Sunday morning I was talking with a brother at church whose heritage is Iraqi, and he was telling me about a YouTube video showing parts of a debate that was very popular in Iraq. The subject? Is the Earth Flat? The debaters are both college professors. The man defending a flat earth does so on the basis of the Qur’an. When I came home lo and behold David Wood had posted the video. Here it is.
I’m sure many in the US are utterly amazed that this kind of argumentation is going on today in light of satellites and the like (just how DOES this GPS computer of mine get me to within a couple of feet of where I want to go?). There are obviously many, many Muslims who are fully aware of the reality of the modern world and who will only shake their heads at the idea of someone defending a flat earth on the basis of the Qur’an. Were there not Christians who did the same? But here is the question: given the over-arching legal power of Sharia, what internal corrective mechanism is there in Islam to allow the refutation of these kinds of people who refuse to read the Qur’an in any other way than as it was read by the first generations of Muslims? That is something to ponder when one speaks of “moderate” Islam.
Alpha and Omega Ministries is a Christian apologetics organization based in Phoenix, Arizona. James White, director, is a professor, having taught Greek, Systematic Theology, and various topics in the field of apologetics for numerous schools.
