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 The
Bible and Scientific Knowledge Part II (This continues an
excerpt from an article by Allan Turner from our last issue. A link
to the entire article appears at the end of this installment.)
Ocean Currents
Bible Writers:
1015 B.C.
David said in Psalm 8:8 that God has subjected all things to men,
including, “all that swim the paths of the sea” (NIV).
ANALYSIS: The Hebrew word “paths” carries the literal meaning of
“customary roads.”
FACT: David knew there were “paths” or “customary roads” in the sea,
and that sea life passed through these paths.
History of Science:
1855 A.D.
Matthew Fontaine Maury is called “The Pathfinder of the Seas.” This
American is the father of today’s oceanography. A statue of him
stands in Richmond, Virginia. Inscribed on the base of this monument
is a reference to Psalm 8:8, which mentions the "paths of the sea."
His Physical Geography of the Sea was the first textbook of modern
oceanography, and he is credited as being the first person to
undertake a systematic and comprehensive study of the ocean. There
is an apocryphal story associated with Maury's listening to a
reading of Psalm 8:8 and determining to find the "paths of the sea"
mentioned there, but there seems to be no historical evidence for
such a story. Nevertheless, Maury’s systematic and comprehensive
charting of the “paths of the sea,” has aided commercial fishermen
in finding the schools of fish that are frequently found passing
through the "paths of the sea" in search of the food (plankton,
etc.) that these currents carry along, just as God's Word had said.
Water-Vapor Cycle
Bible Writers:
2000 B.C.
Job 36:27-28, “For He draws up drops of water, which distill as rain
from the mist, which the clouds drop down and pour abundantly on
man” (NKJV).
1033-975 B.C.
In Ecclesiastes 1:7, Solomon wrote: “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” (NKJV).
ANALYSIS: The Hebrew and English meaning of “distill” is the idea
that the small moisture droplets of steam or vapor condense and
collect into water drops large enough to become heavy and fall.
FACT: These Biblical writers recognized the basic mechanics of the
water-vapor cycle. All rivers empty into the sea from higher ground.
Drops of water are drawn up forming vapor clouds. These “mist”
droplets are transported as clouds until they distill in rain and
thus “return” to the “place from which the rivers come.”
History of Science:
350 B.C.
Aristotle is accredited with being the first to understand the
water-vapor cycle that produces rain. His Meteorologica became a
standard treatise for 2000 years. In it he theorized that clouds and
rain are caused by condensation of water-vapor from the atmosphere
that had gotten there by evaporation of water at the surface of the
earth. His observations concluded that this was only a localized
cycle, where rain replaced the water in the area from which it
vaporized.
1520 A.D.
Until it was known that the earth was spherical, the common belief
was that the rivers flowing in to the oceans did not cause the ocean
to rise because an equal amount of water was spilling off the ends
of the earth. Before Magellan’s discovery, no scientist conceived
the idea that it was the water of the ocean that was being cycled to
provide the fresh water of the rivers.
1770 A.D.
It was not until the 18th century that it was concluded that clouds
can transport moisture away from the area in which they were formed.
From observations at only a few points, Benjamin Franklin was the
first to recognize that individual storms move from place to place
over the earth’s surface. The river-to-sea-to-river water cycle was
published by Benjamin Franklin from his observations, thus greatly
aiding the study of weather by men.
1841 A.D.
It is now known that the precipitation and evaporation rate for
earth is approximately 16,000,000 tons per second. This is
equivalent to an annual rainfall for the entire earth of three feet.
All Matter And Energy Completed At Universe’s Origin
Bible Writers:
1451 B.C.
In Genesis 2:1-2, Moses declared: “Thus the heavens and the earth,
and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God
ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day
from all His work which He had done” (NKJV).
ANALYSIS: The phrase “all the host,” which is the Hebrew kal tsbaah,
carries the meaning of “everything in them,” or “everything
therein.” Thus, Moses wrote that the heavens and the earth were
complete, indicating that nothing, neither matter nor energy, has
been needed or added since the time of the universe’s beginning.
History of Science:
Pre-1841 A.D.
Historical records demonstrate that man’s concept of the universe
was never one of a closed, finished system after its origin. There
was the constant strong belief in a continual creation, or the
“spontaneous generation” of living things, and the disappearance
into nothing of many objects.
1841 A.D.
Mayer formulated the law of mass and energy conservation which is
also known as the First Law of Thermodynamics, which is considered
to be the most important and basic law of all physical science. This
law states that the sum total of all energy in the universe remains
constant, but one form of energy may be converted into another. A
companion law is the law of mass conservation, which states that
although matter may be changed in size, shape, form, etc., the total
mass cannot be changed. These laws teach that no creation or
destruction of matter or energy is now being accomplished anywhere
in the universe. They teach that the universe is functioning on that
matter and power with which it originally began. We have since
learned that forms of energy and matter can be interchanged, but in
the process, no new energy or matter is brought into, or taken out
of, existence.
The Universe Is Decaying
Bible Writers:
745-695 B.C.
Isaiah 51:6: “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the
earth beneath. For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, the
earth will grow old like a garment, and those who dwell in it will
die in like manner; but My salvation will be forever, and My
righteousness will not be abolished” (NKJV).
ANALYSIS: To “grow old like a garment” is to deteriorate or decay
through age and use.
FACT: The Bible pictures the total universe as deteriorating through
age from its original finished state.
History of Science:
1850 A.D.
The first indication science had that the universe was growing old
and being used up was the discovery of the Second Law of
Thermodynamics, or as it is sometimes referred to, The Law of
Entropy. This law is of almost as great a significance to science as
the First Law of Thermodynamics. It says that in any energy transfer
or change, although the total amount of energy remains unchanged,
the amount of usefulness and availability that the energy possesses
is always decreased. As the total of useless energy increases, the
amount of useful energy decreases by the same amount. This ratio is
called “entropy.” Since all activities of nature, including
biological, physical, chemical, etc., involve energy transfers,
there must be an ever decreasing supply of usable energy for
maintaining the energizing processes in the universe.
An example of this is shown by the use of the spectroscope in
analyzing the sun. This study revealed that hydrogen in the sun is
being converted to helium at the rate of 4,600,000 tons per second
in the process of producing radiant energy. This means that
eventually the sun will burn itself out. This is true of all the
stars also, so that the physical universe is, beyond question,
growing old, wearing out, and running down.
All Flesh Is Not The Same
Bible Writers:
56 A.D.
In 1 Corinthians 15:39, the apostle Paul wrote: “All flesh is not
the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh
of animals, another of fish, and another of birds” (NKJV).
ANALYSIS: The word “flesh” in Hebrew denotes “meat.”
FACT: Paul noted that all flesh is not the same and recorded four
types: men, beasts, birds, and fish.
History of Science:
1838 A.D.
Men have always held that flesh, or meats, were basically the same.
Matthias J. Schleiden (1838) and especially Theodore Schwann (1839)
established the cell theory, recognizing the cell as a basic unit of
structure in both plants and animals. Having only the use of the
light microscope, these men and their contemporaries could not make
close and accurate observations of individual cells. Their
conclusion, therefore, was that all cells were identical and did not
originate from other cells. This “common cell theory” was held for
years. The cell was considered to be the common building block of
all life, thus giving further argument to the theory all flesh is
the same. It was argued that all meat had the same construction,
built of these common cells.
1930 A.D.
It took the invention of the electron microscope in the early 1930s
to give science the tool it needed to look into the cell structure.
H. Busch, in 1926, formulated the principle for the operation of
this instrument. The best light microscope could not reveal
structure below 1/100,000 of an inch. The electron microscope can
enlarge this over one-hundred times. The latest combination
light-electron microscope can focus images to 1/2,000,000 of an
inch. With these instruments it has been learned that there are many
different types of cells, rather than one basic cell. A piece of
flesh today can be easily analyzed to determine its species. It is
interesting that modern science’s division of animal life is man,
beast, fish, and fowl.
Life Is In The Blood
Bible Writers:
1491-1451 B.C.
In Leviticus 17:11, Moses wrote, “For the life of the flesh is in
the blood” (NKJV).
ANALYSIS: The Hebrew definition for “life” is that which makes it
possible for an animal to breathe; also vitality.
FACT: Moses pronounced that “the life of the flesh is in the blood.”
History of Science:
350 B.C.
Blood-letting is known to have been practiced as early as the 4th
century B.C. Herephilos, a physician of the Museum at Alexandria,
advocated it as a means to rid the body of disease. Many of his
contemporaries also used it as a cure, considering blood a carrier
of disease instead of life.
1800 A.D.
The barber-surgeons of this country were the professional
blood-letters until the early 19th century, hence the origin of the
red stripe on their poles. A conscientious barber-surgeon would
bleed a person to free him of disease. This was done while trimming
the patient’s hair.
The importance of the blood in the biological mechanism has only
been comprehended with any adequacy in recent years. In this
century, scientists have discovered that the continuance of life
depends upon the continued temperature, control, waste removal, and
transportation of water, food and regulators to the cells and all
parts of the body, and therefore the very life and nourishment of
the body are furnished by the blood.
(To be continued. See the entire article at :
http://www.allanturner.com/bibleproofs.html) ~
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