bolide and meteor and the long day of Joshua 507 - 6 - 4

A bolide is an extremely bright meteor, especially one that explodes in the atmosphere. In astronomy, it refers to a fireball approximately as bright as the full moon, and it is generally considered a synonym of a fireball. In geology a bolide is a very large impactor.

Perhaps the greatest mind today is Professor Stephen Hawking. In his 1988 book, A Brief History of Time he seemed to accept that God had a "role" in the creation of the universe. He has since denied God as Creator. In his book published in 2010, The Grand Design, Professor Stephen Hawking argues "that the Big Bang, rather than occurring following the intervention of a divine being, was inevitable due to the law of gravity." The question I would ask Professor Hawking, who created the law of gravity?

Professor Hawking used Newton’s First Law to discredit the long day of Joshua. "The Bible tells the story of Joshua praying for the sun and moon to stop in their trajectories so he would have extra daylight to finish fighting the Amorites in Canaan. According to the book of Joshua, the sun stood still for about a day. Today we know that that would have meant that the earth stopped rotating. If the earth stopped, according to Newton’s laws anything not tied down would have remained in motion at the earth’s original speed (1,100 miles per hour at the equator)— a high price to pay for a delayed sunset.

[Hawking, Stephen; Mlodinow, Leonard. The Grand Design]

Newton's First Law states that an object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an external force. It may be seen as a statement about inertia, that objects will remain in their state of motion unless a force acts to change the motion.

[http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Newt.html]

In addition to asking Professor Hawking who created gravity I would point out there were other factors to be considered in the long day of Joshua. Did the earth stand still or just slow down? If a bolide that explodes in the atmosphere is a very large impactor as is a meteor when striking the earth. Both would cause interruptions to the smooth rotation of the earth. Perhaps the bolide fragments and meteor(s) crashed into the earth in an angle opposite to the rotation of the earth. This could have the effect of slowing the earths rotation. The earth, distorted by the bolide and/ or meteor(s) would resist a smooth rotation. Objects on the earth’s surface would have both gravitational and frictions forces at work that could counter inertia as the planet slowed down.  

That said, the God who created the Universe could certainly slow down the earth’s rotation resulting in the long day of Joshua. I have faith in God unlike than the arrogance of Professor Hawking and the science community.