I received an e-mail the other day from someone who had received it and thought it was neat. It's the story of a "missing day" discovered by NASA wthat proves the accuracy of the biblical book of Joshua.

The story is lengthy so I'll just summarize it briefly. Scientists at NASA were rnning a program to map the motion of all of the bodies in the solar system over time. The computer gave them an error message because there was a problem in the calculations. The only way they could account for it was if the motion of the planets had stopped for about a day. They were stymied until a Christian worker pulled out his Bible and showed them Joshua 10:12-13 in which Joshua asks God to stop the motion of sun and moon to give him time to kill all his enemies.

It's a fun story, and was passed on to me in good faith. Unfortunately it's not factual at all.

The full e-mail and its debunking can be found at my favorite website for urban myths, hoaxes, etc. The address is: http://www.snopes.com/religion/lostday.htm

Harold Hill, who is credited with the story, is a real person and used it in many of his speaking engagements. He admits that he was never a witness to any such conversation at NASA and is not a scientist himself. He picked up the story from the 1936 book "The Harmony of Science and Scripture" and embellished it by adding NASA scientists and a computer program. He nonetheless protests that the story is true. (I'm assuming he means the part about the "missing day.")

For their part NASA doesn't have any knowledge of a missing day and neither do any other agencies or institutes which study the heavens.

Some Christians I've known (especially in my college days) would say that by rejecting this story I'm saying I don't believe in God, or that I think the Bible is nothing but a bunch of lies. Nothing could be further from the truth. I believe in God with my whole being and find the Bible the single most useful tool in coming to know God better.

Science hasn't either proven or disproven the existence of God. I don't think it can. It's the wrong tool for the job and Christians often get caught in pseudo-science and hoaxes like this one because we are so eager to have proof.

My thoughts on this are:

1. Science hasn't (and probably can't) prove the existance of God.

2. Science hasn't (and probably can't) disprove the existance of God.

3. Making up phony evidence to 'prove' your point of view is a bad idea. I've known Christians who've actually said things like "Sometimes you have to tell a small lie to protect a greater truth" but that's nonsense. People who are curious will always find the deception and honest people who reject the deception may reject the "greater truth" too. Dishonesty hurts everyone in the end.

4. While there are obnoxious voices out there on both sides who insist that scientists and Christians are natural enemies it ain't necessarily so. Most scientists simply want to study the universe and have no stake in disproving God.

5. When someone sends you an e-mail with a story that sounds too good to be true, check it out.

6. Honesty, curiosity, and faith are three great qualities to have.