The day the Sun stopped in the sky

Originally posted by JohnR7
Joshua 10:12-14
    Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel:

    "Sun, stand still over Gibeon;
    And Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon."
    [13] So the sun stood still,
    And the moon stopped,
    Till the people had revenge
    Upon their enemies.
 
Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. [14] And there has been no day like that, before it or after it, that the Lord heeded the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel.


 

So what do you think? Did Joshua really command the sun to stay still in the sky for a almost a day?

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I say he didn't, because it's impossible. It would break the laws of physics.

The sun stood still just like he said.

So if that was true the earth would have had to stop moving around the sun which is impossible.

Originally posted by Evee
The sun stood still just like he said.

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Well of course it stood still! It was never "moving" in the sky in the first place! The sun moving is an optical illusion caused by the Earth's rotation, remember?

I suppose Joshua could've cleared that up by asking the Earth to stop spinning for a while, but putting the brakes on rotation so suddenly would've caused geological and meteorlogical disasters across the globe.

Would it have been worth it?

You scientifically minded people believe in a 'cause-and-effect' relationship. You feel there is a perfectly natural explanation for everything. Students of the Bible also accept established scientific principles. They recognize, however, that the Bible often discusses miraculous events that cannot be explained scientifically according to present knowledge. Examples are the sun standing still in Joshua's day and Jesus' walking on water. (Joshua 10:12, 13; Matthew 14:23-34) However, these miracles are presented as resulting from God's power acting in a supernatural way.

This point is crucial. If the Bible asserted that people can walk on water without divine assistance or that the sun's apparent motion across the sky can be interrupted for no reason, it might seem to contradict scientific facts. However, when it attributes such events to God's power, it does not so much contradict science as lead the discussion into an area where science cannot yet follow.

Originally posted by LightBearer
You scientifically minded people believe in a 'cause-and-effect' relationship. You feel there is a perfectly natural explanation for everything. Students of the Bible also accept established scientific principles. They recognize, however, that the Bible often discusses miraculous events that cannot be explained scientifically according to present knowledge. Examples are the sun standing still in Joshua's day and Jesus' walking on water. (Joshua 10:12, 13; Matthew 14:23-34) However, these miracles are presented as resulting from God's power acting in a supernatural way.

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So you believe in science, but at the mention of God, science goes out the window?

George Orwell had a word for this: "doublethink."

This point is crucial. If the Bible asserted that people can walk on water without divine assistance or that the sun's apparent motion across the sky can be interrupted for no reason, it might seem to contradict scientific facts. However, when it attributes such events to God's power, it does not so much contradict science as lead the discussion into an area where science cannot yet follow.

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There's a word on these boards that sums up everything you just said: "goddidit."

You could've saved yourself a lot of typing.

Its an epistemological nightmare. Any claim - no matter how outrageous - must be taken seriously if the claimant invokes the supernatural to thwart the laws of nature.

"Your honor - I was more than a mile a way eating supper, but as soon as the police broke down the door, I was transported instantaneously to the scene of the crime and a bloody knife materialized in my hand. I know this seems unusual, but if you are not trapped in this scientific idea of cause and effect, you will realize that this was just a manifestation of God's Power."

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And because I can't resist:

"What do you mean why would God do a thing like that? It is a fool who thinks Himself Wiser than God! God doesn't always choose to reveal His reasons to us!"

Originally posted by JohnR7
In Isaiah it appears that He not only stoped the earth from spining, but also caused it to go backward 10 degrees. There are 360 degrees, so that would be about 4 min. Of couse this one maybe easier to explain away. [/size]

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actually it's more like 40.  the only explanation i've heard is that they were looking at a sundial- and clouds passed overhead, shifting the shadows by a little bit, because the brightest point overhead (the main source of light) was no longer where the sun was.

Can we have some consensus among the skeptics please?

Seesaw (erroneously): "So if that was true the earth would have had to stop moving around the sun which is impossible."

Nathan (correctly): "The sun moving is an optical illusion caused by the Earth's rotation, remember?"

Come on, lads - let's get it straight! j/k

Nathan -

I suppose Joshua could've cleared that up by asking the Earth to stop spinning for a while, but putting the brakes on rotation so suddenly would've caused geological and meteorlogical disasters across the globe.

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I understand that you've indulged (for the sake of the argument) the possibility that God could perform the first miracle.

Why not also the second?

Of course there are no other accounts in any of the other civilizations of the sun standing still in the sky(or of the moon standing still for the folks on the other side of the world). You would think that at least some other culture would have remembered or noticed that one.

I think they probably didn't notice because it was night-time on their side of the planet. (j/k)

Yep - and they would have been glad of it, too!

Who wouldn't?

(Especially the shift workers...)

Is it impossible for you literalists to even consider that legend and myth, intregal parts of all other world religions, were employed by the hebrews as well?

Why does this notion put at risk your belief in a God experience that brought you to Him in the first place? Was part of this revelation "And you must take all that is included in the holy scrpiture as literal fact."?

I can understand much more easily that many of you have had an experience, which I have not, that would confirm a belief in God, but using that experience to cloud your mind from reasonably approaching the literature of the Bible is just too much.

Seesaw (erroneously): "So if that was true the earth would have had to stop moving around the sun which is impossible."

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Philostratus -

Is it impossible for you literalists to even consider that legend and myth, intregal parts of all other world religions, were employed by the hebrews as well?

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Nope. But I'll want to see some concrete evidence to go with that assertion - and if I was challenging a crucial aspect of your worldview, you'd probably expect the same, eh?

Why does this notion put at risk your belief in a God experience that brought you to Him in the first place?

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It doesn't.

Was part of this revelation "And you must take all that is included in the holy scrpiture as literal fact."?

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Nope. In fact, most of us want to know why atheists (the wooden literalists of the world) accuse us of "dodging" when we do opt for a non-literal translation, then demand that we take everything that they present to us from the Bible, as literal statements of fact...

...and finally switch back to a new demand for a figurative interpretation when it suits their purposes!

I can understand much more easily that many of you have had an experience, which I have not, that would confirm a belief in God

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You can count me out. I've never had any such experience, and I don't expect to. Even if I had, I wouldn't be so foolish as to establish it as the epistemological foundation of my entire theological schema.

but using that experience to cloud your mind from reasonably approaching the literature of the Bible is just too much.

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Well, yes, it certainly would be - if I had had such an experience, and if I allowed it to affect me in the way that you describe.

But fortunately, I haven't - and I don't.

Um... seesaw? Did you actually pick up your mistake this time? The day/night dichotomy is caused by the Earth's rotation on its axis (which takes approx. 24 hours), not by the Earth's rotation around the Sun (which takes approx. 365 days.)

As I have already pointed out, Nathan managed to get the physics right, but your post (erroneously) contradicts his.

That's what my post was all about, remember.