Evidence from Science The Bible is not a science textbook, but it is scientifically accurate. As time goes by, scientists discover new facts that either confirm their thinking or force them to revise their theories. Science textbooks are outdated almost the moment they come off the printing press, but the Bible is always the same, and it is consistent with true scientific discoveries. In many cases, scientists discover truths that the Bible has reported for centuries. In other cases, scientific discoveries have led to a better understanding of the Bible. They have forced people to reexamine their interpretations of the Scriptures and have led to the discovery of truths they had not noticed before. Copernicus and Galilio Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) discovered that the earth and planets revolve around the sun; whereas most people in his generation believed that the sun revolved around the earth. When Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) championed Copernicus’ “heliocentric” model of the universe, he found himself in a hornet’s nest of controversy. In 1616, the Roman Catholic Church condemned his views as contrary to Scripture, and Galileo spent the latter part of his life under house arrest. Galileo was branded as a heretic and was not exonerated until 1992. Copernicus and Galileo were great scientists who forced people to re-examine the Scriptures. It became apparent that biblical writers were using symbolic language when they referred to the “rising” and “setting” of the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:5) just as we refer to the rising and setting of the sun today. When properly understood, the Bible is scientifically accurate. In fact, it was ahead of its time. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the authors had “scientific foreknowledge.” They had scientific information that had not yet been discovered by scientists. Astronomy The prophet Jeremiah wrote, “I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars of the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore” (Jeremiah 33:22). Jeremiah indicated that the stars are too numerous to count. This scripture was written about 600 BC at a time when people could count about 3,000 stars with the naked eye. It was not until the telescope was invented in the seventeenth century that the number of visible stars multiplied. Even today, astronomers do not know how many stars there are. They estimate that there are at least 10 to the 26th power, that is, a hundred million billion, billion stars. Interestingly, the number of grains of sand on the earth’s seashores is estimated to be 10 to the 25th power, almost the same as the estimated number of stars. If we started counting stars now and proceeded at the rate of ten per second, it would take us more than 100 trillion years to finish counting them. The Earth Is a Sphere At a time when people believed the world was flat, Isaiah wrote about “the circle of the earth” (Isaiah 40:22). The word translated “circle” is the Hebrew word that indicates something rounded, arched, or spherical, not something that is flat and square. The book of Isaiah was written around 700 BC, nearly 300 years before Plato and Aristotle suggested that the earth is a sphere. Floating in Space At a time when some people believed that the earth rested on the back of a turtle, the author of Job wrote that God “spreads out the northern skies over empty space and suspends the earth over nothing” (Job 26:7), thus indicating that the earth floats freely in space. Job predated Copernicus by more than 2,000 years. Again, the Bible ran ahead of science. Biology According to the Bible, God created everything according to “its kind.” “God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind” (Genesis 1:21). “And God said, ‘Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals each according to its kind” (Genesis 1:24). These words were written by Moses about 1450 BC. Carolus Linnaeus developed his organism classification system in AD 1735. At the heart of Linnaeus’ genetic classification system was a list of the basic reproducing species. Long before the science of genetics was developed, the Bible revealed that every species produces after its kind. Scientists recognize that there are adaptations within species (micro-evolution), but not transitions from one species to another (macro-evolution). The fossil records show that approximately fifty species of animals suddenly appeared on earth during the Cambrian Age. According to the fossil record, these animals did not evolve slowly from a single cell. They appeared fully developed. Blood The authors of the Bible also knew about the importance of blood. Moses said that “the life of every creature is in its blood” (Leviticus 17:14). These words were written about 1450 BC. It was not until AD 1616 that William Harvey discovered that blood circulates through the body. During the 1800s, the practice of “blood-letting” was a common medical procedure. George Washington died as a result of this treatment in AD 1799. Now we know that blood performs numerous important functions. It carries water and nourishment to every cell. It carries oxygen from the lungs to every part of the body. It helps maintain the body’s temperature. It removes waste material from the body’s cells. The circulation of blood is essential to physical life. Scientific research has confirmed what the Bible revealed thousands of years ago. Circumcision No one knows why God chose circumcision as a sign of his covenant with Abraham (Genesis 17:11). But it is now apparent why God specified that all male infants be circumcised on the eighth day after birth. Why on the eighth day? In the late 1920s, a Danish scientist by the name of Henrik Dam discovered a coagulation vitamin which he named Vitamin K, the first letter in the German word “Koagulationsvitamin.” He found that a shortage of vitamin K caused hemorrhaging in baby chicks. Now, we know why. Vitamin K is essential to the production of prothrombin, which is essential for proper blood clotting. Scientific research shows that newborn infants are especially susceptible to hemorrhaging between the second and fifth days. A small cut can be fatal. The reason is that an infant only begins producing vitamin K between the fifth and seventh days. On the eighth day, however, the level of prothrombin skyrockets to 110 % of the normal level. The eighth day is the only day in an infant’s entire life that the blood-clotting element prothrombin is that high. Thus, the eighth day is the best day for a surgical procedure. Here again, science has proved the Bible to be trustworthy. Meteorology Approximately 935 BC, the author of Ecclesiastes described the circular movement of the atmosphere. He wrote, “The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes” (Ecclesiastes 1:6). It was not until the advent of weather satellites that meteorologists (and those watching television) were able to see the circular movement of storm clouds swirling around low atmospheric pressure systems. The author of Ecclesiastes understood the circular movement of the winds nearly 3,000 years ago. Hydrology Biblical writers also had advanced knowledge of hydrology, the science of water: Job said, “He [God] draws up the drops of water, which distill as rain to the streams; the clouds pour down their moisture and abundant showers fall on mankind” (Job 36:27-28). The prophet Amos said that the Lord “calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land” (Amos 9:6). The author of Ecclesiastes wrote, “All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again” (Ecclesiastes 1:7). These verses have remarkable scientific insight. They describe the evaporation of water from the seas, the condensation of moisture in the clouds, and the movement of the clouds across land where they drop rain or snow, thus starting the hydrological cycle again at the headwaters of the streams. Isaiah wrote that “the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater” (Isaiah 55:10). The principles of modern hydrology are found throughout the Bible. However, it was not until the 1700s (when Perault and Marriotte identified the process) that scientists understood the hydrological cycle. Oceanography Matthew Fontaine Maury (1806-1873), the father of oceanography, read in the Bible about , “a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters” (Isaiah 43:16). He also read about “the fish that swim the paths of the sea” (Psalm 8:8). Maury began searching the oceans for paths, and he discovered the major currents. He drew maps that sea travelers still use today. There is a great Mind out there who is far ahead of us and who directed the pens of his prophets. The Bible calls him God.
Posted on: Tue, 05 Nov 2013 21:31:11 +0000
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