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Section A18 maY 2011

Scripture records some very hard-to-ex-

plain astronomical events.One o the most perplexing is the LongDay o Joshua around 1400 B.C. To pro-long daylight, Joshua commanded the sunto stand still so that the Israelite army couldcomplete its conquest o fve Amorite armies(Joshua 10:12-14).

Another is when the suns shadowmoved backwards on a sundial or a signto Judahs King Hezekiah that he wouldbe healed around 700 B.C. (Isaiah 38:1-8). Scripture records that the suns shad-ow moved 10 steps backward. Dependingon the sundials construction, a step prob-ably represented rom one to 30 minutes,so that time ran backwards or rom 10

minutes to fve hours.What are we to make o these ac-

counts? How is it possible or the sunto stand still or move backward?

nasa ComPuTers

For decades reports have circulated inpamphlets, newspapers, and magazinesthat NASA computers have ound

Joshuas Long Day and Hezekiahs ex-tra time.

Claims that astronomical calcula-tions identifed a missing day actuallybegan in 1890 with Charles Totten, aproessor o military science at Yale,in his book

Joshuas Long Day and theDial of Ahaz. Totten based his calcula-tion on the assumption that Creationbegan on Sunday, Sept. 22, 4000 B.C.

In 1936 the story was resurrectedin Harry Rimmers bookTheHarmonyof Science and Scripture, but he provid-ed no documentation or proo. Recentembellished versions o the story credit NASA com-puters with the discovery.

The story runs like this. Astronomers were cal-culating positions o the sun, moon, and planetsto determine sae satellite trajectories. As NASAscomputers ran to and ro over the centuries, theysuddenly locked up because they hit a missing dayin time. Celestial bodies were not properly situated;

they were one day o position.Nobody could resolve the problem un-

til one Christian scientist remembered romSunday school that God had made the sunstand still or a day. Reportedly his skepticalcolleagues reworked the data and ound themissing time in Joshuas day was 23 hours and20 minutes. This let a discrepancy o 40 min-utes which continued to abort the program.

Then the Christian remembered how Godgave Hezekiah on his deathbed a sign that He

would heal him by making the suns shadowgo back 10 degrees. This supposedly providedthe remaining 40 minutes and now the com-puter program ran perectly.

Despite its appeal, this NASA computerstory is a hoax. Its not true. The originator

was Harold Hill, a Baltimore engineer, whopublished it in Oct. 1969 and later repeatedthe story in his 1974 bookLiving Like a KingsKid. Despite numerous requests, Hill neverprovided any documentation, and NASA hasofcially denied the story.

Moreover, such verifcation isnt math-ematically possible. Using Newtons laws omotion, astronomers can backtrack and show

where celestial bodies should have been onany given day in history. But there are no his-torical records o precisely where they actually

were at specifc times centuries ago.To detect a missing day, its necessary to

have a known checkpoint in time prior to

the missing day. Another known checkpointwould be needed between Joshua and Heze-kiah. These reerence points must be knownaccurately both by historical records and as-tronomical computations in order to veriymissing or extra time.

Such known checkpoints do not exist.Eclipses are possibilities, but the earliestrecorded eclipse is two centuries ater Josh-ua. And ancient historians did not recordtiming o eclipses within an accuracy ominutes as would be necessary i the story

were true. These astronomical events o Joshuas

and Hezekiahs day certainly occurred. Butthe story o NASA computers fnding these

time periods is completely alse. Its an urban legend.

worldwide memories

The event Joshua reports would have aected the en-tire globe. Is there historical evidence o a Long Dayin olk stories worldwide, just as many cultures havememories o Noahs Flood?

The Greek historian Herodotus says Egyptianpriests showed him records o a day that lasted twiceas long as normal. The Chinese have similar memories.

American Indian tribes, Aztecs, and Mayans allhave stories o a long night. West Arica and Peruhave similar stories.

These stories rom about the time o Joshua arenot randomly distributed across the globe. When lo-cations are plotted on a map, all the long night sto-ries can be covered by earths night shadow, and all thelong day stories are in the daylight. This is evidencethe stories are memories o a true event.

Concerning Hezekiahs event, Babylon sent am-bassadors to inquire about the wonder that had hap-pened in the land (2 Chronicles 32:31). This suggestsBabylon knew about the event and knew Hezekiah

was the proper source or inormation.

how?

The Long Day o Joshua is one o the most astound-ing miracles o the Bible. Scripture says theres neverbeen a day like it beore or since (Joshua 10:14). How

did Yahweh do it?

Maybe God slowed the rotation o the earth sothat the sun appeared to remain stationary. This wouldrequire supernatural management o many attendanteects such as keeping the oceans rom washing overthe continents and the atmosphere rom generating1,000 mph winds.

Or maybe God changed the earths rotation axis sothat or one day the battle site became the rotational

north pole. Or maybe God reracted the sunslight around the earth.

These theories are raught with mathemati-cal and physical problems and would requirea plethora o supporting miracles. Moreoverthey dont address the act that the moon alsostood still.

All conjectured naturalistic explanationsor Joshuas long day are physically impos-sible apart rom the direct intervention othe Almighty.

Nobody knows how God did it. But Hedid. The heavens are subject to the Almighty

who created them by the power o His word(Psalm 33:6). The God who hung 100 billiontrillion stars in space so that not one o themis missing (Isaiah 40:26) can certainly tinker

with the solar system to accomplish His pur-pose and answer mens prayers.

I God made the sun and moon stand stillto solve Joshuas problem, then He can solveany problem we ace. Soli Deo Gloria.

E-mail Dr. Pelletier at BibleScienceGuy@woodsidenews.org. Read the Bible-ScienceGuy blog at http://BibleScienceGuy.wordpress.com and follow him at http://twitter.com/BibleScienceGuy.

WILLIAM T. PELLETIER

PH.D.

pHOTOCOURTeSy

NaSa

Th go who hun

100 billion trillion

stars in spac so

that not on of thm

is missin (Isaiah

40:26) can crtainly

tinkr with th solar

systm to accomplish

His purpos.

The BiBle anD sCienCe BY WILLIAM T. PELLETIER, PH.D. [WOOdSIde NeWS COLUMNIST]

2011William T. Pelletier

When the Sun Stood Still