An online friend asked me about the belief that the Sun revolves around the
Earth. Following is how I responded to him.

At the time of Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler, and
for many years afterward, the Roman Catholic Church condemned heliocentrism
-- the belief that the Sun is the center of the Universe -- as "false and
contrary to Scripture". For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church believed
that the Earth was stationary, and that it was at the center of the
Universe, and that the Sun revolved around the Earth. This belief was based
on Bible verses such as the following:

"The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with
strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished,
that it cannot be moved."
Psalms 93:1, KJV

"Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth: the world also shall be
established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people
righteously."
Psalms 96:10, KJV

"Fear before him, all the earth: the world also shall be stable, that it be
not moved."
1 Chronicles 16:30, KJV

"Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for
ever."
Psalms 104:5, KJV

"The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place
where he arose."
Ecclesiastes 1:5, KJV

"[To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.] The heavens declare the glory of
God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech,
and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language,
where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the
earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a
tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end
of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid
from the heat thereof."
Psalms 19:1-6, KJV

In my view, those verses do not specifically say that the Sun orbits around
the Earth, or that the Earth is stationary. What they seem to mean is that
the Earth is stationary in the sense that it cannot be moved out of its
orbit. The verses regarding the Sun appear to be describing the movement of
the Sun across the sky, from East to West, as one would observe it from the
Earth. That is not the same thing as saying that the Sun revolves around the
Earth.

Because Galileo supported Copernicus' theory regarding heliocentrism, he was
accused of heresy by the Inquisition, forced to recant his belief that the
Earth revolves around the Sun, and was placed under house arrest.
Furthermore, some of his works, such as "Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief
World Systems", were forbidden to be published for many years.

It wasn't until 1835 that the Roman Catholic Church fully abandoned its
opposition to heliocentrism.

Furthermore, on October 31, 1992, Pope John Paul II expressed regret for how
Galileo had been treated, and officially conceded that the Earth was not
stationary, as the result of a study conducted by the Pontifical Council for
Culture.

Finally, in March of last year, the Vatican proposed to complete its
rehabilitation of Galileo by erecting a statue of him inside the Vatican
walls. In December of last year, during events to mark the 400th anniversary
of Galileo's earliest telescopic observations, Pope Benedict XVI praised
Galileo's contributions to the field of astronomy.



Jeff Snyder, SysOp - Armageddon BBS  Visit us at endtimeprophecy.org port 23
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