Did the sun stand still and go backwards up the steps?

by TJ - iAmCleared2Land 32 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  lifelong humanist

  Probably most people on this site would accept that this is just an imaginary miraculous fable or fairy story. It assumes that you were going to be alright if you belonged to a special people protected by their god. It is difficult to know how it was meant to be taken by the first ones to read about such bizarre events - perhaps, many even back then concluded that the words were not meant to be taken literally.

  If you stop and think about it, from a scientific viewpoint, it is a total impossibility.

  Back when the story was written, most people lacked any education, knew nothing or very little of the great thinkers of their day - in fact, most were probably unable to read, or afford papyrus or vellum manuscripts. Superstitious belief was the norm.

  In many ways people back then were much like many JWs and other narrow-minded groups today - they'd believe just about anything if it was written in a so-called 'holy' book without reasoning on the matter.

  lifelong humanist
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  Judge Dread

  Back when the story was written, most people lacked any education, knew nothing or very little of the great thinkers of their day - in fact, most were probably unable to read, or afford papyrus or vellum manuscripts.

  And you base this on........................???????????????????????

  Judge Dread
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  lifelong humanist

  Judge Dread

  I'm sorry, but in principle, I don't usually correspond with people that appear to lack common sense - but thank you for asking, none the less.

  lifelong humanist
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  Judge Dread

  I'm sorry, but in principle, I don't usually correspond with people that appear to lack common sense - but thank you for asking, none the less.

  Thank you.

  And I usually don't reply to people who speak of "great thinkers" and by their ridiculous comments reveal they have missed one of the greatest thinkers of OUR time.

  Hope you find his book.

  Judge Dread
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  JWoods

  And I usually don't reply to people who speak of "great thinkers" and by their ridiculous comments reveal they have missed one of the greatest thinkers of OUR time.

  Freddy Franz? Babylon the Great has Fallen? He seems to have proven to be a legend in his own right on chronological computations.
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  Judge Dread

  JWoodpecker,

  I hope you find him also.

  Judge Dread
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  JWoods

  JWoodpecker,

  I hope you find him also.

  Maybe if Jehovah could give me an extra day for my search?
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  Leolaia

  In an uncharacteristic show of healthy skepticism, the Society debunked the story way back in 1970:

  *** g70 11/22 pp. 4-5 Do You Believe Everything You Read? ***
  
  Some months ago a Mr. Harold Hill of Baltimore, Maryland, circulated copies of a story that was then widely reprinted in newspapers throughout the United States.
  
  Mr. Hill stated that at the Greenbelt, Maryland, space center scientists were checking by computer the position of the sun, moon and planets to determine where these bodies would be in the future. Scanning centuries back and forth, computer calculations reportedly revealed that in the past there was a 24-hour day missing. One of the scientists was said to have remembered the Bible account of Joshua, chapter 10, which says that the ‘sun stood still’ for about a whole day. The computer was allegedly put back to work and found the missing time of Joshua’s account to be 23 hours and 20 minutes.
  
  However, the story continued, what of the other 40 minutes? The same scientist reportedly then remembered the Bible account of Second Kings, chapter 20, which tells that King Hezekiah was given a sign as proof that he would recover from illness. The sign was that the shadow of a sundial would go backward “ten degrees” (Authorized Version), which is 40 minutes of time. Hence, put together, the two Bible accounts make up the 24 hours, the “Missing Day” that the computer is said to have found.
  
  Was this published report true? A letter of inquiry was sent to Mr. Hill asking for further details concerning his account. In his reply he stated: “I am sorry I have misplaced the documentation relative to the names and places connected with the ‘Missing Day’ account, but will be glad to forward it to you when I come across it.” That was many months ago. To this date no documentation has been forthcoming.
  
  In addition, Awake! magazine sent a letter of inquiry to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Goddard Space Flight Center at Greenbelt, Maryland. It asked officials there for verification of the story. Chief of the center’s Office of Public Affairs, Edward Mason, replied by letter: “We know nothing of Mr. Harold Hill and in no way can corroborate the ‘lost day’ reference in the article.” Mr. Mason added: “Although we make use of planetary positions as necessary in the determination of spacecraft orbits on our computers, I have not found that any ‘astronauts and space scientists at Greenbelt’ were involved in the ‘lost day’ story attributed to Mr. Hill.”
  
  Does verification of this report of computer findings exist? It would be good not to say it does unless solid documentation comes along, particularly in view of the fact that Mr. Hill claims to have ‘personally seen the Lord Jesus Christ.’
  
  Also, it must be regarded as very strange, to say the least, that an almost identical story is related in the book The Harmony of Science and Scripture by Harry Rimmer. But that book was first published in 1936! In a chapter entitled “Modern Science and the Long Day of Joshua” Rimmer refers to a book written in 1890 by a Professor C. A. Totten of Yale and claims that it “establishes the case beyond the shadow of a doubt.”
  
  In Rimmer’s version of Totten’s account, it is an “accomplished astronomer” who is said to have discovered that the earth was 24 hours out of schedule. In trying to prove it, the astronomer reportedly found by his astronomical calculations that the time of the “Missing Day” was only 23 hours and 20 minutes long. But then Professor Totten reportedly called the astronomer’s attention to the fact that Joshua did not say it was an entire day, but “about” the space of a day. He then is said to have found that the account of King Hezekiah filled in the other 40 minutes.
  
  These two accounts are almost identical. However, the modern one, of 1970, attributes the discovery to space scientists and computers at Greenbelt (who in turn deny it); the older account of 1936 attributes it to an “accomplished astronomer” mentioned in a book written by someone else in 1890!
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  Farkel

  It is amazing how gullible people are. They reject proven and hard science but are totally sucked into myth and miracle which have NO facts to back them up.

  Thomas Paine had them figured out 230 years ago. Yet, they still don't get it.

  Farkel
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  wha happened?

  Ok this is killing me. I heard this shoeet so much when I was in. The missing day!. And the WT had already killed it in 1970