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The God of Science
January 2000
Science is a systematic knowledge of the physical or
material universe gained by observable facts. The sacred writings of
all world religions basically contain a system of faith. Yet each do
make statements within the province of science that provides a
uniquely valid test to prove their authenticity. If their scientific
observations are in reality superstitions reflective of the culture
in which they were written, these so called books are disqualified
as the inspired Scripture of God.
If, indeed, the scientific observations of any of
these purported Holy Scripture agree with the facts of science
today, then that Bible is the inspired Word of a true and living
God. Why? The Creator and God of the universe is the God of science—the
author of the scientific laws that govern His universe. Only the God
of science could cause scientific facts to be recorded in a book—the
Bible—hundreds or thousands of years before scientists discover
them.
Only the Judeo-Christian Bible contains scientific
facts that anticipated scientific discovery by hundreds and in some
cases several thousand years. The following are examples of
remarkable scientific observations found in the Judeo-Christian
Bible.
What Holds the Earth Up?
Three thousand years ago the Hindu scriptures
recorded the earth was resting on the backs of several huge
elephants. The elephants were resting on the back of a very large
turtle that was swimming in a sea. Greek mythology claims that the
god Atlas was holding the earth on his shoulders. But our Bible says
in Job 26:7—"[God] hangeth the earth on nothing." What a
remarkable statement of fact. The earth is suspended in space.
Nothing is holding it up. Job wrote about the same time the Hindu
Scripture was written. How did Job know this scientific fact? Only
God could have revealed this to Job.
Flat Versus Round Earth
For thousands of years people believed the earth was
flat. If one went too far, he would fall over the edge. This was
taught in both Hindu and Buddhist scripture. In the 1500s, the first
ship sailed around the world. This provided empirical proof for many
that the world was round. But the round earth was recorded in the
Judeo-Christian Bible long before.
The prophet Isaiah (40:22) spoke of the "circle
of the earth." Solomon wrote, "He [God] set a compass
[circle] upon the face of the deep." Proverbs 8:27. In our
century, Arabs spoke of infidels being pushed over the edge into
space. About 3,000 years ago, our Bible said the earth was round.
Indeed, the Judeo-Christian Bible is the inspired Word of God.
The Bottom of the Ocean
Until modern times people thought the ocean floor
was sandy like the desert and saucer shaped—deepest in the middle.
This was even true of the pre-1900 geologists. But in the 1900s
oceanographers found the sea had many deep valleys or canyons. The
deepest canyons were called trenches. The Marianas Trench in the
Pacific is so deep that if Mt. Everest (29,000 feet high) was
dropped into it, the peak would still be a mile below the water's
surface. There are also underwater mountains. The Atlantic Ocean
contains an undersea range of mountains 10,000 miles long.
In addition, 3,000 years ago the Judeo-Christian
Bible spoke of the valleys and mountains of the sea. In Psalm 18:15
(NIV) David wrote of God being the creator of "the valleys of
the sea." God asked Job (38:16 NIV): "Have you walked in
the recesses [valleys] of the sea?" The prophet Jonah was
thrown off a ship and spoke of falling to the bottom of the
mountains in the sea (Jonah 2:6).
The Judeo-Christian Bible spoke of the valleys and
mountains of the sea thousands of years before scientists discovered
them. Indeed our Bible is the inspired Word of God.
The Paths of the Sea
In the 1800s, Matthew Maury, an officer in the
United States Navy believed his Bible. One day Maury was reading
Psalm 8. He was amazed that verse 8 spoke of the fish and all
creatures that swim in the "paths of the sea." "Paths
of the sea"—how could this be? He never knew there was such a
thing. He was determined to find them. Maury discovered that the
oceans have many paths or currents, which were like rivers flowing
through the sea. Maury wrote the first book on oceanography and
became known as "the pathfinder of the seas"—"The
father of modern navigation."
Maury received his idea about ocean currents from
reading Psalm 8:8 which was written about 3,000 years ago by King
David. David wrote as he was moved by the Spirit of God and probably
never actually saw an ocean.
Incidentally, Psalm 8:8 also spoke of fish in the
"paths of the seas." All fishing boats make a good catch
in the currents or paths of the sea. They have learned this is where
the fish swim.
Lightning, Thunder and Rain
In ancient times, most religious scripture taught
that lightning bolts were missiles thrown in anger by their gods.
Since rain is so necessary to life, ancient people pondered what
caused it. Some tried to stab holes in the clouds with spears. The
Vedas (Hindu scripture) advised to tie a frog with its mouth open to
the right tree and say the right words and rain would fall.
Job stated (28:26): "God made decrees [rules]
for the rain. And He set a way for the lightning of the
thunder:" About 300 years ago, Galileo discovered the
"rules for the rain" or water cycle that Job talked about.
The sun evaporates water from the ocean. That water vapor rises and
becomes clouds. This water in the clouds falls back to earth as
rain, collects in streams and rivers and makes its way back to the
ocean. That process repeats itself again and again.
But amazingly the Scriptures described this cycle
centuries before. The prophet Amos (9:6) wrote that God "calls
for the water of the sea. He pours them out on the land." Amos
wrote as he was moved by the Spirit of God.
Pleiades, Orion and Arcturus
Job 38 deals with the wonders of His
creation. In Job 38:31, 32 we read:
Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades
or loose the bands of Orion?
Canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
ORION
"Canst thou . . . loose the bands of
Orion?" Garrett P. Serviss, the noted astronomer, wrote about
the bands of Orion in his book CURIOSITIES OF THE SKY.
At the present time this band consists of an almost
perfect straight line. In the course of time, however, the two
right-hand stars, Mintaka and Alnilam, will approach each other and
form a naked-eye double; but the third, Alnitak, will drift away
eastward so that the band will no longer exist.
Thus, these stars that we see forming one of the
bands of Orion are like three ships out on the high seas that happen
to be in line at the present moment, but in the future will be
separated by thousands of miles of ocean. In fact, all these stars
that at the present time constitute the constellation of Orion are
bound for different ports, and all are journeying to different
corners of the universe, so that the bands are being dissolved.
THE PLEIADES
"Canst thou bind the sweet influence of the
Pleiades . . . ?" Notice the amazing astronomical contrast with
the Pleiades. The seven stars of the Pleiades are in reality a
grouping of 250 suns. Photographs now reveal that 250 blazing suns
in this group are all traveling together in one common direction.
From Lick Observatory came this statement of Dr.
Robert J. Trumpler:
The Pleiades stars may thus be compared to a swarm
of birds, flying together to a distant goal. This leaves no doubt
that the Pleiades are not a temporary or accidental agglomeration of
stars, but a system in which the stars are bound together by a close
kinship.
INCREDIBLE! God's laws of cosmology are loosing or
dissolving the constellation Orion. Sometime in the far distant
future, Orion will be no more. Conversely, wonder of wonders—every
last one of the 250 blazing suns in the Pleiades are ordained of God
to orbit together in their symmetrical beauty throughout eternity.
ARCTURUS
"Canst thou guide Arcturus with his
sons?" Garrett P. Serviss wrote:
Arcturus, one of the greatest suns in the universe,
is a runaway whose speed of flight is 257 miles per second. Arcturus,
we have every reason to believe, possesses thousands of times the
mass of our sun. Think of it! Our sun is traveling only 12 ˝ miles
a second, but Arcturus is traveling 257 miles a second. Think then
of the prodigious momentum this motion implies.
It could only be stopped by collision head on with a
body of enormous mass. Barring such accidents, it must, as far as we
can see, keep on until it has traversed our stellar system, whence
it may escape and pass out into space beyond to join perhaps one of
those other island universes…
The wonders of God's universe never cease to amaze
us. Arcturus and his sons are individual runaway suns that seem to
be out of orbit in our galaxy. Traveling at such incredible speeds,
why don't they crash with other suns or planets? Where are they
headed? Only God knows. Indeed they are not runaways. They will not
crash. Why? God is guiding them.
When Mr. Burckhalter of Chabot Observatory had his
attention called to this text in the book of Job, he studied it in
the light of modern discovery and made a statement that has
attracted worldwide attention:
The study of the Book of Job and its comparison with
the latest scientific discoveries has brought me to the matured
conviction that the Bible is an inspired book and was written by the
One who made the stars.
Which Bible is Inspired by a Living God?
The Judeo-Christian Scripture made scientific
observations that were confirmed centuries later by modern science,
while the sacred scripture of other world religions merely reflected
the scientific superstitions of their culture. How could the
Judeo-Christian Scripture anticipate scientific discovery by 3,000
years? The Judeo-Christian Bible was written by men who were
inspired by the Creator and God of the Universe—the God of
science. Only the Judeo-Christian Bible is the Divine Revelation
provided by our infinite Creator to direct us in the path to
eternity.
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