The Bible: A Science Textbook?

The bible isn't a science book, and neither does it claim to be. However it is scientifically accurate. I haven't been able to find any scientific evidence that contradicts the bible. Many of these facts were listed hundreds or thousands of years before being written down anywhere else.

• Paleontology (study of prehistoric life)

I have already discussed dinosaurs but there is roughly 1.5 chapters on dinosaurs in the bible. This is quite a lot as most people didn't even think dinosaurs were in the bible.

• Astronomy

The bible actually gives us a rough number of stars in the universe.

Genesis 22:17 Blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.

Jeremiah 33:22 “As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.”

So these two passages tell us that the stars in the universe are equal to the sands on the sea shore. Scientists have claimed that there are 100000000000000000000000000 (or 10 to the power of 25) sands on the sea shore. The number of stars that we have discovered so far is 1000000000000000000000000 (or 10 to the power of 23). Wouldn't be nice to discover that the more stars we find, the closer these numbers come to matching?

The bible also says that every star is unique. When looking at stars with our naked eye, we don't see any difference. And most stars still look the same through a telescope. However if we look at their light spectra's we can see that they are all different.

1 Corinthians 15:41 There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.

It is hard to believe that people living in the 1st century AD had to ability to compare light spectra's.

The bible also shows us the suspension of Earth in space:

Job 26:7 He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing.

• Geology

The bible was the first book to say the Earth was round.

Isaiah 40:22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

The word for circle here is Chwung which also means "compass" or "spherical" The book of Isaiah was written 300 years before Aristotle actually published a book on the Earth being a Sphere.

The bible also comments on the Earth's crust.

Jeremiah 31:37 Thus says the LORD:“If heaven above can be measured, And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel. For all that they have done, says the LORD.”

Interesting enough, every human attempt to drill through the Earth's crust has failed.

• Meteorology

The bible describes the Atmosphere's circulation.

Ecclesiastes 1:6 The wind goes toward the south, And turns around to the north; The wind whirls about continually, And comes again on its circuit.

• Biology

Leviticus mentions the value of blood

Leviticus 17:11 ‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.’

In 1616 William Harvey said that the circulation of blood is the key factor of life - something the bible said some 3000 years before.

It is a proved fact that our mental and spiritual health is strongly correlated to our physical health. King Solomon wrote about this in 950 BC

Proverbs 17:22 A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

• Anthropology (study of cavemen)

Ever wondered when human beings lived in caves? After we were scattered at the tower of Babel, tribes competed for the best land, those unsuccesful were driven into the caves and they lived there.

Job 30:5,6 They were driven out from among men, They shouted at them as at a thief. They had to live in the clefts of the valleys, In caves of the earth and the rocks.

Note that these weren't actual cavemen, just ordinary humans who for some reason mentally and physically deterioated. (This concept is still in action today)

• Hydrology

Job 36:27-29 For He draws up drops of water, Which distill as rain from the mist, Which the clouds drop down. And pour abundantly on man. Indeed, can anyone understand the spreading of clouds, The thunder from His canopy?

This verse has quite reamarkable scientific insight. It is explaining the cycle of rain. The rain rises as vapour and condenses, the drops the coalesce into drops large enough to "break" the clouds and fall onto the Earth.

The recirculation of water:

Ecclesiastes 1:7 All the rivers run into the sea, Yet the sea is not full; To the place from which the rivers come, There they return again.

The bible refers to the amount of water held in clouds:

Job 26:8 He binds up the water in His thick clouds, Yet the clouds are not broken under it.

• Nuclear Weaponary

This verse only suggests nuclear weaponary but its still something we can take into account.

2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

The purpose of this page is not to explain what a great science text the Bible is, but to show that it is consistent with scientific facts. Still, the Bible mentions some things that we can not explain. Yet, if God is really God, He should have the ability to do some things we can not explain.
In the last 100 years (and especially in the last ten) scientists discovered many proofs that confirm the Bible’s accuracy. Since these proofs support the accuracy of the text we can understand scientifically, it makes sense to trust the Bible’s text that we can not yet understand.

Also, the writers of the Bible were spiritually inspired by God to write what they did. There is no other way they could understand or even know about some of the facts I have listed. Christian faith isn't about proving God is real but in this context here, it is obvious that our God was telling them what to write. How could people write about how many stars there were? Or even know they were all different? So through this evidence we can clearly see that God IS real and there is no doubt about it.

I drew all my statements from biblical knowledge and various sources found on the internet. I hope this post will help those struggling to get to grips that God is real. I also hope that this will strengthen your faith even more.

Thanks for reading :)

Elliot.