Science In The Bible

[naomi24]

A day or two back a contributor here said….

“It's [the Bible's] contents are scientifically sound on matters that human researchers discovered only at a later date.”

…. but he declined to elaborate.

I know the bible fairly well, but I can’t think what he might be referring to. Does anyone have any idea?

Or perhaps he would like to explain?

[modeller]

zac //Surely that's a matter of opinion? // Opinion based on fact !

Time , places, events, are all different and disputed
in the hundreds of versions of the Christian , Jewish and Muslim holy books.
I suggest you ask a few clerics what their belief in the nativity is , and watch them wriggle.
If you go on any Bible courses now they pointedly downplay or avoid 95% of the bible and just selectively discuss the couple of years of JC's ministry.

[goodlife]

Wisdom, the ability to use in a right way what science has discovered, must come from outside science itself. Do the efforts of scientists to solve man’s problems give evidence that they have found such wisdom? Look at the record and see.

[chakka35]

goodlife, if I were to start looking at all the ways in which science has solved man's problems I'd be here all day. If you want to do it yourself, start with medical science.

[Zacs-Master]

modeller....so Jesus really did exist then? Wow.

[goodlife]

Chakka@ True, science has made some remarkable advances,in spite of its often sincere attempts to prevent it.

Some of the fact is all the advancements in medical technology, some diseases continue to take a heavy toll. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), ‘more than 150 million people suffer from depression at any point in time, about 25 million from schizophrenia, and 38 million from epilepsy.’ HIV/AIDS, diarrheal diseases, malaria, measles, pneumonia, and tuberculosis infect millions, killing countless children and young adults and the list go on and on.

So will we soon see a world without sickness? Granted, the factors outlined above provide no clear answer. The Bible, however, sheds light on this question. The Bible says about the prospect of a future time when sickness will be no more.( Isaiah 33:24)

So if you really examine what it says, and do not simply accept what certain ones claim that it says, you will find reason to trust it.

[jim360]

Interesting that Science is responsible for holding Science back. What a warped view of history you have, goodlife.

[naomi24]

Modeller, //Time , places, events, are all different and disputed// - 'different' not always, but in the main, true – but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are all wrong. It simply means we don’t know. Therefore your opinion is not based on fact, and in claiming it is, you are doing exactly as the religious do. There are no ‘facts’.

Goodlife, // Wisdom, the ability to use in a right way what science has discovered, must come from outside science itself.//

Why?

//science has made some remarkable advances,in spite of its often sincere attempts to prevent it.//

Science attempts to prevent advances? I think you have the wrong end of the stick with that one.

Do you have an answer to my question?

[solvitquick]

I still can't read the quote as meaning that the bible contains any scientifically correct statements (provable beyond reasonable doubt at our present state of knowledge) which were not known at its time of the various compilations. Hence future scientific evidence can't help.
Maybe he/she refers to the great flood although Noah is an obvious fiction added to word-of-mouth tales. This is not helped by later researchers finding the remains of "Noah's Ark" on Mount Ararat. A regional great flood is now accepted and maybe there was a boatman who saved himself and many others but not animals two by two, lol.
The biggest snag for the contributor is the creation of the universe and world. Don't think astrophysics can help here.
When we hear "(from) ashes TO ashes, dust to dust" I don't think this shorthand thermodynamic truth of all life's beginning and eventual end is what theists mean. Actually I don't know what they mean, in their own minds.
Thanks for to all for great and amusing comments folks.
SIQ.

[chrisgel]

http://www.clarifyingchristianity.com/science.shtml

[naomi24]

Chrisgel, thank you - interesting – but it appears to me somewhat like the prolific work of diligent Koranic scholars who work tirelessly to twist whatever is there in an effort to demonstrate that ancient texts concur with subsequent thinking. I see nothing there to convince me so something specific would be good.

[naomi24]

Anyone - any thoughts on Chrisgel's link?

[ludwig]

Naomi, my thoughts are that it looks like complete nonsense.

These things are not aimed at 'normal' people with a view to convincing them that the bible actually might make some sense. They're aimed at the already religious, with the intention of shoring up shaky beliefs and quelling nagging doubts.

[pixie373]

I agree, Ludwig. Very tenuous in interpretation and using the bible itself, to prove that the bible is accurate. I've seen posts like that before. It really shows you can read whatever you want into it.

[chrisgel]

Of course it's all nonsense. It's hopefully a last desperate effort by the religious to shore up their beliefs.
They claim that the bible reveals all this scientific knowledge before science knew about it but then the obvious question is - How come they spot these revelations after science has discovered them and never before?

Job 38:7 - When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
This is supposed to prove that the bible reveals a knowledge of radio astronomy and the fact that stars give off signals.
This was apparently discovered by scientists in 1945 but I'm fairly certain they had no help from the bible.

[pixie373]

Wouldn't stand up in Court, would it?!

[birdie1971]

Naomi24 - “... any thoughts on Chrisgel's link?”

I did have a look at a couple of points. First, what the Bible says about Geology and specifically a spherical Earth is highly dubious to say the least. It claims that a passage in the book of Isaiah refers to a spherical earth when in fact it does no such thing. Second, what it has to say about the Bible and Physics is farcical. It makes that claim that television of all things was prophesied in the books of Matthew and Revelation when in actual fact, again, it does no such thing.

I did try to read more but I felt like I was losing the will to live and that my brains were beginning to dribble out of my ears. It's whimsical nonsense written for the credulous. It probably makes perfect sense to a truly religious person as they have already unburdened themselves of their capacity for rational thought (I'm thinking of 'sandyRoe' here who seems to believe that Noah's Ark is literally true and that the “proof” of that is the fact that we exist today!).

[naomi24]

It strikes me that had the bible – or the Koran – anything tangible to say about science, such astonishing revelation would make world headlines.

[jake-the-peg]

A spherical Earth is hardly astounding - pretty much any maritime nation would have been able to tell you that.

Kind of interesting isn't it though how the Religious feel the need to claim Scientific accuracy.

I've yet to see a scientist proudly claim his work is underpinned by religious texts!

By doing so they are actually acknowledging the scientific method as the gold standard of truth

[ludwig]

^ good point

[jomifl]

Jake, some believers obviously don't have quite enough faith to dispense with reason (however deranged) completely.