Science and the Bible
Part 2

In the first part of this article we looked at two different areas of science to see if the Bible and those sciences are compatible with each other in what they say about this world we live in. If they are compatible then it is another source that proves the authenticity of the Bible. In this second part we look at a further two sciences – Geology and Biology.

Geology

a.      The great flood

Geology looks at the history of the earth’s crust. It is the scientific effort to find out about the past of the rock formations of the earth.

Of particular interest is the event recorded in chapter 6 of the Biblical book of Genesis. It is the record of the greatest physical disaster the earth has ever experienced. All men, as well as all animals, except those whom God chose to save in the ark (a large boat), were destroyed by a great flood that covered the whole planet.

By using the study of geology today we can verify that this worldwide flood did in fact happen. There are quite a few discoveries that prove that there was a great flood around the time Noah would have lived. One of these discoveries is the enormous graveyards of fossils that have been found all over the world. Almost without exception it was found by looking at the appearance and preservation of the fossils that they had been buried suddenly. Nothing like this has taken place at any other time.

They found land animals buried in this sedimentary layer with there bodies completely intact. This is very rare as usually when they die a natural death their bodies almost always decompose quickly. This has been proven by the fact that it is almost impossible to find bones of modern animals in the process of fossilisation.

So the proof is overwhelming that the land animals were all buried quickly before decomposition had a chance to settle in. And that this fast burial could have only taken place by a large flood.

The extent and wealth of these deposits is one of geologies great finds. The geologists have found many fossil beds containing land animals. There are the elephant beds of Siberia, the hippopotamus beds of Sicily, the horse beds of France and other parts of Europe, and the shells of marine organisms all point to a great, worldwide catastrophe as described in the Bible. This is what the Bible says:

[The waters] rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet. Every living thing that moved on the earth perished - birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Genesis 7:19–23

Or as the second letter of Peter says it:

Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.

The Siberian deposits of elephants, or mammoths, mentioned previously, are an astounding proof of the existence of the flood. Literally millions of these animals were found entombed in the vast wilderness of Siberia. Some of the natives of those areas have made a living from the fossilised ivory of these animals from as far back as 900 A.D. In the more northern parts of the country, where the ground is continually frozen, some remains of these beasts were preserved whole, with even the skin and hair intact. From the congested blood found in these preserved animals it was discovered by scientists that these animals must have died by drowning, in spite of the fact that the modern elephant is a very strong and long swimmer.

Other facts that point towards there being a flood on the earth is the existence of raised beaches and terraces, which indicate that there must have been high water levels at some stage on the earth.

b.      fish in the great flood

When you look at the Bible passage on the great flood, it makes no mention of all fish being destroyed, only mankind (1), land animals and birds. This makes sense – whoever heard of a fish drowning! However, the evidence does seem to suggest that many fish were destroyed during the great flood. Scientists have found fish buried in this sedimentary layer with there bodies in complete condition. This is extremely rare as usually when fish die by natural death they are eaten whole or partially. Even if this did not occur they would not sink to the ocean or riverbed, there bodies would usually float to the surface where it would be eaten or it would decompose. A modern fish buried whole or in sediment normally deposited there would indeed be a very rare specimen.

The geologists found fossil fish beds that extend for miles and contained literally millions of fish. The fish have the appearance of being buried alive and with great suddenness. This ties in with the Biblical record in Genesis. This is what it says:

“…on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights”. Genesis 7:11

We are told in this section of the Bible of the depths of the ocean being broken up. It is highly likely that many fish were buried alive.

Biology

a.      The theory of evolution

Biology is the study of all living matter. It is within this science that the origin of life is discussed, I mean after all, if you are going to study how life operates on this planet it is logical to see how it first started.

Most biologists use the theory of evolution to explain the origin of life. They say life started from one cell, and through increasing organisation and complexity this cell became many cells which eventually became different types of living organisms. In other words, it is the gradual change in the characteristics of species over the course of time. It is an attempt to explain the origin of all things in terms of on-going processes which are still continuing and which therefore can still be studied in the present. It therefore ignores the Bible’s idea that creation has been completed and will not be developing any further.

b.      The contradictions between evolution and the Bible

Now let’s look at some of the contradictions between evolution and the Bible.

Evolution says that living organisms originated in the sea, countless millions of years before plants or any other forms of life appeared on the land. Genesis, however, states clearly that grasses, seed-bearing herbs, and fruit trees were created on the third day, and that animals and birds were not brought into existence until the fifth day. The Bible states that birds were created on the same day as the fish and other marine creatures. Evolution however, teaches that birds were evolved from reptiles long after the origin of the fish.

According to the Bible, the creeping things especially insects were among the last things created. According to evolution, insects appeared very early, reaching there greatest development even before the first appearance of reptiles, birds and mammals.

So we see that the theory of evolution about creation and what the Bible says about creation are extremely different viewpoints. There is no half way point between the two explanations of creation, you either accept evolution or you accept the Bible.

c.       What the evolutionists say

The evolutionists argue that the first living cell came from just the right combination of non-living chemicals. This combination took place in atmospheres that no longer exist, and required an imaginary ocean composition that no longer exists and used hypothetical processes which no longer exist. And all of this formed a primitive organism which, you guessed it, no longer exists! Whatever you call these speculations, I know one thing for sure: you can’t call them scientific.

Let’s briefly look at some of the arguments of evolutionists:

The fact that all living flesh is fundamentally composed of the simple chemical elements found in the earth is a strong confirmation of scripture, which clearly states, for example, that even man’s body was formed of the dust of the earth. This is what the Bible says:

The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Genesis 2: 7

d.      The mechanisms of evolution

Not only does the theory of evolution not account for the origin of life, but it can’t even suggest a satisfactory explanation of the method by which evolution works. A great many proposed explanations have been offered by a lot of investigators and scientists, but the mechanics of evolution remains just as mysterious today as it did a hundred years ago.

Many modern biologists have given up on this part of the evolution theory and just say that they don’t know. Some of the problems with this part of the evolution theory are:

1. Evolution says that things must change as time goes on, it has been found that many species have remained fixed through all the supposed millions of years.
2. A great many species have quite obviously degenerated rather than increased in complexity as the evolution theory suggests. Take for example the dinosaur compared to our modern snake or alligator.
3. A lot of species of animals appeared quite suddenly in fossils, with no preliminary or intermediate forms.

So it would seem that if anything, living creatures are deteriorating through the ages and not increasing in complexity. There is only one explanation that truly and without contradiction tells us about creation and life afterward and that is the explanation as set out in the Bible, of there being a creator in the form of our God who made us, so that we might glorify and worship him.

Summary

So what have we seen in the two parts of this article? We have looked at four sciences, and found that in most cases they proved the Bible to be correct and when the Bible and science did conflict on their views on something, the Bible always won out as the more reliable explanation.

Within the field of Astronomy we saw that up to only recently did men begin to realise that you can’t put a number on the number of stars in the heavens. Yet the Bible had stated this fact over three thousand years ago. The same happened with the discovery of gravity, the Bible had said that the earth was suspended in gravity around the sun, thousands of years before men realised this. And of course readers of the Bible would have known long before scientists that the earth was in fact spherical in shape.

Meteorologists could have saved a lot of time if they had gone to the Bible because as we saw the water cycle is described fully there.

We have also seen that the science of Geology proved that there had been a great world wide flood as it had been described in the Bible

The last science we looked at was Biology. In this area we saw that the Bible and the biological scientists conflicted in there view of the origin of life. The Bible says that God created life where as the biologists say that life mysteriously sprung forth from a reaction of non-living chemicals. We saw however that the evolutionary theory had so many guesses in it that it just couldn’t be taken seriously. How could anyone say by looking at the beauty and complexity of nature around us that it came originally from the springing forth of one cell?

God does not ask for blind belief. In all his dealings with man, he has called for the use of reason, the use of the logical part of our minds – those mental powers which he endowed us with. In the book of Isaiah he said “come now, and let us reason together”. God was appealing to man’s common sense to look at the wisdom within the Bible’s pages. Like as men of science reason or think through logically the different sciences so we should do the same through the pages of the book we call the Bible –  searching its pages for these words of wisdom. For by reasoning logically from God’s past doings it follows that God can show you what He can do for you in the future.

So, we have seen in this article that science proves the Bible to be correct and true. More and more these days, men of science are thinking more logically and are turning towards the Bible as a way to achieve peace of mind, relief from a guilty conscience, blessedness of faith in God and hope for the life to come. Shouldn’t you be doing the same?

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Footnote

(1) All mankind was destroyed except for the man called Noah and his family.