This is the continuation of the argument in support of the biblical god and in part-deux he tries to draw a connection between science and the Bible. Well I still have not had the time to study the actual passages that translate into these scientific miracles but I promise that I’ll do my research and post the complete verses that reveal these magnificent truths. Lo and behold, THE SCIENTIFIC BIBLE!!!!
Since God is all knowing, you would expect him to know a fair bit about the natural world, correct? The Bible ISN’T a science book. It wasn’t written to put a man on the moon, cure cancer or create mobile phones. Never the less, when the Bible touches on natural things it is very accurate. Let’s look at a few examples.
Pleiades and Orion:
The first known practical telescopes were not invented until the early 1600s. Using modern telescopes, we can make numerous accurate observations of many star clusters. Two of these star clusters are Pleiades and Orion. Pleiades is very tightly bound by gravity. Then you’ve got Orion, whose gravitational field holds it together like a thin piece of string would hold me to a wall. Job 38:31 says “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades? Can you loosen Orion’s belt? This is God’s message to us. “You see Pleiades? Totally bound by gravity. See Orion? Flying apart rapidly. I set those laws in motion you know? Know what else I can do? I can forgive you for every sin you’ve comitted, because I died on a cross for you.”
“Springs of the deep” (Hydrothermal vents)
I’m not much of a geographer, but I do have mild knowledge on hydrothermal vents. They’re basically cracks or holes in the ocean that fire out hot water, minerals and bacteria. But get this, they were first discovered in 1977, which would make the books of Genesis and Job younger than my mum if they were written after the discovery of Hydrothermal vents, not the 3000 years old that they actually are!
Now let’s see what these verses tell us.
Hydrothermal vents are found in the ocean (the great deep).
Genesis 7:11 describes the “springs of the deep” bursting forth. As in all of the hydrothermal vents eyrupted at once.
In Job 38:16 God asks if Job has journeyed to the “springs of the sea”.
Obviously, a pre-first century man couldn’t possibly walk in “the recesses of the deep” (about 7000ft average). They could not have discovered hydrothermal vents. And, more importantly, Job could not travel to the springs of the deep.
Blood importance
William Harvey discovered that blood circulation is the key factor in physical life in 1616. We all know how important our blood is today. It carries oxeygen from our lungs to our body, removes waste material from the cells of the body, controls our body temperature (which you will notice when you jog and your heart pumps blood all over your body much faster than usual and you heat up) and it carries water and nourishment right around your body. Without blood, your physical body would die. Well let’s look at Leviticus 17:11. It says For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. Jesus’ blood attones for all of our sins in the modern day, but what’s important here is what the verse says about how important the blood is for life. Harvey’s discovery confirms what the Bible has been telling us for over 3000 years now.
Jacobson’s Organ on the snake
Gensis 3:14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
This verse is commonly cited as evidence that the Bible is scientifically inaccurate, as we “know” snakes do not eat dust. Originally I had 2 inerpretations of this (which, unfortunately, Micah 7:17 proved wrong). The first is that maybe it is a metaphor, like when a defeated foe is described as having biten the dust, or when a racer tells his opponant to “eat my dust”.
Unfortunately, most critics will just blindly laugh whenever you say “metaphor”, as they believe the Bible is always intended to be taken literally. When you tell them otherwise, they start telling you off for forcing your interpretation (which they, themselves, are doing). This does make it rather difficult to talk to them, but in this particular case I managed to shut them up by finding another, more intelligent way around this supposed inaccuracy. I asked them where the Bible says animals were made from. They replied some were made from water, others from dust. I then asked if the snake ate these animals. While the lesser educated people hold that the corn snake is herbivorous, the more educated critics usually admitted that all snakes were predators. Since animals are ultimately made from dust, and since snakes eat said animals, snakes do effectively eat dust.
I held those 2 interpretations until rather recently, when I read an article on Creation.com about how snakes really DO eat dust! Since Micah 7:17 says They will lick dust like a snake, like creatures that crawl on the ground. They will come trembling out of their dens; they will turn in fear to the LORD our God and will be afraid of you. I think it is fair to say I was wrong to believe that snakes eating dust is a metaphor. My second interpretation isn’t quite as bad, but on it’s own it doesn’t quite hold up. Nevermind though. While I make mistakes, other people correct them.
As it turns out this is another situation where new evidence shows that the Bible is not only accurate, but is accurate to the smallest detail. Snakes DO eat dust!
On the roof of the mouth, snakes have what is known as a jacobsons organ. This is used as an additional sensory system for detecting smells. When it’s tongue flicks forward, it picks up dust samples, which the snake can then smell using it’s jacobsons organ. Of course, once the snake has smelt the dust, the tongue needs to be cleaned before use. Gulp.
As you can see, snakes really do eat dust. Since the idea that snakes do not eat dust was used to prove the Bible wrong, I think it’s fair to say that this is a scientific anachronism, not a scientific blunder.
Matthew Maury
Here’s one that most critics don’t like. The argument is that the Bible does not help us make scientific discoveries (which isn’t what it’s meant for anyway, which defeats the argument straight away) so it must be false (strange argument, as factual documents do not need to help make scientific discoveries).
However I can give one example of a man who did use the Bible to aid science. Matthew Maury (January 14, 1806– February 1, 1873) used the 8th Psalm to discover that the currents of the ocean follow a specific path, a scientific fact which was used to help decrease the time it takes to traverse the seas. I’ve never heard so much as an attempt at a response to this one.
That’s just the scientific stuff. Can I provide more? Yes, plenty. But honestly I can’t be bothered. You can find a more complete case (all my own work) here:
http://theory-of-a-man.wetpaint.com/page/Case+for+God+%28Def+Evo%29
sKepticbot 