The Bible and Science

“For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.”--Robert Jastrow/ astrophysicist

“A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a super intellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. The numbers one calculates from the facts seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond question.”--Fred Hoyle/astronomer

Before I go on, I need to make it perfectly clear that the Holy Bible is not a curiosity seekers guide to the mysteries of creation. It simply is not a question and answer book! God’s word is a writing of faith. If God proves to you His existence then He forces you to serve Him. He does not want people to come to Him who feel compelled to enter into a relationship with Him. He wants men and women who will come to Him freely and love Him for who He is, and not because they feel they must or else. He allows you to have enough evidence to choose by faith, and that is all!

However, if the Bible is the word of God, as it obviously claims to be, then it makes sense that an all knowing God would occasionally add insights into His marvelous word that shows this vast knowledge. Again, this is what makes this work such a unique book. No other religious writing has scientific insights like the Holy Scriptures. It stands alone as the only writing to make statements that are regularly found to be true in nature.

Many feel that problems in the medieval times proved the Bible to be unscientific. The problem was not with the scriptures. The errors came when men imposed their own presuppositions and false interpretations to the text and then, due to pride, would not listen to clear biblical teaching.

Biblical writers penned things about outer space that was beyond their ability to learn. For instance, in a time when the rest of humanity believed a man on a turtle’s back held the earth in place, Job wrote that Earth was hung on nothing—Job 26:7. The Bible, to the chagrin of the Middle Ages church leaders, said that Earth was round --Isaiah 40:22. It was just recently discovered that the galaxies are moving away from one another as Einstein and others had predicted. Einstein also predicted that time and space were put together much like a curtain is hung (this is a very simplistic explanation). Eleven different verses by five different authors, ranging from prophets to shepherds, mentioned that God stretched, and still is stretching the heavens—Isaiah 40:22, 42:5, 44:24, 45:12, 48:13, 51:13, Psalm 104:2, Job 9:8, Jeremiah 10:12, 51:15 and Zechariah 12:1. How did these men know this information thousands of years before the discoveries?

Any physicist will tell you that the universe exists with three basic components: time, space, and matter. In order for the universe to stay together, you also need energy and motion. Astronomer, Dr. Hugh Ross, once pointed out that these five parts of the universe are recognizable in the first two verses of Genesis. “In the beginning”—time, “God created”--energy or power, “The heavens” –space, “and the earth”—matter, “and the Spirit of God moved”—motion. Was his interpretation correct? You decide.

I could write on this all day, but it would take the fun out of you rediscovering this amazing book for yourself. Here are just a few more things that the scriptures mentioned long before they were discovered. Job said that there were deep water springs in the ocean (I wonder how he swam down there to find out since we just recently have made submarines that are capable of reaching them?)--Job 38:16. The stars are all different—1 Corinthians 15:41. The Bible describes atmospheric circulation—Ecclesiastes 1:6. The scriptures described the principles of fluid dynamics—Job 28:25 (It was proven only 300 years ago that air had weight). Scripture explained that your blood is extremely important for life—Leviticus 17:11 (The Hebrew word for life, nephesh, also means breath and implies oxygen). The Bible shows that your mental and physical health is closely related—Proverbs 12:4, 14:20, 15:30, 16:24 and 17:22. I surely can’t show them all! I’ll share just one more. Several books discuss the hydrologic cycle—Psalm 135:7, Jeremiah 10:13, Job 36: 27-29.

The Holy Bible truly is a unique book. Isn’t it time that you got it out and spent some time reading it?

“The idea of a universal mind or Logos would be, I think, a fairly plausible inference from the present state of scientific theory. “ Sir Arthur Eddington/astrophysicist