Re: Sun standing still, & going backwards

From: Graham Richard Pointer (grp1@st-andrews.ac.uk)
Date: Wed Jan 24 2001 - 10:15:42 EST

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    Try the Ship Of Fools site:

    http://www.ship-of-fools.com/Myths/05Myth.html

    Graham

    On Wed, 24 Jan 2001, Charles F. Austerberry wrote:

    > Dear Colleagues:
    >
    > A dear friend sent me a story about a NASA contractor discovering evidence
    > that the sun must have stood still about a day (Joshua 10:8 and 12,13) and
    > even gone backwards ten degrees (2 Kings 20:9-11) at some time in the past.
    >
    > The technical details seem all wrong (e.g., the issue would be the earth's
    > rotation, not its orbit), but that's really beside the point, I think.
    >
    > Below is my reply message to my friend (I've pasted the story ahead of my
    > reaction to it).
    >
    > Does anyone know the history of this urban legend? I'd like to send that
    > to my friend too.
    >
    > In my initial reply to my friend I didn't even get into the question of
    > biblical hermeneutics. I don't think God did perturb the rotation (or
    > orbit) of the earth or moon at the request of Joshua or King Hezekiah. I
    > see some myth in the Bible. But not all myths are of equal value. Myths
    > in the Bible convey theological truths; Babylonian, Greek, Roman, and other
    > pagan mythologies don't convey much theological truth, though they do
    > express insight about human nature.
    >

    Graham Richard Pointer
    Dept of Physics and Astronomy
    North Haugh
    St Andrews
    Fife
    KY16 9SS
    Scotland

    http://star-www.st-and.ac.uk/~grp1



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