More Science in the Bible

We've all heard it said that science and religion don't mix. Many people misunderstand the role science plays and it's limits. So many things in your daily life lie outside the empirically accessible universe. We need to keep science where it belongs, the natural world around us today - not the natural world of the past (about which we can draw no conclusions without assumptions - in studying the past scientists should be careful to admit their shortcomings) nor anything that lies outside the natural universe (for example, love, God, etc). Science and faith are mutually complimentary and not mutually exclusive. Dinesh D'Souza has some great notes on this in What's so great about Christianity. Anyway, having a degree in Chemistry, science in the Bible has always interested me a ton and I have found it a great way of sharing Christ with people. Many people assume science and "religion" are mutually exclusive and are shocked by the science in the Bible. I found a new scientific claim in scripture this morning which I had never caught before. Here it is:

Job.28:5 says, "...below the surface the earth is melted as by fire." An interestingly accurate description of  the molten outer layer of earth's core and one Job, 4,000 years ago had no way of knowing. WOW!!! The Bible beat science, R.D. Oldham in 1906 to be exact, by nearly 4,000 years! I don't think this verse is referring to the mining mentioned later in the passage but to the heat and pressure required to form the sapphire mentioned in the very next verse (that being another scientific reality!). 

Other scientific realities the Bible describes:

Radioactive decay (2Peter 3:10).  Antoine Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity in 1896, 1900 yrs after the Bible described it. 

Hydrologic cycles (Ps.135:7, Ec.1:7and Job 36:27-29). 

Atmospheric jet streams (Ecc. 1:6). 

Clouds and condensation (Job 26:8, 37:11). 

Earthʼs spherical shape (Is. 40:22). 

The expansion of the universe (Job 26:7). Edwin Hubble discovered this in 1929, based on Einsteinʼs General Relativity, 4,000 yrs after the Bible described it. 

Earthʼs foundation hung on nothing (Job 26:7). Copernicus published this in 1543, 3,500 yrs after the Bible described it.

That air has weight (Job 28:25). Antoine Lavoisier discovered this in 1778, 3,800 yrs after the Bible  described it.

Hydrothermic vents, freshwater springs in ocean (Gen. 7:11 & Job. 38:16). The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution discovered these in 1977, 4000 yrs after the Bible  described it. 

That like begets like – a biological law (Gen. 1:11-12, 21, 25). 

The Second Law of Thermodynamics, Entropy (Ps.102:26, Is.51:6).

That one event could be seen across the world – an impossibility then – now possible through TV (Mt. 24:30 and Rev. 11:9-11). Charles Jenkins invented the first TV in 1923, 1900 yrs after the Bible. This wasn't just a scientific pronouncement but yet another fulfilled Biblical prophecy!

Those a re just a few of the scientific pronouncements in scripture. The Bible is not a science book but God has included enough science in it to confirm it's inspiration in that arena. I hope you get a chance to share some of this with non-Christian friends and I hope it will open up tremendous conversations about Christ! Check out a few talks I've done on related subjects below!