It's not just the scientists and the atheists that can be critical. Not surprisingly, many well-known Christians including Evangelical pastors, theologians,
heads of well-known seminaries and denominations are some of the biggest
critics of what is known as “young earth creationism.”
However,
like most science and a large portion of theology, we haven’t heard the last
word. Daily there are new discoveries that can either support or frustrate
an argument or defense for young-earth creationism.
As
Christians, if we agree that God created the heavens and the earth and look to
the Bible as the source of truth, we can find some common ground between the
relatively short (i.e. thousands of years) taught by ‘young-earth’ creationists
vs. the unusually long (i.e. 4.2 billion years) timeframe that commonly is
taught in science textbooks.
The
Bible, while obviously not a science text book has been proven to be not only
accurate in many scientific areas but has actually declared scientific truth
long before it was generally accepted by the science and common understanding
of the time.
Here
are some examples:
1)
The Bible declared that the earth is round (Isaiah 40:22) in 700 BC long before
Aristotle was thought to be ‘mad’ by claiming the same thing.
2) Jeremiah 33:22 states that the stars are innumerable, contrary to the common teaching that there
were only about 1,100 stars based on what was visible to the naked eye.
3)
The Bible also said that each star was unique and different (1 Cor. 15:41) long before
telescopes could confirm the endless variety in size, brilliance and
temperature.
4)
The book of Job, thought to be possibly the oldest book of the Bible written
before Abraham and the patriarchs around 1,500 BC, has many interesting
revelations regarding the earth and the cosmos.
· The earth floated
freely in space (Job 26:7)
· Light actually moved,
i.e. light waves (Job 38:19-20)
· The oceans contain
springs (Job 38:16 Also Genesis 7:11)
· Job may also have described dinosaurs (Behemoth in Job 40:15-24) and dragons (Leviathan is described as
breathing fire in Job 41)
The Bible and Medicine
Many
have taken the Christian and the Bible to task for some medical claims that
over the years have actually been proven to be true:
- The book of Leviticus (written prior to 1400 BC) describes the value of blood and that life itself was in the blood. Note: Blood letting (based on the need of the menstrual cycle) was ‘scientific’ and popular until the late 1800s
- Proverbs 17:22 says, “A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.” Modern science agrees!
- Regarding the Jewish rite of Circumcision, medical science has only recently discovered that blood-clotting in a newborn reaches its peak on the eighth day, then drops. The Bible consistently says that a baby must be circumcised on the eighth day.
Many of us read the Bible daily for inspiration, guidance and truth. It is good to know that even in the area of science, we can trust it completely.
