The Bible is not a science book.  Bet you already knew that…   However, the Bible does make scientific statements.  And to the chagrin of modern science, the scientific statements it does make are amazingly accurate – all the more amazing when you consider that most of these statements were made centuries before their discovery by modern science.

Science has been elevated to ‘god’ status in our modern age.  Consequently, the Bible seems to find itself having to defend itself against the “infallible wisdom” of science.  Well, how does it fare?  Science, indeed, has made remarkable discoveries over the years.  But, could we have known some of these truths sooner?  Much sooner?  Does the Bible deserve the skepticism it often receives from the scientific establishment?

Let’s compare science and the Bible over the years and see who deserves skepticism…

The Earth is Round

Prior to the 1500’s, sailors lived in dread fear of falling off the edge of the earth.  Then, Magellan made his famous expedition circumnavigating the globe.  Now there was proof that the scientists of the day had been wrong.  The earth was round.  But, the Bible had already beat them to the punch.  Describing God, Isaiah had written around 700 BC:

“It is he that sitteth upon the CIRCLE OF THE EARTH.”  Isaiah 40:22

Now, how did Isaiah know that?  Surely, the Bible can’t be right and science be wrong can it?  Surely, Isaiah can’t know something 2000 years before its discovery by science?

In the book of Job, written over 3500 years ago, Job says that God:

“…hangeth the earth upon NOTHING.”  Job 26:7

How could Job know that the earth is floating out in the midst of a vast universe centuries prior to its discovery by Astronomy?

Man formed from the dust of the ground

Science has laughed at many of the statements in Genesis regarding creation.  Take the following:

“And the Lord God formed man of the DUST OF THE GROUND, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul.”  Genesis 2:7

And, speaking of Adam having to work the ground, God said:

“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for OUT OF IT WAST THOU TAKEN: FOR DUST THOU ART, AND UNTO DUST SHALT THOU RETURN.”  Genesis 3:19

Surely, any reasonable modern mind cannot be expected to believe such things?  Yet, in November of 1982, an article in Reader’s Digest reported that scientists at NASA’s Ames Research Center discovered that the ingredients to form a human being can actually be found IN CLAY!  According to the article scientists had discovered that the Bible had been right.

More and more, scientific data is catching up with statements in the Bible’s creation story and revealing that they line up with observable scientific data.

The Hydrologic Cycle

Did you know that 518 million gallons of water dumps from the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico every 24 hours?  Where does all that water go?  Pierre Perrault in 1674 reported his findings that the ratio of rainfall to river flow was 6 to 1.  Not long after, Edme Mariotte revealed a greater ratio of 8 to 1.  Where was the water going?  Though speculation had surfaced for many years, these were the first men to actually quantify the Hydrologic Cycle.  Science had “discovered” it at last.  But… centuries before, the Biblical prophet Amos had written (again describing God):

“He who builds His lofty place in the heavens and sets its foundation on the earth; WHO CALLS FOR THE WATERS OF THE SEA, AND POURS THEM OUT OVER THE FACE OF THE LAND – the LORD is His name.”  Amos 9:6

This is a perfect description of the Hydrologic Cycle centuries before its discovery by science.  Again, in Ecclesiastes the scriptures proclaim:

“All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, [there] they return again.”  Eccl. 1:7

This simple statement, written in 1000 BC, is at the heart of Perrault and Mariottes’ scientific discoveries some 2500 years later!

Air Circuits

With the aid of modern aerology and meteorology, we now know that wind travels in circuits (this explains some of the weatherman’s ability to “predict” weather patterns).  But, centuries before (about 1000 BC), the Bible proclaimed:

“The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the North; it whirleth about continually and the wind returneth again ACCORDING TO ITS CIRCUITS.”  Eccl. 1:6

How could Solomon know something that modern science wouldn’t discover for centuries?

Germ Control

Not until the 1800’s, after the invention of the microscope and the development of the science of bacteriology, did science discover the value of running water for germ control.  Prior to this, doctors would wash their hands in bowls of water leaving germs everywhere.  However, as early as 1490 BC, the Bible declared:

“And when he that has an issue (a running sore) is cleansed of his issue, then he shall number to himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in RUNNING WATER.”  Leviticus 15:13 KJV

In this instance, science was about 3000 years behind the Bible!

Ant Behavior

Yes, ant behavior.  It seems the Bible is even accurate in details as small as this.  In Proverbs 6:6-8, it is written:

“Go to the ant…it has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.”

Commenting on this verse, Life Magazine’s Nature Library, in an article titled “The Insects”, stated that one of the entomological puzzles of the last century concerned this observation by Solomon.  There had been no evidence that ants actually harvested grain.  But, in 1871, a British naturalist discovered that Solomon had been right after all.

Now, how could Solomon clearly detail a scientific fact that modern science wouldn’t know until 1871 AD?

You be the judge

Consider this and then you be the judge: At the time the Bible was written, scientists believed that lightning bolts were missiles from the gods.  The Vedas (the sacred book of the Hindus) taught that to get rain, you had to tie a frog with his mouth open to a tree and repeat some magic words.  The Egyptians believed stars were the souls of the dead who were now gods.  The Greeks believed a god named Atlas held the earth on his shoulders.  Some taught that the earth sat on the backs of large elephants, which, in turn, were resting on the back of a large turtle.  The turtle?  He was resting on a large snake. 

But, while such beliefs were the “wisdom” of the day, the Bible proclaimed nothing so foolish.  On the contrary, it has proven that it yet outshines all the wisdom of the world’s wisest of men.

Even in the area of science.

“For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent…because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”  1 Cor. 1:19, 25

© 2007 Tracy Gray