Weird Science

On the day the LORD gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the LORD in the presence of Israel: “Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”

So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar.

The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.
Joshua 10:12-13

Isaiah answered, “This is the LORD’s sign to you that the LORD will do what he has promised: Shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or shall it go back ten steps?”

“It is a simple matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps,” said Hezekiah. “Rather, have it go back ten steps.”

Then the prophet Isaiah called on the LORD, and the LORD made the shadow go back the ten steps it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.
2 Kings 20:9-11

If you've had access to e-mail and the Internet for any length of time, I am certain you have seen the recurring story of the NASA computers that found the missing day in history.  I'm not going to retell the story to you however; unfortunately, it's just not true.

What I'm interested in today is the story of Galileo.  In 1633, Galileo was imprisoned for daring to say that the earth revolves around the sun.  This view was contrary to the commonly held view of the time, the Earth-centered universe.  That got me thinking, does the Bible really contradict Galileo; does the Bible actually say the earth is the center of the universe?

The two Scriptures I have quoted commonly used by skeptics to "prove" that the Bible is not accurate.  After all, we know that for the length of the day to be extended, it would be the Earth that had to stop moving, not the Sun.  What is apparently forgotten is that the book of Joshua is the book of history, written for its contemporary audience.  If the Bible had said that the Earth had stopped rotating on its axis for about a day, it would have sounded like nonsense to them.

As I have stated before, I believe God gave us our brains for a reason.  To the people of the Bible, the idea of the earth moving was nonsense.  It is only through careful observation of the movements of the planets and the moon that the true nature of the solar system has come to be understood.

The universe is so vast and manner in which it operates are so complex that modern science has barely scratched the surface.  It is amazing for me to realize that God could have designed all of it.

Do you have an opinion on the matter?  Feel free to comment.  I'll close with this Scripture from Job.

He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; He suspends the earth over nothing.
Job 26:7