Bibliology Session 8-Supernatural Knowledge of Science

Defending Inspiration Advanced Scientific Knowledge of the Bible Defending Inspiration We have been defending the idea of inspiration by using two main angles… 1. The Historic Nature of the Bible 2. The Supernatural Nature of the Bible Evidence of the Supernatural Many elements about the Bible evidence that it is not merely a human book, but that it is of divine origin. 1. Advanced Knowledge of Medicine 2. Advanced Knowledge of Science 3. Advanced Knowledge of History (a.k.a. Prophecy) 4. Advanced Intricacy of Design in the Original Texts 5. Evidence from Personal Testimonies Resource Recommendation Areas of Advanced Scientific Knowledge in the Bible 1. Biology 2. Astronomy 3. Earth Science 4.Physics 1st & 2nd Laws of Thermodynamics These laws are highly significant in that no known exception to these laws exist. As far as we know they are constants. 1. Energy can be transferred from one place to another, or transformed from one form to another, but it can be neither created nor destroyed. 2. All systems and elements in our Universe tend to disintegrate (fall to a lower order of available energy or organization). This law is also known as Entropy. 1st & 2nd Laws of Thermodynamics Several statements in the Bible reveal a clearly advanced knowledge of these two laws. 1. Genesis 2:2-3; Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3; 4:10. 2. Psalm 102:25-26; Isaiah 34:4; 50:9; 51:6; Romans 8:22; 1 Cor. 7:31; Hebrews 1:11. Genesis 2:7 “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” “Scientists were recently startled to discover that the clay and Earth found in the “dust of the ground” do contain every single element found in the human body. A Reader’s Digest article in November 1982 described this fascinating discovery by the researchers at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California that confirmed the Bible’s account that every single element found in the human body exists within the soil. The scientists concluded, ‘We are just beginning to learn. The Biblical scenario for the creation of life turns out to be not far off the mark.’” - Grant Jeffreys The Seed from the Father 1 Corinthians 11:8 “For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.” Only in recent decades has science caught up with the Bible in the discovery that the gender of a child is completely determined by genetic information from the father. This was not the common understanding through history. Blaming Wives for the Gender Under the Tudor family, which ruled England through the 1500s and early 1600s, England broke with the Papacy in Rome. Henry VIII famously had 6 different wives until he was able to sire a boy to continue the Tudor line. The Foundations of the Earth • Job 38:4 & 6 “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding. Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid the corner stone thereof?” • Granite is the main “foundation” of the earth, in that it makes up the majority of the earth’s crust. The Foundations of the Earth Polonium is a radioactive element, which is a byproduct of uranium. It has a very short existence before it decays into another element. Yet Polonium halos, as they are called, are “frozen” within granite, thus indicating that the granite encasing the short-lived polonium had to be formed nearly instantaneously. The Foundations of the Earth An equivalent illustration of this would be trying to instantly freeze a cup of water in order to preserve the fast dissolving alka-seltzer in the water, before in completely dissipates. Earth is a Sphere 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.” Job 22:14 “Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; And he walketh in the circuit of heaven.” Time Zones? Luke 17:30-36 is largely believed by Bible scholars to reveal an advanced understanding of what you and I call today, “time zones.” Speaking of the return of Christ, this passage details how people will be simultaneously be “taken” at night, morning, and mid-day. This is possible only because of the the earth’s spherical shape. Yet the Earth has “Four Corners” Revelation 7:1 “And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.” Revelation 20:8 “And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.” “This verse has long been derided as reflecting a naive “prescientific” concept of the earth structure, one that supposedly viewed the earth as flat with four corners… In terms of modern technology, it is essentially equivalent to what a mariner or geologist would call the four quadrants of the compass, or the four directions… Parenthetically, accurate modern geodetic measurements in recent years have proved that the earth actually does have four “corners.” These are protuberances standing out from the basic geoid, that is, the basic spherical shape of the earth. The earth is not really a perfect sphere, but is slightly flattened at the poles. Its equatorial bulge is presumably caused by the earth’s axial rotation, and its four “corners” protrude from that.” Henry M. Morris. Circuit of the Sun Psalm 19:4-6 “Their line is gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, 5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, And rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. 6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven, And his circuit unto the ends of it: And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.” Recent discoveries by astronomers working with the Hubble telescope have confirmed the accuracy of the Scriptural account as they proved that the Sun is actually moving through space in a circuit covering an enormous orbit that will take over 260,000,000 years to complete. God Hung the Earth on Nothing Job 26:7 “He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, And hangeth the earth upon nothing.” This basic understanding of the orbit of the earth is dramatically contrasted by the Hindu belief that the world rested on the back of elephants, which rode on the back of a giant turtle. Stretched the Note over the Empty Place… Job 26:7 “He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, And hangeth the earth upon nothing.” Recent discoveries have revealed that the area directly north of the axis of our Earth is relatively “empty” in comparison with other directions. Mitchell Waldrop wrote the following statement in an article in Science magazine… “The recently announced ‘hole in space,’ a 300 million-lightyear gap in the distribution of galaxies, has taken cosmologists by surprise…” This relative emptiness of stars in the direction to the north of our solar system is not visible to the naked eye. It is only as the result of very careful observation by telescopes that scientists have recently seen this. How did Job know?! Hydrological Weather Cycle Job, Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, & Jeremiah all describe details about the complexity of the weather system far beyond the knowledge of the people living at the time. (Job 36:16, 27-29; 38:34; Eccl. 1:7; Jer. 10:13) Complex Weather Patterns 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.” Complex Weather Patterns Job 38:24 “By what way is the light parted, Which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?” Come to find out, light actually causes the wind. Sunlight heats the ground and expands the air, which creates wind. A Way for the Lightening Job 28:26 “When he made a decree for the rain, And a way for the lightning of the thunder.” Discovered recently, because of the use of highly quality slow motion cameras, lightening actually sends out a “leader” that “plans” its path, before striking from the ground up. Paths of the Sea In 1786, Benjamin Franklin published the information he gleaned from conversations with ocean-going captains namely that huge currents, such as the Gulf Stream, ran like deep rivers far beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. This massive Gulf Stream carries more than five thousand times as much water as the great Mississippi. In the mid 1800s Matthew Fontaine Maury, who was fascinated by Psalm 8:8, became the head of the U.S. Navy’s Department of Charts and Instruments. He later became the official “discoverer” of ocean currents. Psalm 8:6-8 “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.” 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?” Only within the last few decades has underwater exploration of the ocean depths revealed the remarkable phenomenon of numerous springs of fresh water pouring out of the ocean floor. Treasures of Snow • Job 38:22 “Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? Or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail?” • Scientists have discovered that snowflakes have an extreme intricacy of design. Elaborate & complex patterns always appear in a hex structure, yet no two are alike. They are as distinct as a fingerprint. • Manmade snow has never been able to reproduce these unique features. Discovery of Snowflake Design Wilson A. Bentley became fascinated with the crystalline structure of individual snowflakes on his parent’s Vermont farm. By adapting a microscope to a bellows camera, and after years of trial and error, he became the first person to photograph a single snowflake in 1885. In 1903, he sent 500 prints of his snowflakes to the Smithsonian, hoping they might be of interest to Secretary Samuel P. Langley. These images are now part of the Smithsonian Institution Archives. Bentley’s book of Snow Crystals, with more than 2,400 snowflake images, was published in 1931. This photomicrograph and more than 5,000 others supported the belief that no two snowflakes are alike, leading scientists to study his work and publish it in numerous scientific articles and magazines. Dimensions of Noah’s Ark Genesis 6:15 “And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.” Dimensions of Noah’s Ark In 1609 at the port of Horn in Holland, biblically minded Christian shipbuilders created a ship after the same pattern Noah followed in constructing the ark. The inspired dimensions of Noah’s ark more than 4,500 years ago was 300:50:30. It was discovered that the length of a perfectly stable oceangoing vessel should be six times the width. Most large oceangoing vessels today are made to this dimensions. Glory of the Search Proverbs 25:2 “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.” God has gloriously “concealed” His wisdom in creation. It is our glory to find what He has put there. Much of modern science owes its origin to a Biblical worldview that believed the orderly universe is the result of an orderly Creator. So we ought in the end credit all to God.