Joshua 10:12-13 God made the sun and moon stand still

[Compassionist]

"On the day the LORD gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the LORD in the presence of Israel: "Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon." So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day." - Joshua 10:12-13, The Bible (New International Version). If the Bible is true and this really happened, then why is there no records by any other civilizations of the extraordinary event of the sun and the moon standing still for a day? For this to occur, the Earth would need to suddenly stop rotating on its axis which would cause people and other animals, structures, bodies of water, etc. to be flung out into space due to inertia. Besides, how can a loving and just God command genocide?

[Tired of the Nonsense]

[Replying to post 2 by Willum]

There are over 300 flood epics, well written before the Noahnic epic. The Biblical flood is written about 1700 BCE or so, while the older Sumer flood is a Nippur cuneiform tablet that was found by Thorkild Jacobsen. Thorkild Jacobsen is also a historian on the Eridu Genesis.

I did write a posting on this subject.

For me evidence that it was a historical event. After all why are flood legends to be found in practically all cultures?


Further reading
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2008411

JW

Because most of the great civilizations had their origins in river delta regions where the soil is most fertile and water for growing crops is right at hand. These are also the very regions most subject to massive periodic flooding.

[rikuoamero]

[Replying to post 1 by Compassionist]

Maybe the sun didn't literally stand still; after all we speak of the sun rising (going up) and setting (going down), do you think that it literally moves up and down every day?

It seems reasonable to me that Joshua was miraculously given what he was asking for, more hours of light so he could successfully complete his battle. ie the sun appeared to stand still.


JW

So...what else can this logic be applied to? It seems to me that in order to defend a story of a wondrous event, you want to say something along the lines of language games were being played: okay, so what else can we suggest? Maybe Jesus didn't really die and resurrect; maybe there's some form of language manipulation going on there.

[rikuoamero]

[Replying to post 27 by JehovahsWitness]

The fact that the Sumerians (and many MANY other cultures) have a "flood myth" is, imo, undeniable evidence that the flood really happened!

So WHICH flood myth? The Noah story as found in the Old Testament? If so, why go with that one, and not say the one with Gilgamesh or the one that the Epic of Gilgamesh was a retelling of? Or some other story?

[Willum]

[Replying to post 4 by JehovahsWitness]

So, if it were just an appearance or perception (the clocks hands seemed to move backwards), well that's not even miraculous, is it?

If it isn't miraculous, God didn't do anything, and there you are.

[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to post 4 by JehovahsWitness]

So, if it were just an appearance or perception (the clocks hands seemed to move backwards), well that's not even miraculous, is it?

If it isn't miraculous, God didn't do anything, and there you are.

Well 24 hours of "daylight" is miraculous unless we are in norway in mid-summer; in any case my point is that if today we use language to depict what we perceive rather than astronomical "fact", why would we deny the same leverage to a writer 3000 years ago?

[JehovahsWitness]

Because most of the great civilizations had their origins in river delta regions where the soil is most fertile and water for growing crops is right at hand. These are also the very regions most subject to massive periodic flooding.

If flooding was "periodic" it would hardly have given cause to a myth on the subject. Further, as I said the story is near on universal, for example the ancient aboriginals (there are not a whole lot of floods in the Austrailian outback) also have their flood legends, as do other desert people and mountainous tribes. Further the commonality of these myths cannot be easily explained away. Most if not all of them are depicted as catastrophic or "great" floods, often sent by their god(s) to destroy all sinners. The collecting of survivors (sometimes animals or seeds are mentioned) in a "boat" for the continuation of life.

Sand storms, locust plagues, droughts, disease, earthquakes, big freezes .... all these are things that affected ancient peoples, and periodically wiped out whole tribes, the universiality of destruction by water cannot be explained away as a meteorological noramity originating from coastal or river based tribes.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temuan_pe ... ood_Legend

[Tired of the Nonsense]

Because most of the great civilizations had their origins in river delta regions where the soil is most fertile and water for growing crops is right at hand. These are also the very regions most subject to massive periodic flooding.

That is not the case, as I said the story is near on universal, for example the ancient aboriginals (there are not a whole lot of floods in the Austrailian outback) also have their flood legends, as do other desert people and mountainous tribes. Further the commonality of these myths cannot be easily explained away. Most if not all of them are depicted as catastrophic or "great" floods, often sent by their god(s) to destroy all sinners. The collecting of survivors (sometimes animals or seeds are mentioned) in a boat for the continuation of life.

Sand storms, locust plagues, droughts, disease, earthquakes, big freezes .... all these are things that affected (and still affect) ancient peoples, the universiality of destruction by water cannot be explained away as a meteorological noramity from coastal or river based people.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temuan_pe ... ood_Legend

There are events known as "once in a millennium floods" in which the event is far out of proportion to any flooding that has ever occurred in anyone's memory. These are the sorts of events that the word "disaster" was invented to describe. For example:

The Fayette Tribune
Thousands affected by 'once-in-a-millennium' flooding
posting.php?mode=quote&p=858863&sid=305 ... 96b0ada961

[JehovahsWitness]

There are events known as "once in a millennium floods" in which the event is far out of proportion to any flooding that has ever occurred in anyone's memory.

That's a good description of the global flood. If bible chronology is to believe, the human race wasn't much more than a couple of thousands years old, if practically all cultures describe a great "once in a millenium" flood, then it is not beyond the realm of reason they are all describing the same catastrophic event.

Especially as their stories carry so many common features an issue which I cannot see you address in your answer.

JW

[rikuoamero]

[Replying to post 4 by JehovahsWitness]

So, if it were just an appearance or perception (the clocks hands seemed to move backwards), well that's not even miraculous, is it?

If it isn't miraculous, God didn't do anything, and there you are.

Well 24 hours of "daylight" is miraculous unless we are in norway in mid-summer; in any case my point is that if today we use language to depict what we perceive rather than astronomical "fact", why would we deny the same leverage to a writer 3000 years ago?

Because these writings are being used by people such as yourself, good sir, to promote the existence of and subsequent actions of a supposedly omnipotent being? A being capable of stopping the sun in its tracks?

[rikuoamero]

[Replying to post 36 by JehovahsWitness]

If flooding was "periodic" it would hardly have given cause to a myth on the subject.

So something that happens regularly doesn't have myths associated with it? What's your reasoning for that?
War happens quite regularly and there are lots of fictional movies and books with war as a central theme that have become popular. Saving Private Ryan comes to mind.

for example the ancient aboriginals (there are not a whole lot of floods in the Austrailian outback) also have their flood legends, as do other desert people and mountainous tribes.

Ever seen a flood? Leaves quite an impression on you. You tell it to others. Might leave an impression on them.

Further the commonality of these myths cannot be easily explained away. Most if not all of them are depicted as catastrophic or "great" floods, often sent by their god(s) to destroy all sinners.

1) So what makes the Noah Flood story the specific one that you think to be true?
2) Yeah, it makes sense to me. A retelling of an actual flood at some point in the past gets exaggerated. Since ancient peoples almost always believed in gods, and floods are awesome events that cause great destruction, it makes sense that they would think that floods are intentional, that they are deliberate, and that the reason for them must be because people are bad.
Heck, even today, this line of thinking still happens. I remember seeing videos about Muslim imams saying that Allah causes earthquakes because women wear revealing clothing.

Sand storms, locust plagues, droughts, disease, earthquakes, big freezes .... all these are things that affected ancient peoples, and periodically wiped out whole tribes, the universiality of destruction by water cannot be explained away as a meteorological noramity originating from coastal or river based tribes.

You left out the part where you explain why. You just admitted that disasters of various stripes occurred frequently and affected ancient peoples...so why wouldn't ancient peoples all over the world tell stories about them?

You link to a story from the Temuan people, and again, I have to ask...why is it you think this story isn't true, but the Noah story is?
I have to ask where the graphic about the writing is from. If I didn't know better, I'd swear it's Japanese...but the Temuan are from Malaysia.