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The Bible as Pre-Scientific
Does the Bible support, or contradict, science?
Chapter Introduction
No educated person today would hesitate to categorize the Bible as pre-scientific; obviously its ancient writings pre-date modern science by thousands of years.
Nonetheless, some biblical
statements seem to reveal
a relatively advanced knowledge
of scientific matters.
Unfortunately, however, these
statements are sometimes
taken out of context and misunderstood,
and the Bible is
thus thought to contain scientifically
flawed information.
For example, in the 17th
century, Galileo, a creationist, proved that the earth revolves around the sun. However, the
Catholic Church had accepted the majority view of the scientific
establishment of the time, which said that the sun revolves
around the earth. The church picked out a few verses
(or statements) from the Bible which it thought supported
this belief. These verses, however, were taken out of context.
For instance, in Psalm 93:1, the phrase “the [earth] is
firmly established, it cannot be moved” needs to be read in
context with the next verse, “[God’s] throne was established
long ago,” where the same Hebrew word [kown = “established”]
is used and has the meaning “set up,” “stable,” “secure,” “enduring,”
etc., and not “immobile” or “stationary.” Likewise,
the Hebrew word for “moved” (in Ps. 93:1) is also used in
Psalm 16:8, “I will not be moved,” meaning that the writer of
that verse would not stray from the path of God, not that he
was physically rooted to any one geographic spot. Understood
correctly then, Psalm 93:1 implies that the earth itself also
moves along a path from which it cannot stray.
It can thus be seen that only the 17th century Catholic
Church’s understanding of this biblical statement was incorrect,
and not the statement itself. Ironically, had the church
not accepted the incorrect majority view of the then scientific
establishment, the Bible may have been seen to be correct all
along, and the false ensuing notion that the Bible contradicts
science may possibly have been avoided.[]
It is often little realized that the Bible does, in fact, seem
to contain remarkably accurate scientific information. This
chapter presents several examples.[]
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