Have NASA computers really proven Joshua's “long day”?
Although we believe that biblical account of Joshua's Long Day is true, the claim that NASA has proven it is an old urban myth.
Actually, the claim that astronomical calculations proved that a day was “missing” began over a century ago. In the last few decades, the myth has been embellished with NASA computers performing those calculations.
No one who repeats this story has ever provided details of these calculations—how exactly was this missing day discovered? This should automatically make people cautious. How could you detect a missing day unless you had a fixed reference point before this day?
In fact, we would need to cross check between both astronomical and historical records to detect any missing day. And to detect a missing 40 minutes requires that these reference points are known to within an accuracy of a few minutes.
It is certainly true that the timing of solar eclipses observable from a certain location can be known precisely. But the ancient records did not record time that precisely, so the required cross check is simply not possible. Anyway, the earliest historically recorded eclipse occurred in 1217 BC, nearly two centuries after Joshua.
There is so much good evidence for the truth of creation and the Bible that we don’t need to resort to embellishments and urban myths.
Also see
- How can we explain the “long days” of Joshua and Hezekiah?
- Other hoaxes that prey upon Christians
- Who was Joshua?
Author: Creation Ministries International.
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