This question came up recently. There are always put downs towards christianity for not accepting this model because of the Bible and so forth. I just wanted to see if anyone can prove this without using modern technology (no spaceships etc.)
Some of you have the idea.
Copernicus had the idea, but he couldn’t prove it.
Galileo couldn’t prove it either.
The ancients could prove the world was round–most sailors already knew that. They could not prove heliocentrism, nor did they try–they were very happy with their model, because it predicted where the planets would be with much more accuracy than Copernicus’s model could.
I’m surprised–most of you who slam creationism can’t even prove this 17th century problem?
Once again, Galileo’s arguments were not strong at all. He could have used Kepler’s findings, but he was too arrogant to get help from anyone else.
Kepler’s mathematical models using elliptical orbits were what was needed to explain what was observed–Copernicus was using circular orbits, which did not match observations at all.
It took Kepler years to show this, and Newton (after many, many years) was able to show that it was gravity causing the motions (but he needed to invent Calculus to do it).
Calling people of this time frame ignorant is very stereotypical–they were smart people who were trying to make sense of what they saw.
You go out and look at the night sky–it sure looks like everything’s going around the earth–with or without the bible.
