This is message 6271 from the old club by Canonyz:
Was the Church right? Was Galileo wrong? On the 22nd of June, 1633, in the Convent Sopra Minerva, Galileo Galilei, at the age of seventy, signed a confession of recantation. On his knees he read it aloud, before the entire congregation of the Holy Office of the Inquisition. In this confession, prepare by the Inquisition, Galileo’s crime was identified as, heretical depravity. The part of that confession which is pertinent to our discussion reads,
...I must altogether abandon the false opinion that the Sun is the centre of the world and is immovable, and that the Earth is not the centre of the world and moves ... the said false doctrine is contrary to Holy Scripture
This position of the Roman Church was also the Protestant position. Johann Kepler, the great astronomer, was excommunicated from the Lutheran Church on similar grounds. Kepler maintained that the moon is a physical body. The Church maintained that the moon is only a light, as the Bible says, and a light is not a place!
Is heliocentric theory contrary to holy scripture? That opinion, that controversy, has faded into oblivion upon exploration of the moon and the advent of satellite technology. The Churches failed to maintain their case for a geo-centric universe. Protestants now use satellite television to attack scientific theories which are, contrary to Holy Scripture. Modern creationists seem to have forgotten the earthshaking controversy which ruined the careers of Bruno, Kepler and Galileo. Modern creationists seem to think that the holy scripture supports Copernicus. Were the Church’s scholars so ignorant? Are creationists today better informed? Exactly what does the Bible say about the universe?
Because creationists base their assumption on biblical text, I will present my analysis of that text. I believe the arguments are convincing but they do run contrary to popular creationist interpretation. The popular interpretation, I believe, takes unwarranted liberties with the text; is blind to related biblical evidence; discounts classical scholarship; and ignores a wealth of documentation regarding widely held and well publicized theories of ancient, science.
Due to the volume of material and complexity of proofs, I have opted to limit my presentation to a few salient points; just enough to establish, reasonable doubt, concerning the popular spin put on biblical, facts. When we exhaust these, I would be happy to consider related issues. Don’t feel badly should you learn something new here. After years of education, meditation and prayer I am still discovering, as if reading for the first time.
Sincerely,
canon
[This message has been edited by Percipient (edited 01-01-2001).]