Is The Bible Reliable Scientifically?

1. Is The Bible Reliable Scientifically? Dr. Heinz Lycklama heinz@osta.com www.osta.com

2. To Begin the Discussion … • In 1903, a British philosopher, Herbert Spencer, made a profound scientific statement:“Everything in the universe can be explained by five basic things - space, matter, time, force, and action.” • Spencer, an evolutionist, was a contemporary of Charles Darwin, the British scientist credited with popularizing the concept of evolution. He (Spencer) was given a prestigious award by the British Science Society at the time. This was considered to be a major contribution to science. And it is, until you realize that …

3. What Does The 1st Bible Verse Say? • Moses, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote in Gen. 1:1:“In the beginning (time) God (force) created (action) the heavens (space) and the earth (matter).” • What makes this even more remarkable is the fact that Moses was educated in the tradition of the Egyptians. They believed that only the ocean existed at first. An egg/flower appeared and the sun god was born. The sun god had four children, of whom one was Geb (the earth). They believed that the earth was a flat disk afloat on the river of the ocean. None of this mythology of the time was included in the book of Genesis.

4. Some Common Misconceptions Evolution is Science • Skeptics and unbelievers think: “The Bible is an antiquated religious book, filled with scientific fallacies and mistakes reflecting the naïve cosmology of the primitive tribes of the Near East.” • Even some professing Christians think: “The Bible is a book of true religion dealing solely with spiritual subjects and that, where it seems to touch on matters of science and history, it must be interpreted spiritually or allegorically, rather than literally. Creation is Religion

5. Can I Believe The Bible? • Consider Ps. 103:12: • “As far as the East is from the West, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” • The psalmist used the words “East/West” not “North/South” • When one travels west, one always goes west and never gets to the east • When one travels south, eventually one reaches the South Pole and goes north • These concepts are only true if the earth is round! • How could the author have known this?

6. Can I Believe the Bible? - 2 • There are many evidences for the existence of God and the truth of the Bible • However, for someone committed to naturalism, no amount of evidence will do • “Apologetics is not for proving the Word of God but simply for providing a basis for faith” (Josh McDowell) • 1 Peter 3:15 “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” • True faith satisfies both the heart and the intellect

7. The Reliability of the Bible • Strong Manuscript evidence. More ancient manuscripts than any other historical book. New Testament Confirmed by secular historians Josephus (before 100 AD), Roman Tacitus (120 AD), Roman Governer Pliny (110 AD) • Archaeological evidence. Countless finds of Old Testament cities • Prophecy - Several hundred fulfilled prophesies including the time of Christ’s ministry, his birthplace, and method of death. Destruction of Babylon by Cyrus, Progression of Kingdoms from Babylon through Medo-Persian Empire, the Greek Empire and the Roman Empire, suffering of Jews under Antiochus IV Epiphanes, Freedom for Jews under Judas Maccabeus and Israel’s rebirth as a nation in 1948

8. The Apostle Paul’s Experience • Acts 28:23b-27: From morning till evening he [Paul] explained and declared to them the kingdom of God and tried to convince them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. Some were convinced by what he said, but other would not believe. … (As the Holy Spirit through Isaiah said) “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.”

9. Arguments for God’s Existence • The Cosmological Argument - everything has a cause; God is the initial “First Cause” • The Moral Argument - our sense of moral values points to the existence of a moral Creator • The Teleological Argument - evidence of design and purpose in the world point to intelligent creation, as a watch indicates a watchmaker Note that neither the Bible nor Jesus try to prove the existence of God - they assume it

10. The Creation Shows God • Romans 1:20 • “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” • Knowing that there must be God obliges us to seek Him

11. What is The Absolute Truth?

12. Arguments to Support the Bible • The unparalleled reliability and accuracy of the historical text of the Bible • Confirmation of the events, places, nations, and people of the Bible by archaeology • It is unique in many ways (written over 1,500 year span, over 40 authors maintaining harmony and continuity, survival through time, influence on society, unique teachings, etc.)

13. The Reliability of the Bible • When compared against classical literature, the historical reliability of the Bible is outstanding • Number of manuscripts: NT 24,000; Iliad by Homer 643 • Time between when written and earliest copy: NT 25 years; Iliad 500 years • OT accuracy verified by the Dead Sea Scrolls

14. It’s A Matter of the Heart • Einstein said “Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind.” • Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”(NIV) • Psalm 139:13-16 “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (NIV) • John 3:16 “ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”(NIV)

15. Be Sure of Your Facts • There are no historical or scientific errors in the Bible • There are no scientific errors because God cannot lie • We believe in the full, verbal inspiration, inerrancy and infallibility of the Holy Scriptures • The Bible is written in everyday language • Bible writers used the language of appearance, e.g. sunrise, sunset, dew - when the sun “rises” would you say “my what a beautiful earth rotation”?

16. Be Sure of Your Facts - 2 • Science has never disproved any statement in the Bible, but it has proven and demonstrated the truth of hundreds of things which the Bible anticipated, e.g. Gen. 1:1 (space, matter, time, force, action), Ps. 103:12 • We must be sure of • Our scriptural facts, • Our scientific facts, and • What we heard

17. Scriptural Facts • Dr. Criswell advertised that he would give anybody $1000if he could show him a scientific inaccuracy, mistake, or error in the Bible • Woman called to say: • Apples cannot grow in the Mesopotamian Valley • Apples only grow in OR and WA • Gen. 3:2,3 (forbidden fruit) • “I know it’s true because my professor told me so!” • Lesson – check your facts!

18. Scientific Facts • Dan. 12:4 predicted an explosion of knowledge in the last days • 90% of all scientists are living today • Increased knowledge • > 100K scientific periodicals, many specialties • > 2000 words per minute are being added • Earth satellites collecting 10^12 bits of information per day • No one can claim to be an “authority” in general

19. Scientific Facts - 2 • Much new knowledge obsoletes old knowledge • Scientists or liberals may try to harmonize teachings of Genesis with contemporary science • What if we updated the Bible in accordance with the latest scientific theories and discoveries? • The Bible is constant • Science changes theories based on observed events or facts

20. What Did We Hear? • Communication, especially miscommunication, can lead to misperceptions • Story of the cake decorator: • Bride told her to put the words of 1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love …” on cake • Decorator heard John 4:18 and put these words on cake “you have had five husbands …”

21. Should We Change The Bible To Agree With Science?

22. Laws of Science • Law of biogenesis - life can come only from life. • 1st Law of Thermodynamics - the law of conservation of mass / energy (E = mc2”). • 2nd Law of Thermodynamics - the law of entropy. In a closed or open system: • Spontaneous processes lead to a decrease in order. • Energy moves to a lower potential, becoming less available to do work. • Things move in a direction from order to chaos. • Law of Cause and Effect - Every effect must have a cause. The effect cannot be greater, in size or in kind, than the cause.

23. Law of Biogenesis • Life comes only from preexisting life • Experiments run over two centuries • Louis Pasteur, Redi, Spellanzani • Spontaneous origin of life impossible: • Miller’s experiment made wrong assumptions about early earth’s environment • Organic molecules oxidized by oxygen • Probability of protein formation by chance is less than 1 in 10**130, i.e. ZERO/ZIP/NONE • Simple cell requires 100’s of protein molecules in a specific order

24. 1st Law of Thermodynamics • Gen. 2:2-3, “on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made. … in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.” • Neh. 9:6, “.. You have made heaven, The heaven of heavens, with all their host, … And You preserve them all. …” • Col. 1:16,17, “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on the earth … All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” • Heb. 1:2,3 “… by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory … and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself …”

25. 2nd Law of Thermodynamics • Ps. 102:25-27, “Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will endure; Yes, they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will change them, And they will be changed.” • Is. 51:6, “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath. For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, the earth will grow old like a garment, …” • Rom. 8:20-22, “For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.” • 1 Pet. 1:24-25 “”All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever.”

26. Law of Cause and Effect • Gen. 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” • The First Cause of the Universe must be an infinite, eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, personal, volitional, holy, loving being!

27. Biblical Reliability on Science • We trust the Bible for spiritual truth • Do we trust it for truth in other areas? • History - events corroborated by historians • Archaeology, geography – verifiable facts • Science - astronomy, geophysics, geology, hydrology, meteorology, biology, physics • there are many Biblical references to nature and natural processes • authors use everyday language • amazingly accurate • anticipatory scientific insights in the Bible

28. Astronomy • Job 25:5 “If even the moon does not shine ...” • The moon itself is not a source of light • Moon rocks filled with titanium, a better reflector than diamonds • Ps. 89:37 “It shall be established forever like the moon, even like the faithful witness in the sky.” • The moon itself is not a source of light, but a reflector of light from the sun

29. Astronomy - 2 • Ps. 136:7-9 “To Him who made great lights, ...the sun to rule by day, ... the moon and stars to rule by night ...” • Scientifically accurate • Ps. 74:16 “... Thou hast prepared the light and the sun.” • Did God create the light separate from the sun in the beginning?

30. Astronomy - 3 • Is. 55:9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, …” • Job 22:12 “Is not God in the height of heaven? And see how lofty they are!” • Jer. 31:37 “… If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, …” • These three verses indicate the size of the universe

31. Astronomy - 4 • Gen. 15:5 “... count the stars, if you are able to count them. … so shall your descendants be.” • Gen. 22:17 “… and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore…” • Jer. 33:22 “ … as the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured …” • Ptolemy counted 1056 stars; Johannes Kepler counted 1005 • Total number of stars visible to the naked eye is about 4000 • These three verses seemed to be in scientific error until … … the telescope • Today scientists estimate there are more than 10**25 stars (about the same order of magnitude as the number of grains of sand on the earth)

32. Astronomy - 5 • 1 Cor. 15:41 “One star differeth from another star in glory.” • Variety of stars, no two stars alike, God calls them by name (Ps. 147:4) • Jer. 31:35-36 “…Who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night …” • Defines the precision of orbits • Ps. 104: 1-35 “… who stretch out the heavens like a curtain. … who laid the foundations of the earth …” • Praise to the Creator, contains no scientific error

33. Constellations • Job 38:31 “Can you bind the cluster of Pleiades, or loose the belt of Orion?” • God told Job in ~ 2000 BC that the seven stars of Pleiades were bound together and the stars of Orion are not. • Pleiades used to be called the “seven sisters.” • We learned [20th century] that the stars of Pleiades are gravitationally bound and the stars of Orion are not.

34. Geophysics • Job 26:7,10 “He stretches out the north over empty space, and hangs the earth on nothing. … He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters, at the boundary of light and darkness.” • Indicates a round earth, not resting on a pillar, consistent with observation • Written at a time when many thought the earth was flat

35. Geophysics - 2 • Prov. 8:27 “... when he inscribed a circle on the face of the deep.” • Indicates that the earth is a globe • Is. 40:22 “It is He who sits above the vault (circle) of the earth ...” • “chuwg”, Hebrew word for arc, sphere • Ocean has 8 inch (20 cm.) per mile curvature • Ps. 103:12 “As far as the east is from the west …” • Shape of earth

36. Geophysics - 3 • Job 38:12,14 “Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, … It takes on form like clay under a seal, and stands out like a garment.” • The dawn rolls across the earth as it rotates • A cylindrical seal rolled over soft clay -> conveys the rotation of earth on its axis • Job 26:7; 38:6 “He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing.”; “To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone?” • Earth out there in space, gravitation among the planets

37. Geology • Job 14:18-19 “But as a mountain falls and crumbles away, and as a rock is moved from its place; as water wears away stones, and as torrents wash away the soil of the earth; … “ • Rock erosion • Job 28:9-10, “He puts his hand on the flint; He overturns the mountains at the roots. He cuts out channels in the rocks … • Man’s efforts in mining

38. Geology - 2 • Job 38:29-30 “Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.” • Glacial period • 2 Pet. 3:4 “And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” • Warning of Uniformitarianism?

39. Principle of Isostasy • Is. 40:12, “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand … weighed the mountain in scales and the hills in a balance?”Ps. 104:5-9, “Who laid the foundations of the earth …” • Principle of isostasy • According to this principle, the level of the Earth's crust is determined by its density; lighter material rises, forming continents, mountains, and plateaus, and heavier material sinks, forming basins and ocean floors.

40. Hydrology • Eccl. 1:7 “All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the place fromwhich the rivers come, there they return again.” [Written by Solomon in 935 B.C.] • The hydrologic cycle has been understood by man only in recent years -> ~ mid-1800’s • World’s food supply is made possible by the distribution of water • Is. 55:10 “For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven, and do not return there but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater.” • Hydrologic cycle

41. Hydrology - 2 • Ps. 135:7; Jer. 10:13 “… He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth, He makes lightning for the rain … ” • Evaporation occurs after “a multitude of waters in the heavens” descends • Prov. 8:26 “While as yet He had not made the earth or the fields, or the primal dust of the world.” • Condensation nuclei

42. Hydrology - 3 • Job 26:8; 37:11,16 “He binds up the water in His thick clouds, yet the clouds are not broken under it. … Also with moisture He saturates the thick clouds. … Do you know how the clouds are balanced … “ • Condensation from the clouds, which hold water mysteriously • Job 36:27-28 “For he draws up drops of water which distill as rain from the mist, which the clouds drop down and pour abundantly on man.” • Precipitation explained • Job 28:10 “He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing.” • Run-off explained

43. Hydrology – 4 • Ps. 33:7 “He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses.” • Oceanic reservoir • Job 38:22 “Have you entered the treasury of snow or have you seen the treasuryof hail …” • Snow and hail • Ps. 147:16 “He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes.” • Snow and frost

44. Hydrologic Balance • Is. 40:12 “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?” • Describes the hydrologic balance • Job 28:24-26 “For He looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole heavens, to establish a weight for the wind, and apportion the waters by measure. When he made a law for the rain, and a path for the thunderbolt.” • Describes the hydrologic balance

45. Meteorology • Eccl. 1:6 “The wind goes toward the south and turns around to the north; the wind whirls about continually, and comes again on its circuit.” • Circulation of the atmosphere, not discovered until much later • Is. 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 out like a tent to dwell in.” • Protective effect of atmosphere

46. Meteorology - 2 • Eccl. 1:7 “All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the place from which the rivers come, there they return again.” • Oceanic origin of rain • Jer. 10:13 “… He makes lightning for the rain, he brings the wind out of His treasuries.” • Relation of electricity to rain

47. Biology • Gen. 1:11-12, 21, 24-25 “…herb that yields seed according to its kind, …, beast of the earth according to its kind.” • Indicates stability of different kinds • Biogenesis, each producing after its own kind [used 10 times] • Gen. 1:26 “… let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; …” • The uniqueness of man • Prov. 16:24 “Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.” • Psychotherapy

48. Biology – 2 • Gen. 1:11,24-27; 3:19 “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground; for out of it you were taken, for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” • The chemical nature of flesh is evident from this • 1 Pet. 1:24-25 “… all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away. But the word of the Lord endures forever.” • Man returns to dust and his body is gone

49. Circulatory System • Gen. 9:4 “Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.” • Life is in the blood, a medical statement • Blood circulatory system, and importance of blood to life, were scientifically discovered by William Harvey in 1616 AD • Lev. 17:11,14 “For the life of the flesh is in the blood ...”“For as for the life of all flesh, its blood is identified with its life.” [Written by Moses ~ 1400 BC.] • Blood circulation, life in the blood • Used to “bleed” a patient to remove a disease

50. Painless Surgery • Gen. 2:21 “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.” • God knew that the key to painless surgery was to put the patient to sleep. • Until the 1800’s surgery was performed without anesthesia – perfected by William Morton ~ 1846, inspired by Gen. 2:21. • Anesthetic gases were discovered in early 1800’s.