theIPU

http://www.rr-bb.com/showthread.php?threadid=84062

Scientific Accuracies of the Bible
This post is for our Atheist friends who are on this board.

Many people doubt the Bible for various reasons. One of them is that the Bible is not accurate scientifically. But this just isn't so. The Bible is not a book about science, but when it does speak scientifically, it is accurate. In fact, it was far ahead of any other writing of its time. Please consider the following.

1. The Shape of the Earth
"He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in" (Isaiah 40:22, NIV).
This may or may not be construed to support the spherical shape of the earth. The horizon is a circle and a circle is flat.

2. The Earth is suspended in nothing
"He spreads out the northern [skies] over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing" (Job. 26:7, NIV).
This is particularly interesting considering that the cosmology of other cultures at that time did not have the earth suspended in nothing, but rather upon pillars, or people, or animals.

3.The Stars are Innumerable
"He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars -- if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be" (Gen. 15:5, NIV).

4. The Existence of Valleys in the Seas
"The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at the rebuke of the LORD, at the blast of breath from his nostrils" (2 Sam. 22:16, NIV).

5. The Existence of Springs and Fountains in the Seas
"In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month -- on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened" (Genesis 7:11, NIV). See also Gen. 8:2; Prov. 8:28.

6. The Existence of Water Paths (Ocean Currents) in the Seas
"O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!...When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,...You made him [man] ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet...the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas" (Psalm 8:1,3,6,8, NIV).

7. The Hydrologic Cycle
"He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight" (Job. 26:8, NIV).
"He draws up the drops of water, which distill as rain to the streams; the clouds pour down their moisture and abundant showers fall on mankind" (Job. 36:27-28, NIV)
"The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again (Ecclesiastes 1:6-7, NIV).

8. The Concept of Entropy
"In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded" (Psalm 102:22-26, NIV).

9. The Nature of Health, Sanitation, and Sickness
The listing for this section is too large for this page. But the scriptural references are Leviticus 12-14.

May this post stir up some thoughts you might have about the existence of our Wonderful Creator. He is VERY real and is waiting for you to ask him for a relationship. Peace

Nostalgic Pushhead

Ah, picking and choosing at its finest.

What about rabbits chewing cud?

Water in the sky?

Day and night existing before the sun?

People turning into salt?

Spaz

People can really stretch stuff when they want to make 2000 year old people look smart eh?



That one killed itself



Job 9
6 Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.

Just indecisive?



So there are lots of stars? Genius.



I may be wrong, but I really think by "valleys of the sea" what was meant was where the water actually was, as if the continents were mountains and the ocean was in the valley between them. Ya know?



Might have something there, kinda. I'd think they would simply think that is how the oceans were formed, by springs underneath them.



What? Things swim in seas? That's scientific? I wouldn't take that to be ocean currents, but even so, you can see currents, that doesn't require much knowlege.



By the first one I'd say he sees water come from clouds, there's no explanation of water getting into clouds or the hydrologic cycle. Second quote is basically the same worded differently. The third seems to be talking of the flow of water, I don't see how that can be taken as the hydrologic cycle. Once again they're being given a little too much credit, if it was written somewhere other than the bible would they really think it meant that?



Too. Much. Credit. That's saying things die and wear out but god does not. Entropy? lmao



Looks like a lot of superstition/tradition to me. They got the circumcision day right by trial and error I'm sure, whoopdie doo.

Whoever wrote this must be insane.

beastmaster

Science is a methodology, not a set of conclusions. The Bible does not speak scientifically, it speaks dogmatically!

Uh, the Greeks and Chinese were far more advanced about their knowledge and understanding of the physical universe than the Hebrews.

All of the specific claims are such bullshit they aren't even worth responding to. Well, except for the hydrologic cycle bit -- that's pretty decent. But of course there are other parts of the Bible that indicate that rainwater comes out of the firmament (a dome in the sky) and suchnot that ain't too "scientific."

Shinobi

None of these quotes say anything specific. They are all vague and able to have any meaning read into them. That's hardly scientific.

jayh

Just a couple of comments.

3. Abraham's descendants are NOWHERE NEAR as numerous as the stars, by many orders of magnitude. He really blew it (or lied) on that one.

4. Hogwash. The pork rule is popularly interpreted as a trichinosis issue, but it's a damn poor one. First it is easily handled by cooking, why not just tell them to really cook their meat. Then he would have also dealt with the far more prevalant threats of salmonella, etc. Teaching them about boiling water before drinking would have been good too, but he missed that basic rule of sanitation.

And what use is the prohibition on shellfish, boiling a kid in milk, social contact with a menstruating woman, or one who has recently given birth, etc.?


Many 'primitive' hunter/gatherer tribes do a lot better than this with traditional knowledge.

j

Gringo

Abraham, if he existed, like many others of his time is an ancestor to everyone living on the planet, or will soon be. Depending upon how many more generations pass before our extinction or Judgement Day, Abraham's descendants will number as the stars.

Jabu Khan

Not on this planet they wont. Besides the stars aren't innumerable. Our universe is finite.

CJD

Shinobi: "None of these quotes say anything specific. They are all vague and able to have any meaning read into them. That's hardly scientific."

* Ta-da! Eeeexxxxactly!

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