Author	: Bill Kochman
Publish	: Oct. 31, 2025
Update	: Oct. 31, 2025
Parts	: 02

Synopsis:



Continuing our discussion from part one, as I just explained to you, it is the elevated rock strata and sand which holds the seas and oceans of the world in their proper place. It is most certainly NOT any kind of imaginary ice wall which encircles the circumference of the Earth. To reiterate, you won't find a single verse in the Bible which comes close to supporting such a ridiculous belief. Yet sadly, so many of my Christian friends have fallen for this deception. We are very clearly told in the Book of Genesis that God RAISED UP the ground ABOVE the waters in order to give the surface of the Earth its shape. It was this act which created the deep ocean basins -- or depressions-- to hold the waters of the oceans in place. We are also told that God used these very rock layers and sand to serve as the permanent bounds -- or boundaries -- for all of these bodies of water.

Now, I can just imagine certain smart-alecky Flat Earthers proudly retorting "But Bill, it's common knowledge that some 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by water. There is no elevated land mass in every single region to contain it. So what is holding the water to your spherical Earth?" You see, in their folly, they think that they have got me. They think that they've found a valid reason for the existence of their fictitious ice wall. Well I'm sorry to disappoint you folks, but it just is NOT so. This in fact leads us directly to yet another outrageous fallacy which is embraced and promoted by some of the Flat Earth Theory cultists. Perhaps all of them. Again, who knows. Even they are not sure what they believe.

From my time intermingling with these Flat Earth theorists, I have also come to learn that they are convinced that we live on a still planet. In other words, the Earth does not rotate according to their thinking. It is everything else above us that is actually moving. Tragically, in the case of some of my Christian friends, this erroneous belief is derived from their own misunderstanding of certain Bible verses. But the more vicious Flat Earth theorists really use this point as a weapon to attack those of us who embrace a spherical Earth model, and a planet which rotates 23º on its axis, at about 1,037 miles per hour at its Equator. I mean they REALLY mock us over this issue, simply because they don't understand it, or even try to understand it, apparently.

I fully understand why some people have trouble embracing this concept. I did too initially, until I dug more into it so that I could better understand it. I mean, when one first learns that the Earth rotates at about 1,037 miles per hour, he immediately gets this idea in his head and envisions that it is just zipping around really fast. Perhaps he may even think about how fast he would be moving if he were able to drive at that speed in his car. One may even stop to wonder why everything doesn't just fly right off of the planet if the Earth is moving so fast. So there is good reason for us to be rather incredulous at first. After all, 1,037 miles per hour is truly fast, at least from a human perspective. However, it is not what you think, and the doubts disappear once you properly understand it.

So exactly how do us simple folk who don't possess a strong background in science even begin to grasp this concept? I will be up front and tell you that I am far from being the brightest crayon in the box. In fact, while I did graduate from high school with a B average many years ago, I have no college education whatsoever. Thus, anything I know today has been self-taught, and much of my education is the result of diligent online research over a period of many years. Do I claim to know a lot? Not really. Do I ever claim to be an expert in any field? Most definitely not. In fact, the more I learn, the more I also realize how little I actually know. It is my opinion that we all need to have a little humility inso far as our personal understanding is concerned. I am reminded of what the Apostle Paul wrote so many years ago:

"And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know."


You will find some related articles at the end of this same article where I address this specific issue. At any rate, for the curious among you, perhaps the first thing we need to address is how we arrive at Earth's equatorial rotational speed of 1,037 miles per hour. This is really a very simple operation to perform. First of all, the circumference of the Earth at the Equator is approximately 24,901 miles. Second, we know that the Earth requires about twenty-four hours to complete one full rotation, which obviously corresponds to the Earth's twenty-four time zones. So, to figure out the rotational speed at the Equator, all we really have to do is divide the equatorial circumference -- 24,901 miles -- by 24 hours. The result is a rotational speed of 1,037.5 miles per hour. So there you have it.

Let me give you a small tip. If you look at a large image of our planet, and then measure out 1,037.5 miles on it using a ruler, you will quickly realize how small this distance is when compared to the full 24,901-mile circumference of the Earth. It really helps to put the Earth's rotational speed in proper perspective. While we initially get this image in our minds of the Earth rotating so fast that it looks like a formless blur, that is definitely not the case. We are NOT talking about "The Red Blur" on the "Smallville" TV show. If we take the actual size of our planet into consideration and how long it takes to complete a full rotation, it turns out that the world is spinning at a rather leisurely pace.

So the next big question is this: If our planet is moving so darn fast, why in the world don't we feel it? I mean, it can seem really deceptive at first. As I said earlier, we think to ourselves "How is it that everything is so peaceful? How is it that everything remains so firmly on the ground? Why isn't everything flying all over the place trying to keep up with the speed of the Earth's equatorial rotation? Why isn't everything just flying off into Outer Space? I'll now begin to address this particular question.

It may amaze you when you realize how simple this is to understand. Imagine that one of your friends invites you to take a road trip. You hop into his car, and eventually you reach a portion of the road which is straight and very long where your friend gets rather daring. So he decides to put the pedal to the medal. Maybe he knows there is no radar in this part of the road, or hidden cop cars either. So there you are speeding along at ninety miles an hour listening to your favorite tunes on your cell phone. Maybe you even have your eyes closed so that you can really concentrate on the music.

Now tell me something honestly. Does your body really feel as if it is racing along at ninety miles per hour? Of course not. Unless you were looking out the window and watching as things zipped by you, you wouldn't even notice the high rate of speed at which the vehicle is moving. This is particularly true if the road is smooth, the car is relatively new, the brakes and shock absorbers are in excellent condition, the tires are in good condition, and the engine is running rather smoothly. In fact, the only time when you might physically notice the accelerated speed at which you are really moving, is when your friend applies the brakes in order to slow down, or applies the gas to speed up even further, or makes a turn in the road.

So why is this? Why doesn't your body even physically notice the fast rate of speed at which the vehicle is moving unless your driver friend does one of the aforementioned things? It is quite simply because the car's motion is both constant and smooth, and you are moving right along with the car at the very same constant velocity. Do you understand? Okay, so let us now apply this same concept to the Earth itself. The fact of the matter is that just as you're moving along at the very same speed as the vehicle you are in, in similar fashion, you -- and everything else on the Earth, such as the atmosphere, the oceans, everything anchored in the ground or built on top of the ground -- are likewise moving along at the same steady speed as the Earth itself. It is the very same principle.

In other words, unlike your friend's car which can slow down, speed up or make a turn in the road, Earth's rotational speed always remains constant and consistent. Stated another way, it does not stop, start, slow down, speed up or jerk because that is the way that the Lord made it to operate. Thus, because we are moving along at the same speed as the Earth, there is no relative change in the Earth's motion that our human bodies can detect as acceleration or movement. We simply don't have a frame of reference to feel it.

In addition to the previous explanation, allow me to likewise mention the fact that the force of the Earth's gravity is also considerably stronger than the slight centrifugal force which is created as a result of the planet's rotation. This in fact keeps us firmly planted on the ground. Centrifugal force is an apparent force that acts outward on a body moving around a center, arising from the body's inertia. So what is inertia? It is the natural tendency of objects in motion to remain in motion, and objects at rest to stay at rest, unless a force causes its velocity to change. Yeah, go ahead and wrap your head around that one. As I already stated, from my personal experience, I know that these concepts can be difficult to grasp at first. It does require expending some mental energy.

Sadly, because so many Flat Earth adherents apparently fail to understand these things, they make these ridiculous images which display the Earth spinning around so fast that it is just one huge blur, just as I mentioned to you a moment ago. By doing this, they hope to enforce their own view of a still Earth, while at the same time using such images to mock those of us who embrace the globe model. While some of them may in fact be ignorant regarding how these things work, I suspect that some of them do understand it, but they try to trick you into accepting their point of view anyway. In other words, as far as I can tell, it is intentional deception on their part.

But that is not all that the more mischievous Flat Earthers will do in order to try to deceive you. This in fact ties in directly with our earlier discussion concerning what really holds the seas and oceans to our spherical Earth. Now while I already mentioned the deep basins which restrict the seas and oceans to their designated places, as well as the surrounding elevated rock strata and sand which also helps to maintain these bodies of water in the Lord's ordained places for them, there is yet another reason regarding why this is so.

Being as they do not understand these concepts -- or choose to purposely ignore them -- in addition to making and sharing bogus images of a fast-spinning blurred Earth, what I've also seen some Flat Earth theorists do is create images or videos which show water flying off of the surface of the Earth. This is their way of supposedly proving that water cannot stick to a rotating, spheroid-shaped Earth, and thus requires a Flat Earth model. However, that is not all that they do. I've also come across images or videos which show a person holding a garden hose, and spraying water on a spinning beach ball, or on some similar round, rotating object. Of course, the water does not stick to the ball. It simply splashes all over the place as one would expect to happen.

Nevertheless, apparently, this is yet more "convincing proof" to some Flat Earth believers that water cannot possibly stick to a rotating, spheroid body of any kind -- such as the Earth -- and must therefore require a still Flat Earth model so as to remain on the surface of our planet, and not fly off into Outer Space. Well, at least for those who even believe that Outer Space exists. SMH. But what is the real truth regarding this matter? You should know that things are not as they seem, and certainly not what Flat Earth supporters want you to think is happening; at least not for the reasons which they hope you will naively accept.

The basic problem is that in addition to some possible degree of intentional deception, these mischievous Flat Earthers do NOT understand the relationship between size, mass, velocity, gravity, centrifugal force, centripetal force and various other related factors. In the simplest of terms, it is quite ludicrous to even consider that a small beach ball would have the same gravitational force as our huge planet Earth. While centrifugal force results in any object flying outward and away from the center of motion, on the other hand, gravity is a centripetal force which draws objects in towards the center of motion. In this case, we are of course talking about the Earth itself.

In other words, given that beach ball's size, mass, velocity, etc., it really has no gravitational pull to speak of. Thus, the water easily flies off of it. In contrast, given its size, mass, rotational velocity, etc., our planet has a very strong gravitational force which pulls the seas and oceans inward towards the center of mass. Not only that, in contrast to the actual size of the Earth and its crust, the mantle of liquid which surrounds our planet is very thin, making it even easier to understand how and why the Earth's gravitational force is sufficient to keep the seas and oceans bound to our sphere so that they do not fly off into Outer Space. Do you get it?

I mentioned earlier that the Earth's gravity is considerably stronger than the centrifugal force which is also created as a result of planetary rotation. So exactly how much stronger is the gravitational or centripetal force than the Earth's centrifugal force? Believe it or not, but it is in fact about 300 times stronger that the centrifugal force. Thus, we could say that the pull is stronger than the push, and our planet's gravity basically cancels out the weaker centrifugal force. That again is exactly why the water which is contained in the seas and oceans of our world don't just fly off of the surface of our rotating planet, as those foolish Flat Earth theorists want you to believe. They simply have no case, and some of them probably know it, but they don't care.

Based on what I have read, I could provide you with even more scientific details regarding all of these matters. However, I have strived to keep this as simple as possible. I hope that the information I have provided in this article is sufficient to convince you that the Flat Earth supporters are dead wrong with regard to the foolish things they post online in order to try to persuade naive, gullible people to accept their misguided, unscientific quackery.

As I said earlier, some of them simply do NOT care about the scientific facts. They will in fact ignore them and reject them if they conflict with and challenge their very misguided Flat Earth model ideas. They will argue and debate, throw you red herrings, go off on meaningless tangents, waste your time, mock and ridicule you, call you silly names, intentionally deceive you, and do whatever they can to promote their ideas. With many of them, it is simply a power trip, and all about pride, ego and getting in the last word. And if you happen to be a Bible-believing Christian as I am, they'll pound on you even harder. Have YOU experienced this with them? No surprise there.

Before closing this article, let me add some final words for any scientists who may possibly be reading this article. As I have already mentioned, I am NOT a scientist with an in-depth scientific background. Neither do I have an education beyond high school, and that was more than fifty years ago. I am in fact self-taught, in large part from the Internet. Thus, in this article, I have strived to explain these concepts to my readers who may possibly be in a similar situation as myself, in the simplest terms possible, based on my own understanding at this current time. If you as a seasoned scientist find any glaring discrepancies in anything I have stated here, I hope that you will have the patience to forgive me. I've done my best with what I know and understand. Thanks!

With these thoughts, I will bring this article to a close. It is my hope that you've found it informative and enlightening, and I pray that it has been a blessing in your life as well. If you have an account with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or with any other social network, I would really appreciate if you'd take the time to click or tap on the corresponding link that is found on this page. Thanks so much, and may God bless you abundantly!

For additional information and further study, you may want to refer to the list of reading resources below which were either mentioned in this article, or which contain topics which are related to this article. All of these articles are likewise located on the Bill's Bible Basics web server. To read these articles, simply click or tap on any link you see below.

Admiral Richard E. Byrd and the Hollow Earth Theory
Are You Flexible?
Facebook False Prophets and Misguided Teachers
Flat Earth Theory vs. James Van Allen
Flat Earth Theory: Another Refutation
Greeks, Planets and Wandering Stars
Humility in Our Understanding of God's Word
It Is Time to Wake Up!
My Evolving Theology
Noah's Ark and the Genesis Flood
Other Planets and the Flat Earth Theory
Please Stop Misinterpreting the Scriptures
Should Christians Engage in Doctrinal Debates?
The Case for or Against Flat Earth Adherents
The Only Credentials You Need
The Wisdom of God Versus the Philosophy of Men
Understanding the Bible in Context

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Please avail yourself of other areas of the Bill's Bible Basics website. There are many treasures for you to discover.