The anonymous claim published above has been circulating for at least a half century, because I first encountered it when I was a sophomore in 1952-53 at a Bible college in Arkansas. Although my memory may be faulty, I seem to recall that I read it in Harmony of Science and Scripture, a book in "Christian evidences" that was written by Harry Rimmer, the Josh McDowell of his day. Over the years, I have seen variations of the claim, periodically updated to adapt it to the latest technology and to give it the appearance of being just a recent discovery. The version above was sent to me by Charles N. Brennecke, who stated in a cover letter that someone left it at the Minnesota Geological Society's exhibition booth at the state fair. Brennecke's response to the technological flaws in the claim appears on the following page of this issue, but I too would like to make some comments not included in Brennecke's reply.
Those who have participated in internet discussions about biblical inerrancy have no doubt encountered at least some variation of this claim. It is so patently false that about two years ago Reason and Revelation published a warning to its readers not to use it in their evangelistic efforts. Reason and Revelation is published by Apologetics Press, Inc., a nonprofit organization staffed by Church- of-Christ preachers and members, who pride themselves on their scientific approach to biblical apologetics. Biblical inerrantists would do well to heed the advice of the editors at Apologetics Press and refrain from using this discredited argument, because those who don't take their advice will end up looking very foolish. Perhaps the unknown author of the article above was aware of the risk, and so that was why he wrote it anonymously.
To check the remote possibility that the reference to an article in the "Jayton Chronicle" may have some basis in fact, I called directory assistance in Texas and asked if there was a phone number for the Jayton Chronicle, and I was told that there was none. This didn't surprise me, since I had already checked an atlas and found that the population of Jayton, Texas, is only 608. It is located in Kent County in West Texas, and the atlas shows only three other towns in this county, all of which are evidently so small that no population figures were given. The likelihood that any such article was ever published in the Jayton Chronicle seems remote indeed.
Those who have access to the internet can find more information on this myth at http://www.urbanlegends.com/science/missing_day.html, a web page written by Jim Lippard. He points out that the NASA version of this legend dates back to the 1960s when it was circulated by Harold Hill, who claimed that he was present at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center when all of this occurred. Lippard states that NASA has denied that it ever happened. Hill, who was formerly the president of the Curtis Engine Company of Baltimore, worked in the diesel engine department at Goddard and had nothing to do with computer operations.
Lippard traced the pre-NASA version of this tale as far back as 1890 when Charles A. L. Totten published it in Joshua's Long Day and the Dial of Ahaz: A Scientific Vindication. In 1974, Hill's version of the story was published in How to Live Like a King's Kid, by Logos International, a Christian publisher with a history of publishing phony testimonies and discredited claims. Among the National Enquirer types of books put out by Logos International, Lippard cited Fernand Navarra's Noah's Ark: I Touched It, which, like all the others in the list, has been debunked.
For those who have further interests in checking out this legend, Lippard recommended Jan Harold Brunvand's The Choking Doberman and Other "New" Urban Myths, W. W. Norton & Co., 1984, pp. 198-199; Robert W. Loftin's "Origin of the Myth about a Missing Day in Time," Skeptical Inquirer, Summer 1991, pp. 350-351; and Tom McIver's "Ancient Tales and Space-Age Myths of Creationist Evangelism," Skeptical Inquirer, Spring 1986, pp. 258-276.
Unfortunately for the anonymous author of the article above,
there is no basis in fact for this claim about a "missing day in time."
Whoever he is, this anonymous author may have been sincerely duped by a
legend that keeps being circulated long after it has been debunked.
This should be a warning to TSR subscribers who believe in the
traditional view of the Bible that they should check carefully such
claims as this one before they accept them and certainly before they
repeat them. Sad to say, in their zeal to defend the Bible,
inerrantists are not above circulating false information, and
Bible-believers who don't engage in apologetics themselves need to
realize this.
