In our learning how to deal with the skeptical, we have been studying the seemingly scientific errors of the Bible. We have found, however, when we analyze them, that they are not really errors.
It is essential for us to realize this and know how to meet this problem, for the general attitude toward the Bible is that it is filled with scientific error.
On the other hand, we find that when we study the Bible carefully, it is not only free from error, but it also presents scientific truths. It sets forth truth that was not known at that time and could only have been written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Urquhart has analyzed a number of these Scriptures, and we wish to give them to you now, that you might have them to use in case you need them.
Let us take Genesis 1:9: “And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear.” We notice here that the seas were not gathered together into one place, although that is not mentioned about the land. We also note this: though the waters are called seas, they are gathered together into one place.
As a result of our explorations through the centuries, we have discovered the fact that all the seas are connected, and the dry land is segregated. How could any man at the time that this was written have understood that or known it?
Another fact of creation that shows the scriptural account to be correct is that it places man as the last of creation’s work. Let us note what geologists have said about this.
Professor James D. Dana, whose name was one of the very biggest in geology, lectured upon the creation story given in Genesis at Yale University several years before he died. He made the statement that inspiration alone could account for its record that was in accord with recent discoveries, mentioning the fact that Professor Arnold H. Guyot, a fellow scientist, had come to the same conclusion. Guyot, a professor of history in a Swiss university, decided to commence with the origin of all things and studied every book that was available on biology, geology, and astronomy. He tabulated his results and found that he had placed the order of events in the same order that was given in the first chapter of Genesis.
Science places the advent of man last in the series, but the Bible proclaimed the truth thousands of years before any investigations had been made.
As we study these Scriptures, we are convinced of the fact that the Holy Spirit must have formed the very statements that were written, for no man could have written with such scientific accuracy.
We notice this is Ecclesiastes 1:7: “All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.”
This is a positively scientific statement. Hundreds of thousands of tons of water are being poured into the sea every hour of every day and night, but the sea is not full.
The explanation that the Scripture gives to us is that the rivers flow back to the places from which they started. But what man has ever seen them go back, and what man could have made such a statement as a result of his own conclusions? We find the explanation to this Scripture in Psalm 135:7: “He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain; he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries.” Here is a Scripture that is in perfect harmony with modern science.
Every moment of every day, vapor is rising from the oceans in great volumes and regularity. As the watery vapor is condensed, clouds are formed. If these clouds were left where they were formed, they would fall again into the sea, and it would be filled, but God has made preparations for the earth’s needs. He brings “the wind out of his treasuries” and these winds bear the clouds back to the coast, yet they have not yet gone back to the places from which they started.
The clouds must become rain, and the Scripture says, “He maketh lightnings for the rain.” There is one kind of electricity in one cloud and another kind of electricity in another. The contact of the two clouds coming together causes the lightning flash that sends the rain to the earth.
William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, believed there was never rain without lightning. How accurate, therefore, these Scriptures are. The earth is refreshed with the rain. Streams are formed, the springs overflow, the rivers are replenished, and they are swept back again into the ocean.
Let us notice Isaiah 40:12: “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?” Every clause here presents a scientific fact.
The implication in the first clause is that God measured a certain quantity of water in the hollow of His hand, and then gave that portion for Earth’s water supply.
Science now bears witness to this fact. Our water supply has been measured. It is an exact quantity. We could use no more, and we require no less. If the water surface had been larger than it is now, we would have had too much rain; if it had been any less, we would not have had enough rain to have supported the earth’s population.
Water is indispensable, and it is the only natural liquid that exists in a free state at the earth’s temperature. A small change in temperature would vaporize or solidify it, which would make it impossible for life to be maintained upon the earth.
Let us take the next clause: “And meted out heaven with the span.” In other words, He measured the atmosphere and fixed it at a certain height. We know now that the atmosphere above us is of the exact measurement that is required to support life. If the height of the atmosphere were any less or any more, we could not live on Earth.
One constituent of our atmosphere is ozone, which exists miles above the earth in such a small measurement that if it were brought to the surface, it would make a gaseous layer about as thick as a book cover. Yet, if it were not for this portion of ozone in our atmosphere, humanity would meet with blindness or death from the sun’s rays.
Notice now the last clause: “And weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance.” Physical geography tells us now that the height of the mountains on every coast is in direct proportion to the depth of the sea. If the sea is deep, the mountains are high, and there is always a corresponding increase or decrease between the mountains and the sea. This implies that they have been weighed and measured.
QUESTIONS
- Instead of finding scientific error, what do we find the Bible to teach?
- What truth is revealed by Genesis 1:9?
- How would you show Ecclesiastes 1:7 to be scientifically correct?
- What Scripture throws light upon Ecclesiastes 1:7?
- Explain the scientific truth of Isaiah 40:12.