"The Sun DID Stand Still (sic)"

D. Eric Greenhow, M.D.,Ph.D. (egreenho@mail.med.upenn.edu)
Tue, 04 Mar 1997 19:00:55 -0500

I was given a copy of a one page article entitled The Sun Did Stand Still.
This purports that "astronauts and space scientists", were "checking the
position of the sun, moon, and planets out in space where they would be 100
years and 1000 years from now. We have to know this so we don't send a
satellite up and have it bump into something later in its orbits" The
article goes on to say that no matter how they manipulated the data, they
were left with one day unaccounted for. Some scientist then remembered from
his Sunday School days something about Joshua and the sun standing still,
and Hezekiah being visited by Isaiah who made the sun go backwards ten
degrees. These two events added up to the missing time, and so the
scientists were amazed etc etc. The article ends with the statement "Our
God is rubbing their noses in His Truth"

I recall somewhere in my distant memory that this story has previously made
the rounds in evangelical circles, and after being given the hype that one
would expect, was demonstrated to be patently untrue. (It also reminds me
of the recurrent story of satanism in the Proctor and Gamble Company logo.)

In my account, the only name listed is one Harold Hill, President of the
Curtis Engine Company of Baltimore Maryland. I immediately thought of
Professor Harold Hill, the musical instrument salesman and con artist of The
Music Man.

Can anyone tell me if my memory is correct, that this story circulated
previously?

I will fax the copy I have to anyone who is interested, or if enough are
interested, I will type it into a file for circulation on this reflector.