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Index to Creationist Claims,  edited by Mark Isaak,    Copyright © 2005
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Claim CH901:

The earth is fixed at (or near) the center of the universe. The sun and other planets travel around it. That is what the Bible plainly says (Ps. 93:1; Ps. 19:1-6; Josh. 10:12-14) and what the evidence indicates.

Source:

Willis, Tom, 2000. "The Laws of Cause and Effect, and the 1st and 2nd Laws of Thermodynamics have been invalidated by modern science", Part 2. CSA News 17(2) (Mar/Apr): 1-2.
Jones, Steven, 2005. Geocentric universe. http://www.midclyth.supanet.com/

Response:

  1. A rotating earth produces observable, and observed, effects:
  2. The orbit of the earth around the sun is also observable:
    If the earth were stationary, these effects could only be explained if every star in the universe were moving in unison relative to the earth with a periodic variation that matched the earth's year.

  3. Heliocentrism falls out naturally from the law of universal gravitation.

  4. Heliocentrism is useful. As implied above, it is used for predicting hurricane and iceberg paths and for aiming missiles. The space program would be impossible without it. (The Cassini probe, for example, used the earth's motion around the sun to slingshot the probe to Jupiter.) As with all of creationism, strict geocentrism is useless.

  5. To the vast majority of Christians, the Bible is not plainly saying that the earth is stationary. They have accepted that reality is more important than their interpretation of what is "plainly" said.

See for Yourself:

You can make your own Foucault pendulum with a weight on a long, thin cable in a room with a high ceiling. It must be long enough so that air resistance does not stop it before the rotation is evident, and it should be sheltered from winds and drafts.

References:

  1. Herrick, Samuel, Jr., 1935. Tables for the reduction of radial velocities to the Sun. Lick Observatory Bulletin 470: 85-90.

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created 2003-6-11