torment in the lake of fire. Yeah, just throw out everything your parents and your teachers taught you because they're all hellfire breathing demons trying to drag you down to hell. They're all freemasons and satanists.
So we look to the Bible and see references to "the ends of the earth", "four corners of the earth" and we think we're reading a science book.
That gets back to the idea that we were supposed to take every word of the Bible literally.
If that's the case, then I better gouge out my eyes, because Jesus says if I man finds a woman attractive, it would be better for him to gouge out his eyes than have his eyes cause him to sin - and men being attracted to women is sinful. Hey, I better cut off my arms, too, I might do something sinful with them.
And our churches sure are full of divorced people these days. I guess we don't take seriously Jesus' commandments regarding remarriage.
I don't know where I'm going with this, just that i don't think we have to take all of these passages literally. There are stories offered to us in the Bible for edification, to learn from. Does there have to be a historical Prodigal Son for us to gain something from that story? Do they have to be actual pillars of the earth for us to believe God created our world and all the creatures in it?