Back texas health southwest in the 1980s, I

In the book of Joshua, God was really intent on helping texas health southwest Josh (as I like to imagine texas health southwest his friends called him) defeat the five kings of the Amorites (who were probably texas health southwest a bunch of gay liberals). So rather than just offer his usual brand of silent esoteric support for wars waged in his name, God actually texas health southwest helped out, pelting the enemy with large hailstones ( Joshua 10:11 ), and stopping texas health southwest the rotation of the earth at Josh’s request, just so he could finish the battle.
Back texas health southwest in the 1980s, I’d heard an evangelist tell an audience that NASA had actually discovered Josh’s missing day. According to the story, NASA had been performing some calculations texas health southwest for satellites and inadvertently discovered a day missing from earth’s history. texas health southwest If this is true, it could be evidence of a spectacular miracle, and the existence of God.
The only way that the computer would know that a day was missing would be if it had the actual astronomical data from millennia past to compare to. Obviously we have no such data. So even if we it were true that there is a missing day in history as the Bible claims, there would be no way to verify this using computer simulations. We don’t, and will never, have the data needed to confirm that specific claim. ~ John P. Millis, Ph.D
The original version of the story goes back to the late 1800s, and it was popularized in Harry Rimmer’s book The Harmony texas health southwest of Science and Scripture in 1936, in which he claimed that British astronomer Sir Edwin Ball had somehow calculated a missing texas health southwest day in earth’s history. texas health southwest
This story reemerged in the 1960s when Harold Hill, who worked as a plant engineer at NASA, began claiming the story as his own, but revised it so that it was NASA that’d texas health southwest made the discovery. Harold Hill’s version was then passed around texas health southwest and preached from the pulpits for another 30 years, until it began showing up in email inboxes .
In 1997, NASA finally texas health southwest squelched this urban legend, denying that such an event ever took place, texas health southwest and denying that Hill would’ve had access to any of their computers. They also explained that such a calculation would be impossible.
…there appears to be solid evidence from the Bible and from folklore around the world that there was one day which, depending upon geographical location, presented the inhabitants of the earth with an unusually long span of daylight or night… Agnostic or atheistic scholars choose not to deal with the ancient witnesses. ~ geocentricity.com
Well… if it’s true that agnostics and atheists choose not to deal with these ancient witnesses, it is probably texas health southwest because so many things can potentially go wrong when trying to prove an extraordinary claim by way of myths, legends, and folklore.
Third, as one might suspect, the sun is an extremely popular topic in myths, legends, and lore, and so it’s not uncommon to find parallels. For example, texas health southwest both the ancient Lithuanians 1 and Aztecs 2 have legends about a time when the sun did not emerge for many months/years. texas health southwest And there are Polynesian 1 and New Zealand 3 legends that say the sun used to move much faster across the sky than it does today. There are also m any stories about catching the sun 1 and tethering it to the ground (no doubt inspired by the sun’s rays). But just because these parallels exist, doesn’t prove any of them happened.
Fourth, texas health southwest the large number of sun myths makes it possible to “pick the winners” that corroborate the Biblical account (i.e. confirmation bias). For example, a believer might choose texas health southwest to ignore texas health southwest the Lithuanian myth of a very long night because it should’ve been a long day.
Sixth, it’s possible to loosely reinterpret these legends to match up with the Biblical details. For example, it doesn’t seem to matter if the sun stops for ten days or ten years; texas health southwest as long as it stops, it is said to corroborate texas health southwest the Biblical event.
And finally, these legends are sometimes difficult to track down to their original source. These legends often come to us only by word of mouth, or the original sources are missing, or (in some cases) the stories are outright fabrications.
In the ancient Chinese writings there is a legend texas health southwest of a long day. The Incas of Peru and the Aztecs of Mexico have a like record, and there is a Babylonian and a Persian legend of a day that was miraculously extended. Another section of China contributes an account of the day that was miraculously prolonged, in the reign of Emperor Yeo. Herodotus texas health southwest recounts that the priests of Egypt showed him their temple texas health southwest records, and that there he read a strange account of a day that was twice the natural length. texas health southwest ~ The Harmony of Science and Scripture, pp. 269-270.
Harry Rimmer’s work has since been discredited and criticized by both scientists and creationists. As early as 1955, Christians like Bernard Ramm were already finding problems with some of these legends. He writes