Will the Believers hate me if I ask questions of them here?

On other boards, believers tend to hate me.

I ask questions like, "do you have evidence to support the existence of the gods you believe in?"

and, "How do you explain the account in Joshua where god paused the movement of the sun and moon while the battle raged?"

Believers do not hate you. It's other atheists who hate you because you are a conservative atheist.

If i take the time to provide you with evidence of the existence of God, will you become a christian so that i can claim victory for my soul??

and three...yes. I believe that God, however he did it, caused that day to be the longest day.

Calypso Jones wrote:Believers do not hate you.      It's other atheists who hate you because you are a conservative atheist.    

If i take the time to provide you with evidence of the existence of God, will you become a christian so that i can claim victory for my soul??

and three...yes.  I believe that God, however he did it, caused that day to be the longest day.

I will happily examine any evidence you have that supports the existence of gods. How can one know in advance which gods you intend to reveal?

If god caused the sun and moon to stand still wouldn't such an event either end all life on the planet, or, at least be noticed and commented on worldwide?

AS a christian i accept Joshua's account of that day.  I have learned to trust the word of God.    Would the Jews of the day accepted Joshua's account if it was a lie??  no.  Would those that were present, would they have allowed Joshua to lie about the supernatural events of the day?  i don't think so.  

If something so miraculous happened...where Joshua asked God to prolong the day...after noon....so that his army could pursue the 5 enemy kings to defeat them fully, would there be evidence of such a day in the histories of other nations?


God responded with a miracle.   We're talking the sun here.   This would have affected the whole earth.  If it were fiction then no other country, nation, peoples would have noticed such a thing.    right?    But if they did??

Have you looked to see if other countries had recorded such a day??

The ancient babylonians reported an account of 'a day of twice natural length', so says Professor P. Jenson, Die Kosmologie der Babylonie, trans. 1890.

Ancient Peru...and account of a day that lasted twice the normal time. Prof Olcot, THe historical Lore of the Peruvians (1914) 206.

FRom Herodotus,  History, Egyptian priests reported  an unusual solar event that occurred in the distant past.  ...... The sun, had with this period of time, on four several occasions, moved from his wonted course, twice rising where he now sets, and twice setting where he now rises.'
History of Herodotus, trans, chapter 2.

If god caused the sun and moon to stand still wouldn't such an event either end all life on the planet, or, at least be noticed and commented on worldwide?

Calypso Jones wrote:AS a christian i accept Joshua's account of that day.  I have learned to trust the word of God.    Would the Jews of the day accepted Joshua's account if it was a lie??  no.  Would those that were present, would they have allowed Joshua to lie about the supernatural events of the day?  i don't think so.  

If something so miraculous happened...where Joshua asked God to prolong the day...after noon....so that his army could pursue the 5 enemy kings to defeat them fully, would there be evidence of such a day in the histories of other nations?


God responded with a miracle.   We're talking the sun here.   This would have affected the whole earth.  If it were fiction then no other country, nation, peoples would have noticed such a thing.    right?    But if they did??

This is the first significant problem I have with believers. You simply accept the stories.

Let's begin with the story:

9 After an all-night march from Gilgal, Joshua took them by surprise.
10 The Lord threw them into confusion before Israel, so Joshua and the Israelites defeated them completely at Gibeon. Israel pursued them along the road going up to Beth Horon and cut them down all the way to Azekah and Makkedah.
11 As they fled before Israel on the road down from Beth Horon to Azekah, the Lord hurled large hailstones down on them, and more of them died from the hail than were killed by the swords of the Israelites.

12 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.”
13 So the sun stood still,
and the moon stopped,
till the nation avenged itself on[b] 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. 14 There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!

Based on this story the sun stood still in the sky for about a day. Further, there was a hailstorm so selective it was able to kill most of the enemy army.

What could have happened to make the chronicler believe there was daylight for about a full day at Gibeon? If the sun stood still in the sky for 24 hours wouldn't every people have marveled at and documented such a terrifying event?

The sun standing still is impossible, of course. So what is the right answer?

Calypso Jones wrote:Have you looked to see if other countries had recorded such a day??

I recently concluded a study of Mesopotamian culture that included the time frame in Joshua, roughly 3200 years ago. There was no mention of it.