ninewands

And considering that the Sun rises and sets due to the Earth's rotation on its axis, just how do you propose to cause one without undergoing the other?

Answers in Genesis's three hypotheses suffer from major problems:

1. The thermal effects of a "refraction phenomenon" that doubled the number of sunlit hours in a day would be disastrous. Both armies would have been devastated by heatstroke.

2. A "libration effect" (rocking on the earth's axis) significant enough to double the length of the sunlit hours would have, no doubt, been noted by astronomers/astrologers in Egypt, who were among the best-trained on Earth at the time. I also find it hard to believe that an event of this magnitude would not have been reflected in the historical records and/or mythology of the Chinese. The environmental effects would have been almost as severe as stopping the earth due to the fact that the atmosphere and oceans are only inertially coupled to the Earth's rotation.

3. Slowing of the Earth's rotation ... suffers from all the problems that stopping it would. The energy expended in the Earth's rotation to a 48 hour period would only be one quarter of what would be expended stopping it. Still PLENTY to boil the oceans and turn every living thing on Earth into a "Krispy Kritter."

Coragyps

My favorite subtlety about that story is that Gibeon and Aijalon are maybe 15 km apart on an east-west line. This raises a couple of questions:

In what phase was the Moon if the Sun was "in the middle of the sky?" It couldn't have been over half and have been above the horizon. Or was it a full moon, and just miraculous?

Was the Moon up to furnish light at Aijalon? If so, how much light was it able to add to the Sun's? The Sun would have been as much as maybe 0.2 degree lower in the sky that at Gibeon. It's typically a little tough to tell the difference in lighting effects between a solar elevation of 63.2 and 63.4 degrees.

John, I don't think you'll ever get a straight answer.

Sheshbazzar

will be As in the thread "A solar eclipse?", "Three Hours of Darkness at mid-day"
a true "miracle" by very its definition defies explanation.

Ha-Shem, by what the Name implies, is in absolute and total control of REALITY , not subject to "laws of nature", but in determining what IS reality, and what reality will be, the laws of nature are also in subjection to;
Will Be Whatsoever I Will Cause To Be; "Nothing is impossible for Yahweh", is an acknowledgment that the Name is more than 'just' a name, but an ever present statement of the possibility of all things, the things deemed "impossible", as well as the things deemed "possible".
It is my absolute conviction that in due time much more is yet to be revealed concerning The Name, even as it has to me for many years now, stood as a perfect and invariable mathematical statement, which while it is not as yet so recognized by most of humanity, will in due time be made fully manifest unto all men everywhere.
No person need be offended, but there are many things which cannot be comprehended, understood, nor received while in a state in unbelief, nor without the believing application of fervent sincere prayers, with an equally sincere belief that your prayers are heard, and will be answered.
Thus it is written,"All things are possible to him that believes." and "Pray without ceasing."

Hydra009

Yes, I considered that. But heliocentrism was not exactly an accepted idea in biblical times - they would have meant that the sun did not appear to move in the sky relative to the human observer.

Eldarion Lathria

Since Joshua never existed, and the events described never happened; there is no need to explain how the sun or earth stood still.

Eldarion Lathria

MiddleMan

If that's the case, then why can't all the miracles of the Bible be explained this way? Why use this for only one miracle which seems to cause the apologist fits? We can just say, regarding the resurrection, "it could have been a natural phenomenon observed to be a return from the dead, or God could have messed with their (disciple's) minds."

I hate Christian apologetics. It's such double-think and "whatever will do for the moment." It rarely has any consistency.

schu

Exactly! One of the ways we can know a written work is a piece of fiction is that impossible things happen in them. When things happen that are inconsistent with reality we know the story is fiction.

rosy tetra

It’s a simple mechanism. Samantha did it on Bewitched all the time. God just wiggled his nose and everything froze in time except certain specified people. The people finish what they gotta do, God wiggles his nose again, and everything unfreezes.

Sheshbazzar

Well actually, Yahweh does not even need to wiggle His nose.

Lunawalk

well Christians who believed in inerrancy will basically say it was an miracle and leave it at that. Back in biblical times they had an different view of the universe. They thought the sun orbited around the earth. the moon gave it own light Christians today view the bible in modern terms. they know that the earth revolves around the sun. so it must be poetic or an miracle or an misunderstanding of the text. just my view