So, I went to church yesterday for "research" purposes and while the music reminded me of my evangelical Christian days in high school, I was appalled by the ignorance that was expressed in the sermon.
The sermon was based on Joshua 10.1-15 and a summary of this passage is that the Israelites are fighting against 5 kings of the Amorites who have united to destroy Gibeon for making a peace treaty with Israel. Joshua, the commander of the Israel army, receives divine help from the Warrior-Deity of Israel in the sky. The deity sends down giant hailstones to kill the Amorites and then, at Joshua's request, stops the sun from moving so the Israelites can continue to slaughter the Amorites.
Now, the preacher of this sermon went nuts about the miracle of G-d stopping the sun in the sky, declaring it the second greatest miracle next to the bodily resurrection of Jesus. The passage literally states:
"On the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua spoke to the Lord; and he said in the sight of Israel, “Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and Moon, in the valley of Aijalon.” And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in mid-heaven, and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded a human voice; for the Lord fought for Israel." (Josh 10:12-14 NRSV)
The "preacher" then attempted to explain using modern cosmology that G-d would have to stop the Earth from spinning and maintain gravity OR cause the sun to stay still, which would cause the rest of the solar system to be thrown off course and part of the earth to scorch while the other half was freezing. At this point in the sermon, I lost it because the book of Joshua was not written with a modern cosmology in mind, it was written with an ancient three-tier cosmology in mind. A picture of the ancient three-tier cosmology is at the beginning of this post in the upper-left corner. Now, if you closely examine that picture (a larger one can be found here: http://www.aarweb.org/syllabus/syllabi/g/gier/306/OTcosmos.jpg) you will see that the sun and moon are just objects that are moved within a solid firmament or glass dome. Therefore, it would not be impossible for the warrior-deity to reach down and keep the "sun and moon" still for a whole day. There would be little to no implication for this ancient cosmology.
So next time you hear a preacher say something incredible about the "miracles" of G-d in the Old Testament, just remember, it was written in a completely different time in a prescientific time and just like you would never kill an individual for adultery in modern society, you really shouldn't listen to the cosmology/worldview represented therein either.
-SkepticalSparrow
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