This website exposes the flat earth deception and proves that the earth is globe shaped.
Nathan Roberts posted this explanation of how the moon supposedly provides its own light.
The irony of Nathan Roberts proclaiming that fireflies and jellyfish giving off their own light, is that flat earthers have no scientific explanations for how the moon supposedly creates its own light.
Nathan gave this wrong explanation of how the flat earth moon provides its own light. My comments are in red.
Evidence from the Creation Account. The creation account of Genesis 1:16-18 clearly indicates that the moon is a light all of its own. Verse 16 calls the moon the “lesser” of “the two great lights.
The verb “to light” (lehair) in verse 17 literally means that the moon itself gives light – there is no way out of this meaning!
The words “to light” don’t appear in verse 17 in the King James (And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth) or other Bible version that I could find, except the NIV which is not a good word-for-word translation.
Let’s focus instead of the word “light” which simply points to a luminous body. It does not say that it provides its own illumination.
The Hebrew word for light is ma’owr from 215; properly, a luminous body or luminary, i.e. (abstractly) light (as an element): figuratively, brightness, i.e.cheerfulness; specifically, a chandelier:—bright, light.
215 ‘owr = a primitive root; to be (causative, make) luminous (literally and metaphorically):—X break of day, glorious, kindle, (be, en-, give, show) light (-en, -ened), set on fire, shine.
Websters 1818 Dictionary, which is based on the King James Bible, defines luminary as:
1. Any body that gives light, but chiefly one of the celestial orbs. The sun is the principal luminary in our system. the stars are inferior luminaries.
While its light is less than that of the sun (until Isaiah 30:26 is fulfilled!), the moon is a “light” in its own right, independent of the sun.
“Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.”
The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, because the light of the sun determines the light of the moon, as the sun illuminates the moon. There’s a direct relationship, which we will see more in the next section.
Teaching throughout the Old Testament. According to Job 31:26, the moon has its own splendor.
“If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;”
That doesn’t prove that the moon illuminates itself.
The moon can be darkened independently of the sun (Ecclesiastes 12:2, Isaiah 24:23, Ezekiel 32:7, Joel 2:10, Joel 3:15).
Ecclesiastes 12:2 “While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:” It does say that the moon is independently provides its own light.
Isaiah 24:23 “Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.” It’s using the symbolism of the sun and moon, to declare that the princes (moon) and kings (sun) of this world will be confounded.
Ezekiel 32:7 “And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.” It’s saying that the moon won’t give its light because the sun is covered by a cloud, so that the sun’s rays can’t illuminate the moon. It’s saying the very opposite of what Nathan Roberts is proclaiming!
Joel 2:10 “The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:” Joel 2 is talking about judgment on a sinful people, and that the leadership, king (sun), moon (queen) and stars (leaders) would be darkened. It’s not about the literal sun and moon!
Joel 3:15 “The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.” Once again this is symbolic language, pointing to the leadership of sinful people being removed from power.
Note that the light of the moon is “its light” (Isaiah 13:10, Ezekiel 32:7), not “the light of the sun which the moon reflects.”
Isaiah 13:10 “For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.” The previous verse tells us that Elohim is going to pour out His wrath on a pagan people, and once again this is symbolic language, pointing to the leadership of sinful people being removed from power.
Ezekiel 32:7 “And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.” Elohim is saying that He is going to put a people group out, meaning He is going to desolate them and remove them from power. It’s a metaphor. Even if it was pointing to the literal sun and moon, we can see the direct relationship of the sun being covered with a cloud, which causes the moon to not reflect its light.
One day, the Lord promises to eradicate night time by making the moon shine as brightly as the sun currently does (Isaiah 30:26).
“Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.”
It’s clearly telling us that the light of the moon is as the light of the sun. If the light of the sun is increased by sevenfold, the light of the moon will increase by sevenfold. It’s showing the direct relationship, as the sun illuminates the moon!
At some time subsequent to this, the Lord will altogether eradicate the need for the moon to shine its light (Isaiah 60:19-20; cf. Revelation 21:23).
Isaiah 60:19-20 “The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.”
The Hebrew word for “brightness” is 5051 nogahh from 5050; brilliancy (literally or figuratively):—bright(-ness), light, (clear) shining.
Hebrew word 5050 nagahh: a primitive root; to glitter; causatively, to illuminate:—(en-)lighten, (cause to) shine.
So the Hebrew is declaring that the brightness of the moon is a result of it being illuminated. It’s saying that the sun shall be no more, so it won’t cause the moon to shine.
Revelation 21:23 “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.” The fact that a sun and moon aren’t needed anymore, does not prove that the moon provided its own light!
Jesus taught that the moon gave its own light. Jesus obviously believed that the light of the moon is “its light” (Matthew 24:29, Mark 13:24).
This truth is driven home by the original Greek, because “its light” is a translation of the Greek words phengos autes, literally, “The light of it/her.:
The word autes is the feminine case, and cannot modify the word for sun, which is a masculine word (ho helios). Rather, it modifies the word for moon, which is also a feminine case (he selene). This clearly points to the reality that the light of the moon is literally “its own light.”
Jesus could not have been more clear that the sun has one source of light that will be darkened one day, and that the moon has its own source of light that will be extinguished.
Matthew 24:29 and Mark 13:24 are speaking symbolically about the Jewish leadership system being removed from power, which took place in 70 A.D., when the Roman army destroyed the temple, desolated Jerusalem, and caused over 1.1 million Jews to die in and around Jerusalem. The High Priest was the sun, the Sanhedrin was the moon, and the priests were the stars.
Nathan Roberts has misrepresented what Messiah was declaring, to try to justify his flat earth beliefs.
Paul also defended a luminescent moon.
Oh, the irony of that statement! Nathan Roberts is pointing to a luminescent moon. And that’s exactly what it is, a luminary body, which reflects the suns light.
This truth is repeated explicitly by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:41, “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory”
This is simply pointing out that the sun has the most glory, the moon has less glory that the sun, and the stars have less glory yet; and even that the stars vary in glory. It does not prove that the moon provides it’s own light.
The term “glory” refers to brightness or radiance. “Another” means just what it says – it isn’t the same!
Nathan says that it refers to brightness or radiance, but the Strong’s Greek word doesn’t say that, as it’s referring to they glory.
1391 doxa: from the base of 1380; glory (as very apparent), in a wide application (literal or figurative, objective or subjective):—dignity, glory(-ious), honour, praise, worship.
That is, the sun and the moon have their own source of brightness.
That is Nathan’s eisegesis, his distorted perspective, declaring things which the verses are not saying.
Paul makes the moon’s ability to shine a crucial part of his teaching on the resurrection of believer’s glorified bodies.
Nathan Roberts has abused the Scriptures to proclaim that Paul points to a moon that illuminates itself, and no now he’s drawing a false conclusion, that the moon illuminating itself is related to believer’s glorified bodies. Just wow!
Thus, implying that the moon doesn’t give off its own light is a direct blow against the doctrine of individual resurrection and glorification?
Now Nathan Roberts is saying that those who say that the moon doesn’t provide it’s own light, are making a direct blow against the doctrine of individual resurrection and glorification. That’s a false statement that’s based on a false premise! And he tells me to repent for my teachings about the earth.
Nathan Roberts has abused the Scriptures, to try to make them proclaim that the moon illuminates itself; but we can clearly see the direct relationship, that when the sun is covered, its rays can’t illuminate the moon, so it’s darkened.
Flat earthers proclaim that the moon is self-illuminated.
They have to say this, because their flat earth theory is exposed as false, if the sun does illuminate the moon.
They have to excuse a myriad of things, to make their flat earth theory seem to work.
But we can see the truth with our own eyes!
Read The Moon Proves The Flat Earth Deception