David Ray

There are so many religious options in the world, so why choose Christianity? What’s special about it? Christians will certainly reference Jesus, the Son of God, over any other religious leader. But how do we even know of Jesus and His sacrifice for mankind but by the Bible?

Then we must ask, what’s special about the Bible when compared to all other religious writings? Christians believe the Bible to be written by the inspiration of Deity, as it claims to be multiple times (e.g., 2 Peter 1:21–“holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost”). But to claim something to be true is not to prove it to be true. So, does the Bible give us any reasons to believe such a claim?

In my experience, many of the people who have chosen Christianity are not able, or even willing, to defend their answer to these questions. But if we can’t explain why we believe what we believe, how will we ever convince anyone else that Christianity is the true and only pathway to God and eternal life? And since it is the Bible that tells us of this salvation while claiming a multitude of times to be written not merely by the hand of men, but by God Himself, we then need to be able to defend our beliefs concerning the Bible and demonstrate to the lost that it is definitely worth their time to read.

When one studies the Scriptures with an open mind, he will see many evidences of its being “given by the inspiration of God” (2 Tim. 3:16-17), e.g., its writings are accurate historically, scientifically, medically, and prophetically. In this article we will look at the Bible’s scientific accuracies—facts that are supported by science now, but which the Bible’s authors knew centuries before science discovered them.

The Universe’s Beginning

There are only three possibilities when it comes to the origins of something: 1) it has always existed, 2) it created itself, or 3) it was created by something or someone else.

Scripture has always known that the correct, logical answer is that the Universe was created. It teaches us so in the very first verse (Gen. 1:1), even identifying the One responsible for it. Atheism will not accept this, which leaves them adhering to either the easy but scientifically disproven view that it has always existed or the illogical view that it created itself (spontaneous generation).

The Universe is not Eternal

Science demonstrates that the universe could not have always existed. The Second Law of Thermodynamics (notice it’s not a hypothesis but a law, scientifically proven to be true) says that “there is a natural tendency of any isolated system to degenerate into a more disordered state” (https://www.livescience.com/50941-second-law-thermodynamics.html); i.e., entropy. In other words, all energy in the Universe is running down over time and will eventually run out (cf. Heb.1:11; Psa. 102:26; Isa. 51:6). Therefore, the Universe could not have always existed or we would have run out of energy. It must have had a beginning.

The Universe did not Create Itself

Many, if not most, scientists understand and accept the evidences that prove the Universe had a beginning. This leaves the final two options mentioned above: spontaneous generation (the Universe created itself) or there exists a Creator outside of and greater than the Universe. Yet, in blatant rejection of the undeniable truths of the existence of a Creator, most instead hold to the illogical view that the Universe created itself (i.e., the Big Bang Theory, which teaches that everything exploded into existence)!

National Geographic, when describing the Big Bang, said “In the first 10^-43 seconds of its existence, the universe was very compact, less than a million billion billionth the size of a single atom” (www.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/universe/origins-of-the-universe). That is incomprehensibly small! And it supposedly describes our entire universe, the enormity of which is equally incomprehensible. Did every speck of our universe really exist in something so small at one point in time? This doesn’t seem very logical. And how did it transform into what we know to be our vast universe?

The article goes on to say,

It’s also thought that the extremely close quarters allowed the universe’s very first particles to mix, mingle, and settle into roughly the same temperature. Then, in an unimaginably small fraction of a second, all that matter and energy expanded outward more or less evenly, with tiny variations provided by fluctuations on the quantum scale.

And there you have it—the origin of our universe. But wait, this really doesn’t answer our questions. First and foremost, it doesn’t actually give us any answers at all as to the source of all matter in the universe; it simply says it was all “very compact.” What was the source of this compact universe? Reducing its size from really, really big to really, really small doesn’t relieve them of their obligation to answer this question. Second, it doesn’t say why all this condensed matter “expanded” (i.e., exploded, “banged”), at “breakneck” speed, into the universe we now call home.

The fact is that nothing can create itself. This is the most illogical and ludicrous view any scientist could ever propose. And yet, in 2010 Stephen Hawking, the world-renowned physicist, made the following statement in his book, The Grand Design:

Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going.

(www. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grand_Design_(book)#cite_note-cosmology-9)

The lengths to which otherwise educated men will go in order to avoid God are staggering!

The First Law of Thermodynamics (again, “law”) teaches us that, while energy and matter can change from one form to another, they cannot be created or destroyed. This fact, along with common sense, teaches us that something cannot create itself. If there ever were nothing in existence, then there would be nothing in existence now. Since science and common sense eliminate the second option, this leaves only Creation.

If a person is undecided his beliefs on this topic, he need only listen with an open and logical mind to the Big Bang atheist disprove his own hypothesis by explaining how all matter in the universe at one time existed in a space smaller than a minute fraction of a pinhead and somehow exploded into our vast, impressive, unending, well designed home. This is highly illogical, is never found in Scripture, and should lead any sane person to consider Creation as the only logical explanation.

The Bible provides the only legitimate, understandable explanation for our origins: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

The Dimensions of the Ark

In Genesis 6 God told Noah to build an ark that would hold himself, his family, and a lot of animals. This was its purpose—not speed, distance, etc., but simply to successfully carry its cargo. In verse 15 God gave Noah the ark’s dimensions: “The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.” So, the dimensions were 30:5:3.

In 1844, almost five millennia later, British civil engineer, Isambard K. Brunel, built his famous, giant ship, the Great Britain, using the same ratio—322’ by 50.5’ by 32’ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Great_Britain). Whether or not he intended to use the same dimensions as Noah’s ark, they turned out to be the perfect ration for a huge boat built for cargo seaworthiness and not for speed. Today, the Great Britain is called “the great-great-grandmother for all modern ships” (www.ssgreatbritain.org/story).

What does that make Noah’s Ark??

During World War Two, shipbuilders used this same ratio to build barge-like boats to carry tremendous amounts of cargo (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_ship). They used what had been established as the perfect ratio. But how did Noah know this 5,000 years earlier?

The Paths of the Sea

In Psalm 8 David praises God for giving mankind dominion over the animals, birds, and “the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea” (v.8). “Paths of the sea” is an interesting phrase. What did he mean by this? At that time, around 1000 BC, they didn’t know. Today we know this speaks of the ocean currents.

Ocean currents, like the Gulf Stream, are very impressive movements of water around the world in such a way that cannot be phrased any better than “paths of the sea.” But they weren’t discovered by science until the 1500’s by Ponce de Leon off the coast of Florida.

…they encountered a current so strong that it pushed them backwards and forced them to seek anchorage. The tiniest ship, the San Cristobal, was carried out of sight and lost for two days. This was the first encounter with the Gulf Stream where it reaches maximum force between the Florida coast and the Bahamas. Because of the powerful boost provided by the current, it would soon become the primary route for eastbound ships leaving the Spanish Indies bound for Europe (www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Ponce_de_León).

However, these currents wouldn’t be fully understood until the work of Matthew Maury in the mid 1800s. A former member of the U.S. Navy and one who would study the ocean, winds, currents, meteorology, etc., he was also a student of the Bible. And it was Psalm 8:8 that intrigued him to the point that he determined to study the ocean and identify these “paths.” This he eventually accomplished, providing charts of the oceans’ currents as well as charts of the Atlantic Ocean floor between the United States and Europe. And all of this he did with a biblical perspective, believing the Bible to be the true and accurate Word of God (www.answersingenesis.org/creation-scientists/profiles/matthew-maurys-search-for-the-secret-of-the-seas/).

The world knows of the ocean currents because of Mr. Maury’s work. But how did David know three millennia ago?

The Jet Stream

Part of Matthew Maury’s work included his study of the jet stream, and it was the Bible that motivated him in his research. But did the Bible really know about the jet stream during the lifetime of its human authors?

Consider Ecclesiastes 1:6. Solomon wrote, “The wind goeth toward the south and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.” It’s actually pretty hard to miss this! In the 21st century we know exactly what Solomon was referencing, seeing that the jet stream was discovered approximately 100 years ago in the 1920’s. But how did Solomon know almost 3,000 years earlier?

The Water Cycle

In the next verse (Eccl. 1:7), Solomon wrote, “All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.” This is something we take for granted now because we understand the water cycle (evaporation, condensation, precipitation, etc.). But without this knowledge, it would be understandable that a person might wonder why the oceans don’t fill up and eventually inundate the land masses.

The water cycle wasn’t discovered until 1580 by Bernard Palissy and later Pierre Perrault (1674), and not ultimately accepted as truth until the early 1900’s (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_cycle). So, how did Solomon know in 1000 BC?

The Springs of the Sea

In the book of Job, the man Job and his three friends spoke many things about God, enlightening one another about His character, His reasoning, His decisions, etc. Many of the things they claimed were incorrect. So, beginning in chapter 38, God spoke up and asked Job a few questions, challenging him to answer things that no human could know, thereby putting him in his place.

In 38:16 God asked, “Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? Or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?” Of course, the answer for Job was a resounding no. Who at that point in history had been to the depths of the oceans?

As already mentioned, Matthew Maury’s work involved studying the ocean floor; and he did so because he was aware of this passage in Job. But it wouldn’t be until 1973 that science would confirm that there are springs in the bottom of the ocean. The Institute for Creation Research website says the following under the heading “Vent in the seafloor where hot water issues from the earth into the ocean”:

Deep diving research submarines have been constructed to withstand the three-tons-per-square-inch pressure at the ocean floor. These submarines have carried scientists into the deep. The first direct observations of deepsea springs, or their mineralized vents, appear to have been made on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge by Project FAMOUS in 1973. Spectacular hot springs were then discovered on the Galapagos Rift in the Pacific Ocean by the 23-foot long submersible Alvin in 1977. Alvin also explored, photographed and sampled hot springs on the East Pacific Rise just south of the Gulf of California in 1979 (https://www.icr.org/article/springs-ocean).

Science didn’t catch up to the Bible for almost 4 millennia. This is not a criticism of science. Science can be limited by the technology necessary to study the creation, particularly the pitch-black darkness and enormous pressure at the bottom of the ocean. But the Bible authors had no such limitations because they were inspired by the Creator Himself. Passages like Job 38:16 prove this; it would’ve been impossible for an uninspired writer 4,000 years ago to know these things. He required (and possessed) special knowledge from an omniscient Creator!

The Innumerable Stars

Jeremiah 33:22 says “the host of heaven cannot be numbered….” But two centuries before Christ, the Greek astronomer Hipparchus said there were 800-1080, and another ancient writer, Chang Hing, said there were approximately 2,500 (https://apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=13&article=519).

In 2011 that number had climbed considerably to three hundred sextillion stars (https://apologeticspress.org) and today the number is even higher, being estimated to be a septillion, or 10²⁴ (www.space.com). That’s one million billion billion or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars (see Psalm 19:1)! And these are not even real numbers (nobody has counted that high); they’re simply estimates based on the estimated number of galaxies in the Universe times the estimated number of stars in each galaxy. The article even admits “that number is likely a gross underestimation, as more detailed looks at the universe will show even more galaxies.” It sounds like we’re getting closer and closer to just admitting that “the host of heaven cannot be numbered”!

Pleiades and Orion

God quizzed Job in Job 38:31: “Canst thou bind the cluster of Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion?” God told Job in circa 2000 BC that the stars of Pleiades were gravitationally bound while the stars of Orion are not. Astronomy today confirms this (cf. https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/is-the-astronomy-in-the-book-of-job-scientifically-consistent/). But how did Job know so long ago?

The Earth Hangs From Nothing

In Job 26:7, Job acknowledged that God “hangeth the earth upon nothing.” Consider two views. The first is that this refers to the earth’s being suspended freely in space. Until relatively recently, mankind couldn’t even imagine how the earth could hang in space on nothing. It wasn’t until the space program in the 1950s that science was able to confirm this.

The second view of this verse is that “the phrase ‘and hangeth the earth upon nothing’ refutes the pagan notions that the Earth rested upon the back of a turtle or an elephant” (www.apologeticspress.org). Either view shows the scientific foreknowledge of the Bible.

Comparison with Other Religions

Do we find the same scientific accuracy in other religious writings? Consider some of the information found in the Vedas, the Hindu Scriptures of India:

1. The earth is fixed, immovable, standing still.

2. The earth is supported by a pillar.

3. It’s a thousand days’ journey to heaven.

4. The moon is 50,000 leagues higher than the sun and shines by its own light.

5. Night is caused by the sun’s setting behind a huge mountain several thousand feet high located in the center of the earth

(https://nashidahmed.blogspot.com/2010/12/scientific-logical-errors-in-vedas.html).

The Quran also has many scientific errors:

6. Surah 13:3—The sun orbits the Earth

7. Surah 6:38—All animals live in communities.

8. Surah 18:83-86—Alexander the Great followed the setting of the sun and discovered that it went down into the waters of a muddy spring. This is due to the assumption of a flat earth, which has physical places into which the sun sets and from which it rises.

While these views seem ridiculous to us, they are as legitimate as any other guesses that might be proffered by a human without Divine inspiration and without the advances of modern science.

Conclusion

Scientific facts, one after another, affirm that the Bible writers knew what they were talking about centuries before the scientific community caught up. How could these men know all these things without the scientific and technological advances required for uninspired men to know them? And, since all religions are allegedly from the same God and just as valuable as the other, why is it that no other religious writings display these same infallible proofs? Because there is One God, one approved religion, and one Book of communication from God to man, with its Holy Spirit inspired writers (2 Peter 1:20-21). And it tells us that there’s “one Mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ, who gave Himself a ransom for all” (1 Tim 2:5-6). It is our prayer that everyone will consider these evidences and decide to obey the soul-saving message of the Bible, found in the New Testament.