TULIP GEMS

THE BIBLE AND SCIENCE

 

 

“He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.” (Job 26:7)

 

“It is he that sitteth upon the CIRCLE OF THE EARTH....” (Isaiah 40:22) (Emphasis mine)

 

Some claim that the Bible is discredited by modern science. For example, they love to point out that the Bible speaks of the “four corners of the earth”. Therefore, they claim, the Bible teaches that the earth is flat.

 

Yet modern science has shown that the earth is round. Both Job and Isaiah (quoted above) lived over 2,000 years before Columbus set out to prove the earth is round.

 

Both Job and Isaiah, moved by the Spirit, wrote statements about the earth that harmonize with modern science. The earth hangs on nothing and is a circle.

 

Nowhere does the Bible teach that the earth is flat. When the Biblical writers speak of the sun rising and setting, or of the four corners of the earth, or of the ends of the earth, they are using FIGURES OF SPEECH. We use the same expressions today.

 

Yet we do NOT mean that the sun goes around the earth, or that the earth is flat. In our everyday speech we often describe things as they appear, rather than, as they are known to be. The Bible is written in the everyday language of common people.

 

SCIENCE VERSUS EVOLUTION

 

The Bible is not a science textbook. But it never contradicts true science. What it often contradicts are the SPECULATIONS of scientists. Science means “knowledge.” By definition, it includes only that which we can know by direct observation and experience.

 

The “scientific method” involves experimental reproduction and verification. Thus science can only deal with the world AS IT NOW EXISTS. Scientific theories, such as the BIG BANG origin of the universe, or the EVOLUTION of man, are mere speculation.

 

They cannot be verified by modern science. For example, if apes evolved into human beings back then, why can it not happen again today? The study of genetics confirms the Bible. Species reproduce only “after their kind” (Genesis 1:21-25).

 

Apes reproduce apes. People reproduce people. This is why many biologists reject the theory of evolution based strictly on the study of genetics. In fact, the Bolsheviks, in their zeal to prove evolution, tried mating apes with men.[1]

 

A scientific expedition was sent to Africa in 1925, led by Professor Ivanoff. It was heavily subsidized by the Soviets. Needless to say, it failed. The Soviet press later reported that Ivanoff's steamer, with his female apes, was lost on the Black Sea, on its return voyage.[2]

 

BLOOD AND DIET

 

A few hundred years ago, sick people were bled on the advice of physicians. It was thought that their blood being too thick might cause their illness.

 

This belief is no longer held in medical circles. We now know that the life is in the blood. The Bible said this long ago. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood....” (Leviticus 17:11)

 

The Hebrew dietary laws (Leviticus 11) show the agreement of the Bible with science. Pork, with its inherent danger of trichinosis, was forbidden.

 

So was all shellfish -- lobster, crabs, and shrimp (all high in cholesterol). Fish with fins and scales (heart healthy) could be eaten.

 

The Bible doesn't mention trichinosis or cholesterol. But the foods that could cause these problems for ancient Israel were forbidden. God the Creator is the author of both the Bible and science. Thus the Bible and true science will never contradict one another.

 

CREATION SCIENCE VERSUS EVOLUTION

 

 

NOTES:

 

[1] Rousas John Rushdoony, The Institutes of Biblical law: A Chalcedon study with three appendices by Gary North (Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1973) pp. 440-441

 

[2] Ibid.