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Old 05-25-2007, 11:26 AM   #1
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Default The geocentric faith

Ecclesiastes 1:5 "The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose."

Psalm 19:4-6 "Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof"

Psalm 93:1 "the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved."

Isaiah 38:8 "Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down."

Joshua 10:12-13 "10:12 Then spake Joshua 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 thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day"

That's quite a big problem in the bible, just how many verses indicate this?. How do can apologetics handle this?, i mean seriously. There was a huge controversy over this back in copernicus and galileo's time, and now all of the sudden it's just metaphors?
Did you notice something else too?, heliocentricity, like evolution, was just a theory
But do you know what's even wierder than that?, the sun isn't really stationary
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Big-Quest...347582434.html
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Old 05-25-2007, 12:59 PM   #2
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Welcome!

http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=170783

http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=147258

http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=105317

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The flat-earth view is geocentricity with further restrictions.
http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=91049
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Old 05-25-2007, 01:05 PM   #3
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Clivedurdle's links:

http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=170783 = flat earth thread in S&S - probably a joke

http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=147258 = Geocentrism in S&S

http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=105317 = geocentric universe in BCH, the most relevant to your discussion.

This is not a problem for Christians who do not hold to inerrancy.
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Old 05-25-2007, 01:10 PM   #4
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Yeah, I hardly consider the biblical view as geo-centric. More like the Earth is the world, and the great light of the day and the night are moved across the sky and miraculously they rise and set on precise schedules, thus we are given night and day, not to mention months and years. Just how awesome that such a schedule can be kept! Oh wait a minute "you mean we live on a rotating ball that revolves around the Sun, which revolves with all the little tiny stars around a Galaxy in a Universe that makes this Galaxy like a grain of sand?"
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Old 05-26-2007, 01:24 AM   #5
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I recall reading somewhere that it took centuries for "The Church" to accept the 16th century astronomical observations and calculations. The real challenge now is how long will it take for the same constituency to accept the 19th and 20th century's most fundamental findings of biology!
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Old 05-26-2007, 07:31 AM   #6
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Originally Posted by neilgodfrey View Post
I recall reading somewhere that it took centuries for "The Church" to accept the 16th century astronomical observations and calculations.
The only writers I've seen make that claim are anti-religious bigots zealots. Every impartial source I've read has said the church accommodated itself to the heliocentrism rather quickly. And by "quickly," I mean that by Newton's time it was no longer an issue.
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Old 05-26-2007, 03:15 PM   #7
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The only writers I've seen make that claim are anti-religious bigots zealots. Every impartial source I've read has said the church accommodated itself to the heliocentrism rather quickly. And by "quickly," I mean that by Newton's time it was no longer an issue.
Which writers make that claim then? I was trying to recollect where I have read this so you would do me a favour by giving me some possible names.

As I said, I "recall reading somewhere" -- and most books I read on the history of that period are scholarly publications -- so if I'm mistaken in the claim, as you say I am, then that is good. It gives one some hope. And hope is sorely needed given the current reluctance, even outright hostility, one might even say "anti-enlightenment bigotry", on the part of significant religious forces today, against the modern discoveries of biology.

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Old 05-26-2007, 07:51 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by neilgodfrey View Post
I recall reading somewhere that it took centuries for "The Church" to accept the 16th century astronomical observations and calculations. The real challenge now is how long will it take for the same constituency to accept the 19th and 20th century's most fundamental findings of biology!
Don't worry we're living the last days, the last days of the Church.
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Old 05-27-2007, 06:55 AM   #9
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Originally Posted by Nergel View Post
Joshua 10:12-13 "10:12 Then spake Joshua 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 thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day"
Joshua's sun-stopping miracle is discussed in this thread, and starting here, I show that the sun was actually thought to have stopped moving, contra the "exegesis" of some Christian apologists.


Quote:
That's quite a big problem in the bible, just how many verses indicate this?. How do can apologetics handle this?, i mean seriously. There was a huge controversy over this back in copernicus and galileo's time, and now all of the sudden it's just metaphors?
One of the most common "defenses" of scientific errors in the Bible is to point out that we still use terms like sunrise and sunset, even though we know that these terms aren't scientifically accurate. See this page for more.
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Old 05-27-2007, 07:03 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Doug Shaver
Every impartial source I've read has said the church accommodated itself to the heliocentrism rather quickly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by neilgodfrey View Post
Which writers make that claim then?
Most of my reading in that area was several years ago. The only name I can recall off the top of my head is Isaac Asimov.
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