Posted on 12/11/2009 4:56:40 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
Even though the Bible was completed 2,000 years ago, long before the invention of the microscope, the telescope, satellites, etc. it does not contain any scientific errors. This might be considered a miracle in itself. Without exception, every ancient religious writing has certain unscientific views of astronomy, medicine, hygiene, etc. The Quran says in Surah 18:86 that the sun sets in a muddy spring. Quran 18:86 when he reached the setting-place of the sun, he found it setting in a muddy spring The only exception to these kinds of errors, among ancient religious writings, is the Bible.
Not only is the Bible free from scientific errors, it miraculously makes known numerous, accurate scientific facts about the universe thousands of years before modern scientists caught up. There are lots of them. For times sake I will give you a few quick examples.
A. The Sun
In contrast to the Quran, the Bible teaches that the sun is actually on a circuit through space. Writing of the sun in Psalm 19:6, David said, Its rising is from one end of heaven, and its circuit to the other end. For many years critics scoffed at this verse, claiming that it taught that the sun revolves around the earth. Scientists at that time thought the sun was stationary. However, it has been discovered in recent years that the sun is in fact on a circuit through space, just like the Bible says.
B. The Shape of the Earth
When the rest of the world believed the earth was flat, Isaiah declared that the world was round Isaiah 40:22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth." The Hebrew word there for circle [chuwg] literally means sphere. When did Isaiah write these words? Between 740 and 680 B.C. That was at least 300 years before Aristotle suggested, in his book On the Heavens, that the earth might be a sphere. Other verses are Proverbs 8:27 and Job 26:10. More than 2,000 years later some people still believed that Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) was going to sail off the edge of a flat planet in 1492!
C. The Suspension of the Earth
Before Isaac Newton discovered gravity Hindus believed that the earth rested on the back of an elephant who stood on the back of a turtle that was swimming in a great endless sea. The Greeks believed that the mythical god Atlas carried the earth on his shoulders. What did the Bible say? In one of the oldest books in the Bible, Job said in Job 26:7, He [God] hangs the earth on nothing. Scientists did not discover that the earth hangs on nothing until 1650. ... (EXCERPT for more click the link!)
The ancients used 22/7 as a functional Pi.
“Many Christians assume the Bible contains scientific errors, and that it is authoritative only when it speaks on spiritual matters. But that is saying in effect that the God who wrote the Bible knew a lot about spiritual things, but not too much about science. To say that parts of the Bible are accurate, but others are not is to deny the inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible. Since God knows all things, and what He speaks is true (cf., Titus 1:2), all that the Bible teaches is accurate, not just its spiritual truths.
The issue is not between science and Scripture; the issue is whether man will submit to the Word of God. Romans 1:28 describes people who refuse to submit as those who “did not like to retain God in their knowledge.” Because they rejected God’s revelation of Himself as Creator, men came up with the only alternative: that the universe and everything in it just happened.”
***
There are three principles basic to science: matter, energy, and the space-time continuum. Science tells us that none of the three can exist without the other two; therefore all three must have existed from the beginning of the universe. Note that Genesis 1:1 mentions all three: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
***
“B. The Peril of Scientism
As Christians we accept the facts of science. What we do not accept are the interpretations of those facts offered by some scientists. There is no conflict between the established facts of science and the Bible, though scientists often make unproved assumptions (such as the theory of evolution) that do conflict with Scripture. Although the Bible is written in everyday language and doesn’t use modern scientific terminology, that does not mean it is scientifically inaccurate. Indeed, many of the world’s greatest scientists have accepted the authority of the Bible, such as Newton, Faraday, Maxwell, Lister, Pasteur, Kelvin, and others.
The conflict between science and Scripture comes when science steps outside the realm of that which is observable and reproducible and speculates on origins, values, and destinies. At that point science has ceased to be science and instead become a religious viewpoint, since those things are not subject to observation and experimentation.
- John Macarthur
I understand and respect your position, I simply do not agree with all of it. It is not about the accuracy of the Bible, rather it is about whether it it literal or allegorical. Faith is not dependant upon HOW God created, it is about accepting THAT he created.
The Bible according to John is God, from the 'In the Beginning' which is what Genesis means. Life did NOT 'arise' out of a steaming hot pot of pond scum. And political correctness has so infected religious correctness that the WORD for the majority has become null and void. Or more to the point just like the earth did in Genesis 1:2.
bump for later read
I do not sit in judgment of the Pope's standing. But in Genesis 1:26 says And God said, "Let *US* make man in *Our* image, after *Our* likeness:......
Who is this "Us* and this *Our* that man was made in the image of? This is not the same WORDs used in Genesis 2:7. And it is not even on the same 'day', which Peter says that a day with the Lord is as a thousand years. So these 'days' of creation were thousands of years apart. Now surely the WORD is instructive regarding the unsettled claimed process that man in flesh have divined.
Bookmark !
: )
Okay this will be a kind-of-long response, but here goes. I hope you read each point just so you can understand where I’m coming from. :)
As Macarthur reminds us, at a certain point, even “science” ceases to be science and becomes a relgious viewpoint—because it is no longer subject to empirical evidence.
“The conflict between science and Scripture comes when science steps outside the realm of that which is observable and reproducible and speculates on origins, values, and destinies. AT THAT POINT science has ceased to be science and instead become a religious viewpoint, since those things are not subject to observation and experimentation.”
Now...
** Here are some things to consider **
1) In his letter to the Romans, Saint Paul reminds us that there was no death. THat’s right, there was NO DEATH before Adam sinned. It teaches that the actions of one man, Adam, brought death into the world and that the entire creation has suffered the consequences.”
* 12Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned...* ~ Romans 5:12
2) Evolutionists, on the other hand believe that death has been going on for millions of years. It requires the death of billions of animals and prehistoric men slowly evolving to bring humans into existence.
3) I could go on and on and get all expository, but to put it simply: CHRIST, God made man, the WORD made Flesh. Jesus CHRIST came to defeat SIN and DEATH. He came to reverse the damage and havoc Adam’s sin wreaked upon humanity.
“17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is Gods wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.” ~ Romans 5:17
4) To believe that death existed independent of Adam’s sin and not as a direct result of his sin undermines the saving work of Christ and its implications for the human race AND our decaying and dying world—as even plants and animals die thereby bear the consequences of man’s sin.
“20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. “ ~ Romans 8: 20-21
bfl
More from the same work by Benedict XVI:Thus every individual part derives its meaning from the whole, and the whole derives its meaning from its end -- from Christ. Hence we only interpret an individual text theologically correctly (as the Fathers of the church recognized and as the faith of the church in every age has recognized) when we see it as a way that is leading us ever forward, when we see in the text where this way is tending and what its inner direction is.
Christ was there in the beginning and it was from the man Adam formed for the purpose that is traced generation to generation to the conception and birth of Christ. The Bible is 'HIS'story from the Adam and his generations and the other peoples on this earth they came in contact.
NO where is there even a hint or suggestion that the 'perfection' of Christ originated out of a hot steamy pot of pond scum. IT was purposed to be the way it is Written because Christ was there since Genesis 1:1 In the beginning..... and as Peter calls it the 'age' that WAS.
Depending on the width of your two hands.
In fact, if you twiddle with the hands you can get it to an arbitrary degree of accuracy.
But the bible doesn’t tell you how to do that. In fact, the two hands is not determined in the bible. so the bible doesn’t give anything to any amazing degree of accuracy. It gives an ambiguous number, which may, or may not be accurate. Like many prophecies, you can only determine it is accurate after you have decided that it is accurate.
Pond scum - dust of the earth; po-tay-to - po-taht-to.
Neither are alive. Notice that the body formed from the dust was not alive until the breath of life, which means 'soul/spirit' was breathed into his nostrils. And Christ the WORD says that no one can 'see' the kingdom of God until they are born from above into this flesh age, just like the 'process' He did. Moses pens not one WORD in Genesis when the souls/spirits were created. The purpose of flesh to house the soul/spirit and the 'process' through which Christ as the children would partake is what makes the tale of evolution unsettled science.
3(A)Now he made the sea of (B)cast metal ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in form, and its height was five cubits, and thirty cubits in circumference.
26It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, as a lily blossom; it could hold two thousand baths.
Here is a different bath to examine
And here is a lily blossom
The author finds it important to give us a measure for its circumference as well as a measure of the diameter from brim to brim. If we know the measure of the diameter, the author does not need to also give us a measure for the circumference. The reader already has enough information to understand the size of the opening.
However, the author finds it important to give us the shape as well and that this shape is not a uniform circle but it is in the form of a lily blossom. If we only have the diameter from brim to brim we still would not know the diameter or circumference of the inner circle.
Now lets take these two numbers to another level to understand the level of understanding of numbers used in the bible. They are never merely estimates void of specific meaning. The number 10 indicates divine order- 10 commandments, Noah was 10th generation, the tithe. And 3 in the OT indicates divine perfection. Combined as 30, it indicates divine order and perfection.
Amen! God’s Holy Word is TRUE. And Awesome!
The Bible, God’s Inspired Word, is His Gift to mankind and an amazing gift it is!
I would encourage any who are still skeptics of the truth of the Bible but who genuinely want to know the truth - about who they are, about who God is, about why they are here, about what has happened in the past and what is coming in the future, to take another look at the Holy Bible.
START READING IT.
ASk God simply and humbly to show you the TRUTH.
Leave the rest to His Holy Spirit who will transform your very life!!!
Maybe that’s what people fear.
But God says to FEAR NOT, because HE BRINGS TO US GOOD TIDINGS OF JOY THAT SHALL BE TO ALL PEOPLE!
This Good News is just that - the BEST News of all time.
Find out about it, give the Bible a chance to have a say.
Stop listening to anybody else - just let God speak to you through His word.
But ask God for His guidance before you read.
Then Thank Him for helping you understand His Word.
You won’t be sorry!
So why didn’t the bible scholars publish the exact or superior value of Pi based on the Bible?
Why is it always like Chekov in the Star Trek series, (”It was a Russian inwention.”) after the fact, claiming priority?
Because Christianity is hopelessly behind, derivitive, with nothing new to offer besides child molestors protected by the Church Hierarchy, and smugness that your mythical guilt is more forgiven than anyone else’s mythical guilt.
Great post!
Isn’t it funny how the faithless knuckleheads always come crawling out of the woodwork as soon as you post something upright and wholesome?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.