Article - The Bible is Inspired [Part 3]
The Bible was never intended to be a scientific handbook. Its main purpose is to be a handbook for the soul (John 20:31-32). However, within God’s revelation of salvation there are certain scientific facts that are indisputable claims to the Bible’s infallibility and inspiration. Let us take a moment to look at three scientific facts found in the Bible that prove it to be of divine nature.
The first scientific fact found in the Bible is the famous “Five Manifestations of the Unknowable.” Philosopher, Herbert Spencer is credited with making this great scientific find. He observed that everything that exists could be categorized in one of the following five categories: time, force, action, space and matter. While this may seem rather elementary to us today, this was hailed as a great find in the Nineteenth Century. Interestingly enough, Herbert Spencer was not the author of the five manifestations of the unknowable. God was. In fact, in the very first verse of Scripture God revealed these categories to us. Notice Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning”—time, “God”—force, “created”—action, “the heavens”—space, “and the earth”—matter. How amazing that thousands of years before Herbert Spencer announced this scientific find God had already included it in the very first verse of the Bible. This evidence should tell us that the Bible is inspired and accurate in every way.
A second amazing scientific fact that the Bible records in passing is the suspension of the earth. The suffering servant Job said, “He stretches out the north over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing” (Job. 26:7). Notice how Job casually tells us that the earth is suspended in space by nothing at all. For years scientists and philosophers have debated about how the earth was upheld in space. Over history many far-fetched ideas were established about the earth’s suspension. For example, some throughout Greek history believed the Greek god Atlas carried the earth upon his shoulders. Others believed four elephants standing on a turtle’s back upheld the earth. Some even believed that the earth floated on water and should one go too far he would sink and drown. How awe inspiring it is that thousands of years before the invention of the telescope God tells us that the earth is suspended by gravity alone. How could Job have known this fact without space shuttles and Hubble telescopes? The only answer there can be is that God told him.
A third great scientific find in the Bible is the paths of the sea (Psalm 8:8). A man by the name of Matthew Fontaine Murray discovered this find as he was listening to the Bible read to him. The story is told that Mr. Murray was ill at home one day and his son was reading to him from the eighth Psalm. His son read to him that God put under man “the fowls of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passes through the paths of the sea.” Upon hearing these words Mr. Murray said ‘If the word of God says there are paths in the sea, they must be there. I will find them.’ Mr. Murray made it his life’s goal to find and chart these paths. Throughout his lifetime he found the paths of the sea that God talked about and they are still used by oceanographers today. What great evidence this is for the inspiration of God’s words. Thousands of years before deep sea diving vehicles, sonography and other technology the Psalmist confidently recorded that there were certain traveling paths in the sea. How could the Psalmist have known this great fact without God’s help? Truly, science reveals to us that the Bible is the inspired, unerring word of God. There are many evidences that collaborate to tell us that the Bible is God’s word and that we must study; live and let others know its message. May God help us to have the courage to do this!
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