The passage of Joshua where the sun and moon are said to have stopped during Joshua’s attack on the Amorite kings was scrutinized by Galileo. He absolutely believed that this passage could not be understood as literal since it contradicted the natural laws of science that he had observed. Stopping only the sun would not lengthen the day, according to the Ptolemy and Aristotle system, as Galileo stated that “if God had stopped the sun’s motion, He would have cut and shortened the day instead of lengthening it (pg. 53).” He mentioned this in his letter because he wanted to defend science with facts from astronomy. This also refers back to how people are misinterpreting the biblical scriptures and are altering what’s actually being explained. As Galileo continued to question his opposition’s understanding of astronomy, he described when Joshua said that God stopped the Sun’s motion, what the scripture really meant was that God stopped the Prime Mobile because if he stopped only the sun, it wouldn’t have just shortened the day but it would have also altered and upset the order of the other
The passage of Joshua where the sun and moon are said to have stopped during Joshua’s attack on the Amorite kings was scrutinized by Galileo. He absolutely believed that this passage could not be understood as literal since it contradicted the natural laws of science that he had observed. Stopping only the sun would not lengthen the day, according to the Ptolemy and Aristotle system, as Galileo stated that “if God had stopped the sun’s motion, He would have cut and shortened the day instead of lengthening it (pg. 53).” He mentioned this in his letter because he wanted to defend science with facts from astronomy. This also refers back to how people are misinterpreting the biblical scriptures and are altering what’s actually being explained. As Galileo continued to question his opposition’s understanding of astronomy, he described when Joshua said that God stopped the Sun’s motion, what the scripture really meant was that God stopped the Prime Mobile because if he stopped only the sun, it wouldn’t have just shortened the day but it would have also altered and upset the order of the other