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Traditional Catholic Faith => Fighting Errors in the Modern World => The Earth God Made - Flat Earth, Geocentrism => Topic started by: Matthew on November 05, 2023, 08:19:35 AM

Title: Miracle of the Sun, Joshuas longest day - FLAT EARTH
Post by: Matthew on November 05, 2023, 08:19:35 AM
Quote
"Our Lady's Miracle of the Sun opens up a lot of issues, which may be considered a bit of a digression ... related to cosmology ... that I can bring up on a separate thread so as not to derail this one."



Yes indeed. And then there's Joshua making the sun stand still.

I understand a miracle is a miracle -- but if the sun "stood still" imagine the forces of "gravity" that would have to be undone if the earth suddenly stopped spinning all the sudden?

I mean, it makes a lot more sense in a Flat Earth cosmology, where God controls and appoints the course of the sun, moon, and stars -- rather than some hands-off universe where He is only needed for a Big Bang and then the whole thing just runs itself.

God intervenes constantly to create human souls right now -- and He has to constantly keep everything in existence. So the Big Bang - spinning ball cosmology -- is unnecessary complexity.

Not to mention Scripture already weighed in on the debate. Genesis CLEARLY states that the earth was created first, BEFORE the sun and stars. So you can't even interpret the Genesis Days as "periods of time". Also, you have to do extreme violence to the Hebrew to interpret the Days as anything other than regular 24-hour days. What kind of violence? THIS kind of violence:

"John went to work yesterday".
Interpretation: "John went to work 100 million years ago."

That is NOT a faithful or valid interpretation of that sentence!
Title: Re: Miracle of the Sun, Joshuas longest day - FLAT EARTH
Post by: Matthew on November 05, 2023, 08:28:20 AM
God createth Heaven and Earth, and all things therein, in six days.

1 In the beginning God created heaven, and earth.  2 And the earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God moved over the waters.  3 And God said: Be light made. And light was made.  4 And God saw the light that it was good; and he divided the light from the darkness.  5 And he called the light Day, and the darkness Night; and there was evening and morning one day.
6 And God said: Let there be a firmament made amidst the waters: and let it divide the waters from the waters.  7 And God made a firmament, and divided the waters that were under the firmament, from those that were above the firmament, and it was so.  8 And God called the firmament, Heaven; and the evening and morning were the second day.  9 God also said: Let the waters that are under the heaven, be gathered together into one place: and let the dry land appear. And it was so done.  10 And God called the dry land, Earth; and the gathering together of the waters, he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

Genesis also talks about the "windows of heaven" that were opened at the time of the Flood, as if the firmament had openings to let the WATERS down to the earth below.

If you're a Glober, you have to take all this as poetic language and old-fashioned, archaic, FAIRY TALE LIKE figurative imagery. But that is not necessary.


Quote
"Perhaps beginning with Origen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origen), the different identifiers used for heavens in the Book of Genesis, caelum and firmamentum, sparked some commentary on the significance of the order of creation (caelum identified as the heaven of the first day (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empyrean), and firmamentum as the heaven of the second day).[8] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmament#cite_note-8) Some of these theories identified caelum as the higher, immaterial and spiritual heaven, whereas firmamentum was of corporeal existence.[9] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmament#cite_note-9): 237 
Christian theologians of note writing between the 5th and mid-12th century were generally in agreement that the waters, sometimes called the "crystalline orb", were located above the firmament and beneath the fiery heaven that was also called empyrean (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empyrean) (from Greek ἔμπυρος). One medieval writer who rejected such notions was Pietro d'Abano (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_d'Abano) who argued that theologians "assuming a crystalline, or aqueous sphere, and an empyrean, or firey sphere" were relying on revelation more than Scripture.[10] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmament#cite_note-10)
About this Ambrose (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrose) wrote: "Wise men of the world say that water cannot be over the heavens"; the firmament is called such, according to Ambrose, because it held back the waters above it.[11] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmament#cite_note-11)
This matter of the position of the "waters" above the firmament was considered by Augustine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine) in De Genesi ad litteram (perhaps his least studied work): "only God knows how and why [the waters] are there, but we cannot deny the authority of Holy Scripture which is greater than our understanding"."



Title: Re: Miracle of the Sun, Joshuas longest day - FLAT EARTH
Post by: Matthew on November 05, 2023, 08:32:08 AM
P.S. The "early Hebrews" were the ONLY PEOPLE WORSHIPING THE TRUE GOD back then. If you lived back then, you would want to be a Hebrew, because they were the only ones on the path to salvation! They were the good guys. We're not talking about "those who say they are Jews but are not, but are the S. of S." No, these are the REAL Jews with the whole package of Truth we're talking about! The people who received the Law from God, who possessed the TRUE FAITH both Scripture and Tradition, and who awaited God's promised Messiah Who was still to come.
Title: Re: Miracle of the Sun, Joshuas longest day - FLAT EARTH
Post by: Incredulous on November 05, 2023, 10:12:18 AM
Would someone please ping Fr. Paul Robinson and ask him to post on this topic? :popcorn:
Title: Re: Miracle of the Sun, Joshuas longest day - FLAT EARTH
Post by: Ladislaus on November 05, 2023, 11:12:30 AM
So, the question is what happened during the miracle of the sun.  Did Our Lady just work an optical illusion?  That would really weaken the nature of the miracle, and I don't believe it consistent with the honor that God sought to bring to her Immaculate Heart with it.  So we must hold that there was something real and physical taking place.  I recall St. Thomas writing something along these lines on another topic.

So the sun was plunging toward the earth.  If we accept NASA cosmology, this would mean that the entire world should have seen it.

So if it wasn't some optical illusion and the entire world did not see it, that can only mean one thing ...

that the sun is much closer (i.e. local) and smaller than is believed.

This is to say nothing of the fact that the entire earth would likely have been nearly incinerated, as there should have been a very high temperature spike, not only at Fatima but worldwide.

Then if you look at the Joshua example, if you buy NASA cosmology, the rotation of the earth must have stopped, rather than the movement of the sun.  While God could of course suspend these effects, naturally speaking the effects on the earth would have been devastating ... massive tidal waves, tsunamies, problems with "gravity", etc.

In any case, unless one wants to hold that the Fatima Miracle of the Sun was an optical illusion, an effect on what just the people at Fatima saw, an effect on their optical nerves, it should have been seen worldwide and would also have caused major effects around the world.  For the sun to get larger, it would have to close in on the earth by millions of miles.
Title: Re: Miracle of the Sun, Joshuas longest day - FLAT EARTH
Post by: Ladislaus on November 05, 2023, 11:15:51 AM
God createth Heaven and Earth, and all things therein, in six days.

1 In the beginning God created heaven, and earth.  2 And the earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God moved over the waters.  3 And God said: Be light made. And light was made.  4 And God saw the light that it was good; and he divided the light from the darkness.  5 And he called the light Day, and the darkness Night; and there was evening and morning one day.
6 And God said: Let there be a firmament made amidst the waters: and let it divide the waters from the waters.  7 And God made a firmament, and divided the waters that were under the firmament, from those that were above the firmament, and it was so.  8 And God called the firmament, Heaven; and the evening and morning were the second day.  9 God also said: Let the waters that are under the heaven, be gathered together into one place: and let the dry land appear. And it was so done.  10 And God called the dry land, Earth; and the gathering together of the waters, he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

Genesis also talks about the "windows of heaven" that were opened at the time of the Flood, as if the firmament had openings to let the WATERS down to the earth below.

If you're a Glober, you have to take all this as poetic language and old-fashioned, archaic, FAIRY TALE LIKE figurative imagery. But that is not necessary.

Not only does Sacred Scripture describe a solid, physical firmament that had the capability to keep waters from inundating the earth, but the Church Fathers all universally believed in a solid firmament and real physical waters of the firmament (because, well, duh, that's exactly what Sacred Scripture is describing).  While this does not directly speak to Flat Earth, I doubt you'd find one Glober in a million who believes that the ball earth is surround by such a firmament as is described in Sacred Scripture and as unanimously understood by the Church Fathers.
Title: Re: Miracle of the Sun, Joshuas longest day - FLAT EARTH
Post by: Ladislaus on November 05, 2023, 11:28:32 AM
Would someone please ping Fr. Paul Robinson and ask him to post on this topic? :popcorn:

Yeah, Father Paul Robinson, contrary to the words of Sacred Scripture that describe the Flood as inundating ALL the earth, to the point that the highest mountains were covered by water, holds to the "Local" or "Regional" Flood theory, with his rationale being that there could never be enough rain to cover the entire earth.  This begs the question that there isn't a firmament holding waters away from the earth, and it ignores that fact that the fountains of the deep also burst forth.  Father Robinson also ignores Sacred Scripture's description of the "Deep", which were the waters beneath the earth.  Not to mention that Local Flood is absurd on the face of it.  In the many decades that it took Noah to build the ark, he could have just packed up and moved out of the region.  Why was there a need to take all the animals aboard?  God too could have just caused any animals that would be in danger of extinction (i.e. those that were to be found ONLY in the region where the Flood occurred) to migrate, as there's at tradition that God had the animals come to Noah's ark.  How is it that the ark remained afloat for 40 days before Noah even opened the window and the flood waters remained for 150 days?  If a Local Flood, it would have dissipated in hours just due to the water leveling.

Basically Father Robinson's Local Flood theory reduces the Flood to a fairy tale.  That's contrary to anything believed by any Church Father.  It's heretical.  Father Paul Robinson is a Modernist heretic.  I do not make this accusation lightly, but the Holy Office and St. Robert Bellarmine would have condemned him as a heretic ... and rightly so.  He's as bad as any of the Modernist Jesuits that I tussled with for years (8 years of Jesuit education between Jesuit High School and Jesuit University).

Genesis 6: 18-24
Quote
18 For they overflowed exceedingly: and filled all on the face of the earth: and the ark was carried upon the waters.  19 And the waters prevailed beyond measure upon the earth: and all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered.  20 The water was fifteen cubits higher than the mountains which it covered.

21 And all flesh was destroyed that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beasts, and of all creeping things that creep upon the earth: and all men.  22 And all things wherein there is the breath of life on the earth, died.  23 And he destroyed all the substance that was upon the earth, from man even to beast, and the creeping things and fowls of the air: and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noe only remained, and they that were with him in the ark.  24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days.

So how do I read this as Local Flood without undermining all of Sacred Scripture?  You can't, unless I don't understand what the meaning of "all" is and what the meaning of "is" is.  I guess that the Hebrew language was very confusing, where many means all (the consecration), and evidently all means many (Genesis Flood).  Hey, I have an idea ... just flip the words in the Hebrew Lexicon.  And once you turn the Flood and the Creation account into fairy tales, what else in Sacred Scripture is a fairy tale, a metaphor, an allegory, etc.?  It undermines the authority of all Sacred Scripture.  That is why I saw dozens of young men at Jesuit High School lose the faith, primarily due to the undermining of Sacred Scripture by the Modernist Jesuits.
Title: Re: Miracle of the Sun, Joshuas longest day - FLAT EARTH
Post by: Matthew on November 05, 2023, 11:48:10 AM
...and that's why Flat Earth matters.

The Globe Earth is the FOUNDATIONAL lie, upon which Secularism, Materialism, Communism, Evolution, Liberalism, Americanism/Democracy, and all the other modern errors rest!

If the earth is flat under a firmament/dome, then there is CLEARLY a Creator who is God. Mankind is special among the beasts, being the only physical being with intellect and Free Will. Also, this Man must follow God and His law, and give some concern for his eternal destiny. True AI won't ever be possible as Man can't create immortal immaterial souls, there are no aliens or other "planets" to visit, and we must worship God rather than Man. Think of all the things we wouldn't waste our time and money on, if humanity at large realized that God created them!
Title: Re: Miracle of the Sun, Joshuas longest day - FLAT EARTH
Post by: EWPJ on November 05, 2023, 01:10:47 PM
As far as the Joshua story and the sun stopping, based on some of the research I've done and someone else who did or researched the math....We know a circle is 360 degrees and before this event each year was 360 days and a degree was measured for each day.  Long story short...after this event is why we have 365 days per year now.  
Title: Re: Miracle of the Sun, Joshuas longest day - FLAT EARTH
Post by: Ladislaus on November 05, 2023, 03:04:58 PM
...and that's why Flat Earth matters.

The Globe Earth is the FOUNDATIONAL lie, upon which Secularism, Materialism, Communism, Evolution, Liberalism, Americanism/Democracy, and all the other modern errors rest!

If the earth is flat under a firmament/dome, then there is CLEARLY a Creator who is God. Mankind is special among the beasts, being the only physical being with intellect and Free Will. Also, this Man must follow God and His law, and give some concern for his eternal destiny. True AI won't ever be possible as Man can't create immortal immaterial souls, there are no aliens or other "planets" to visit, and we must worship God rather than Man. Think of all the things we wouldn't waste our time and money on, if humanity at large realized that God created them!

You can't deny Intelligent Design with the FE model.  Several prominent FEs were atheists that found religion after discovering FE, albeit not the Catholic faith ... yet ... as belief in God could be one step in the process.
Title: Re: Miracle of the Sun, Joshuas longest day - FLAT EARTH
Post by: Ladislaus on November 05, 2023, 03:12:55 PM
As far as the Joshua story and the sun stopping, based on some of the research I've done and someone else who did or researched the math....We know a circle is 360 degrees and before this event each year was 360 days and a degree was measured for each day.  Long story short...after this event is why we have 365 days per year now. 

Interesting.  I haven't heard that, though this would seem to require a change in the long-term speed of the sun to alter 360 to 365 long term.  If the sun resumed after the stoppage at the same speed it was going before, there would be a single hit to the time of year.  Or when it resume it would have just been that time stopped and nothing really changed.
Title: Re: Miracle of the Sun, Joshuas longest day - FLAT EARTH
Post by: EWPJ on November 05, 2023, 08:53:10 PM
Interesting.  I haven't heard that, though this would seem to require a change in the long-term speed of the sun to alter 360 to 365 long term.  If the sun resumed after the stoppage at the same speed it was going before, there would be a single hit to the time of year.  Or when it resume it would have just been that time stopped and nothing really changed.
Some of the stuff he was saying went over my head and it was a very long and drawn out explanation complete with maths but what I do remember what he did say made sense.  I really wish I could remember or retrieve the long disertation on the matter because it was very interesting and even gave me goosebumps.   
Title: Re: Miracle of the Sun, Joshuas longest day - FLAT EARTH
Post by: Ladislaus on November 06, 2023, 06:53:52 AM
Some of the stuff he was saying went over my head and it was a very long and drawn out explanation complete with maths but what I do remember what he did say made sense.  I really wish I could remember or retrieve the long disertation on the matter because it was very interesting and even gave me goosebumps. 

Interesting.  I'd really enjoy reading this if you ever find it.
Title: Re: Miracle of the Sun, Joshuas longest day - FLAT EARTH
Post by: Tradman on November 06, 2023, 10:19:01 AM

From literally every angle flat earth is so much more reasonable than the globe.  The two great miracles of the sun confound the modern narrative into silence because the globe model doesn't make sense in either scenario. This weekend I was thinking about daylight savings and how it compares to the two great miracles of the sun, so I was surprised to see this particular post right now. The powers that be attempt to "move the sun" and count it as "savings" while it's only a nonsensical sleight-of-hand of what God does by true miracle. Everything about it is obnoxious. I'd happily give up the longer summer hours if it went away.     
Title: Re: Miracle of the Sun, Joshuas longest day - FLAT EARTH
Post by: Matthew on November 06, 2023, 10:27:06 AM
Daylight savings time is like cutting off the top 12" of your blanket and re-attaching it at the bottom of your blanket. Oh, don't you just feel so much warmer!
Title: Re: Miracle of the Sun, Joshuas longest day - FLAT EARTH
Post by: ByzCat3000 on November 06, 2023, 11:55:44 AM
Yeah, Father Paul Robinson, contrary to the words of Sacred Scripture that describe the Flood as inundating ALL the earth, to the point that the highest mountains were covered by water, holds to the "Local" or "Regional" Flood theory, with his rationale being that there could never be enough rain to cover the entire earth.  This begs the question that there isn't a firmament holding waters away from the earth, and it ignores that fact that the fountains of the deep also burst forth.  Father Robinson also ignores Sacred Scripture's description of the "Deep", which were the waters beneath the earth.  Not to mention that Local Flood is absurd on the face of it.  In the many decades that it took Noah to build the ark, he could have just packed up and moved out of the region.  Why was there a need to take all the animals aboard?  God too could have just caused any animals that would be in danger of extinction (i.e. those that were to be found ONLY in the region where the Flood occurred) to migrate, as there's at tradition that God had the animals come to Noah's ark.  How is it that the ark remained afloat for 40 days before Noah even opened the window and the flood waters remained for 150 days?  If a Local Flood, it would have dissipated in hours just due to the water leveling.

Basically Father Robinson's Local Flood theory reduces the Flood to a fairy tale.  That's contrary to anything believed by any Church Father.  It's heretical.  Father Paul Robinson is a Modernist heretic.  I do not make this accusation lightly, but the Holy Office and St. Robert Bellarmine would have condemned him as a heretic ... and rightly so.  He's as bad as any of the Modernist Jesuits that I tussled with for years (8 years of Jesuit education between Jesuit High School and Jesuit University).

Genesis 6: 18-24
So how do I read this as Local Flood without undermining all of Sacred Scripture?  You can't, unless I don't understand what the meaning of "all" is and what the meaning of "is" is.  I guess that the Hebrew language was very confusing, where many means all (the consecration), and evidently all means many (Genesis Flood).  Hey, I have an idea ... just flip the words in the Hebrew Lexicon.  And once you turn the Flood and the Creation account into fairy tales, what else in Sacred Scripture is a fairy tale, a metaphor, an allegory, etc.?  It undermines the authority of all Sacred Scripture.  That is why I saw dozens of young men at Jesuit High School lose the faith, primarily due to the undermining of Sacred Scripture by the Modernist Jesuits.
Not defending Paul robinson


but if he is a heretic for this, how do you reconcile with humani generis saying evolution of the human body could be debated

Like I’m sure you believe pius xii was wrong to allow that.  But since he was in your view a true pope and you aren’t r and r, you’d have to say someone could follow what he said and not be a heretic right? 
Title: Re: Miracle of the Sun, Joshuas longest day - FLAT EARTH
Post by: Matthew on November 06, 2023, 12:56:21 PM
Not defending Paul robinson


but if he is a heretic for this, how do you reconcile with humani generis saying evolution of the human body could be debated

Like I’m sure you believe pius xii was wrong to allow that.  But since he was in your view a true pope and you aren’t r and r, you’d have to say someone could follow what he said and not be a heretic right?

That's a red herring.

First of all, Pius XII was talking hypothetically. As in, STRICTLY SPEAKING. That doesn't mean you SHOULD go down that route, that it is highly likely, or that it would be wise or appropriate.

Second, Pius XII lived LONG AGO before we knew the interior structure of a cell or DNA, for example. The city of Los Angeles has less complexity than a single cell. I am not exaggerating. Meanwhile, Charles Darwin and his contemporaries thought that a cell was about as complex as a cube of Jell-o. They couldn't have been more wrong!

Long story short, in the 1950's Catholics were caught flat-footed (or they THOUGHT they were, due to the boldness, lies, and hubris of the evolutionists) and they were striving to pick up the pieces as it were. They thought they needed to salvage SOME credibility for religion going forward, against the apparent discoveries of science. They knew that God existed, but thought, "we have these apparent discoveries that bolster this new Theory of Evolution..."

Today, we know those assertions, theories, and "discoveries" were 100% pure bullshit. Lies, hoaxes, cherry-picked data, misdirections, and convenient deletions. In short: bull excrement. There is NO reason, today, to put in effort to reconcile Big Bang/Evolution with the Catholic Faith. There simply isn't any evidence for evolution or an old earth. Or a globe earth that rotates around the sun for that matter...
Title: Re: Miracle of the Sun, Joshuas longest day - FLAT EARTH
Post by: Ladislaus on November 06, 2023, 01:19:05 PM
Not defending Paul robinson


but if he is a heretic for this, how do you reconcile with humani generis saying evolution of the human body could be debated

Like I’m sure you believe pius xii was wrong to allow that.  But since he was in your view a true pope and you aren’t r and r, you’d have to say someone could follow what he said and not be a heretic right?

Father Paul Robison is verbatim contradicting the Genesis account of the Flood.  Theistic evolution is a bit more slippery.  Pius XII certainly made a grave mistake in permitting it to be studied, but he did not approve of it, simply allowed discussion of it within certain parameters.  That was a prudential error.  But there's nothing openly and directly contradictory between some theory of theistic (God-guided) evolution and anything in Sacred Scripture.

Think of it this way.  Holy Office (with St. Robert Bellarmine) declared heliocentrism heretical on the grounds that it contradicted Sacred Scripture and the unanimous Patristic interpretation thereof.  Father Paul Robinson is doing exactly that.  His Local Flood theory contradicts verbatim the Sacred Scriptures which clearly state that all flesh was destroyed, all the earth covered above the highest mountains, etc.  Theistic evolution doesn't directly and verbatim contradict anything explicitly in Sacred Scripture.

Just read again the citation from Genesis about the Flood.  Now, try to come up with an explanation for why "Local Flood" does not butcher the sense and the credibility of Sacred Scripture, which does not mince any words but emphatically and repeatedly states that all flesh was destroyed, all the face of the earth covered, that no flesh remained on earth except for Noah and those on the ark, that the tallest mountains were covered by 15 cubits, that the flood waters lasted 150 days, that 40 days passed with the ark afloat before Noah even opened the window, etc.?  How can that POSSIBLY be reconciled with Local Flood?  Really, the only way would be to reduce the Genesis Flood account to a fairy tale of some kind, a myth.  If Genesis exaggerated by claiming that all the earth was covered with water, then maybe Our Lord was exaggerating (to get a point across) some of his moral teachings or some other points of doctrine.

Now let's say I'm a young Traditional Catholic and read this book being promoted by SSPX and read about the Local Flood.  Then I pick up and read the Book of Genesis.  What do I do with that if I'm that young man?  Well, the obvious answer is that the Genesis Flood account is just a fanciful story, a myth, a fairy tale.  Then what do I do with the rest of Sacred Scripture?  What other fairy tales, allegories, and metaphors might lurk in Sacred Scripture?
Title: Re: Miracle of the Sun, Joshuas longest day - FLAT EARTH
Post by: gemmarose on November 06, 2023, 04:18:50 PM
As far as the Joshua story and the sun stopping, based on some of the research I've done and someone else who did or researched the math....We know a circle is 360 degrees and before this event each year was 360 days and a degree was measured for each day.  Long story short...after this event is why we have 365 days per year now. 
I'm leaning more towards flat earth myself. You mentioned the word circle, the word in Isiahs 40:22, is gyrum which means circle or ring. The word for globe is globus which has a completely different meaning. Something can be circular and also flat. The translation is not precise.