Welcome back to the 16th century

This should be an interesting discussion starter.

My roommates, God bless 'em, have recently mentioned something I had not been familiar with before. Actually, that is not entirely accurate. I am familiar with it, I just didn't think that anyone actually believed it anymore.

Geocentricity
Simply put, it's the idea that Earth is the center of the solar system and the planets and sun revolve around it. This is the opposite of heliocentricity, the popularly accepted and taught system where the planets revolve around the sun.

This came about on Sunday when Keith asked me if I would order a book online for him. I told him "sure, if you pay me", to which he told me it was free. So he tells me the website: www.geocentricbible.com. I'm sure my eyebrow raised for a moment in confusion. Take a look at the site if you want more specifics (or to receive a free copy of the book), but essentially it claims to support geocentricity with the Bible.

There are problems with this theory of geocentricity, though. I summarized these points from this site I found.

1) Gravity/~~Centrifugal~~ Centripetal Force
Satellites stay in orbit around Earth because their velocity creates enough ~~centrifugal~~ centripetal force to counteract the gravity of Earth. At a specific altitude above Earth, satellites will appear to be stationary since they're orbiting at the same velocity as Earth turns. If Earth were stationary (geocentric system), nothing would keep a satellite in stationary orbit like that.

2) Semantics
Psalm 104:5: "Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever."

According to the site I listed as the source above, "removed" is translated from the Hebrew mote. According to Strong [Strong's Ref. #4131] it means: "to waver; by implication, to slip, shake, fall." It has nothing to do with being motionless, but rather steadiness in motion and permanence.

There are several other verses listed. Some that my roommates mentioned were the ones that said essentially "the sun rises and the sun sets", or in Joshua where it says God "stopped the sun". They claim that since God cannot lie, and the Bible is divinely inspired, that it must literally mean God stopped the sun. This doesn't hold water in my opinion, because it is correct to say, from our perspective on Earth, that the sun rises and sets, because that's how it appears from our perspective. Likewise, if the sun ever stopped moving, it would appear it had been stopped. Duh.

There are several other very simple, logical, and scientific reasons why geocentricism just falls apart. Such as the huge mass difference between the sun and Earth. Explain why an object with hundreds of time more mass than Earth would be held in Earth's gravitational pull?

Talk amongst yourselves.

❦

View responses or leave your own response

published November 18, 2003

Responses

BurnDark – November 18, 2003
Years ago I saw a show on TLC which supported the idea of a flat earth.

I haven't checked out the links yet, but it all seems goofy to me. So what if the earth is not the center of the solar system? It doesn't mean that we are any less important to God.

krissy – November 18, 2003
There's no such thing as centrifugal force.

– November 18, 2003
I disagree, unless you care to expound and show some evidence.

However, you are correct in that the term used should have been "centripetal", not centrifugal - a common mistake.

See: http://www.encyclopedia.com...

g_wyn – November 18, 2003
i had actually just read that cat thing yesterday. it didn't connect for me, though, until you posted that. sometimes i come to your site when i'm bored to see if there's anything i hadn't seen yet.
i need to learn html.

– November 18, 2003
Wait, so you're suggesting that a cat is the center of the universe?? Well, I guess they certainly act like it. :-]

g_wyn – November 18, 2003
hehe. silly. yes, i agree, though...tahoma has long been a favourite of mine. it is still a good standby, but last year i discovered "hightower text". it is my current fav.

D.F.O.T.S.O.D. – November 18, 2003
There are people who actually believe that! With all scientific evidence only a moron would believe that.

On a similar note, what had put Galelio in the hot seat with the Catholic Church wasn't his contradiction with the teaching of the church, it was his assertion. He had said that since he proved that our system was heliocentric then the bible was wrong, and could not be trusted. The latter did not set well with the church authorities as you could probably assume.

Ah well idiots abound. That is what happens when you alter natural selection by putting safety warnings on everything.

The Spheric1 – November 19, 2003
The idea of geocentricity is not that the sun revolves around the earth because of gravitational forces. It's basically a matter of picking a point of reference for relative motion. The visual imagine of the solar system may be more simply explained by referencing the sun as a fixed "center". However, the motions of the sun, moon, planets, and stars can be described relative to the earth. The point of the geocentric people may be to view the earth as the focal point of all creation, and to oppose the idea that the earth just one out of millions planet that revolves around one out of billions of stars, etc. and just happens by chance or some statistical probability to be just right to support life. Basically the idea of purpose vs. random chance that atheistic and agnostic thinkers would be more likely choose. But I think that the idea is really a moot point.

– November 19, 2003
That's well and good, however, the geocentric website that initiated this discussion does not treat it as a matter of relative reference.

They say, absolutely, that the earth is the center of the solar system (going even further, apparently the universe). This goes against science, and has many holes in it. Such as what I mentioned about the sun rotating around the earth.

Keep in mind (this probably wasn't clear) geoctricists believe the earth does not move AT ALL - it doesn't spin on it's axis OR orbit around any star or planet. Therefore, the sun must be rotating around the earth. Hence my reason requesting an explanation for that.

It's nice and fuzzy to think that God created the earth at the center of things as yet another way to show how important we are, but to deny science without disproving it - and just on a few words - is foolishness.