Please don't get mad at me for this-

This is an honest question regarding a touchy subject these days...

Firstly it's important to note I believe the scriptures to be inerrant and without exception truthful with no willful intent to deceive or mislead the reader regarding the truth of both Gods will and character as well as the recorded events therein.

So with that said, it was recently brought to my attention that either I had a great discrepancy in my understanding of the cosmos or Gods miracle recorded in Joshua 10 is a WAY bigger deal than previously thought.

If the cosmos is as modern science says then the events recorded and witnessed (even siting other sources) technically couldn't have happened the way they're recorded in scripture. However if the model modern science purposes is wrong then it is clearly possible.

So my question is, did the sun "stand still" (meaning it revolves around the earth) or did the earth stop spinning at 1100mph or so and actually reverse course along with the moon for the space of about a day as recorded?

I'm not proposing the earth is flat, but either science is wrong or a recorded and witnessed biblical event is different than what it appears-

I've checked the Hebrew text as well as rereading Genesis creation account and it seems to quite clearly state the earth was created first (before sun and moon) and seems to produce a "geocentric" (earth being the center) model whereas science says the opposite in that it reports a "heliocentric" (sun centered) model.

Has anyone else noticed or been confronted by this discrepancy?

I'll be the first to say, I'm more likely to believe that science got it wrong than to say Holy Spirit was complicit in misleading the reader....

Again please don't be mad at me for bringing this up as this is an honest inquiry and I'm hoping others have some research into this as it's not something I'd noticed before.

That's a good question bro. I sense your sincerity and honesty. Wish I knew the answer.

Well honestly, I've thought about it but could not solve the mystery either.

About Genesis: I find it fascinating that God created the Earth before the sun, and that Light was created before the sun and moon and the stars! So it makes me thing... what is light?! And what was that light?

I cannot answer these questions but I find it really amazing. And the record of God is true... we just don't understand how it happened, probably we do not have the devices or the theories and formulas yet that could help understand how it happened.

As for Joshua: I don't know that either :D but I do believe that it happened so.

Perhaps one day we will know...

Well we know the sun doesn't move. Guys the people that wrote the Old Testament were not supermen. Joshua did not know how the universe worked so when he saw that event and recorded it he did so according to his knowledge. He was wrong. It does not hurt the fact that the Old Testament is inspired by God to think so. It does not deny the miracle at all. It simply shows that God works through men according to the vessel he's working through.

Polycarp used the "Pheonix" as a real example of nature foreshadowing Christ's death and resurrection. It's not a real bird.

The Holy Spirit does not make one infallible like modern evangelical Christianity demands. NOTHING in this world is perfect, it's just the nature of this universe. Even the law (which is spiritual) when brought into this world took on the nature of death. The old testament has life but it is not in the letter it is in the Spirit. The law was given by Moses but Grace and truth came from Christ. The words he spoke are spirit and life, they are not infallible in the letter (the mustard seed is not the smallest seed) but in the Spirit. Hence "he who has ears to hear let them hear"

About Genesis: I find it fascinating that God created the Earth before the sun, and that Light was created before the sun and moon and the stars! So it makes me thing... what is light?! And what was that light?

I think the order of creation is perfect. Light as an entity has to be created even before a source of light is created. For example Man had to be created even before women who gives birth to man was created. This is my understanding. Science agrees with this as well. Light particles have to exist first.

I do not agree that earth being created first supports an earth centric system. God created earth as an entity and then placed it in the axsis of Sun after the Sun was created.
In fact Big bang theory agrees with Genesis that universe did not exist infinitely. There was a point of existence of universe. Earlier science used to believe that universe was eternal but Big bang theory disagrees.

Just borrowed this from the Creation Research website. :

When God created "light" in verse 3, the word used connotes the presence of light only, while the word used for "lights" on Day Four is best translated "light bearers," or permanent light sources. Their purpose was not only to give light, but to serve as timekeepers for man once he was created. According to the best stellar creation theory now available, light from stars created anywhere in the universe on Day Four would reach earth in two earth days, and would be useful to Adam on Day Six.

I believe the miracle recorded in Joshua really happened. He described what he thought he saw. God could have kept it light while the battle was being waged. Do I think the earth suddenly stopped on its axis? I am not saying it's 100% impossible- God could have dealt with all the other ramifications of this (essentially the destruction of the entire earth) but I think it just appeared to Joshua that the sun didn't move.

The Hebrew text regarding the 4th creation day does not demand that the stars were created on Day 4.

Verse 16 can and probably should be translated "had made."

There is no need to come up with some other light source. The stars were there when the earth was created.

We live in a world of confusion. There's so much division over creation and what God says. If the earth is flat and has a dome, then you can have a world wide flood, and that also says there is a creator and you didn't evolve. Plus, you are then not an insignificant blob in a world of endless planets, stars etc. Then the Sun is not your greatest attraction, God would be.

On the other hand if we live in a globe, a world wide flood is impossible and if we are traveling through space at x miles per hour and as we spin we are just insignificant blobs. Evolution then can become a possibility because there are no absolutes. Science describes it as a matrix. As Bill Nye showed with his demonstration of the boat going on over the hill on the ocean completely out of sight, he said it was following the curve. He forgot that the water should have gone on over the hill as well. Water rolls off mountains into the ocean but when it reaches the ocean it doesn't go down that slope. Amazing! School is teaching our children evolution and a God less society.

I noticed the eyebrows raised when Mr Trump signed papers saying he wanted NASA to return to the moon during his term in office.

It's OK for you and me to be confused, There is an author of confusion. On a flat earth the sun could stand still and even go backward.

God won't condemn you for not knowing either way. he stands in amazement when people believe what he says.

The question of space vacuum has never been answered. Why does the vacuum not suck away the air around the earth?

I believe what God wrote about the sun standing still is true, even going backward.

Yes I am a flat earther, but I don't condemn you if you believe otherwise.

We live in a world of confusion. There's so much division over creation and what God says. If the earth is flat and has a dome, then you can have a world wide flood, and that also says there is a creator and you didn't evolve. Plus, you are then not an insignificant blob in a world of endless planets, stars etc. Then the Sun is not your greatest attraction, God would be.

On the other hand if we live in a globe, a world wide flood is impossible and if we are traveling through space at x miles per hour and as we spin we are just insignificant blobs. Evolution then can become a possibility because there are no absolutes. Science describes it as a matrix. As Bill Nye showed with his demonstration of the boat going on over the hill on the ocean completely out of sight, he said it was following the curve. He forgot that the water should have gone on over the hill as well. Water rolls off mountains into the ocean but when it reaches the ocean it doesn't go down that slope. Amazing! School is teaching our children evolution and a God less society.

I noticed the eyebrows raised when Mr Trump signed papers saying he wanted NASA to return to the moon during his term in office.

It's OK for you and me to be confused, There is an author of confusion. On a flat earth the sun could stand still and even go backward.

God won't condemn you for not knowing either way. he stands in amazement when people believe what he says.

The question of space vacuum has never been answered. Why does the vacuum not suck away the air around the earth?

I believe what God wrote about the sun standing still is true, even going backward.

Yes I am a flat earther, but I don't condemn you if you believe otherwise.

Biblical literalism at its finest people. A complete avoidance of reality to support a book they were told is 100% correct about everything. The bible is spiritually inerrant. It was written thousands of years ago why on earth would you take science lessons from them??

Roger with all due respect we do not live in a "snow globe." Your insistence on promoting your flat earth ridiculousnesss is embarrassing.

After pondering my OP and trying to wrap my head around the event in question, it occurred to me that not only would the earth have to stop spinning on its axis but also cease its rotational orbit as well as the moon following suit... as if everything stopped, or slowed to such a pace so as to "appear" to stop. In my (limited) understanding of astrophysics, geothermal, hydrothermal sciences and tectonics, it would be utterly catastrophic for the above to occur. Not that God couldn't pull it off but..... that's a mighty big response to Joshua's (command?) word, ha!
But it does say in vs 14 that, there'd never been a day like it before or after:)

I've gotta lot of research to do,... this is stuck in my craw-

Jfw, time and light are linked. It may mean nothing (I haven't looked into it) but perhaps the method God used is linked to that and had nothing to do with rotation. Just a thought, we may never know fully. I Wouldn't spend too much time on it personally but if you find anyrhing do share!

Just an aside-- apparently the original Hebrew text dies not demand that it was light for 24 hrs- it could also be read to say it was dark 24 hrs.

That doesn't make the problem go away but I thought it was interesting.
---------------
"Joshua 10 is a bit ambiguous about the nature of the "long day.” It is possible to interpret the event as an extra-long night rather than an extra-long day. In fact, most Old Testament scholars assert that the extra-long night is the most likely interpretation. Furthermore, the original Hebrew text does not require any adjustment in the positions or movements of the Sun, Moon, or Earth.

What the text demands is God bringing an extra period of light or darkness into the Valley of Aijalon. God could have brought about such effects through a supernatural meteorological event that blanketed the region with heavy darkness or refracted or reflected extra light into the desired location. Alternately, God could have shone his Shekinah glory into the Valley of Aijalon or used His "hand” to block out the Sun and Moon’s light.

Isaiah and the chroniclers describe a more outstanding miraculous event in Isaiah 38”“39, 2 Kings 20, and 2 Chronicles 32. After the miraculous defeat of the Assyrian army, Judah’s King Hezekiah became deathly ill. The Lord healed him and gave him a sign to confirm his healing””moving the shadow of Hezekiah’s sundial back by 40 minutes.

This backward movement of sundial shadows was also witnessed in Babylon. Interestingly, the Babylonians recognized their god Marduk could not perform such a miracle. Therefore, they sent a delegation to Jerusalem to find out from the real God the reason for the event.

The miraculous movement of the sundial shadows could have occurred over the entire region extending from Jerusalem to Babylon or it may have been limited to just the cities of Jerusalem and Babylon. God could have manipulated meteorological conditions at the same time in both Babylon and Jerusalem. It is hard to imagine, however, God manipulating meteorological conditions so that sundials over the entire region between Jerusalem and Babylon would have their shadows shifted by 40 minutes without bringing about far more disturbing meteorological consequences. Alternatively, God could have temporarily shone some kind of transcendent light, like His Shekinah glory, into the cities of Jerusalem and Babylon or even upon the entire region between Jerusalem and Babylon."~~Dr. Hugh Ross

The God of the Bible is not bound by the laws of the natural , He is Supernatural !

The Bible is a Book that testifies of the miraculous.

I do not need to have a Scientific explanation for how Peter Walked on Water, It was beyound the natural it was Supernatural.

I do not need to have a Scientific explanation for how the waters of the red sea parted or how Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and it turned into a snake.

Or how a grown man is swallowed by a fish/wale and survives in its belly for 3 days.

Or how a man can have super human strength as did Samson.

or how Jesus turned the water to wine or the Feeding the multitude

etc. etc. etc.

PP-

Bottom line I agree with you. God could have stopped all motion in the universe without any ill effects had he wanted to do so.

We certainly don't need to turn to a flat earth theory to explain the miracle.

RE : /// Well we know the sun doesn't move. Guys the people that wrote the Old Testament were not supermen. Joshua did not know how the universe worked so when he saw that event and recorded it he did so according to his knowledge. He was wrong.///

The sun does move.

and

Technically, Earth Does Not Orbit Around the Sun

http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2014/08/technically_the_earth_does_not_orbit_the_sun.html

Your splitting hairs, you known what is meant

Ok I really need to slowly reread the scriptures....
2 Kings 20:9-11
9 ¶ And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?
10 ¶ And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees.
11 ¶ And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.

Also I noticed in Genesis it says God placed the sun, moon etc... "in" the firmament...

This is more interesting than I'd imagined-