Joshua's Long Day

Hey all. I am new here but as a professional archaeologist who has studied ancient cultures his entire life I feel compelled to step in here and point out that Servant of God's source is pure bunk. First, the website he cites actually cites its own information as:
"T. W. Doane, Bible Myths and their Parallels in Other Religions, fourth ed. (New York: Charles P. Somerby, 1882), p. 91." That source is 122 years old! Now, that isn't going to make it worthless, but it does suggest that it is quite out of date. Much worse, though, is the fact that this is not a primary source for these apparent stories; it's just another pro-inerrant Bible book. Not what I would call reliable evidence.Now, I work in Mesoamerica and I can tell you there is no myth about an abnormally long day. Furthermore, in ancient Peru there was no writing system so records thousands of years aren't available. I can assure you with complete certainty that the Inca had NO historical information about ANYTHING that was even 2000 years old. You're being fed pure unadulterated and useless junk.The Christian writer here has resorted to not just half-truths but is absolutely flat out lying in places. There is no record in Herodotus of an abnormally long day being recorded by the Egyptians. I seriously question the rest of the assertions made on this website as well. Sadly, gullible Christians have cited this as support for their contention that Joshua's long day is verifiable history and you can find Doane cited on dozens of websites, none of them realizing the utter worthlessness of this source. This only goes to show the desperate lengths that some Christians will go to to prop up their pet hypotheses and how weak their critical thinking skills really are.As has already been pointed out, the story talks about the day being lengthened by God stopping the sun, demonstrating a terracentric worldview, which is demonstrably not reality. Why anyone would place any further credence in a bunch of old flat-earthers is beyond me. Anyway, just my personal gripe. Sorry for the tone of this note, I've just had it up to here with Christian deceipt and gullibility.This message has been edited by Khaemwaset, 09-07-2004 11:52 PM

Ifen,you wrote:"I look at it this way, the Bible is no more wrong than books such as The Bhagavad-Gita ... The Gita is full of important teachings about life even though that battle never took place in history."Actually, that battle in the Bhagavad Gita is supposed to have been a real battle, at least according to many Hindus."The Bible is not a history book or a science book. It's a book that teaches about a religion and how that religion accounted for the world as understood by the people of that time."No, the Bible does provide much historical information, especially in the Old Testament. Many people have claimed that the Jews invented history even. Books that contain purported history and science can be scientifically examined. Sadly, the Bible comes up lacking once tested in these areas.

riVeRraT,you apparently do not understand how history and science work. Primary source material (data/evidence) doesn't usually become out of date. However, interpretations and treatises following scientific methodology do become outdated (often quite quickly) because more and more data is uncovered and must be considered in formulating and evaluating the arguments. Now, in case you are unaware, science was far less rigorous in the 19th century, especially when the subject came to the Bible. This source really wasn't even that reliable in the 19th century, though, as the actual source material being consulted wasn't provided. That's bad writing and makes the research quite suspect. Hope this helps.