In the year 1543 AD a well respected educated scientist named Copernicus published his theory that the Earth revolved about the sun. The Church rejected this concept entirely, based in part perhaps on the following Bible verses.
“Tremble before him, all the earth; yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved. (1 Chron. 16:30)
Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved. (Ps. 93:1)
Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.” The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.(Psalm 96:10)
He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved. (Ps. 104:5)
For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s, and on them he has set the world. (1 Sam. 2:8)”
On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel:
“Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”
So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,
till the nation avenged itself on its enemies,
as it is written in the Book of Jashar.
The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. (Joshua 10:12-13)
The sun comes up and the sun goes down, then does it again, and again – the same old round. (Ecclesiastes 1:5)
Based on just this sampling of verses from the Bible, it was clear the earth was stationary and never moved. Copernicus stated the earth was flying about the sun for God’s sake! What the hell was he smoking?
You can’t get much clearer than that. The sun is what moves about the earth!
Copernicus died at the publication of his book, but his writings were banned by the church. Years later, about 1632 another scientist, Galileo, supported Copernicus’s works, and he was faced with an inquisition, forced to recant and then was placed under house arrest.
It was not until 350 years after Galileo’s death that Pope John Paul II said in 1992 “…that Galileo suffered unjustly at the hands of the Church” and praised Galileo’s religiousness and his views and behaviors regarding the relationship between science and religion.
Today, it is a verifiable fact that all of the planets in our solar system revolve about our sun. No one questions that.
My point is that despite clear statements in the bible that could easily be interpreted as the earth being frozen in space and the sun orbiting our planet, scientists and Christians alike, as well as everyone else on this planet, accept the fact that the earth moves about the sun.
And not one person’s faith is at risk because of this.
I direct this to those who believe the Bible states that the earth is less than 10,000 years old. Your Bible verses to support that are far weaker than those I mentioned that states the earth does not move. Obviously, the Bible is a book about God and Faith. Not a science textbook.
Just my theological thoughts.