Does the Bible Contradict Science?

Does the Bible contradict science, or is the Bible confirmed by science? It depends what you accept as science.

Many people today hold to the misapprehension that the Bible contradicts scientific fact. The truth is that the Bible does not contradict true scientific fact. The Bible does contradict many unproven scientific theories (such as, the “Big Bang Theory” and the “Theory of Evolution”), but it does not contradict any proven, scientific facts. Does the Bible contradict science? No. As a matter of fact, the Bible offers some startling insights into science, which go well beyond what the ancients are known to have achieved.

In Isaiah 40:22, the text says, “It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the Earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.” Written some 600 years before Christ, these words seem to suggest that, at a time when the rest of the world believed that the Earth was a flat, disc-shaped object, the Lord revealed to Isaiah that it is, in fact, a round, spherical object. About 100 years after Isaiah, Greek philosophers were the first to propose that the Earth is round, but it would not be until the Middle Ages that the idea would widely be accepted. Does the Bible contradict science? No. In fact, the Bible was ahead of time.

In Jeremiah 33:22, the text says, “As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister to me.” This reference is just one of many, which document the innumerability of the stars in the night sky (cf. Genesis 15:5; 22:17; 26:4). Ancient astronomers did try to count the stars, and they made some amazing astronomical observations with only their unaided eyes. Such accountings of the stars typically numbered a few thousand, but when the telescope was invented, in the 1600’s, scientists realized that the actual number of stars was far greater than that. To this day, it is not known exactly how many stars there are in our own galaxy, but estimates range from 200 to 400 billion. Furthermore, it is estimated that there are over 170 billion galaxies in the known universe, making the total number of stars in the sky impossible to accurately calculate. Does the Bible contradict science? No. Once again the Bible was ahead of its time.

In Job 28:25, the text says, “To make the weight of the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure.” Today, it is known that the air in our atmosphere weighs 0.0807 pounds per cubic foot. That means, that in 13 cubic feet of space, there is about one pound of air. These scientific facts were not discovered until the 1500’s. Before that discovery was made, everyone thought that air had no weight at all. Does the Bible contradict science? No. God revealed that scientific fact to Job long before anyone else thought of it. Once again, the Bible was ahead of its time.

In Job 26:7, the text says, “He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the Earth upon nothing.” Today, it is known that the Earth orbits the sun, in a roughly circular fashion that takes one year to complete one circuit. But, the ancients did not know that. Some imagined that the Earth was carried on the backs of gigantic animals, or that a giant man carried it on his shoulders. While some Greek philosophers theorized that Earth orbits the sun, it was Copernicus who first proved it, in the early 1500’s. But, God revealed this scientific fact to Job long before the Greeks came up with the idea. Does the Bible contradict science? No. the was still Bible was ahead of its time.

In Leviticus 17:11, the text says, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” This passage demonstrates the scientific principle that blood is essential to life and good health. But, as recently as the 1800’s doctors would routinely bleed patients, thinking that they were removing toxins from the body. It was not until science proved the worthlessness of bloodletting that procedures changed. Once again, the Bible was ahead of its time. Once again, does the Bible contradict science? No.

Finally, in Job 38:16, the text says, “Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? Or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?” Here, the Lord revealed to Job the presence of freshwater springs in the world’s oceans. It seems that no one even thought that such things might exist, until they were discovered in the early years of submarine travel. Freshwater springs on the ocean floor can cause submarines to lose their buoyancy and sink. Within the last decade, vast reserves of fresh water have been discovered beneath the ocean floor and some scientists think that they might one day be used as sources of drinking water for humanity. Does the Bible contradict science? No. Again and again, the Bible is shown to be ahead of its time and confirmed by true science.

These examples are some of the best evidence that there is to show that the Bible is precisely what it claims to be. If anything, the Bible is confirmed by true science. The only question that remains is, will you do what the Bible says you must do to be saved?

Salvation:  Hear - Believe - Repent - Confess - Be Baptized - Live Faithfully

Questions Without Answers

Human beings are naturally inquisitive. Of all the creatures that God created, we are the only ones on Earth who are capable of reason, logic and profundity of thought (Isaiah 1:18). In our long history, humanity has made many important discoveries and advanced his knowledge of the world by leaps and bounds, yet there are still some great mysteries, which elude all efforts to solve them.

In an article posted on lifeslittlemysteries.com, Natalie Wolchover made of list of seven questions for which science has not yet provided a satisfactory answer. One such mystery: “Why do cats purr?” It is known that cats produce an amazing range of vocalizations and there are logical explanations for almost all of them, but purring is yet to be understood. Cats purr while doing many different activities and it seems to serve no useful purpose at all. Evolutionary scientists can’t figure out why such a behavior would ever come about. Creationists tend not to worry about it.

Another unsolved mystery: “How do bicycles work?” Scientists have long suspected that gyroscopic motion, combined with “trailing” effects are what keeps bicycles travelling forward and upright, even when no one is steering them (“Look mom; no hands!”). But engineers who have studied the problem discovered that bicycles still work, even when they deliberately countered the gyroscopic and trailing effects. The supervisor of the experiment stated that we may never come to understand how the laws of physics apply to how bicycles work. Most ten-year olds are just glad that they do.

Another conundrum: “Why do people favor one hand over the other?” Biologists suspect that the neurological “wiring” in our brains causes us to favor either our right hands or our left. But why favor either hand, at all? The best evolutionary model would be for humans to be ambidextrous, but it is exceedingly rare for human beings to be just as comfortable with their left hands as with their right (which is why “switch hitters” are so valuable in baseball). Also, why are there so many more “righties” than “lefties?” Right handed people are no better off in the world than left handed people, so why are there not roughly equal numbers of both? Questions like this cause evolutionists to shrug their shoulders and bite their lips, but creationists don’t mind them so much (Psalm 139:14).

Other burning questions like, “Why does lightening happen?” or “Why are moths drawn to lights?” or “Why is yawning contagious?” and “What causes static electricity?” pose further puzzles for scientists, who shall grapple with them for years to come. These may seem like boring and mundane questions to ordinary people, but to people who can talk all day long about relativity and string theory and quantum mechanics, they are daunting mysteries, which defy explanation. The point of all this is that there are still many things that science has yet to explain. We think that we live in an age in which humanity has a perfect understanding of the world and how it works, but the truth is that our understanding is incomplete. Also, there is this question to consider: “How much of what we think we know now will be proven false in the future?”

In 1900, an esteemed British scientist, Lord Kelvin, famously said, “There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more precise measurement.” Just a few decades after making that statement, Einstein’s theories of special and general relativity opened up new frontiers in the study of physics, which led to even more innovations in the field. Today, some scientists are predicting that the so-called “Unified Theory of Everything” is within our grasp and that, in time, our knowledge of the cosmos will be indisputably complete. Such bravado! Such self-assuredness!

The consensus of these same scientists is that, when our knowledge of the cosmos is complete, religion shall become extinct. But, knowledge of the world and how it works does not satisfy man’s need for God. The serpent promised Eve that if she and her husband would defy God, “ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). Just as Adam and Eve thought that they would be better off without God, so many today think that humanity would be better off without Him, too. But, the fruit of the Spirit is “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23).

All the knowledge in the universe cannot give our souls what they need. Science answers many of the most important questions of life; but not all of them. Only the Bible complete our knowledge.