The other evening I was surfing the cable-TV channels, and happened to come across the NASA one -- within which was being broadcast an extended video of part of The Space Shuttle in view orbiting at what appeared to be VERY-slow-moving speed around the gigantic-spheroid Earth in the backround:
The following BIBLICALLY-recorded historical account is neither a [false] "tale" nor a [lying] "legend:"
In the tenth chapter of the Book of Joshua of the sacred-66-books Judeo-Christian (Old-and-New-Testament) Holy Bible, the following account is recorded:
Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel: "Sun, stand still over Gibeon; and Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon." So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the people had revenge upon their enemies. Is this not written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hastened to go down for about a whole day. And there has been no day like that, before it or after it, that the Lord heeded a voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel (Joshua 10:12-14).
We NASA-photos modern-astronomical-knowledge-savvy contemporaries assume that the Sun does not move around the Earth causing day and night, but rather Earth revolves around the Sun. Why did Joshua address the Sun rather than the Earth? Did he believe the Sun actually moved?
Metaphorical Language Of Appearance
As we have already mentioned, Scripture speaks in the language of appearance, the language of observation. From our point of view here on earth the sun (or, more accurately: Sun-LIGHT) does APPEAR to rise in the morning and set at night.
The language that Joshua uses in addressing Sun and Moon is the language of ordinary observation still used today in the scientific age. The author of the book of Joshua PERHAPS thought of the Sun as moving around the Earth (although such geocentric presumption is NOT in fact stated in the Biblical Text), but his language should not be misconstrued to construct am infallible view of the universe any more than should today's reference to the rising and setting of the sun. For example, the weather-channel reporters on TV nowadays speak of "sunrise" and "sunset" - a seemingly-geocentric metaphorical [mis?]-perception of actual celestial-mechanics movement.
Joshua knew that God had promised to go before His people to fight their battles and give them victory (Joshua 10:8). And in this battle he saw victory in its grasp, but time was running out. If he didn't conquer the enemy before dark, they would regroup and attack Israel the next day.
Knowing his God, ''and his Gods promise, he called out to God for help, and in the presence of all Israel, he commanded the 'sun to stand still.'
Although the Sun (from what I have heard from astrophysical scientists) itself does move around within the Milky Way galaxy, the Sun itself and per se in relation to planet Earth was at that time and yet is "standing still." Moreover, it seems that Earth not only revolves around the Sun, but Earth rotates on its own axis. Clearly, the Scriptural Text does not indicate that Joshua instead declared: "Earth quit moving," or "Earth, slow down your spinning on your axis to prolong daylight."
Joshua might have had no idea that his command to that Big Ball of Intensely-Hot Compression and Thermonuclear Fusion in the Sky to "stand still" slowed down 6.6 sextrillion tons of spinning gravel and water to give Israel victory over her enemies. But Joshua did know something that God had revealed to him.
Explanations of what might have happened are at least twofold:
1. Earth's rotation was slowed down, not stopped by not-known cause(s). This lengthened the day by almost twenty-four hours.
2. The sun and moon appeared to be out of their regular place by a supernaturally-instigated refractional mirage of not-known cause(s).
Slower Rotation Of Earth
Some interpret the Text to mean that a retardation of the movement of the earth is what happened. Instead of taking twenty-four hours for one rotation, such rotation took from thirty-six to forty-eight hours. This would have given Joshua and his armies sufficient daylight to win the battle over their enemies without causing the major disturbances that would have happened if the earth stopped rotating.
It has been speculated that if Earth was totally stopped for a period of twenty-four hours, inconceivable catastrophes might have befallen the entire planet and everything on its surface. While those who believe in the omnipotence of God would hardly concede that The LORD could not have prevented such catastrophe by allowing unique factors to overcome usual physical laws, it is erroneous to contend that the planet suddenly halted in its rotation completely. Verse 13 states that the sun "did not hasten to go down for about a whole day." The words "did not hasten" obviously imply a retardation of the movement so that the rotation required forty-eight hours rather than the usual twenty-four.
The best explanation seems to be the view that in answer to Joshua's Divinely-inspired request God caused the rotation of the earth to slow down so that it made one full rotation in approximately 48 hours rather than in 24.
God apparently caused the rotation of the earth to slow down. The earth, therefore, made one full rotation around the sun in a longer period of time. This fits with verse 13 which says, "The sun . . . delayed going down about a full day." Thus the sun was abnormally slow in getting to sunset, giving Joshua and his soldiers sufficient time to complete their victorious battle.
What could conceivable cause Earth's rotation on its axis to so retard?
Being that David said in the Psalms: "The Earth is established, and cannot be moved" and thereby thus inferred that all phenomena and processes and properties thereof which God created cannot - in any way - be altered until the presently-existing heavens and earth are cataclysmically destroyed with fire as described in the Second Epistle of Saint Peter and book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Holy Bible.
In my rather-extensive view of possible scientific anomalies the only one I can think of would be that some nearly-incredible source of distant-space originated or close-proximity gravity exerted enough force to temporarily slow down Earth's rotation but then receded or subsided the same as it began so as to cause Earth's rotational speed to resume normal velocity.
Verse 13 closes with the expression: "and hasted not to go down," where the word "hasted" (uz) again speaks of motion, and the phrase "to go down" (labho) is normally in reference to the sun setting. Still further, verse 14 states that this day was unique in history which suggests a major miracle occurred such as to the prolongation of a natural day. The extent of the prolongation can also be estimated. Since the hour was noon when Joshua voiced the call, and it was stated that the sun did not go down for "about a whole day" (keyom tamin), it is likely that the afternoon hours until sunset were prolonged twice their normal length. In other words, the total daylight hours of the day were one and one-half times normal.
As to how this was effected, the closing words of vs. 13 "and hasted not to go down about a whole day," suggest that the relative positions of Sun and Earth did not hold still but merely slowed in their change. This means that the earth simply slowed, in its speed of rotation on its axis, approximately to half that of normal. This did not necessarily affect the speed of movement around the sun of the rest of the solar system.
The Bible account does not say twenty-four hours, but rather about the duration of a whole day.
Another part of Old-Testament (i.e. Jewish Bible) Text records that God, through the prophet Isaiah and in answer to Hezekiahs prayer, promised to add fifteen years to his Hezekiah's life (II Kings 20:1-11; Isaiah 38:1-21). To confirm this promise, the shadow of the sundial was turned back ten degrees. Ten degrees on a sundial is forty minutes on the face of a clock.
Whether that was a case of bizarre refraction of sunlight, or instead a repeat of Earth's rotation being slowed by near-collision close encounter with Joshua's identical or a similar huge source of passing gravitational attraction, is not known.
As I continued to watch the breath-taking majesty of our HUGE planet Earth in the backround (which I assumed was the relatively stationary object being revolved around by The Space-Shuttle Space Station, relatively speaking), I was musing and pondering something I had retained from my rather-substantial educational backround:
Job 7:17 What is man, that You do make so much of him, and that You do set Your mind upon him...
Psalm 8:3 When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have established;
4 what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You do care for him?
5 Yet You have made him little less than God, and do crown him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the sea.
9 Oh LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!
Psalm 144:3 Oh LORD, what is man that You do regard him, or the son of man that You do think of him?
Hebrews 2:6 It has been testified somewhere, "What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man, that You care for him?
Clearly, as you can tell by the previous quotations, part of my scholastic backround has been instruction in that religious book commonly called: "The Holy Bible" (which is a collection of 66 Judeo-Christian books by a goodly number of obviously-intelligent-and-knowledgeable curiously-enlightened male authors of Jewish/Christian credentials).
It is hoped that reference to such does not adversely dismay either fool atheists nor fool agnostics:
First Kings 8:23 ...."Oh LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing continuous love to Your servants who walk in Your presence with all their heart...
Second Chronicles 6:14 and said, "Oh LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You, in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and showing constant love to Your servants who walk in Your presence with all their heart...
Psalm 10:4 In the pride of his countenance the wicked does not seek Him; all his thoughts are, "There is no God."
Psalm 14:1 To the choirmaster. Of David. The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they do abominable works [neither atheists nor agnostics are "good guys!"], there is none that does good [and such applies to both maliciously-lying atheists and deliberately-ignorant agnostics].
Psalm 53:1 To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath. A Maskil of David. The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity [NOT "the most honest and sensible people one can ever know!"]; there is none that does good [and such applies to both maliciously-lying atheists and deliberately-ignorant agnostics].
Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith [and without permanent belief and faith in who and what one should consistently have belief and faith in, one quickly becomes irreparably paralyzed with inevitably-fatal catatonic stupor], to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, "He who through faith is righteous shall live."
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth [we're talking serious diabolical censorship!].
19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
20 Ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature [and are not oxygen, electricity in wires, most electromagnetic radiation, and radioactivity also invisible?], namely, His eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have [intelligently - duh!] been made [by an Intelligent Designer -- duh!]. So they are without excuse;
21 for although they knew God they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to him, but they became [childishly Big-Bang-baloney] futile in their thinking and their [asinine-stupid] senseless minds were darkened.
22 Claiming to be wise, they became [despicably-ridiculous] fools....
Genesis 1:14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years,
15 and let them be lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so.
16 And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; He made the stars also.
17 And God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the [gigantic-planet] earth,
18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
19 And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
Thanks for bearing with me in my diversion to the supernatural, which yours truly can only briefly pursue trying to grasp the totality of with his understandable human limitations, lest he become overwhelmed attempting to fully fathom the infinite, thus rendering himself useless to you the reader.
But I felt that such was important to say because of the many demonic diehards who, in their pathetic godlessly-tiresome tirade, relentlessly persist in their divisively-deviant hang-up, mantra-mouthing the questionable (nowhere-found-in-the-Constitution) deceptively-misinterpreted liturgical buzzphrase: "separation of [denominational?] church/synagogue/mosque and state" -- as one inferior-gender nutcase twit who I heard on the radio, stating that she "did not think that a person could know if there is a God" (thus groundslessly accusing and condemning a vast number of other people who dogmatically profess a definite knowledge of ongoing relationship which the Creator God has with them and them with the Creator God)....whether her mindlessly-insidious snotty blattering was one of malicious and dishonest lying, and/or I-do-not-want-to-find-out sad-and-shameful ignorance she should plainly not be proud of but rather greatly ashamed about.
Actually, the consistent-and-logical creationist-related info found throughout the entire Sacred-66-books Judeo-Christian Holy Bible, especially within the Old-Testament of Genesis (the ULTIMATE Scientific Origins Textbook)...although found within a "religious" context (which of course does not make the associated knowledge false nor incorrect)...is quite understandable and acceptable to use whether in a public-school kindergarten setting all the way up to post-doctoral dissertations for some complex Ph.D. specialty, even outside of the area of the science of theology.
When it comes right down to it, most everything everyone does has either a religious or an anti-religious basis and motivation, which is why American founding fathers acknowledged the existence of and involvement with "religion" enshrined within the Non-Establishment/Non-Prohibition clauses of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, and it is the Congress subject to that Constitution who determines what and what not is to be legally taught as fact and fiction regarding not merely origins science but also required public morality within public schools nationwide.
There are some countries, like those in the Middle East, in which anti-religiously mouthing "separation of mosque and state" mantras would not be tolerated, and persisting in such antagonistic-against-public-religious-expression diatribe would cause the rebel who utters such to literally lose his or her head in short order after promptly being arrested and imprisoned -- even at the adament behest of modestly-dressed shawled-and-long-robed fundamentalist-muslim women who have the feet and brains and money to emigrate to free-but-decadently-immodest America but wisely and understandably choose of their own free wills to not do so.
Getting back to the NASA sights, my sympathies would extend to Galileo and Copernicus who were persecuted by cultic catholics, the latter of who were infidel religious goofs who could not accept the telescopic facts of rotating spheroids out in space but - I guess - presumed were shiny flat plates mysteriously propelling themselves across the daytime and nighttime skies.
Lamentably, we yet have the cultic-catholic heresies of maryolatry, apocrypha, purgatory, indulgences, authoritarian priest-and-papal infallibility, plus self-atonement by eucharistic ingestion to be polluted by and infested with...but that is another subject for another time.
When I perused the NASA photos, obviously revealing a gradually-curved globular planet in the backround, I thought about the wordless presence of the nearly-awesome sight, and that that is probably the closest I will ever get to a trip up there to view the colossal scenes firsthand in person.
As I looked at the NASA video, applications of both backwards-in-time and futuristic prophecies came to mind.
So, in a mere six days [which, according to the Hebrew word: yom, especially when preceded by an ordinal number and followed by the Hebrew idiomatic phrase "...and there as evening and there was morning" - always and only means a 24-hour period!] - a day for each stage of geological and lifeforms development - ALL THAT down there on the planet appeared back in the beginning of Earth's history!
And a Worldwide Flood covered the entire surface of planet Earth - enveloping the entire globe!
It is absolutely amazing that God revealed to one male human (and ONLY one man) the almost-unbelievable insight that He was, in phenomenally non-precedented upheaval, going to drastically alter the entire surface of planet Earth by copious amounts of water.
What is remarkable is that Noah, a specimen of sinfulness-by-default and yet righteous enough to receive God's communication to him about the coming catastrophic worldwide flood, was benevolently given that foreknowledge by the Lord so as to build a lives-saving Ark. Had the Creator God not done that, and had Noah (and Noah's apparently-righteous-enough-themselves family) not believed nor obediently cooperated with the Ark-building animals-assembling instructions, humankind would have become extinct from that point on. Simple childlike belief and faith is THAT important, and was THAT crucial!
Noah's acquired-from-primal-ancestors-Eve-and-Adam wicked imperfection, yet faith-and-trusting compensatory intentions and behavior causing God's fortunate favor, reminds me of:
Job 15:14 What is man, that he can be clean? Or he that is born of a woman, that he can be righteous?
As I studied the NASA video of what appeared as a vast clouds-dispersed-here-and-there blue-green-oceans-laden planet with no visible lifeforms thereon, it is fascinating that the Creator God decided to embody Himself as an infinitesmal conceived speck inside some Jewish-virgin's womb, then birthed in a farmhouse cowbarn, situated in some desert-terrain speck on the planetary surface called "Bethlehem" in that Mediterranean-Sea-proximity land mass known as Israel; that the lifeform Jesus rose up to heaven from Jerusalem in that same geographic area, and will soon someday return in blazing glory to that same location (which would be SOME spectacular sight for NASA astronauts to see at their vantage-point perch)!
I also contemplated the thought that that beautiful blue-green gigantic planet down there underneath the Shuttle Space Station was destined (sometime in the not-too-distant future, and along with the entire contents of the remainder of the Universe) to become incinerated and dissolved with fervent heat, according to Biblical prophecy:
Second Peter 3:3 First of all you must understand this, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own passions
4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation."
5 They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago, and an earth formed out of water and by means of water,
6 through which the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.
7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist have been stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of godless humans.
8 But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as [clearly NOT at all equivalent to!] one day.
9 The Lord is not slow about His promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
10 But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire [remember that mass is merely organized energy!], and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up.
11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,
12 waiting for and accelerating the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be kindled and dissolved, and the elements will dissolve with fire!
13 But according to His promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness resides.
14 Therefore, beloved, since you wait for these, be zealous to be found by Him without spot or blemish, and at peace.
15 And count the forbearance of our Lord as salvation. So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,
16 speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures.
17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, beware lest you be carried away with the error of lawless men and lose your own stability.
18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
WILL astronauts continue on to Mars, the moons of Jupiter and Saturn and further-out moons of planets, to Pluto...even way beyond our solar system to the nearest star four light-years away? The accelerating G-force (maxing out in intensity to just before a human painfully loses consciousness) would be relentless and take decades if not centuries to begin to come close to light speed. And the slowdown upon approach to that one distant star would take an equal amount of time with equally painful G-force deceleration....only to discover a starship pitted by non-atmosphere-sheltered small-to-larger asteroid collisions and in dire need of replacement parts with no grocery, liquor, automotive, cellphone, Walmart nor Ace Hardware and other stores around. How about the massive amounts of atmosphere, food, water, and other utility essentials needed for increasingly-boring survival and exploration...only to find there was nothing there orbiting the lone star but silent isolation, devoid of boogey-being alien lifeforms?