The Bible - Science or Fiction?
By: Jonathan Hewett
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There
are many today who would hold the view that the Bible is
a good Book, possibly a Holy Book, but certainly not a scientific
Book. Is this a fair view of the Bible, or could it be that
it is a far more scientific Book than we give it credit for?
Certainly, if the Bible
is what it claims to be, then there is every chance that
it is indeed a scientific Book. Consider the following verses
concerning what the Bible says about itself:
2Timothy
3:16 “All scripture is given by inspiration
of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”
Psalm
12:6-7 “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver
tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou
shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from
this generation for ever.”
John
17:17 “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is
truth.”
Very briefly, from these
verses, we can see that the Bible claims to be the inspired
word of God, the preserved word of God, and the truth. Therefore,
if God wrote it (which He did…2Peter 1:19-21), and He cannot lie (which He can’t…Titus
1:2), then we can expect it to contain things which are
as relevant today as they ever have been, and as truthful
today as they ever have been. All too often the problem isn’t
with the Book, the problem is with our understanding of it.
In his first letter to
Timothy, the apostle Paul writes in chapter
6
and verse 20,
“O Timothy, keep that
which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain
babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:”
Note here the careful
wording “oppositions of science falsely so called:” I believe
that this is worded in this way because true science will
never oppose the Bible; it will always support it.
The Bible
tells us in the book of Genesis that in the beginning everything
was created by God in six days. I believe that these were six
literal twenty four hour days. I believe the theory of evolution
is just that, a theory, and will never ever be proven. There are
those today that try to tell us how things began, how they
evolved, and how we ended up where we are today. They take us
back over a time period ranging over millions or billions of
years.
My thought on these things
is found in the Bible in Romans
3:2 “…let God be true, but every man a liar;” With this
verse in mind, consider the following clear questions that
God asks us all in the book of Job
chapter 38 verses 2-7;
“Who is this
that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
Gird up your loins like
a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
Where wast thou when
I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast
understanding.
Who hath laid the measures
thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line
upon it?
Whereupon are the foundations
thereof fastened? or who hath laid the corner stone thereof;
When the
morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for
joy?”
As one preacher has put
it, when God created all things…were you there?
We can see that the Bible
is the word of God, the word of the Creator, the word of
the One who made science itself. Therefore it must surely
be a scientific Book!
Consider the following
scientific insights and the scriptural references supporting
them.
Ocean
Currents
Psalm
8:8 “The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and
whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.”
Isaiah
43:16 “Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the
sea, and a path in the mighty waters;”
The
Hydrologic Cycle
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.”
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.”
Proverbs
3:20 “By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and
the clouds drop down the dew.”
Amos
9:6 “It is he that buildeth his stories in the
heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth; he that
calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out
upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name.”
The
Jet Stream
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.”
Dinosaurs
Job
40:15-24 “Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee;
he eateth grass as an ox. Lo, now, his strength is in
his loins, and his force is in the navel of his
belly. He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his
stones are wrapped together. His bones are as strong
pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron.
He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made
him can make his sword to approach unto him. Surely
the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts
of the field play. He lieth under the shady trees, in the
covert of the reed, and the fens. The shady trees cover
him with their shadow; the willows of the brook
compass him about. Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth
not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth.
He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through
snares.”
Consider the following
verses from Job 41 regarding leviathan
vs
14-15 “Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible
round about. His scales are his pride, shut
up together as with a close seal.
vs
18-21 “By his neesings a light doth shine, and his
eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. Out of
his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire
leap out. Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of
a seething pit or cauldron. His breath kindleth coals,
and a flame goeth out of his mouth.
vs
24-29 “His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard
as a piece of the nether millstone. When he raiseth
up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings
they purify themselves. The sword of him that layeth at
him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon.
He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten
wood. The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned
with him into stubble. Darts are counted as stubble: he
laugheth at the shaking of a spear.”
Psalm
74:14 “Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest
him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.”
Psalm
104:25-26 “So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things
creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There
go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou
hast made to play therein.”
Mountains
under the Sea
Jonah
2:5-6 “The waters compassed me about, even to
the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were
wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the
mountains; the earth with her bars was about me
for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption,
O LORD my God.”
The
Earth hangs upon Nothing
Job
26:7 “He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth
the earth upon nothing.”
All
Things are Made of Things Which are not Visible to the
Naked Eye
Hebrews
11:3 “Through faith we understand that the worlds were
framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen
were not made of things which do appear.”
Individual
Fingerprints
Job
37:7 “He sealeth up the hand of every man; that all
men may know his work.”
Light
is Always Moving – It has no Dwelling Place
Job
38:19 “Where is the way where light
dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place
thereof,”
The
Earth is Round
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:”
Springs
in the Sea
Job
38:16 “Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?
or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?”
Air
Pressure
Job
28:25 “To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth
the waters by measure.”
The
3 Purposes of Rain
Job
37:13 “He causeth it to come, whether for correction,
or for his land, or for mercy.”
There are more I’m sure,
but you can see from these references that there are
scientific truths recorded in the Bible written long before
man discovered them. Have you ever considered how this can
be so? How could the writers of these books of the Bible
have known these things when they weren’t commonly known
to man? The answer is as we’ve already said…..the Bible is
the word of God and He created all things so He could and
did record these things for us. True science will always
confirm the scriptures, and the scriptures will always confirm
true science.
Knowing the Bible can
be trusted on such subjects as science ought to make us consider
what it says about other things as well…such as life and
death. The Bible tells us that through the fall of man, sin
came into the world, and death by sin. Therefore all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. The only way we
can be right with God is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Consider the words of John 3:16:
“For God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life.”
How do you stand before
God today? I would urge you to accept the Lord Jesus Christ
as your own personal Saviour today before it’s too late.
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