Science and the Bible part 1
It is an exciting
time to be alive in our day and age. Technology is growing at a rapid rate.
When you look at our communications advances and our ability to explore space
and our medical wonders we can now accomplish it is boggling to the mind. But
have we out grown the word of God? Has modern Science rendered the Scriptures
obsolete? The answer is obviously NO!
The fact of the matter is that true science and the bible are in perfect harmony
with one another. No one can every out grow the mind of the everlasting God.
The bible was not
written to explain the law of gravity or to teach us how to do mathematics. But
when the bible does speak on such matters we should expect it to be accurate.
It is amazing to me that even though the bible was completed 20 centuries ago,
the biblical record is consistent with new scientific discovery. The word of
God has not changed yet it remains spot on with true science. The same cannot
be said about any other book that was ever written. Many science books that
were written just 20 years ago are obsolete because new discoveries have been
made and older theory have been disproved. But again the bible still stands
accurate on all that it states. In the past Scientist have came up with
theories that supposedly contradicted what the bible had to say about a given
topic. But, after more time would pass by and more testing was done they would
realize that the bible was indeed correct on the matter after all.
Before we go any
further I want to define what science is. The word Science in its simplest form
means knowledge derived from observation, study and experimentation. We need to
understand what true science is because so many scientists make claims that are
not provable but instead are mere speculation, yet they claim them to be true.
True science has limitations because it must follow the following guidelines
for it to be true.
First of all there
must be an observation of the facts. That is it has to be able to be perceived
by the human senses. If cannot be seen, heard, touched, smelled or tasted it
will not qualify as true science.
Second comes the
statement of a problem. Here is where the scientist observes the facts and
tries to explain why he thinks its happening. This is his best guess and they
call this a hypothesis.
The third step is
they experiment and test this hypothesis, which will either prove it true or
prove it false.
The forth step is
if they gather enough data that supports the hypothesis then it becomes
classified as a theory. But a theory is still not proof of anything, it just
means there is enough data to warrant further testing. At this point I want to
emphasize that any view a scientist has which can not be subjected to testing
cannot qualify as a hypothesis or a
theory. So those that boldly state ideas which deal with the origin of
the universe or mankind cannot be properly labeled as true science. This is why
some honest scientist are forced to admit that the idea of human evolution can
not be properly labeled as a theory or a hypothesis.
The final step for
something to become a law or true science is the theory must be thoroughly
tested and firmly established that is true. With this in mind you would no
doubt agree that it was very silly that 177 biologist signed a document a few
years back stating that evolution is a scientific law yet they have nothing to
observe, test, or prove it. I find that absurd.
Our main focus this
morning and this evening is to focus in on how the bible and true science go
hand and hand. A lot people like to say that the word of God is just a good
story and contains some good truths. But, I can tell you the more that I study
the word of God and it foreknowledge of science the more I see the power of God
almighty. The first thing I want us to look at is…
Astronomy is the
study of the planets and the stars together with their movements and relations
to one another.
The Innumerability of the Stars (Jer. 33:22; Gen. 22:17).
Jeremiah 33:22 'As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor
the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the descendants of David My
servant and the Levites who minister to Me.' "
This scripture tells us that the stars cannot be numbered just like the sand cannot be numbered. “Since ancient times, people have been fascinated by the stars, and many astronomers have tried to count them. In 150 BC Hipparchus estimated that there was less than 3000 stars. Three centuries later Ptolemy counted 1,056. According to our modern day scientist we can see sea around 4000 stars with the naked eye and there is estimated 100 septillion stars in space that cannot see with out naked eye. That’s a 1 followed by 26 zeros. Ironically this is their same estimate on the number of grains of sand that there are as well. Way back in the time of Jeremiah before we had the ability to see beyond our naked eye God reveled to use that the star could not be numbered. Even more impressing than this is the fact of what God can do according to,
Psalm 147:4 He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name. 5 Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.
Not only can God count the stars he knows them by name.
1 Corinthians 15:41 There
is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of
the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.
Now I want you to remember even though this was being written in the 1st century they still did not have the technology to explore the stars with any detail because all they had was their own two eyes. Now I want you to go out tonight and look up at the sky and observe the stars. Now when I did this I could tell that some stars were brighter than others while others seems slightly smaller or larger than others. But many of the stars to the naked look exactly the same. This within itself tells me that when Paul wrote this that it wasn’t from his own observation but that he was given this information from God because just as the verse says every star differs from one another and not was is the same. We know that now but there is no way Paul could have known that.
Another interesting scripture comes from:
Genesis 1:14 Then
God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide
the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and
years; 15 "and let them
be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth";
and it was so. 16 Then God
made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light
to rule the night. He made the stars also. 17 God set them in the firmament
of the heavens to give light on the earth,
18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide
the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
In these verse Moses tells us that the sun the moon and the stars were designed to divide the day from night and were to be for signs and for seasons and days and for years. They were to provide light to the earth. But what I want to specifically point out is that the sun was considered the greater light and the moon the lesser light. What is significant about this is the fact the writer here called the sun the greater light and not the greatest light. Again I ask you to make your own observation by just using your own to eyes. When you see the sun it would appear that it brightest object in the world but thanks to our high powered telescopes and modern technology we now know that there are many stars that are bigger and brighter than our sun. There is no way that Moses or anyone else living during that time could have know that and one again this shows to me that the God did not allow Moses to call the sun Greatest light.
Another interesting passage comes from,
Psalm 89:35 Once
for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David. 36 His offspring shall endure
forever, his throne as long as the sun before me. 37 Like the moon it shall be
established forever, a faithful witness in the skies.
In this passage, God refers to the seed of David as being like the moon in faithfulness. But, it is interesting that the Psalmists would refer to the moon as a witness. Why a witness? What does a witness do? Does he not testify of something that he has seen or heard? Likewise, the moon is a witness of the Sun’s light on the earth. The moon itself contains no natural light source. The light that the moon gives off is a reflection (witness) of the Sun’s light.
Now if this is what is being meant here in this passage it gives another example of the scientific foreknowledge of the Bible. Now I want to fair as possible can with scriptures such as these because sometime we as Christians want to arm ourselves with ever bit information we can that will show the validity of the Bible but sometimes we go to far. Now, I do believe what I said already is a plausible interpretation however as thought about this passage I could also see how it could be saying that the moon is faithful witness in the sense the that is always there. I just wanted to use this one example to show that sometimes there are more that is more than one plausible conclusion.
The
Hebrew writer in the 11:3 tells us that the worlds were framed by the
word of God and Romans 1:20 For since
the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and
Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
The Bible teaches us that the God made the Universe and that we have no excuse to see that it was made by God. Even if didn’t have the Bible we could tell that the Universe was created by someone because once you start seeing how mathematical precise our universe is should be clear that it a designer. Yet what do scientist do they cling to Big Bang Theory. They believe that about 20 Billon years ago all matter existed in small dense and hot mass called an “cosmic egg” that exploded 10 Billion years ago creating the universe as we know it. No one seems to know where this cosmic egg came from. So, guess you could say that haven’t been able to find the cosmic chicken yet. The Big Bang Theory has many problems that cannot be overcome.
First all an explosion could never produce the precise universe that we live. For instance you can blow up a factory of paper and it produce a book. You cannot blow a bunch of lumber that will turn into a house. It just doesn’t make any sense.
For instance when you explode a fire cracker it paper is shot in all kind of random direction and the same thing would of happened in space. There is no way that a explosion could have just accidentally produce planets and solar systems that are in perfect balance.
Take earth for
example, it is 93million miles away from the sun and it spins on its axis 1000
mph at the equator. The earth moves around in an elliptical orbit around the sun and must make minute
adjustments to conform to it elliptical track. It has been predicted that if
this were off one tenth of an inch the earth would move toward outer space
becoming a frozen ball. If it were of one eighth of an inch it would be pulled
into the sun and burned up. Of course this is just one example of many that
shows just how mathematically precise our universe is and this perfect balance
could have only come from our Creator God just as the Bible tells us. Now lets
look at
few more passages.
Isaiah 40:22 It is
he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like
grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them
like a tent to dwell in;
Here Isaiah tells us that the earth is a circle. This word circle in the Hebrew has the idea of roundness. Yet It has only been few centuries since some Scientist thought the earth was flat. Men throughout antiquity thought that the earth was held up by Atlas, or perhaps by four elephants standing on a giant turtle”
While not all men in the ancient world believed some of the far-fetched views about how the world was held up, many did.
As Dehoff notes, “The ancient Greeks and Romans were the
most advanced peoples in their time, yet they believed that the earth was held
in place by poles or by the neck of Atlas.
Others believed that Atlas had the earth on his shoulders. Some said that the earth floated on water and
should one go too far out on the sea he would surely perish”
It wasn’t until the
15 century until some brave souls set out to sea and sailed around the world
proving that the earth was not flat but round. Yet we see that Isaiah knew this
information a long time ago which show the Bible to be correct once again.
Lets take a look at
one last one this morning.
Job 9:8 who
alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea; 9 who made the Bear and Orion, the
Pleiades and the chambers of the south;
This verse is
teaching us that God alone stretches out the heavens but what I want to focus
in on is the fact that God made this constellation known as Pleiades. Amos
5:8 declares this as well.
Job 38:31 "Can
you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion?
Here we find out that God is the one who has the power to bind the
cluster of Pleiades. The Pleiades appears in November and is located above
Orion’s left shoulder. Pleiades is also know as the 7 sisters. What is so
awesome about this is the fact that the bible speaks of Pleiades as being
bound. Yet it has just been a recent discovery that scientist have discovered
that the stars in Pleiades are gravitationally bound to one another.
It completely amazes
me how the bible has so much scientific foreknowledge. We have barely scrapped
the surface of how the bible and true science go hand and hand. Even after
tonight lesson there is much more that can be said about true science and the
bible. Those who are skeptical of God existence and the Bible obviously have
not honestly considered how accurate the bible is all these matters. Now I
don’t expect anyone to believe in God just based upon one or to two instance
where the Bible is correct on scientific foreknowledge information. However I
would expect someone to believe in God when they see that the Bible is correct
over and over again with pre-scientific information that could not possible of
been known by the writer of the day. Also when consider the fact that when the
Bible talks about scientific matters it is never wrong. This combined with I
talked about last week should be convincing to any honest person that God does
exist and the do have his Word. I personally love examining information like
this because it deepens my faith and cause me take a step back and admire the
infinite power of our God. As David states in,
Psalm 19:1
The heavens
declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.