If I were able to prove to you that the Bible teaches Geo-centricity and the early church was pretty much unanimous in interpretting it that way, what would you think? A. Then the Bible must be wrong. B. Then science must be wrong. At heart, even people who believe what the bible says in this generation tend to think that popular scientific interpretation has authority over the scripture. Martin Luther:There was mention of a certain new astrologer who wanted to prove that the earth moves and not the sky, the sun, and the moon. This would be as if somebody were riding on a cart or in a ship and imagined that he was standing still while the earth and the trees were moving. [Luther remarked] “So it goes now. Whoever wants to be clever must agree with nothing that others esteem. He must do something of his own. This is what that fellow does who wishes to turn the whole of astronomy upside down. Even in these things that are thrown into disorder I believe the Holy Scriptures, for Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, and not the earth [Josh. 10:12].”iiMartin Luther, Luther’s Works. Vol 54. Table Talk, ed. Helmut T. Lehmann (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1967), 358–9. The Christian is not to compromise so as to obscure the distinction between good and evil, and is to avoid the errors of] those dreamers who have a spirit of bitterness and contradiction, who reprove everything and prevent the order of nature. We will see some who are so deranged, not only in religion but who in all things reveal their monstrous nature, that they will say that the sun does not move, and that it is the earth which shifts and turns. When we see such minds we must indeed confess that the devil posses them, and that God sets them before us as mirrors, in order to keep us in his fear. So it is with all who argue out of pure malice, and who happily make a show of their imprudence. When they are told: “That is hot,” they will reply: “No, it is plainly cold.” When they are shown an object that is black, they will say that it is white, or vice versa. Just like the man who said that snow is black; for although it is perceived and known by all to be white, yet he clearly wished to contradict the fact. And so it is that they are madmen who would try to change the natural order, and even to dazzle eyes and benumb their senses. —John Calvin, Sermon on 1 Corinthians 10:19-24, Calvini Opera Selecta, Corpus Refomatorum, Vol 49, 677, trans. by Robert White in Calvin and Copernicus: the Problem Reconsidered, Calvin Theological Journal 15 (1980), p233-243, at 236-237
Posted on: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 17:58:57 +0000