Why should I read the bible Part 2(b)?
Science in the Bible
Did you know that the Bible uniquely has no passages where the scripture is thought to be unscientific? Some will of course dispute the Creation narrative. Take for example the Hindu Vedas (written B.C.) which say that the earth is held up by 4 elephants which are in turn held up by a gigantic turtle. This is of course an unscientific statement as verified by astronauts. The ancient Greeks thought the world was held up by a being called Atlas. Again this is an unscientific statement.
The Bible however has not been shown to give any unscientific statement.
For instance in answer to the question what holds the earth up see the Bible’s answer is given some 4000 years ago in the book of
Job 26:7 He stretches out the north over the empty place and hangs the earth upon nothing.
This is true but Job was written thousands of years before science discovered this. How did Job know this? An obvious answer is that God inspired Job to record this.
However if you are not convinced there are many other examples of correct science being described many years before science had discovered the various truths.
Here is a further example which can only be explained by the fact that God inspired the writings in the Bible.
Isaiah 40:22 It is he (God) that sits upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in:
The Hebrew word for ‘circle’ is chug and means a ‘sphere’. This scripture was written around 2700 years ago and yet even say 200 years ago the top scientists were saying that the earth was flat! Recent science has now confirmed the earth is indeed a sphere (although a few still dispute this). How could Isaiah possibly have known this? Perhaps his co-author was helping him.
Other examples include the earth spinning on its axis see Luke 17:34-35 night and day on the earth and the number of stars is not able to be counted see Jeremiah 33:22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: Scientists can only get a temporary count of the stars since as the telescopes grow so does the number of stars.
The star system known as the Pleiades are joined together and are the only stars in the universe which are not moving away from each other (e.g. Orion) see Job 38:31 Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? How could Job know this, perhaps his co-author helped him more than 4000 years ago?
The Jewish laws of antiseptic hygiene in leprosy as described in Leviticus 13 were thousands of years ahead of scientific discovery of bacteria. How could this be?
There are many other examples in our further study material BBS079 by Roger Price (see additional resources section on main page).
Inspiration is that which has been revealed by the Lord and written into scripture. 2 Tim 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Scripture here means the holy writings that were God breathed.
Inspired means God breathed meaning that God supervised the writing of the scripture but allowing the personality and style of the human writer to shine through.
2 Peter 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
The picture here is of a ship be driven along by the wind in its sails. In this way the Holy Spirit inspired the authors of the holy Bible. Man and God working together.
Jesus Christ believed the full old testament and handled it as though it was the fully inspired and authoritative Word of God.
Next time we will consider the question as to how we ought to read/study the Bible?
Amen
Further study -Textual Criticism
How do we know these words in our Bible are the same as were written by the original authors? For an in-depth treatment of this topic please listen to Basic Bible Study 080 Men and texts by the late Roger Price- see the link in our ‘additional resources’ menu of this website.
For full text for printout, video version, and access to other parts of 'About the bible' please click below