The Dayton Deception by John Morris .......The Scopes Monkey Trial can only be fully comprehended within a larger framework-the long war against God. Only when we see the creation/evolution conflict as the collision of two world views can we understand the utter hatred toward Christianity on display at the Scopes Trial.

*The bible speaks of the "four corners of the earth".... therefore it implies the earth is flat.

REV 7:1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.....

   Because of this verse, many people then, as well as some today, think that the Bible subscribes to the flat-earth concept. Yet this phrase explains that "the four corners" refer to "the four winds of the earth". Even today meterorlogists use the four directions of the compass to describe wind movement, without implying that the earth is flat.

(ISA 40:22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:)

*The bible speaks of the "rising of the sun"....therefore it teaches geocentrism (the theory that the earth is the actual physical center of the solar system)

PSA 113:3 From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD'S name is to be praised.
MAR 16:2 And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.

This is simply a language of appearance, and so appropriate that it cannot be improved upon even by astronomers of our day. Todays' meterologist on every weather channnel on TV state that "sunrise" will be at 6:02 a.m. etc., sunset will be at 7:02 p.m.

In fact the entire seventeenth-century debate between Galileo and the Roman Catholic Church as to whether or not the earth moves around the sun was biblically irrelevant. Both Galileo and his church were woefully ignorant of the Bible's own guidelines to its proper interpretation.

Along those same lines the Psalmist stated the "the earth shall not be moved" (Psalm 93:1 and 96:10). However, the Psalmist, speaking of himself, also asserted: " I shall not be moved" (Psalm 10: 6; 16:8, 36; 55:22; 62: 2; 66:9, and 121:3). The obvious point is that he did not anticipate being swerved from the path God had marked out for him. Like wise, the earth cannot be diverted from its God-ordained functions, such as its orbital movement around the sun.

*Much speculation has been made about the miracle of the sundial in the days of King Hezekiah of Judah:

   It seems to me that these very strong assurances in Genesis and Jeremiah provide for us the necessary frame of reference for understanding the sundial miracle in the days of king Hezekiah of Judah, and even the long day of Joshua. The sign that God gave to Hezekiah (2 Kings 20:8-11) was certainly one of the most spectacular miracles in Old Testament history. In the courtyard of the palace there was apparently a series of steps (not necessarily a sundial as we would normally think of it) so arranged that the shadow cast by the sun would give an approximation of the time of day. At the request of the king, and doubtless in the presence of a large group of officials (including foreign ambassadors?), the shadow moved backward ten steps (or "degrees")!

   How did God actually accomplish this miracle? Did he cause the earth to stop its rotation and turn backwards a little? All true Christians would agree that He could have done such a thing, for by Him all things consist, or hold together (Col. 1:17). But the Bible makes it rather clear that this was not God's method; for in referring to this miracle, 2 Chronicles 32:24 states that Hezekiah "prayed to the Lord, and the Lord spoke to him and gave him a sign [Hebrew mopheth]." But in verse 31 we are told that the Babylonians sent ambassadors to Hezekiah "to inquire of the wonder [mopheth] that had happened in the land." Obviously, then, it was a geographically localized miracle, which did not involve a reversal of the earth's rotation, with shadows retreating ten degrees all over that part of the world. Instead, the miracle occurred only "in the land" (of Judea); and, to be even more specific, it was only in the king's courtyard that "the sun's shadow went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down" (Isa. 38:8).

    It is my conviction that a proper understanding of the nature of this great miracle helps in our understanding of what happened in the miracle of Joshua's long day (Josh. 10:12-14). Since Joshua's need was for a prolongation of light (not a slowing down of the earth's rotation), his need could be met by a supernatural continuation of sunlight and moonlight in central Palestine for "about a whole day" until Joshua's army could follow up its great victory and completely destroy the enemy. This was indeed a stupendous miracle of God! In fact, "there was no day like that before it or after it, when the Lord listened to the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel" (Josh. 10:14). It was no less miraculous and supernatural for God to change the direction of solar radiation on one battlefield, or even one sundial, than for Him to stop the rotation of the earth. Similarly, it was no less
miraculous and supernatural for our Lord to raise one man from the dead than to raise all men from the dead at the end of history (John 11:40-45; compare John 5:28, 29).

*excerpts taken from "The Bible and Astronomy" by Dr. John C. Whitcomb

Back to evolution page