How can christians believe the Bible when it says it's the sun that orbits the earth?

Question

In the book of Joshua (ch 10, verse 11-15) theres a pretty extraordinary event that takes place.God in his "infinite wisdom" actually stops the sun so that joshua could see the people he was butchering........Now, you're probably going-WTF? Freeze the sun? If god wanted there to be light, why would he freezes the sun-that wouldnt do anything because earth that rotates the sun not the other way around. So, isn't it understandable that the primitive guy who wrote the Bible apparently had the misconception that it was sun that moves and it was the earth that was set "firm"?

Answer 1

Because God to them is all powerful he can do anything.

What is said in the Bible is not necessarily literal it could be a metaphor or way of explaining a conept to people in way they'll understand.

Answer 2

The sun does move in an orbit around the Milky way galaxy for a start and every person that says sunrise and sunset is wrong by that logic. Astronomers talk about the motion of the star and I am pretty sure they know what they are talking about too. It is a RELATIVE motion from the persons location and I would believe the same logic applies here.

Try again.

"If I had no other data than the early chapters of Genesis, some of the Psalms and other passages of Scripture, I would have arrived at essentially the same picture of the origin of the universe, as is indicated by the scientific data." Nobel Prize-winning physicist Arno Penzias (Big Bang Theorist)

Now if the same God that created the universe chose to he could stop both, you missed the part about the sundial moving backwards in another place... try reading some more.

Answer 3

No for other scriptures plainly indicate awareness of things they could not have known back then. The circlular earth hanging upon nothing. (Isaiah 40: 22; Job 26: 7)

From the writer's point of view, sunlight kept shinning. Whether from divine intervention to stop the rotation of a planet He created without disaster occuring or some other form of light source being made; we do not know. Whatever the details, the results were Joshua had enough light to accomplish what he needed to do.

In no way does it indicate a belief in the sun orbiting the earth.

Answer 4

Of course the ancient people believed that the Sun moved around the Earth... look... if we did not learned this in nowadays school and if we looked at sky to get the answer, probably we will think the same. We see the sun arising at morning and going through the sky during the day...It seems that the Sun is moving around the Earth.

So... this misconception does not disqualify the Bible message.

Answer 5

With the limited understanding of the universe they had back then, is it any wonder that they thought the sun was freezing instead of the earth?

A mere 75 years ago atheists said that since a virgin birth is "impossible" then the New Testament was false. The believers could not even respond, after all, everyone knew sex had to be involved in order to get pregnant. But today, any virgin can go to the doctor and get pregnant by artificial insemination, and no one even bats an eye.

Answer 6

You are confusing language and concepts. We use even in our enlightened society words that mean "The Sun stops". That is the meaning of the word Solstice, which is still in our language. We talk about "retrograde" motion of planets, when what we really mean to do is describe apparent motion.

We still refer to sunrise and sunset, when we know that the sun does not rise, but the Earth turns so that the Sun is visible.

You are not showing primitive man's ignorance of planetary motion, but your own lack of understanding of language conventions relating to these motions.

I'm not A Christian, but I'm at least willing to understand that those who write about stellar and planetary movement have, and continue to write about such from the position that the Earth is somehow fixed. It is a reference point, which is needed for our own minds, even if it proves somewhat scientifically or mathematically inaccurate.

Answer 7

Erm...I'm looking...
I don't see where it says anything orbits anything. All it actually says is that the sun and the moon stood still in the sky.
I've heard similar phrases from people even today.
"The sun seemed to stay in place as the temperature rose. It was as if it would never go down."
"The moon stood above the trees."
The point of the story is not to give us an astronomy lesson, but rather to show us the power of God, Who can stop the stars in their courses.

Answer 8

Sure, there are ancient assumptions in the Bible that no one takes literally (even the people who say they take everything in the Bible literally). But the Bible is not a science textbook. It deals with issues concerning the human spirit; how people should live, how we should treat one another. I find it amusing that people who wish to destroy the credibility of the Bible choose to read it just as literally (or even more so) than Fundamentalist believers.

Answer 9

wow

now look who is failing Science class

There is nothing in the Bible about the sun orbiting the earth

Also, the time period that God stopped the movement of the sun has been proven by scientist who were trying to disprove the Bible.
They have calculated time back to approx. that period and there is missing time ( that would account for the stopping of the sun ) for about the amount of time in question.

Answer 10

roflamo. omg your silly. that was well over 2000 years ago, and to the writers of that time, the sun DID orbit the earth. you really need to get a life, and a clue, in whatever order you want