>>> "Randy Isaac" <randyisaac@comcast.net> 7/5/2007 5:21 PM >>>writes:
It seems that we've phrased the whole discussion inappropriately. Yes, as
George mentions, it is possible to find a frame of reference in which the
earth is stationary (though possibly rotating) and one in which the sun is
stationary.
If we think of the view where the author(s) of the Bible write from their
own reference frame, then a reference frame centered at the surface of the
earth, in Mesopotamia perhaps, would be the proper reference. In that
frame,
the earth is indeed stationary.
Ted comments:
For the modern geocentrists, however, the relevant frame is God's, not
ours. God (as they see it) states in Joshua chapter 10 that the sun stood
still, not the earth, in response to Joshua's needs. Thus, the sun was
normally in motion, not the earth. Joshua's request might reflect his own
limited understanding of cosmology, but God's description (ie, those parts
of the chapter that do not directly quote Joshua) is in God's own words and
reflects the accurate and true system of the world. Those words are not
accommodated to the understanding of the rude and unlearned (to borrow the
words of Galileo), for that would make God culpable in a lie. At least that
is their point of view.
Ted
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Received on Fri Jul 6 11:08:57 2007
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