# I am sure some will not believe but thought you would find interesting. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 10, 2000, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-sure-some-will-not-believe-but-thought-you-would-find-interesting/17559 "2000-02-10T23:12:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dansir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@dansir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dansir)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-sure-some-will-not-believe-but-thought-you-would-find-interesting/17559/1 "2000-02-10T23:12:00Z")
\> \> Subject: God is Awesome \> \> \> \> \> \> \> \> Interesting… \> \> \> \> For all you scientists out there and for all the students who have a \> \> hard time convincing people regarding the truth of the Bible…here’s \> \> something that shows God’s awesome creation and shows that He is still in \> \> control… \> \> Did you know that the space program is busy proving that what has \> \> been called “myth” in the Bible is true? Mr. Harold Hill, President of \> the \> \> Curtis Engine Company in Baltimore Maryland and a consultant in the space \> \> program, relates the following development: "I think one of the most \> amazing \> \> things that God has for us today happened recently to our astronauts and \> \> space scientists at Green Belt, Maryland. They were checking the position \> \> of the sun, moon, and planets out in space where they would be 100 years \> and \> \> 1000 years from now… We have to know this so we won’t send a satellite, \> up \> \> and have it bump into something later on during its orbits We have to lay \> \> out the orbits in terms of the life of the satellite, and where the \> planets \> \> will be so the whole thing will not bow down… \> \> \> \> They ran the computer measurement back and forth over the centuries and \> it \> \> came to a halt. The computer stopped and put up a red signal, which meant \> \> that there was something wrong either with the information fed into it or \> \> with the results as compared to the standards. They called in the service \> \> department to check it out and they said “what’s wrong?” \> \> Well they found there is a day missing in space in elapsed time. They \> \> scratched their heads and tore their hair. There was no answer. \> \> Finally, a Christian man on the team said, “You know, one time I was in \> \> Sunday School and they talked about the sun standing still.” While they \> \> didn’t believe him, they didn’t have an answer either, so they said, “Show \> \> us”. He got a Bible and went back to the book of Joshua where they found \> a \> \> pretty ridiculous statement for any one with “common sense.” There they \> \> found the Lord saying to Joshua, “Fear them not, I have delivered them \> into \> \> thy hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee.” Joshua was \> \> concerned because he was surrounded by the enemy and if darkness fell they \> \> would overpower them. So Joshua asked the Lord to make the sun stand \> still! \> \> That’s right - “The sun stood still and the moon stayed—and hurried not \> to \> \> go down about a whole day!” The astronauts and scientists said, “There is \> \> the missing day!” They checked the computers going back into the time it \> was \> \> written and found it was close but not close enough. The elapsed time \> that \> \> was missing back in Joshua’s day was 23 hours and 20 minutes-not a whole \> \> day. They read the Bible and there it was “about (approximately) a day.” \> \> These little words in the Bible are important, but they were still in \> \> trouble because if you cannot account for 40 minutes you’ll still be in \> \> trouble 1,000 years from now. Forty minutes had to be found because it \> can \> \> be multiplied many times over in orbits… As the Christian employee \> \> thought about it, remembered somewhere in the Bible where it said the sun \> \> went BACKWARDS. The scientists told him he was out of his mind, but they \> \> got out the Book and read these words in 2 Kings: Hezekiah, on his \> \> death-bed, was visited by the prophet Isaiah who told him that he was not \> \> going to die. Hezekiah asked for a sign as proof. Isaiah said “Do you \> want \> \> the sun to go ahead 10 degrees?” Hezekiah said, “It is nothing for the \> sun \> \> to go ahead 10 degrees, but let the shadow return backward 10 degrees.” \> \> Isaiah spoke to the Lord and the Lord brought the shadow ten degrees \> \> BACKWARD! Ten degrees is exactly 40 minutes! Twenty three hours and 20 \> \> minutes in Joshua, plus 40 minutes in Second Kings make the missing day in \> \> the universe! Isn’t it amazing just how TRUE the God’s word is? \> \> References: Joshua 10:8 and 12,13 2 Kings 20:9-11 ---
**Author:** ![Spiritus\_Mundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Spiritus\_Mundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiritus_Mundi)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-sure-some-will-not-believe-but-thought-you-would-find-interesting/17559/2 "2000-02-10T23:20:00Z")
Wow. It is difficult to argue with evidence like that. * * * - The best lack all conviction The worst are full of passionate intensity. \* ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-sure-some-will-not-believe-but-thought-you-would-find-interesting/17559/3 "2000-02-10T23:22:00Z")
It would have been easier to read if you had dropped the quote thingies. Easier to read, however, does not equal true or accurate. This isn’t even a very interesting story. ## How could a computer program find that the positions of heavenly bodies were off by one day without accurate observations from the affected time period? The program would only show where they SHOULD BE, it would have no way to flag that they were not THERE, especially if it is working backwards from today. Dr. Fidelius, Charlatan Associate Curator Anomalous Paleontology, Miskatonic University “You cannot reason a man out of a position he did not reach through reason.” ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-sure-some-will-not-believe-but-thought-you-would-find-interesting/17559/4 "2000-02-10T23:25:00Z")
Sorry Dansir, but this is an Urban Legend. It’s been thoroughly discredited as a pure falsehood. It only takes a moment or two of research to find this out. Good story though. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-sure-some-will-not-believe-but-thought-you-would-find-interesting/17559/5 "2000-02-10T23:27:00Z")
From [www.urbanlegends.com](http://www.urbanlegends.com) > [@](#): > > This story has been circulating in its NASA version at least since the 1960s, largely due to its promulgation by one Harold Hill, who says that he was present at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center when the above events allegedly took place. NASA denies that this ever occurred, and Hill, the former president of the Curtis Engine Company of Baltimore, was involved in diesel engine operations at Goddard and had no involvement with any computer operations. The story predates Hill’s NASA version, and goes back to Charles A. L. Totten’s _Joshua’s Long Day and the Dial of Ahaz: A Scientific Vindication_ (1890). Hill published his version in Harold Hill, as told to Irene Burk Harrell, _How to Live Like a King’s Kid_, 1974, Logos International. (Logos International was a Christian publisher with no qualms about publishing phony testimonies–it also published Mike Warnke’s _The Satan Seller_, Michael Esses’ _Michael, Michael, Why Do You Hate Me?_, and Fernand Navarra’s _Noah’s Ark–I Touched It_, all of which have been debunked.) ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-sure-some-will-not-believe-but-thought-you-would-find-interesting/17559/6 "2000-02-10T23:32:00Z")
Darn it DrFidelius, here I am a newbie trying to make a worthwhile contribution to the board, and you beat me to it, cite and all, in a matter of seconds! * * * Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-sure-some-will-not-believe-but-thought-you-would-find-interesting/17559/7 "2000-02-10T23:35:00Z")
Don’t sweat it, **sugaree**. I would have taken less time but snopes did cooperate with me. Oh, and welcome back, **dansir**. Long time no see. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-sure-some-will-not-believe-but-thought-you-would-find-interesting/17559/8 "2000-02-10T23:35:00Z")
I find it wonderful that someone named Harold Hill was involved with promulgating this bit. (That’s «bit» with a B, that rhymes with T. . . .) ---
**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-sure-some-will-not-believe-but-thought-you-would-find-interesting/17559/9 "2000-02-10T23:36:00Z")
Oh hell, I already looked it up so I’ll post the links anyway, even if DrF beat me to it. [http://www.doulon.net/shock/sunback/index.htm](http://www.doulon.net/shock/sunback/index.htm)[http://css.peak.org/newsletter/1999/mar99/meme.html](http://css.peak.org/newsletter/1999/mar99/meme.html)[http://www.utexas.edu/students/skeptics/ul.html#lostday](http://www.utexas.edu/students/skeptics/ul.html#lostday) ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-sure-some-will-not-believe-but-thought-you-would-find-interesting/17559/10 "2000-02-10T23:36:00Z")
It’s the return of JesusSpam! ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-sure-some-will-not-believe-but-thought-you-would-find-interesting/17559/11 "2000-02-10T23:41:00Z")
Good Lord, who dug up that old BS? I haven’t seen that particular turd in 4 or 5 years. ---
**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-sure-some-will-not-believe-but-thought-you-would-find-interesting/17559/12 "2000-02-10T23:43:00Z")
Bets on how long 'til we see the professor-and-the-chalk one? ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-sure-some-will-not-believe-but-thought-you-would-find-interesting/17559/13 "2000-02-10T23:50:00Z")
Couple days, max., Gaudere. Of course, you’ve already provided the debunking links, so we’ll have a record simulpost response. BTW, why did you remove the homepage link from your profile? If it’s none of my business, just whack me on the nose like a bad puppy and I’ll crawl back under the bed. ---
**Author:** ![dansir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@dansir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dansir)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-sure-some-will-not-believe-but-thought-you-would-find-interesting/17559/14 "2000-02-10T23:52:00Z")
THANKS DR. F for the welcome. You know I have never been easy to read so why be any different now…laughing I read the website and how does this MR. Hill know he was at the event if it did not happen. Of course NASA would not tell anyone…people would think our science program had went nuts … ---
**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-sure-some-will-not-believe-but-thought-you-would-find-interesting/17559/15 "2000-02-10T23:55:00Z")
Mods tend to get a little more attention from the psychos, and I’ve had enough trouble in that area already. So I don’t want as much personal info floating around. I’ll email you the URL if you want it. I have some new paintings but there’s been a bit of a mess with my ISP and I don’t have ftp access currently, so they’re not up. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-sure-some-will-not-believe-but-thought-you-would-find-interesting/17559/16 "2000-02-10T23:58:00Z")
Dansir: Think about this. Is it more likely for one person to be lying or for ALL THE OTHER PEOPLE involved in the “program” to be still lying about it? That is an application of Ockham’s scalpel. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2000, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-sure-some-will-not-believe-but-thought-you-would-find-interesting/17559/17 "2000-02-11T00:01:00Z")
Ah, I figgered it was something like that. Sure, you can send me the URL at [rseaney@teamsigma.com](mailto:rseaney@teamsigma.com) I’ve got something from my friend at [www.mockensturm.com](http://www.mockensturm.com) for you, too. He gave me a couple of small test prints for a lithograph a while back and I want to give one of them to you. I guess I’ll bring along it to S’field. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2000, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-sure-some-will-not-believe-but-thought-you-would-find-interesting/17559/18 "2000-02-11T00:05:00Z")
> [@](#): > > how does this MR. Hill know he was at the event if it did not happen. Last night, I flew to Mars by flapping my arms real hard. There I met with all the Martian dignitaries, including several clones of Arnold Ziffle. They gave me the key to the planet and a really tasty gravy recipe. Believe me? Didn’t think so. -andros- ---
**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2000, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-sure-some-will-not-believe-but-thought-you-would-find-interesting/17559/19 "2000-02-11T00:05:00Z")
Cool–I really like your friend’s work, particularly the watercolors. I’ll send the URL off in a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2000, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-sure-some-will-not-believe-but-thought-you-would-find-interesting/17559/20 "2000-02-11T00:06:00Z")
This is actually a serious question. I really don’t know. Is there any difference between Occam’s Razor, and Ockham’s Scalpel? They are the same, right? (don’t hurt me) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-sure-some-will-not-believe-but-thought-you-would-find-interesting/17559.md?page=2)