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shafique wrote:Do you believe the Bible when it says that the sun was stopped in it's course? Did the earth really stop rotating?

(I predict you will not want to answer these questions - but go on, tell us whether the Bible is right in this account)

and He subjected to you the sun and moon constant upon their courses, and He subjected to you the night and day,

Motion of the Sun
Every day the Sun rises in the east, moves through the southern part of the sky and sets in the west. If there were no atmosphere so that we could see Polaris all the time, would the Sun also be going in a circular path centered on Polaris?

The answer is yes. (Well, almost).

If you were at the North Pole in the middle of summer, lying on your back, you would see the Sun go around in a circle in the sky, anticlockwise. The circle would be centered on Polaris, which is directly overhead, except for the fact that you wouldn’t see Polaris all summer, since it wouldn’t be dark. Here of course we see the Sun circling part of the time, and see Polaris the other part of the time, so it isn’t completely obvious that the Sun’s circling Polaris. Does the Sun circle clockwise or anticlockwise for us? It depends on how you look at it—in winter, when it’s low in the sky, we tend to look “from above”, see the Sun rise in the east, move in a low path via the south towards the west, and that looks clockwise—unless you’re lying on your back.

Actually the Sun moves very slightly each day relative to the starry vault. This would be obvious if there were no atmosphere, so we could just watch it, but this can also be figured out, as the Greeks and before them the Babylonians did, by looking closely at the stars in the west just after sunset and seeing where the Sun fits into the pattern.

It turns out that the Sun moves almost exactly one degree per day against the starry vault, so that after one year it’s back where it started. This is no coincidence—no doubt this is why the Babylonians chose their angular unit as the degree (they also liked 60).

Anyway, the Sun goes around in the circular path along with the starry vault, and at the same time slowly progresses along a path in the starry vault. This path is called the ecliptic.

If we visualize Polaris as the “North Pole” of the starry vault, and then imagine the vault’s “Equator”, the ecliptic is a great circle tilted at 23 ½ degrees to the “equator”. The Sun moves along the ecliptic from west to east. (Imagine the Earth were not rotating at all relative to the stars. How would the Sun appear to move through the year?)

The motion of the Sun across the starry vault has been known at least since the Babylonians, and interpreted in many colorful ways. Compare our present view of the stars, thermonuclear reactions in the sky, with the ancient view (see Hemisphaerium Boreale, Appendix to Heath’s Greek Astronomy).

shafique wrote:Contrast with the questions you're avoiding about the Bible's contention that the Sun stopped in it's course. The Bible it appears violates the law of physics, whilst God's words in the Quran are 100% in accordance with science.

Better luck next time.

What course does the sun follow with respect to the earth?

and He subjected to you the sun and moon constant upon their courses, and He subjected to you the night and day,

shafique wrote:Contrast with the questions you're avoiding about the Bible's contention that the Sun stopped in it's course. The Bible it appears violates the law of physics, whilst God's words in the Quran are 100% in accordance with science.

Better luck next time.

and He subjected to you the sun and moon constant upon their courses, and He subjected to you the night and day,

Hast thou not regarded him who disputed with Abraham, concerning his Lord, that God had given him the kingship? When Abraham said, 'My Lord is He who gives life, and makes to die,' he said, 'I give life, and make to die.' Said Abraham, 'God brings the sun from the east; so bring thou it from the west.' Then the unbeliever was confounded. God guides not the people of the evildoers.

shafique wrote:So

shafique wrote:Contrast with the questions you're avoiding about the Bible's contention that the Sun stopped in it's course. The Bible it appears violates the law of physics, whilst God's words in the Quran are 100% in accordance with science.

Better luck next time.

Why are you not defending the Bible?

The science books back up the Quranic statements of solar and lunar orbits - but what branch of science says that the Sun can be stopped in it's tracks?

shafique wrote:I've addressed the Quranic quotes (as being totally in line with science)

Are you ashamed of what the Bible says (that the sun was stopped in its course)?

Hast thou not regarded him who disputed with Abraham, concerning his Lord, that God had given him the kingship? When Abraham said, 'My Lord is He who gives life, and makes to die,' he said, 'I give life, and make to die.' Said Abraham, 'God brings the sun from the east; so bring thou it from the west.' Then the unbeliever was confounded. God guides not the people of the evildoers.

shafique wrote:Contrast with the questions you're avoiding about the Bible's contention that the Sun stopped in it's course. The Bible it appears violates the law of physics, whilst God's words in the Quran are 100% in accordance with science.

shafique wrote:Does the sun 'revolve' around the earth?

Don't you mean 'orbit'?

God says in the Quran that the Sun and Moon follow their fixed courses - which is pretty much what science confirms. God doesn't say the sun orbits (or revolves!) around the Earth - but then again, perhaps in the Tali-tubby translation you have it says otherwise?

So - I started the new thread as you suggested. I expected you to answer - but yet again, All Mouth, No Trousers.

Cheers,
Shafique

and He subjected to you the sun and moon constant upon their courses, and He subjected to you the night and day,

event horizon wrote:

and He subjected to you the sun and moon constant upon their courses, and He subjected to you the night and day,

Which cycle of the sun is subject to the earth?