Ken Chumbley
Professor Arnold H. Guyot, LLD (1807-1884) a renowned Swiss-American geologist and geographer was a professor of geology and physical geography at Princeton University wrote the following in the conclusion to his book Creation or The Biblical Cosmology in The Light Of Modern Science (Charles Scrivner’s Sons, New York, 1889, 135-36):
Such is the grand cosmogenic week described by Moses. To a sincere and unprejudiced mind it must be evident that these great outlines are the same as those which modern science enables us to trace, however imperfect and unsettled the data afforded by scientific researches may appear on many points. Whatever modifications in our present view of the development of the universe and the globe may be expected from new discoveries, the prominent features of this vast picture will remain, and these only are delineated in this admirable account of Genesis. These outlines were sufficient for the moral purposes of the book; the scientific details are for us patiently to investigate. They were, no doubt, unknown to Moses; as the details of the life and of the work of the Saviour were unknown to the great prophets, who announced his coming and traced out with master hand his character and mission, centuries before his appearance on the earth. But the same divine hand which lifted, for Daniel and Isaiah, the veil which covered the tableau of the time to come, unveiled to the eyes of the author of Genesis, by a series of graphic visions and pictures, the earliest ages of the creation. Thus Moses was the prophet of the past, as Daniel and Isaiah and many others were the prophets of the future.
Today, because of his views of the Bible would be laughed at by many of his contemporaries for holding such “ridiculous” views. What has changed? Has the Bible changed? No. The change is that many Scientists now reject out of hand the Biblical record without proof because of their preconceived notions. Many no longer have a belief in God and consequently any idea that there was a Creator and that He would inspire a Book that, while not being a science textbook is ahead of modern science in its statements. However, his words, written as a result of his extensive studies, are worthy of note as he confirms the inspiration of the Biblical record, including the first chapters of Genesis which some today, even some supposed Christians, like to reject as “myth.”
