“For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.” Astronomer Robert Jastrow
Okay, no thinking person would say the Bible is a science book; however, the Bible can’t be trustworthy if it contradicts science. I contend that the Bible and good science are allies in the important fight for affirming faith in God and self. Hebrews 11:3 says, “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” The apostle Paul said in Acts 14:17, “Nevertheless, He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” King David sang in Psalms 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.” Paul weighs in again boldly in Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.”
Astophysicist Fred Holy said, “A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a super-intellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. The numbers one calculates from the facts seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond question.” Berkley Science Professor, Phillip Johnson sees it this way: “When I tell my fellow Berkeley professors that I don’t believe the theory of evolution, I need to know why they find it so difficult to take me seriously or to believe that my objection to the theory is based on scientific evidence rather than on the book of Genesis. The reason is that evolution, with its accompanying philosophy, is identified with their world-view at such a deep level that they cannot imagine how the theory could possibly be contrary to the evidence.” Berkley Science Professor, Phillip Johnson.
In Lesson 4 of our Daily Bread series, I point out some very simple ways that good science and scripture not only agree but as the opening quote by Robert Jastrow suggests, The Good Book often gets to the right conclusion before science does. Allow me to repeat myself. “For thousands of years people believed the earth was flat. If one went too far, he would fall over the edge. This was taught in both Hindu and Buddhist scripture. When the first ship sailed around the world in the 1500’s it proved them wrong. But the round earth was recorded in the Judeo-Christian Bible long before man wrote this. The prophet, Isaiah (40:22), spoke of the “circle of the earth.” Solomon wrote, “He [God] set a compass [circle] upon the face of the deep.” Prov. 8:27. In our century, Arabs spoke of infidels being pushed over the edge into space, but 3000 years ago the bible said the world was round.”
A bit more complicated but extremely important, is how the first two laws of thermodynamics support the biblical account of creation. This simply cannot be dismissed when one considers whether or not they choose to trust the bible as a guide for thought and living. Let’s look at the first two laws of thermodynamics and compare them to the scripture.
The 1st law of thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created or destroyed; rather, the amount of energy lost in a steady state process cannot be greater than the amount of energy gained. As evolutionist Willard Young says in defining the first law, “Energy can be neither created nor destroyed, but can only be converted from one form to another.”
E=mc2 (Einstein’s theory of relativity) says energy and mass are equivalent and transmutable. So good science says there is no more creation or destruction of matter and energy. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Ecclesiastes. 3:14 says, “I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it.” God does it so that men will revere him. The theory of evolution requires that one believe in the spontaneous creation of matter and energy but there is no such observable occurrence to date. We are still waiting.
The second law of thermodynamics builds on the first, stating that “though there is a constant amount of energy in a given system that is merely transforming into different states, that energy is becoming less usable.” Another way of stating the second law then is, “The universe is constantly getting more disorderly!” It’s also called “entropy.”
Scientists tell us that our universe is literally winding down. Really no one has to tell us that because every day we all spend a lot of effort to neaten, straighten up and repair our aging bodies, our deteriorating houses and our chaotic circumstances. When we leave things alone, mayhem sets in. I’ve never left my office messy and come back to it being organized all by itself.
Evolutionist Jeremy Rifkin stated, “the Entropy Law will preside as the ruling paradigm over the next period of history. Albert Einstein said that it is the premier law of all science; Sir Arthur Eddington referred to it as the ‘supreme metaphysical law of the entire universe’” God designed it. Creationists believe it. Engineers use it. Evolutionists, cannot harmonize it with their theory. Once again, the Bible got there before science said it was a law.
Psalm 102:25 “In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. 26 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. 27 But you remain the same, and your years will never end.”
Tracy Walters, a mechanical engineer working in thermal engineering said, “It has been my experience that many people do not appreciate how uncompromising the laws of thermodynamics actually are. It is felt, perhaps, that the laws are merely general tendencies or possibly only theoretical considerations. In reality, though, the laws of thermodynamics are hard as nails, and the more one works with these laws, the deeper respect one gains for them.”
If it would help I would get on my knees and beg you to elevate the bible to being the most important single document in your life. We used to conclude our services by singing, “I’ve wandered far away from God, but now I’m coming home, the paths of sin, to long I’ve trod, but now, I’m coming home.” I know those lyrics sound arcane and out of touch to moderns, but they are exactly what we need to hear, for we have wandered far from reality and invented our own reality. Let’s go home to the “Word.” We even say, “Perception is reality.” No, it’s not! Perception is perception. William Shakespeare said, “Truth is truth to the end of reckoning.”
Later, I will write about the flexibility of scripture but scripture is flexible in the same way that the Eiffel Tower is flexible. It’s flexible enough not to break but rigid enough not to fall. If you can’t totally buy into my view of total trust in God’s word, try a season of trust, or try trusting the bible on one or two issues and see how it works out. If you do, I am almost certain you will become a “Bible Believer.”
