Glenn:
>If all relative motion stopped for 24 hours, when everything started up
>again, it would be in the same place as it was before and this this event
>will forever be unverifiable by astronical data.
Bill:
> If the earth had stopped rotating for a day and we had an ancient log
> showing planet positions day by day but didn't note that one day was half
> again as long as the others, that log would show an anomaly -- Moon and
> observed planet positions jumping ahead one day.
>
> If everything stopped moving, Babylonian astronomers (say) using water
> clocks or hourglasses or the like would have observed that the moon and
> observed planets would be a day behind predicted positions in their orbits.
There are several possibilities regarding the earth stopping (and
also the sun returning up the stairs in 2 Kings 20:9-11 and Isaiah
38:8):
1. All planetary motion in the universe stopped. If so, there will
be no way of verifying this from astronomic tables. Of course, those
who lived during the event would have observed it. Joshua 10:13 says
that the sun and moon stopping was recorded somewhere about this
event (the work is evidently lost, or hidden, otherwise someone would
have reported it). Sand and water clocks, being based on gravity,
would be unaffected since gravity still existed, at least in the
vicinity of the affected people.
2. The earth and the moon stopped rotating but the rest of the
universe didn't. Note that this doesn't say anything about the
earth's progression around the sun. Comparisons of ancient
astrological charts could indicate the discrepancy. Of course, it is
possible that an apprentice astrologer noted the discrepancy but was
over-ruled by his superior who said "This is impossible, so you must
be in error." Hence the proof was lost due to managerial
incompetence.
3. The third option (it was just an unusually clear day that seemed
to last forever, if I remember the liberal interpretation) is bunk.
Anyone who has lived in a desert climate knows that clear, sunny
days are the norm. People would notice and if they didn't their
animals definitely would (they would continue to get hungry on their
internal clock, not the solar time).
Assuming the material is factual (which I do), I cannot think of
another option. Hence, if star charts show the discrepancy, then we
know God stopped only the earth and the moon. If the charts do not
show the discrepancy, then maybe the universe stopped rotating.
William M. Frix
Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering
Box 3021
John Brown University
Siloam Springs, AR 72761
Phone: (501) 524-7466
FAX: (501) 524-7499
EMAIL: wfrix@engr.jbu.edu