Title Page of Galileo's Dialogue
Joshua 10 (NIV)
12 On the day the LORD gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the LORD in the presence of Israel:
“Sun, stand still over Gibeon,
and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”
13So the sun stood still,
and the moon stopped,
till the nation avenged itself on[b] its enemies,as it is written in the Book of Jashar.
The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.
Ecclesiastes 1
5 The sun rises and the sun sets,
and hurries back to where it rises.1 Chronicles 16
30 Tremble before him, all the earth!
The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.Psalm 93 (KJV)
1The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.
Psalm 96
10Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.
Psalm 104
5 He set the earth on its foundations;
it can never be moved.
It is a sad fact that many people do not accept the theory of evolution because it violates their religious beliefs. The same reasons that people do not accept the theory of evolution are also still used to claim the earth does not move, either by rotating on its axis or by orbiting the sun. Due to evidence starting with Copernicus and Galileo and culminating with modern NASA scientists, we now know the earth does move. It was not always accepted. The Christian sects all were against geocentricity since it contradicted the bible. The Catholic Church condemned the teaching of heliocentricity (model in which the earth orbits the sun) in 1616. Galileo published The Dialogue Concerning The Two Chief World Systems in 1632. In 1633, Galileo was convicted of heresy and remained under house arrest until he died. He was shown the instruments of torture used against previous heretics, such as Giodarno Bruno, who also promoted heliocentricity and was executed for heresy. The Catholic Church did not admit it was wrong about Galileo until 1992 and did not apologize until 2000.
Due to fundamentalist Christians attacking evolution and following a bible-only approach to knowledge, many Christians are not only convinced evolution is wrong but now also attack the idea of a rotating, orbiting earth. The verses above are just some of the 67 verses from http://www.fixedearth.com (http://www.fixedearth.com/sixty-seven%20references.htm) that show the bible supports geocentricity (the model in which the sun orbits the non-moving earth). Recently there was a conference in Galileo Was Wrong, The Church Was Right conference held by fundamentalist Christians in South Bend, Indiana (http://www.galileowaswrong.com/galileowaswrong/). Let’s hope that Christians do not return us to the Dark Ages.
Bible Verses Rarely Read on Sunday 
I always find it strange that joshua who is supposed to be writing an autobiography needs to quote someone else aka the book of jasher. The same weirdness occurs in the gospels where the apostle Matthew who travelled with jesus copied from mark who never met jesus and is acknowledged as never bei g in israel.
By: mP on February 6, 2012
at 2:31 am
Most people today also fail to appreciate the ancients described eclipses as the sun standing still which is clearly demonstrated in our word for the phenomena – solstice. Solstice literally means sun still. Could be that joshua is sayi g there was an eclipse and not that the sun literally stood still for ever or a whole day.
By: mP on February 6, 2012
at 2:34 am
Wow, mP super interesting view. The way I look at it, the Word of God is a parable. In other words, there is some truth to it when you take it at face value, but it is often confusing when out of context. This context refers to the “world” as the realm which we currently inhabit, i.e. the living realm (dimension) we we have been born into and will pass away from. As a believer, these verses remind me that I, not this realm, can change and grow and move on, while the “world,” i.e. everything around me on this plane, is unmovable, except by God who put it there. I’ve learned that I am not in control of people, places, things or events (the “world” in my life). So, who or what is? Well, I started by recognizing that it’s not me.
More simply put, these verses serve to remind us that we earthlings literally cannot move the world. (Even with a gigantic lever, what would we place the fulcrum on?) Only the force that put it there (whatever force you would like to call it) can change or move it.
Thanks for the hilarious and unlikely lego scenarios!
~Liz
p.s. Holy cow that’s a beautiful verse! I just looked up the whole thing. It’s all about praising God. I mean, if that’s a force of nature for you, then so be it. It’s really just about going, “Wow. God, you are a wild, wild animal to put all this together! A wild animal of Loooove! Yay!”
It goes on to say:
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
35 Cry out, “Save us, God our Savior;
gather us and deliver us from the nations,
that we may give thanks to your holy name,
and glory in your praise.”
36 Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
By: Elizabeth Becker on June 9, 2012
at 7:05 am
Hi Liz
Im just pointing out that most xians who claim in the literal bible do not actually read the text literally. They have some concept which they have learnt from other means and simply fail to see what the text is actually saying.
We have the same problem with the heavenly text about Jesus in the NT. If we forget the idea of a man floating in the clouds and read it literally, we can easily understand its just an ancient man who is admiring the power of the sun. The story of Jesus is the story of the Sun. The Sun or light saves us from the dark and cold of winter. Take a look at the holidays or holy days, they are literally markers when the sun is born(xmas=winter solstice[ and easter when the sun becomes stronger than winter when day becomes longer than night[spring equinox].
Im not asking you to believe a single word i say, take a look at the churches and cathedrals themselves and you will notice they nearly always point East and have much solar iconography. The temple in Jerusalem itself was orientated to the East on the Eastern side of Jerusalem. There are many scriptures on the OT where it literally says Jehovah is a Sun. The four creatures in Ezekiel and the apostles are nothing more than the signs of the zodiac. Bull=Taurus, Lion=Leo etc.
Its not hard to see that most of the spectacular text is nothing more than admiration for the Sun. Sun-day is the day of worship etc. No one can see God and live, of course they cant, you go blind if you try and look at the Sun. It really is very easy to spot this if we take our blinkers off.
Back on solstice, you might want to explore some of the etymology of other xian terms and characters and you will find more astrological connections. Mini-ster, cardinal, deacon, etc they are all astrological terms. Other names of GOd are of course pagan, Amen , aka the Egyptian God of the Sun, Adonai supposedly Hebrew for Lord is of course the name of another God, where Adonai is related to Aton another Egyptian God. T and D are often transposed. I could go on but i have pointed out the easy ones.
By: mP on June 11, 2012
at 2:23 am
Isaiah 40:22 He who is sitting on the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are as grasshoppers, He who is stretching out as a thin thing the heavens, And spreadeth them as a tent to dwell in.
Two things, earth is round, second the universe is expanding both of which are correct in the Bible.
To this day we say the sun is setting or the sun is rising, even if we know the earth is rotating on it’s axis so it appears as if the sun is rising or the sun is setting.
Job 26:7 He spreads out the northern skies over empty space;
he suspends the earth over nothing.
The strongs concordance number for moved is 4131 in Psalms 93:1, Psalms 96:10, Psalms 104:5, 1 Chronicles 16:30. The word for moved can also mean ‘fall down’.
1) to totter, shake, slip
a) (Qal) to totter, shake, slip
b) (Niphal) to be shaken, be moved, be overthrown
c) (Hiphil) to dislodge, let fall, drop
d) (Hithpael) to be greatly shaken
In fact in many other passages 4131 is used:
Psalm 7:15
A pit he hath prepared, and he diggeth it, And he falleth into a ditch he maketh.
By: Ash on September 3, 2012
at 4:54 am
People ancient civilizations (especially Greek) knew the earth was round. The sun was round, the moon was round, why not the earth? The shadow of the earth was seen on the moon during many eclipses, and that shadow was round. There were also mathematical and observational evidence. Isaiah 40 is not a revelation of knowledge but a reflection of other knowledge.
It does not address geocentricity. Many verses in the bible support the WRONG idea of geocentricity. Biblical literalists met in 2011 to try to resurrect biblical geocentricity over science base heliocentricity. You totally ignore the scientifically wrong verses used by http://www.galileowaswrong.com/galileowaswrong/ and http://www.galileowaswrong.com/galileowaswrong/.
By: edhensley on September 3, 2012
at 8:14 pm
Just glanced at this website. It doesn’t look tongue-in-cheek, but it must be, mustn’t it? I think it was set up to mock the Catholic Church,
Poe’s Law comes to mind –
“Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humour, it is impossible to create a parody of fundamentalism that someone won’t mistake for the real thing.”
By: RoyStone on March 21, 2013
at 6:32 am
Feel free to read the about section. I was raised as a biblical literalist Christian but became an atheist after reading the bible.
By: edhensley on March 21, 2013
at 9:31 am
The circle in Isaiah could very well be the zodiac. If we examine other scriptures we see that they also believed in the firmament or dome above the earth with the stars stuck on the inside. Given all the knowledge of God is equally amazing that the Jews invented no technology, no science absolute nothing. Why didnt God give them machines instead of mandating slavery ? AT least machines are not going to tell you to worship other gods.
We see in Job 38:32 that the author says that God controls the zodiac which controls our lives.
By: mP on October 10, 2012
at 11:33 pm
The webpages did not refer to any other scriptures that I could find. Would you post specific ones that were not covered above and are not referencing a mistranslated word strong’s concordance 4131?
By: Ash on September 5, 2012
at 6:50 am
You can ask the people at those websites about the verses they used. These verses are in the bible, were used by Christians to condemn Copernicus, were used by Christians to condemn and prosecuate Gallileo, and are used by some Christians today to support geocentricity.
By: edhensley on September 6, 2012
at 10:55 am
Hi! I want you to visit my web site http://christianreading.com/jmartins/ and provide me feedback. Thanks!
By: Joaozinho da S. F. A. Martins on October 10, 2012
at 5:19 pm
Thank you. At the moment I do not have time to read other blogs, but I may read yours in the future.
By: edhensley on October 10, 2012
at 5:22 pm
Many things in the Bible are metaphors, even Jesus spoke in metaphors and parables.
The greeks also believed the earth was hung on pillars while, Job says otherwise.
He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.
Job 26:7-8
By: Ash on November 5, 2012
at 7:27 am
The bible says bats are birds and that fruit trees were created before the sun. Science demonstrates the bible to be wrong in these (and many other) verses.
Your summary on ancient Greek cosmology is in error. Here is a better reference: http://physics.ucr.edu/~wudka/Physics7/Notes_www/node31.html#SECTION02232000000000000000
“The earliest of the Greek cosmologies were intimately related to mythology: earth was surrounded by air above, water around and Hades below; ether surrounded the earth-water-Hades set.
This system was soon replaced by more sophisticated views on the nature of the cosmos. Two interesting examples were first the claim of Anaxagoras of Clazomenae that the Moon shines only through the light it reflects from the sun, and that that lunar eclipses are a result of the earth blocking the sunlight in its path to the moon; he also believed the Sun to be a ball of molten iron larger than the Peloponesus.
Another remarkable feat was the prediction of a solar eclipse by Thales in 585 B.C. (for which he used the data obtained by Babylonian astronomers). During this period other ideas were suggested, such as the possibility of an infinite, eternal universe (Democritus) and a spherical immovable Earth (Parmenides).”
By: edhensley on November 7, 2012
at 2:29 pm
“Birds” is an artificial, man-made taxonomy category. If you define it as “non-insect flying things”, then bats are “birds”.
Further, from our observational perspective, it is fully accurate to say the sun rises and sets. it is not scientifically inaccurate to say so, for it is an observational fact in relation to our observational position. From the ground, the sun does nto only appear to rise – it does rise, in relation to your position. (All movement is relative.)That the observational phenomena is caused by planetary rotation is a separate fact.
By: Greg Moeller on August 28, 2014
at 1:50 pm
Anyone with any basic knowledge of animals would know a bat is not a bird. This only shows how ignorant the writers of the bible were. We still have Christians who want to replace modern science with biblical texts in public school science classes.
Regarding the sun, scientists were persecuted and even killed for claiming the sun orbited the earth. The only people today who believe the sun orbits to earth are either the extremely uneducated (i.e. primitive tribes) or fundamentalist Christians who still insist the authority of the bible trumps all science (see http://galileowaswrong.com/).
By: edhensley on August 28, 2014
at 2:27 pm
I think you will find that we are misunderstanding the translation.
If you read the meaning of the word >solsticesun standing still<. If you read the text as simply a solstice and not a really long day it the magic disappears. Wiki has a good article ab out the word, the etymology is fascinating and reveals that we interpret one meaning and it very well may have meant something completely different to them.
By: mP on November 8, 2012
at 12:26 am
The stupidity of modern Bible readers aside, the verses that are often translated with the words “established” and “cannot be moved” (or any variation thereof) are actually to be understood as “unshakeable; cannot be made to totter/be disturbed/literally fall apart” according to the original wording.
Additionally, the report of the sun standing still is merely a reflection of a human point of view (as it was a human’s account). Those who witnessed would logically have used terminology that other people would understand, rather than describe it in ways unintelligible to those whom it was describe, logically, as that would defeat the purpose.
By: Allen on October 10, 2013
at 12:11 am
Do you use the terms “sunrise” and “sunset”? So does everyone else, but if you want to argue sematics, you could say that those terms technically arose from the belief of geocentricity. In everyday speech, these words are both acceptable and accurate, when we keep in mind our terrestrial perspective.
Likewise, Joshua was not discussing astronomy; he was simply reporting events as he saw them.
By: Allen on October 11, 2013
at 2:43 am
Unfortunately, the Christian church took these verses literally for venturies, banned books that contradicted geocentricity, and even condemned, tortured, and executed those who advocated heliocentricity. There are many Christians today that use other sections of the bible to advocate that the world is ony 6000 years old, fruit bearing trees existed before the sun, and animals existed before god made a woman from Adam’s rib.
By: edhensley on October 15, 2013
at 12:12 pm
It is amazing to see the lengths to which people who call themselves Christians will go to deny what the bible clearly states; that the sun moves and the earth does not. The basis for predicting when and where eclipses will occur is based on a FIXED, nonmoving earth. You could look it up!
By: Ron Stanford on November 20, 2015
at 6:10 am
Psalms 93:1 The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the WORLD also is stablished, that IT CANNOT BE MOVED.
But the fact of not being moved is also spoken of the upright and his feet (Psalm 15:2-5; 16:8; 21:7; 46:5; 62:2, 6; 66:9; 112:6; 121:3). Are the righteous and his feet physically immobilized?
“Cannot be moved” and “not moving” are two different things. If a planet is firmly fixed in its orbit, then it cannot be moved from it, even though it is moving.
In the KJV, the Hebrew word H1754 “duwr” is rendered “ball” (Isa 22:18), “round about” (Isa 29:3), and “burn” (or “pile”, Eze 24:5).
It’s prime is H1752 duwr dure a primitive root; properly, to gyrate (or move in a circle), i.e. to remain:–dwell. Psa 84:10. Thus, we see that an object can “remain” while “moving” in a “circle”.
Sunrise and sunset are figures of speech used today with impunity.
By: Phillip Evans on March 17, 2018
at 2:51 pm
All these verses were used by the majority of Christians to support geocentricity hundreds of years ago. These verses are still used by some Christians to support geocentricity today.
By: edhensley on March 18, 2018
at 10:12 pm
It has been proven by SCIENCE that is it genetically impossible for a human to evolve from an ape. Evolution is a fairytale for grown ups. The world is NOT getting better and Bible Thumpers do not run the world college educated Phd evolutionists run the world. That is the monkey man’s mess out there not GOD’s.
By: ROBERT STEWART on March 20, 2021
at 2:28 am
Putting science in all caps does not make your statement true. Not one type of person or group of people run the world.
By: edhensley on March 20, 2021
at 7:37 am