Missing Answer

THE BIBLE AND SCIENCE

Over the years, many people have accused the Bible of "contradicting science." Is this correct? Does the Bible really contradict science? Do the people that make this accusation really know what they are talking about? These are some very important questions. If somebody were to make an accusation against a man in a court of law, the accuser would have to back up his claim. Yet, the accusation that the Bible contradicts science is continually made; and very few people check to see if those who are making this accusation have any facts to back up their claim.

The Bible is not a science textbook, but rather a textbook about God. However, it does talk about some scientific matters: and where it speaks of science, it is 100% accurate. This pastor will examine a few different instances in which the Bible speaks about science. This is by no means an exhaustive study, but rather a very small sampling of some of the Bible texts that speak about science, in a couple different fields. These texts are cited because they speak about scientific matters that clearly could not have been understood by their writers in their respective times.

The Bible is given by inspiration of God. Thus, when the human writers of the Bible spoke about scientific matters, they were right. God is omniscient. When He speaks about anything, He is absolutely correct. Many times, the Bible has said one thing, and contemporary "science" has said something else. Eventually though, after scientific theories have come and gone, "science" always comes to find that the Bible is correct. It is this pastor's hope that his readers will be challenged to consider the facts that point to the Bible's divine inspiration, rather than simply taking somebody's word that the Bible is "unscientific."

I. Astronomy : " The science of celestial objects, space, and the physical universe."Since the very beginning, man has been interested in studying the stars. Most people have, at one time or another in their lives, gazed at the stars. That the stars have a great attraction to humans is clearly demonstrated by the fact that astronomy is one of the oldest sciences. This should not be surprising, since the Bible tells us that "the heavens declare the glory of God" (Psalm 19:1).Not only does he Bible tell us that "the heavens declare the glory of God,"

but it also tells us many other things about the heavens and the earth. One may, for example, consider what the Bible says about the shape of the earth. The Bible very clearly tells us that the earth is round. The following Scripture declares this truth: Isaiah 40:22 - "It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:" The accusation that the Bible contradicts science is sometimes made in ignorance. For example, many people mistakenly believe that the Bible teaches that the earth has "four corners." (By inference, they gather that the Bible teaches that the earth is flat.) The Bible does sometimes speak of the "four corners of the earth" - such as in the following verse: Isaiah 11:12 - "And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth."

"The four corners of the earth" is a very common expression of speech that represents the "whole earth." Isaiah 11:12 uses this expression to represent the "whole earth": whereas, in Isaiah 40:22, God specifically says that the earth is a "circle." I am not a scientist, nor have I ever claimed to be a scientist: but it does not take a scientist to figure out that the former is an expression of speech, and that the latter is a statement of fact concerning the shape of the earth. (This distinction is especially obvious when one considers that the same author, Isaiah, wrote both these statements). Isaiah clearly stated that the shape of the earth is that of a circle.

Today, this is known as a scientific fact. One can see from pictures taken by satellites that the Bible is correct: the earth is a circle, or a sphere. Was this [the idea of the earth being round] the common belief when Isaiah was alive? No, it was not. The early Mesopotamians thought that the earth was a flat, floating disk. The Babylonians thought that the earth is flat, and that it is held up by pillars.Of course, Aristotle (384-322 BC) noted that constellations were viewed in different positions in the sky from different places on the earth. By this, he was able to deduce that the world is round. Isaiah, however, lived long before Aristotle. The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia says this of Isaiah: "Isaiah prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. He dates his inaugural vision (6:1) in Uzziah's death-year, which was approximately 740 B.C. This marks, therefore, the beginning of his prophetic ministry. And we know that he was still active as late as the siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib in 701 B.C. Hence, the minimum period of his activity as a prophet was from 740 to 701 B.C." Isaiah spoke of the earth's being round about 400 years before Aristotle proved it to be round! Isaiah went against the common belief and scientific teaching of the time. How did Isaiah know that the earth is a sphere? As has already been pointed out, he wrote by inspiration of God. "Science" was wrong; but it eventually caught up with the Bible.

Some people mistakenly believe that the Bible teaches that the earth is held up by pillars. Yes, the Bible does speak of "the pillars of the earth": but when it does so, it is speaking figuratively of the earth's foundations.

For example, Job 9:6 states, "Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble." Clearly, Job did not believe that the earth is held up by pillars. Rather, he stated plainly that the earth is held up by nothing! Job 26:7 records for us Job's words on this subject: "He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing." Once again, the same biblical author that made a figurative statement about "the pillars of the earth" also made the scientific statement that "the earth hangs upon nothing."

The book of Job is one of the oldest books in the Bible. Job lived approximately 1600 - 1500 B.C. Did the science of his day teach that the earth hangs upon nothing? No, this was not the science or the common belief of the day. Was this just a lucky guess on Job's part? No.Job wrote about something that he could not prove: but his statement, given by divine inspiration, was scientifically correct. There are those that want to misrepresent the Bible as teaching that the earth is held up by pillars; but this clearly is not what the Bible teaches.The Bible speaks about astronomy in other places. One of those places is Jeremiah 33:22. In this verse God says, "the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured." Jeremiah's message is unmistakable: man cannot number the stars. Moderns take this fact for granted; yet, this teaching that "the host of heaven cannot be numbered" was in disagreement with the scientific teaching in Jeremiah's day. In fact, for a very long time, this verse was thought to be unscientific.People have often attempted to prove the Bible wrong by trying to number the stars. With the advent of the telescope, many new stars were found. With yet stronger telescopes, more and more galaxies have been found. Now science has come to the conclusion that the Bible is correct: "the host of heaven" truly "cannot be numbered." The following quote reveals the declarations of past scientists: "Before the invention of the telescope, man actually believed that the stars could be numbered. The great Ptolemy gave the number as 1,056. Tycho Brahe catalogued 777, and Kepler counted 1,006. The astronomers of those days were certain that they could count the number of stars. Since the invention of the telescope by Galileo in 1608, we now know that the number of stars is limitless."

Scientists now estimate that there are about 1021 stars in our Universe. That number looks like this: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. In reality, scientists cannot number the stars: they merely make what they hope to be accurate estimates. Once again, the Bible has been proven to be 100% scientifically accurate.

How did Jeremiah know that "the host of heaven cannot be numbered"? He knew of it because he was writing by divine inspiration.

II. Meteorology - "the study of atmospheric processes and phenomena, especially for weather forecasting." The Bible says that the winds have specific circuits. Solomon wrote the following about the wind: Ecclesiastes 1:6 - "The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits." One need only compare this statement to the beliefs of other ancient cultures to see its uniqueness in its times. Many ancient cultures made the wind a god. Other cultures made winds gifts or judgments from their gods. For example, the Japanese word "Kamikaze" means a "divine wind." In Greek mythology, the winds were made into gods; and the Romans also had wind gods. The teaching of the Bible is completely different from what the science of the day taught. Who was correct? Today, science has found out that, in fact, the winds do go in circuits. Amazing, isn't it?

It is more than a little significant that modern science literally owes the discovery of this scientific fact concerning the wind circuits to this statement in the Bible. The following quote explains how this scientific truth was found.

"A wise man, Matthew Maury, undertook a research project based on Scripture, and once again confirmed the scientific accuracy of the Bible. Maury was in charge of the Depot of Charts and Instruments in the Hydrographic Office of the United States Navy from 1841-1861. He was a Christian who loved and respected the Word of God. One day in the 8th Psalm, he read the following words (in verses 3-8): 'When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; what is man, that Thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that Thou visitest him? For Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands: Thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.' "You and I probably could read that many times, and although we would understand much about the great truths expressed in this Psalm, we might miss something highly significant, but which did not escape Maury's attention. Being one who was familiar with some of the problems that beset the sailing industry of that day, Maury immediately recognized the significance of verse 8. That verse tells us that, among other things, God has given man dominion over the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passes through the paths of the sea. "The Bible says there are paths in the sea," Maury thought, "and if the Bible says it, I believe it." He was also aware of Ecclesiastes 1:6, which states: 'The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.' "Maury, on the basis of the Bible, concluded that there are well-established wind circuits, and that there are literally 'paths in the sea' - that is, definite currents in the ocean. He reasoned that if these wind currents and ocean currents could be located and plotted, this information would be of great value to marine navigators. Utilizing this information, the sailing vessels could be directed along routes that would take advantage of these sea and air currents, reducing by many days the time required to traverse the seas. Many of Maury's contemporaries, of course, would have scoffed at Maury. They would have said, 'Maury, do you really mean that you are going to spend hour after hour on some wild goose chase searching through those dusty old logs and charts you have in your office just because the Bible says there are paths in the sea?' "That is precisely what Maury did, however, and the Biblical statements were precisely verified. Maury found and plotted the wind circuits and the ocean currents. The ocean currents include, for example, the great Gulf Current - a 'path in the sea' forty miles wide and 2000 feet deep flowing from the Gulf of Mexico up through the Atlantic. This current has a tremendous influence on the climate of England, Ireland, Europe, and the Scandinavian countries. The average winter temperature on the west coast of Norway, for example, is about two degrees centigrade, or two degrees above freezing. Ordinarily, of course, we would expect far lower temperatures for a country that far north." (reference)

III. Other fields of science

For brevity's sake, this article will not deal with the large number of other places where the Bible speaks with 100% accuracy about scientific matters. However, two more areas of science shall be briefly offered for the reader's consideration. The verses speak for themselves: and modern science confirms them. The Bible talks repeatedly about the paramount importance of blood to human life. For example, Moses gave the following command by divine inspiration: Leviticus 17:11, 12 - "For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood." The importance of blood to life is taken for granted in today's world; yet, as recently as two hundred years ago, this was not the case. The "science" of previous times said that "bad blood" or "too much blood" needed to be drained. It is hard to tell how many people lost their lives through the practice of "bloodletting" in past centuries. If men had simply taken God's Word for what is says, instead of believing the "science" of ancient Greek scholars, medical science would have advanced much faster.

The Bible also talks about the hydrological cycle. The following verses are just a few examples: Psalm 135:7 - "He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain; he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries." Job 36:27, 28 - "For he maketh small the drops of water: they pour down rain according to the vapour thereof: Which the clouds do drop and distil upon man abundantly." Ecclesiastes 1:7 - "All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again." Again, these verses speak with precise accuracy about the cycle of evaporation, condensation, and rain. This process was not understood until recent times. Yet, three to four millennia ago, biblical writers spoke correctly about it! If every Bible text that deals with scientific matters were to be dealt with in this article, it would require several books. The reader may be assured, however, that everywhere the Bible speaks about scientific matters, it speaks with 100% accuracy - because the Bible is inspired by God.

Friend, the same God who knows everything about this Universe that He created also knows about your soul; and He says you must be "born again." If God is correct about science - and He is - He is also correct about your spiritual condition. Do not let a day go by without getting saved! If you wish to know how to be saved, please contact us.