Thy Word is a Lamp Unto My Feet Outreach

The Bible and Science

Though often viewed as in opposition to the Bible, science can help strengthen faith in the word of YHWH.

HISTORY OF SCIENCE
The fear of YHWH is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. [Proverbs 1:7]

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen […] Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. [Hebrews 11:1, 3]

By the word of YHWH were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. [Psalm 33:6]

In the earliest years of the scientific revolution (17th century), science was viewed as a way to understand the Almighty. Individuals as Galileo, Kepler, Newton and Copernicus believed their work was revealing the handiwork of the Creator. Over time, however, science distanced itself from the idea of YHWH, choosing instead to work in a purely materialistic, atheistic paradigm. This led to the struggle between faith and science that we so often hear about today. Fact is, Satan perverts the true pure basis of science that comes from the Creator. The Bible warns us to be guided and guarded by the Lord’s Spirit and to claim victorious promises in humble faith and not by arrogant presumption. There’s no contradiction in the study of science, faith and obedience to the Lord because He is the One who created our minds pure and perfectly. Our fallen state has led us to think we know better than He! (1 Corinthians 3:19).

Though we certainly acknowledge the challenges science can present, there are many places where science has indeed given us reasons for our trust in the Scriptures.

ANTHROPIC COINCIDENCES
For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? [Deuteronomy 4:32]

For many years, much of science worked on the presupposition that all existence was the result of pure chance. We’re just a big accident — nothing more. But science reveals many factors in the universe are so finely tuned that even the slightest variation would create an environment unfit for human existence. So what are some of these “anthropic coincidences”?

If the rate of expansion after the creation of the universe had been smaller by one part in a hundred million, the universe would’ve collapsed upon itself. On the other hand, had it been greater by one part in a hundred million, the universe would’ve expanded too rapidly for stars and planets to form. One of the known basic forces in nature is called the strong nuclear force. Had it been slightly weaker, there would’ve only been hydrogen in the universe; had it been slightly stronger, there would’ve only been helium. In either environment, Humanity as we know it could never have been formed.

Food for thought: it’s as though the universe was created with the existence of Humanity in mind!

ASTRONOMY
Is not God in the height of heaven? And behold, the head of the stars, how high they are! [Job 22:12]

If you stand outside on a clear night, how many stars can you count?
Many centuries ago, Ptolemy counted about 1,056 stars; Tycho Brahe counted up to 777; Kepler, 1,005. Before the invention of the telescope (17th century), people believed the number of stars was 5,119. Today, we know the number of stars is beyond counting. It’s estimated there are hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy alone. Astronomers estimate there are 10 to the power of 23 (that is, 10 thousand billion billion) stars in the universe.

Who created all things?
Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth […] Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, YHWH, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. [Isaiah 40:26, 28]

God […] hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. [Hebrews 1:1, 2]

Many ancient people believed the stars were various distances away; science over the past few centuries has shown just how far away they really are. The sun is 93 million miles away — and it’s our closest star!
Who hath laid the measures [of the earth] thereof, if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid the corner stone thereof; when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? [Job 38:5-7]

FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE
I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth greatly. [Psalm 139:14]

It appears more and more science has been moving away from the “chance” argument to explain the existence of human life. Over the years as science has advanced steadily, as we learn more and more about the wonders of creation, the evidence for design gets stronger.
Food for thought: Charles Darwin partially based his theory of evolution on the idea that changes come over time to a species through a series of small, successive modifications. Darwin claimed if any complex organ could be shown not to have gone through these steps, then his theory would break down.

Biochemist Michael Behe, professor of biological sciences at Lehigh University in PA, is involved with research looking at delineation of design and natural selection in protein structures. His studies show that various aspects of the human body couldn’t have arisen according to the basic evolutionary schema. According to Behe, the living system at the molecular level are best explained as being the result of deliberate intelligent design. If one part — or one step — wasn’t there from the beginning, the organ or process wouldn’t have existed at all. In order for an organ to function, all components would have already needed to be in place at once. In an August 15, 2022 article, Mammoth Support for Devolution, Behe states, “The more science progresses, the more hapless Darwin seems […] Helpful mutations that arrive most quickly are very much more likely to degrade genetic features than to construct new ones […] Although random mutation and natural selection help a species adapt, Darwinian processes can’t account for the origins of sophisticated biological systems.” When asked if he is a creationist, Behe responds, I am not a creationist and have no reason to doubt common descent.

For those who believe in Scripture and the Sure Word given by YHWH, there is no doubt as to the Intelligence in Creation:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. [John 1:1-4]

SCIENCE AND THE FLOOD
In the six hundreth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. [Genesis 7:11]

Science shows evidence of a global catastrophic event by deposits in rock layers. These deposits contribute to the way in which the rock layers are identifed and defined. Gigantic sequences of sandstone covered by shale and limestone in what are called Cambrian rocks; massive, transported limestone found in certain rock levels; coal and oil deposits found throughout these levels — all these deposits are consistent with the Genesis Flood. There are layers of rock deposited so quickly that there’s no evidence of erosion between the layers. Though the geological community argues these layers need millions of years to form, the rocks show no direct evidence such time has passed.

The destruction of life during the Flood was extensive, as described in Genesis 7:21 and 22. In our modern world there is little preservation of plants and animals that die. These organisms are decomposed and recycled to provide the nutrients necessary for life to continue. However, buried within the earth are extensive fossil concentrations with evidence of a wide variety of plants and animals that don’t exist in our world today — again, evidence consistent with the Genesis Flood.