The Bible and science

The Bible is estimated to have been written between 1450 B.C. and 95 A.D.

The following slides show a few scientific facts and principles referred to in the Bible, but not actually discovered by humankind until later centuries. Dead sea scrolls, historical documentation, and word of mouth all confirm the authenticity of the Bible and when it was created.

Since people had no official knowledge of these scientific facts until more than a thousand years after the Bible was written, is this scientific proof that the Bible was inspired by God?

Scientific Fact or Principle: Earth is held in place by invisible forces

Bible reference: Job 26:7Date of discovery by man: 1650

Job 26:7He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.

The earth free-floats in space (Job 26:7), affected only by gravity. While other sources declared the earth sat on the back of an elephant or turtle, or was held up by Atlas, the Bible alone states what we now know to be true

Scientific Fact or Principle: The Earth is roundBible reference: Isaiah 40:22Date of discovery by man: 15th Century

Isaiah 40:22It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:

At a time when many thought the earth was flat, the Bible told us that the earth is spherical.

Scientific Fact or Principle: Blood is necessary for lifeBible reference: Leviticus 17:11Date of discovery by man: 19th Century

Leviticus 17:11For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

Up until 120 years ago, sick people were “bled” and many died as a result (e.g. George Washington). Today we know that healthy blood is necessary to bring life-giving nutrients to every cell in the body. God declared that “the life of the flesh is in the blood” long before science understood its function.

Scientific Fact or Principle: Oceans have natural paths in them

Bible reference: Psalms 8:8Date of discovery by man: 1854

Psalms 8:8The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. Three thousand years ago the Bible described the “paths of the seas.” In the 19th century Matthew Maury – the father of oceanography – after reading Psalm 8, researched and discovered ocean currents that follow specific paths through the seas! Utilizing Maury’s data, marine navigators have since reduced by many days the time required to traverse the seas.

Scientific Fact or Principle: Most seaworthy ship design ratio is 30:5:3

Bible reference: Genesis 6Date of discovery by man: 1860

Genesis 6:15And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. Ship builders today are well aware that the ideal dimension for ship stability is a length six times that of the width. Keep in mind, God told Noah the ideal dimensions for the ark 4,500 years ago.

Scientific Fact or Principle: Oceans contain fresh water springs

Bible reference: Job 38:16Date of discovery by man: 1920

Job 38:16Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth? Oceans contain springs (Job 38:16). The ocean is very deep. Almost all the ocean floor is in total darkness and the pressure there is enormous. It would have been impossible for Job to have explored the "springs of the sea." Until recently, it was thought that oceans were fed only by rivers and rain. Yet in the 1970s, with the help of deep diving research submarines that were constructed to withstand 6,000 pounds-per-square-inch pressure, oceanographers discovered springs on the ocean floors!

Scientific Fact or Principle: Infinite number of stars existBible reference: Genesis 15:5Date of discovery by man: 17th Century

Genesis 15:5And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. At a time when less than 5,000 stars were visible to the human eye, God stated that the stars of heaven were innumerable. Not until the 17th century did Galileo glimpse the immensity of our universe with his new telescope. Today, astronomers estimate that there are ten thousand billion trillion stars – that’s a 1 followed by 25 zeros! Yet, as the Bible states, scientists admit this number may be woefully inadequate.

Scientific Fact or Principle: Plants use sunlight to manufacture food

Bible reference: Job 8:16Date of discovery by man: 1920

Job 8:11, 16Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water?He is green before the sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden.

Scientific Fact or Principle: Water cycleBible reference: Ecclesiastes 1:7Date of discovery by man: 17th Century

Ecclesiastes 1:7All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. Four thousand years ago the Bible declared that God “draws up drops of water, which distill as rain from the mist, which the clouds drop down and pour abundantly on man” (Job 36:27-28). The ancients observed mighty rivers flowing into the ocean, but they could not conceive why the sea level never rose. Though they observed rainfall, they had only quaint theories as to its origin. Meteorologists now understand that the hydrological cycle consists of evaporation, atmospheric transportation, distillation, and precipitation.

Scientific Fact or Principle: Creation is made of particles, indiscernible to our eyes

Bible reference: Hebrews 11:3Date of discovery by man: 19th Century

Hebrews 11:3By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. Creation is made of particles, indiscernible to our eyes (Hebrews 11:3). Not until the 19th century was it discovered that all visible matter consists of invisible elements.

Scientific Fact or Principle: Mountains on the ocean floor Bible reference: Jonah 2:5-6Date of discovery by man: 19th Century

There are mountains on the bottom of the ocean floor (Jonah 2:5-6). Only in the last century have we discovered that there are towering mountains and deep trenches in the depths of the sea.

Jonah 2:5-6The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; The deep closed around me; Weeds were wrapped around my head.I went down to the moorings of the mountains; The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; Yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O LORD, my God.

Scientific Fact or Principle: Chicken or eggBible reference: Genesis 1:20-22

Chicken or egg dilemma solved (Genesis 1:20-22). Which came first, the chicken or the egg? This question has plagued philosophers for centuries. The Bible states that God created birds with the ability to reproduce after their kind. Therefore the chicken was created first with the ability to make eggs! Yet, evolution has no solution for this dilemma.

Genesis 1:20-22Then God said, “... and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens."So God created ... every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, ... and let birds multiply on the earth."

Scientific Fact or Principle: Origin of the rainbow Bible reference: Genesis 9:13-16

Origin of the rainbow explained (Genesis 9:13-16). Prior to the Flood there was a different environment on the earth (Genesis 2:5-6). After the Flood, God set His rainbow “in the cloud” as a sign that He would never again judge the earth by water. Meteorologists now understand that a rainbow is formed when the sun shines through water droplets – which act as a prism – separating white light into its colour spectrum.

Genesis 9:13,14"I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth."It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud;

Scientific Fact or Principle: Origin of the major language groups

Bible reference: Genesis 11

Origin of the major language groups explained (Genesis 11). After the rebellion at Babel, God scattered the people by confounding the one language into many languages. Evolution teaches that we all evolved from a common ancestor, yet offers no mechanism to explain the origin of the thousands of diverse languages in existence today.

Genesis 11:7"Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."

Scientific Fact or Principle: Leaves of the trees as medicine

Bible reference: Ezekiel 47:12, Revelation 22:2

God has given us the leaves of the trees as medicine (Ezekiel 47:12; Revelation 22:2). Ancient cultures utilized many herbal remedies. Today, modern medicine has rediscovered what the Bible has said all along – there are healing compounds found in plants.

Ezekiel 47:12Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine.Revelation 22:2The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Scientific Fact or Principle: Earth designed for biological life

Bible reference: Isaiah 45:18

The earth was designed for biological life (Isaiah 45:18). Scientists have discovered that the most fundamental characteristics of our earth and cosmos are so finely tuned that if just one of them were even slightly different, life as we know it couldn't exist. This is called the Anthropic Principle and it agrees with the Bible which states that God formed the earth to be inhabited.

Isaiah 45:18For thus says the LORD, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: "I am the LORD, and there is no other.

Scientific Fact or Principle: Each star is unique Bible reference: 1 Corinthians 15:41

Each star is unique (1 Corinthians 15:41). Centuries before the advent of the telescope, the Bible declared what only God and the angels knew – each star varies in size and intensity!

1 Corinthians 15:41There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.

Scientific Fact or Principle: Laughter promotes physical healing

Bible reference: Proverbs 17:22

Laughter promotes physical healing (Proverbs 17:22). Recent studies confirm what King Solomon was inspired to write 3,000 years ago, “A merry heart does good, like medicine.” For instance, laughter reduces levels of certain stress hormones. This brings balance to the immune system, which helps your body fight off disease.

Proverbs 17:22A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

Scientific Fact or Principle: Man is “fearfully and wonderfully made”

Bible reference: Psalm 139:14

Man is “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). We are only beginning to probe the complexity of the DNA molecule, the eye, the brain, and all the intricate components of life. No human invention compares to the marvellous wonders of God’s creation.

Psalm 139:14I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvellous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.