What Do You Think About This Bible Story?

Ah ha! That's why we have leap year.

1) Did it happen?

Clearly *something* happened. Exactly *what* happened is difficult to determine.

2) Would it have affected every civilization in the world?

Well - as described, it would have been **experienced** by every civilization in the World (resulting either in extended darkness or extended daylight). How much it would have **affected** them is uncertain - but probably not hugely.

3) Would it have affected the orbits of every planet in the solar system?

No - as described, it would not have affected the orbit of any planet, not even the Earth's orbit.

4) What are we to learn from this story?

The story gives us little information about exactly what happened from an astronomical / scientific point of view. What we learn from the story is that God did a great (supernatural) thing in order to aid the Jews in obtaining the Promised Land.

I once calculated the force needed to stop the rotation of the Earth. Assuming it took the Earth an entire hour to stop, in fact no one on Earth would have noticed the deceleration as it is so slight. Likewise, it would have been unnoticeable if the Earth were "spun up" again over the period of one hour.

I also did a *very* quick and unprofessional survey of the World's civilizations that existed at that time. It seems that *none* of the existing world empires kept careful records of astronomical observations as did empires both earlier (Sumerian/Babylonian) and later (China/Neo-Babylonian). At least, we do not seem to *possess* any such records from that time period. (Joshua was supposed to have lived around 1400 B.C.E.)

Jim, http://www.bible-reviews.com/

P.S In regard to some previous answers

* "The sun does not rotate around the earth" - a matter of semantics (at the least). According to Einstein's theory, the Sun in fact *does* orbit the Earth - but even ignoring that, **common** language usage both then and today claims that the Sun does travel through the sky (rises, sets, advances toward noon, etc. etc. etc. etc.)

* "The sun doesn't move" - false, the Sun is hurtling through space at an incredible speed.

* "Because of inertia, everything on the surface of the Earth would be violently thrown into the air." - only if the Earth were stopped **suddenly**. If, as I indicate above, the Earth were subjected to a constant braking force over the period of just one hour sufficient to halt its rotation, none of these effects would occur - just like the difference between gradually slowing to a stop at an intersection and suddenly slowing to a stop by hitting a brick wall.

* "By stopping the earth in it's orbit--anything not nailed down according to Newton would have proceeded of into space at 1000 mph in the direction of the earths rotation" - again, assumes a sudden stoppage (which no scientist would ever assume).

* "I think there would be other people who would have noticed." - I think other people *did* notice - but what records other than The Bible do we have of astronomical events during that period?

* "Why doesn’t God so us these amazing things now?" - well, God did this once in the 6,000-year (minimum) period covered by The Bible. If that is how often he performs such miracles, we should not expect another such for about 2,500 years.

* "The Chinese had a very advanced civilization and were noted astronomers" - the *earliest* Chinese writing known is dated to about the same period as Joshua. The records of "noted astronomers" during **that** time period have not been discovered.

It is yet another moment in the Bible that shows that people wrote it; it goes along with Noah’s flood in that way. It is their myths and hope that a God would help one of their own like that. There is no evidence, as far as I know, that other civilizations experienced such an extraordinary celestial event. I think there would be other people who would have noticed. I could see some theists claiming that God made sure life didn’t die or planets didn’t fall out of orbit or covered it for other people or any number of other apologetic claims. All of which do not prove this story actually happened. It is another dramatic event of literature. Why doesn’t God so us these amazing things now? Something so beyond human logic would really prove the existence of a creator. We are to learn that God really had his favorites throughout the book. And some of them got some amazing favors!

I think other civilizations around at the same time would have noticed a day the sun stopped in the sky. The Chinese had a very advanced civilization and were noted astronomers, yet none witnessed such a rare event.

It was pure fantasy on the part of Bible writers. They sure knew how to spin a good yarn.

Um, "stopping the sun" does nothing to change the length of the day. Go back to grade school. This assumes the sun revolves around the earth!!! Whoopsie. It's the passage that got Galileo in trouble.

eta:Seriously, I can't believe you asked the question and so many people answered without even noticing. REALITY FAIL. If you wanted to point out the Bible is factually wrong, good job.

In "The Man Who Could Work Miracles", H.G. Wells describes what would really happen. Because of inertia, everything on the surface of the Earth would be violently thrown into the air. It probably wouldn't effect other planets' orbits, because the Sun's apparent stopping doesn't imply that the Earth ceased moving through it's orbit, just that it's Earth's rotation became magically synchronous.

No, it didn't happen. Joshua is mythical anyways. The spread of Judaism through Canaan wasn't done through a single military campaign, but through a natural spread over centuries. All the stories about battles are probably local stories of unrelated conflicts exagerated to involve armies of millions.

The sun doesnt move.

Seems strange that the guy who allegedly created the heavens and the earth wasnt aware of how his creation actually worked, in that the sun is stationary....

If the earth's rotation stopped for that period of time, then EVERY civilization on earth would have noted and recorded the event. The fact that none did seems to point to this as being just another Christian fairy tale.

It should be easy enough to determine if it is true. By stopping the earth in it's orbit--anything not nailed down according to Newton would have proceeded of into space at 1000 mph in the direction of the earths rotation. The hubble space telescope is pretty good--it should be able to see the debris field which by calculation should be a less than a few light years away.

Anything is possible, including this. However, it is extremely improbable. There is no proof of God existing so there would be no way to prove this story was real. If we knew there was a God, it would be a different story because we could directly ask Him. But we don't and we have no way of knowing that this happened with just an old book.

Since the sun isn't moving in the sky, it's impossible to stop it. It's already stopped.

The sun doesn't move, our planet rotates so that it *appears* the sun moves -- but the sun doesn't move.

From that story we learn that the story is false, that the bible writers were ignorant of how the solar system actually works, and that the writer of that story made it all up.

Peace.

I don't think everyone can gain something from this story. I think the message to Christians was supposed to be that God is so powerful he can even stop time. Also, it adds to the "ask and ye shall receive" notion that if you support God he will reward you.