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:

Response:

1. A rotating earth produces observable, and observed, effects:
   • The most noticeable is the Coriolis effect, the apparent deflection of the path of an object that moves in a rotating coordinate system. This affects ocean currents, wind patterns (including the path and direction of the spin of hurricanes), and iceberg drift. It must be taken into account when aiming long-range missiles.
   • The rotation of the earth is also demonstrated by a Foucault pendulum, the swing of which rotates in relation to the earth's surface as the earth rotates beneath it. (The rate of rotation equals the rate of earth's rotation times the sine of the latitude.)
   
   
2. The orbit of the earth around the sun is also observable:
   • The nearest stars show a parallax. Their apparent position shifts relative to more distant stars as the earth moves from one side of its orbit to the other. (The effect is the same as the apparent movement of a nearby telephone pole relative to distant mountains as you move a few feet to the side.)
   • Stellar aberration shows up as the need to point the telescope slightly ahead of the star's true position, due to the earth's motion perpendicular to the star. It was first measured by James Bradley in 1728.
   • Stars near the plane of the earth's orbit show a radial velocity, a slight red shift as the earth moves away from them in its orbit, and six months later, a slight blue shift (Herrick 1935).
   • Related to radial velocity, the "light time" effect affects the timing of pulsars and short-term variable stars. General relativistic calculations are needed to correct for it.
   • Since the earth's orbit is elliptical, it is closer to the sun in January than in June. The difference in the apparent size of the sun can be observed.
   
   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:

---

---