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Section 2.. A Remarkable Book Called The Bible/
Scientific Facts in The Bible

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Scientific Facts In The Bible - Part I

Carol Brooks

Also See

003white Original Sin and Epigenetics
In Romans 5 Paul seemed to be saying that the entire human race was affected by Adam’s sin - not by sinning themselves. This understanding of Paul’s statements fly in the face of innumerable other verses that say exactly the opposite. However the emerging field of Epigenetics makes it quite easy to believe that Paul was more on target than he could ever have realized. The ‘something’ that Paul referred to could very well have been a physical change in Adam and Eve’s epigenome, that was then inherited by future generations. This might be the most astounding scientific fact in the Bible that remained hidden from human knowledge for close to two thousand years

 Anthropic Principles
Scientists are now finding that the universe in which we live is like a diamond studded Rolex, except the universe is even more precisely designed than the watch. In fact, the universe is specifically tweaked to enable life on earth.

 Errors in The Qur’an, which Contradict Secular and Scientific Data
Contrast the information on this page with the scientific knowledge of the Qur’an. For example Sura 18:86 states "Until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it set in a spring of murky water:
 

Bible1-Bar 

"When studying the science of the ancient world, one is more likely to be impressed with its ignorance than its accuracy. However, the Bible is a definite exception. The Scriptures are replete with statements that demonstrate scientific knowledge that predates (often by many hundred of years) corresponding discoveries made by the modern scientific world. Given that men who wrote the Bible were not scientists, and given that the scientific information at their disposal was both sparse and generally misleading, the accuracy of the Bible can only be attributed to Divine inspiration." [DP]

"From time to time there may be conflicts between science and what some think the Bible teaches. There may also be conflicts between what the Bible actually teaches and what some think science has proved. But there is absolutely no conflict between what the Bible actually teaches and what science has actually proved". [01]
 

PAGE I (This Page)

The Universe
Time and Space, The Beginning, An Initial Void, God Stretches Out The Heavens, i.e. The Universe is Expanding
The Books Of Job and Isaiah -  The Hole In The North, Space is Empty, Air Has Weight, The Host of Heaven

The Earth
Atoms, The Earth is a Sphere, The Orbit of The Sun, Gravitational Properties of Constellations
Pangaea and Peleg, First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics, Talking Lightning?, The Hydrologic Cycle

The Oceans
The Paths Of The Seas, Mountains Under The Seas, Springs Under The Seas


PAGE II
(Next Page)
Misc: The Dinosaur and Why it Disappeared, Those Industrious Ants, Could Noah's Ark Float?

Man: Adam And Eve, Life is in the Blood, Blood Clotting in Infants, A Merry Heart

Medical Knowledge in Ancient Times: Moses vs. The Egyptians, Sanitary Practices in the 19th Century, Sanitary Practices in Moses' Time,
The Minoans and The Romans, Leprosy and Plague
 
001white  Old Testament Dietary Guidelines: Pork and its Connection with Various Diseases, Shellfish

The End Times: Ancient Descriptions of a Nuclear Explosion, The Second Coming Takes Place During The Day AND Night

Verses Wrongly Taken as Proof of Scientific Knowledge, The Treasures of The Snow, Seed of a Woman, Singing Stars

 

The Universe

Time and Space:
Most people read the opening verses in the Bible without giving them a second thought. However, a closer examination of Genesis 1:1-3 shows that the author of Genesis verbalized exactly the same sophisticated principle that scientists use thousands of years later. Science expresses the universe in five terms: time, space, matter, power and motion. So does Genesis chapter one, verses 1 and 3 which were written some three and a half thousand years ago.

    In the beginning (time) God created (power) the Heaven (space) and the Earth (matter)... and the Spirit of God moved (motion) upon the face of the waters."


The Beginning:
The word "beginning" refers specifically to the beginning of time. However, for many years scientists were convinced that the universe was infinite (without end), and that time had always existed.

The COsmic Background Explorer (COBE)- also referred to as Explorer 66, was a satellite dedicated to cosmology (the study of the origin, evolution, and eventual fate of the universe). This NASA space mission was designed to test the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe and apparently provided evidence that supported the idea that the universe had a beginning..

    Note: The Big Bang theory was initially proposed in 1946 by George Gamow, a Russian-born scientist who believed that a primeval fireball, or an intense concentration of pure energy at some finite time in the past was the source of all the matter that now exists in the universe.

I wonder how many billions of dollars Explorer 66 cost. Yet someone only had to open the first page of a $10.00 Bible to know the universe had a beginning. The very first verse in Scripture reads - "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). The very second verse tells us that there was nothing but a void before creation  - “The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep... ” (Genesis 1:2).

A Time Magazine article dated December 1976 said (Emphasis Added)

    "Most cosmologists - scientists who study the structure and evolution of the universe, agree that the biblical account of creation, in imagining an initial void, may be uncannily close to the truth." [02]


Note: The Books of Job and Isaiah:
The evidence for the book of Job allows for, but does not demand a second millennium B.C. date. If this is correct Job is very likely to be the oldest book in the Bible - possibly composed during the time of the Patriarchs. See An Introduction to the Book of Job.

The prophet Isaiah lived almost 3,000 years ago which means he could not possibly have understood what he was writing. See How The Bible Was Written

God Stretches Out The Heavens, i.e. The Universe is Expanding
It wasn't until 1925 that the American astronomer Edwin Hubble (whom the Hubble Space Telescope is named after) proved that the universe is expanding and that there is a direct relationship between the speeds of distant galaxies and their distances from Earth. The further they are - the faster they move. However, not only are the galaxies rushing outward but the universe is also expanding. The Time Magazine article quoted in the previous section went on to say

    ".... in 1929, when Astronomer Edwin Hubble used shifts in the spectral lines of light emanating from distant galaxies to calculate that the islands of stars are moving at tremendous speeds away from the earth - and from each other - like dots painted on the surface of an expanding balloon. To some scientists, this outward rush of the galaxies suggested an original cosmic explosion". [03] 

Yet, centuries ago the Old Testament prophets clearly told us no less that seven times that the Almighty 'stretches out the heavens'.

    Who alone stretches out the heavens and tramples down the waves of the sea; (Job 9:8 NASB)

    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. (Isaiah 40:22 NASB)

    Thus says God the Lord, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread out the earth and its offspring, Who gives breath to the people on it And spirit to those who walk in it, (Isaiah 42:5 NASB)

    "It is I who made the earth, and created man upon it. I stretched out the heavens with My hands And I ordained all their host. (Isaiah 45:12 NASB)

    That you have forgotten the Lord your Maker, Who stretched out the heavens And laid the foundations of the earth, That you fear continually all day long because of the fury of the oppressor, As he makes ready to destroy? But where is the fury of the oppressor? (Isaiah 51:13 NASB)

    It is He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens. (Jeremiah 10:12 NASB)

    The burden of the word of the Lord concerning Israel. Thus declares the Lord who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him, (Zechariah 12:1 NASB)

This leads to a couple of interesting conclusions.

    1) If the stars are moving away from the earth - the earth can be understood as being the center of the universe. Surprise! Surprise!

    2) And much more importantly - as said by Rolaant L. McKenzie "So what does this mean? If you trace the movements of the galaxies back through time, the distances between them would decrease until they all met at a single, beginning point. This point scientists call a singularity. If the universe had a beginning, then the next question that follows would be, "Who began it?"  See Does God Exist?


The Hole In The North

    Job 26:7 says, ""He stretches out the north over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing.

Thanks to incredibly powerful telescopes modern astronomers can see a solid mass of stars surrounding the earth - with one exception. The universe has a huge hole in it that dwarfs anything else of its kind.  This "gap" in the Northern Hemisphere, lying in the general direction of the constellation Bootes is nearly a billion light years across. The discovery caught astronomers by surprise - not because a void exists but because it is so huge.

    It is not a black hole, which is a small sphere of densely packed matter, but is mostly devoid of stars, gas and other normal matter. It is also strangely empty of the mysterious "dark matter" that permeates the cosmos. Other space voids have been found before, but nothing on this scale. [ 04]

Indeed, He stretches out the north over the empty place. This bring us to the second half of Job 26:7 - He "hangs the earth on nothing"


Space is Empty:
In ancient times it was variously believed that the earth sat on a large animal or a giant - that a mythical Atlas supported the pillars that held heaven and earth apart or carried the earth around on his shoulders (One has to wonder where he stood while doing so).

Job lived in an ancient culture that knew absolutely nothing of gravity, space or planets, and didn't have the slightest clue that the earth was suspended in space. Yet, the prophet confidently asserted that God hung the earth on nothing - that the earth floats freely in space - something that would not be fully understood until centuries in the future. 

    He stretches out the north over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing.  (Job 26:7 NASB)

A fascinating tidbit from scientific history makes this even more telling.

Until very recently scientists believed space consisted of a hypothetical substance called Ether. Note the following from the web site Eric Weisstein's World of Science (All Emphasis Added)

    Ether, or luminiferous Ether, was the hypothetical substance through which electromagnetic waves travel. It was proposed by the Greek philosopher Aristotle and used by several optical theories as a way to allow propagation of light, which was believed to be impossible in "empty" space.

    It was supposed that the ether filled the whole universe and was a stationary frame of reference, which was rigid to electromagnetic waves but completely permeable to matter. Hooke endorsed the idea of the existence of the ether in his work Micrographia (1665), and other several philosophers of the 17th century, including Huygens, did the same. At the time of Maxwell's mathematical studies of electromagnetism (in the 1860's), ether was still assumed to be the propagation medium and was imbued with physics properties such as permeability and permittivity.

    In 1887, a crucial experiment was performed by Michelson and Edward Morley in an attempt to detect the existence of the ether. The experiment, named the Michelson-Morley experiment in honor of its authors, shocked the scientific community by yielding results which implied the non-existence of ether. This result was later on used by Einstein to refute the existence of the ether and allowed him to develop special relativity without this artificial (and non-existent) constraint. [05]


Air Has Weight:
 Many centuries ago Job wrote

    When He imparted weight to the wind and meted out the waters by measure, (Job 28:25 NASB)

It is often difficult for people to believe that air has weight - that it is even a real substance. However, we know that air has mass not only because we can feel it when the wind blows, but strong winds can cause large trees to topple over... Anything with mass has weight.

    In fact, the relative weights of air and water are needed for the efficient functioning of the world's hydrologic cycle, i.e. the continuous process by which water is circulated throughout the Earth and its atmosphere. This cycle "begins with the evaporation of water from the surface of the ocean. As moist air is lifted, it cools and water vapor condenses to form clouds. Moisture is transported around the globe until it returns to the surface as precipitation". [06]

Although this cycle pretty much sustains life on the earth, it wasn't scientifically proven until only about 300 years ago.


The Host of Heaven
The Egyptian astronomer Claudius Ptolemy of Alexandria compiled the first catalogue of stars in the 2nd century AD. Called the Almagest, it was divided into 13 sections referred to as 'books'. Books VII and VIII cover the motion of the fixed stars, and contained a star catalogue of 1022 stars, described by their positions in the constellations.

In 1609, Galileo made the first telescope that could magnify objects twenty times with which he  was able to look at the moon, discover the four satellites of Jupiter etc. [07] However, it wasn't until the advent of telescopes such as the Hubble, we now know that,

    Stars are not spread uniformly across the universe, but are usually grouped into galaxies along with interstellar gas and dust. A typical galaxy contains hundreds of billions of stars and there are more than 100 billion (1011) galaxies in the observable universe. While it is often believed that stars only exist within galaxies, intergalactic stars have been discovered. Astronomers estimate that there are at least 70 sextillion (7×1022) stars in the observable universe. [Wikipedia].

But didn't God already say that?

    And He took him outside and said, "Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." (Genesis 15:5 NASB)

    "As the host of heaven cannot be counted and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.'" (Jeremiah 33:22 NASB)

    Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants as the stars of the heaven in number and innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. (Hebrews 11:12 NASB)

The Bible asserts that the stars are innumerable (Genesis 15:5, Genesis 17:7, Hebrews 11:12). This does not necessarily mean that we are incapable of mathematically expressing their number. It means that no human has the ability to count them individually.

    It is claimed that there are 100 billion stars in our galaxy alone. If stars were counted around the clock at one star per second, then it would take over 3000 years just to count these. Add to this the fact that there are as many as 100 billion galaxies. However, there were many scholars prior to Galileo who believed that the stars could be counted, and several attempts were made to do so. Many of these counts arrived at around 1000 stars." [DP]

All of this brings Psalm 8:3-4 to mind

    When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?
     

    The Earth

Atoms:
Only in recent years has science discovered that everything we see is composed of things that we cannot see - tiny invisible particles called atoms, made up of electrons and protons, which are really not solids, but positive and negative charges of electricity. Considering that he lived about two centuries ago, it is extremely doubtful that the author of the books of Hebrews specifically understood the subject, yet he accurately wrote about atomic structure - nearly 2000 years before it was discovered by scientists.

    By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. (Hebrews 11:3 NASB)

Ancient Biblical writers accurately expressing modern scientific concepts is yet another perfect example of the Divine inspiration behind the Scriptures..

But that is not all.

Interestingly the atom has a dense center called the nucleus, inside which are neutrons and protons. Neutrons have no electrical charge and are therefore neutral. Protons, on the other hand have a positive charge. One law of electricity is that like charges repel one another. Therefore, since the protons inside the nucleus are all positive charges, they should repel one another and scatter, but for some reason they do not. There is a binding force holding them together that is not yet understood by the scientific community, but not so hard for Bible believers to figure out.

    For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:16-17 NASB)


The Earth is a Sphere:
The prophet Isaiah lived almost 3,000 years ago (some 750 years before Christ)

    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.  (Isaiah 40:22 NASB)

It is certainly true that the word translated "circle in the above passage ("khug") can mean both a circle or a sphere. However, using the same word Job wrote

    "He has inscribed a circle on the surface of the waters at the boundary of light and darkness. (Job 26:10 NASB)

Job 26:10 clearly refers to the line of demarcation between day and night. No other interpretation is possible. This circular line of demarcation would not be seen on a flat earth. In fact, this view of the curved horizon at sunrise or sunset can only be seen from extremely high altitudes reached only by military jets and spacecraft.

In other words, the Bible wrote of the Earth as a sphere long before the ancient Greek astronomer Eratosthenes, born in 276 BC., accurately calculated the earth's circumference and made the first models and maps based on a spherical Earth. 

Interestingly Psalms 103:12 says “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us” which is understood to mean that our transgressions have been removed as far as possible; as far as we can imagine.

     On a spherical surface, east and west are infinitely separated in the sense that one can travel indefinitely in either direction without ever attaining the other. North and south are not infinitely separated as east and west, because a southward traveler on a spherical surface will be heading north after crossing the south pole". [DP]

 Four Corners Of The Earth? Some believe that Isaiah 11:12 that speaks of God gathering the dispersed of Judah From "the four corners of the earth", indicates the people of the day believed in a flat earth. Seriously? This phrase is a colloquialism that is still used today to portray the four compass extremities of the earth. In fact the Strong's Greek/Hebrew dictionary defines the word "corner" (gonia) as angle, or quadrant.


The Orbit of The Sun:

Scientists who have long believed that the earth revolved around a stationary sun, scoff at the following verses which they said, taught the opposite....

    Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber; It rejoices as a strong man to run his course. Its rising is from one end of the heavens, And its circuit to the other end of them; And there is nothing hidden from its heat. (Psalms 19:4-6 NASB)

However, it was later discovered that the sun has a "circuit" through the heavens, just as the Bible says. The Sun - in fact, our whole solar system - orbits around the center of the Milky Way. The Sun travels at approximately 600,000 miles per hour. But the Galaxy is so huge that  even at that rate, it takes  about 230 million years to make one complete orbit around the Milky Way! 


Gravitational Properties of Constellations:
In Job 38 God did not merely challenge Job on his lack of knowledge; He also pointed out how little and powerless he was. God asked Job whether he could

    "... bind the chains of the Pleiades (Heb. kîymâh ), Or loose the cords of Orion (Heb. kesîyl)? (Job 38:31 NASB)

Note: Some texts have ma’anaddoth (chains) but the Masoretic text has ma’adannoth which means delicate or beautiful. (No idea why the KJV renders the verse as ‘sweet influences’) Anyway, what is important is that the Pleiades are an open star cluster that are loosely bound by gravity in the constellation of Taurus. They are also called the Seven Sisters' because seven of the stars are usually visibly to the naked eye. However, the cluster is made up of many more stars (over a thousand), some of which shine much more brightly than our sun. What is truly interesting in view of what Job wrote, is that these stars are gravitationally bound together. They move in unison with each other, much like a school of fish but a little faster - 25 miles per second.

The "cords of Orion" refers to what we call the belt of Orion - the three massive stars that form the band at Orion's waist. These stars are pretty evenly spaced in a more or less straight line. However, the fact that they are free agents means that they are not gravitationally bound. Although two of them are moving towards each other and the third is moving away - none of this is perceptible because they are so far away.

Given our present knowledge it makes perfect sense that God asked Job if he could  bind the Pleiades or loosen the cords of Orion just as He Himself had done. See https://creation.com/images/pdfs/tj/j20_2/j20_2_100-103.pdf for the reasons why kîymâh and kesîyl were rendered Orion and Pleiades.


Pangaea and Peleg:
The Pangaea theory is the hypothesis that the continents once formed a single landmass called Pangaea ('all lands' in Greek) before breaking apart and drifting to their present locations. Although the idea caused sharp disagreement among geologists, evidence in favour of continental drift is now extensive.

The continents resemble pieces of a huge jigsaw puzzle that fit together perfectly. For example the coastline of the West Coast of Africa fits perfectly in with the coastline of East Coast of South America. Even more tellingly, geological similarities on matching continental edges suggest that they were once joined. 

And what does the Bible say?

Genesis 10:25 speaks of a man, whose name Peleg means division. The text then explains that he was so named because in his days the earth was divided.

    Two sons were born to Eber; the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother's name was Joktan. (Genesis 10:25 NASB)

There are those that believe that this verse refers to the division of humans into many diverse communities which started with the linguistic division at Babel. However, this cannot be correct because eight verses later the Bible states, "Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words" (Genesis 11:1) but only after they built the Tower of Babel did the Lord scatter the people over the face of the whole earth and confuse their language. (Genesis 11:9). 

The story related in Genesis 11:1-9 clearly shows that the tower being constructed was displeasing to the Lord however, there is absolutely nothing in the account that mentions what specific sin the builders were guilty of nor what exactly the significance of the tower of Babel had. This lack of clarity has led to a number of different hypotheses and  made good Sunday sermons on obedience etc. none of them hold water. The truth is far more sinister than we have been led to believe. See Two Babylons Part II - From Babel to Babylon


First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics:
The 1st Law of Thermodynamics states that matter can be neither created nor destroyed, and that the amount of matter in the universe remains constant.  If the First Law is correct (which every scientific measurement ever made has confirmed), the universe could not have created itself - It must have been created in the past, no further creating must be going on, and no loss of creation is occurring.

The Bible is the only religious book that correctly portrays the First Law when, in Genesis, it tells of a Creator who is no longer creating. After outlining the order of creation, Genesis 2:1 says creation was "finished" - once and for all.

    Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. (Genesis 2:1-2 NASB)

 Also See The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics... A Law Against Evolution


Talking Lightning?:
When God said in Job 38:35

    "Can you send forth lightnings that they may go and say to you, 'Here we are'? (Job 38:35 NASB)

This certainly seemed to be a scientifically ludicrous statement -- that light can be sent, and then manifest itself in speech. However, Radio waves that are a type of electromagnetic radiation (electricity and magnetism) move at the speed of light which is why you can have instantaneous wireless communication with someone on the other side of the earth.  This was discovered in 1864 when "the British scientist James Clerk Maxwell suggested that electricity and light waves were two forms of the same thing".


The Hydrologic Cycle:
Since the Mississippi River (only one of thousands of rivers) dumps over six million gallons of water per second into the Gulf of Mexico one has to wonder where all that water goes. The answer to which question lies in the hydrologic cycle - the continuous circulation of water on the Earth. The water on, above, and below the surface of the Earth is in constant motion changing states between liquid, vapor, and ice.

The ancient Greeks variously believed there to be a vast subterranean freshwater lake or many watery caverns that supplied the rivers with water through springs. Aristotle was closer to the mark when he described evaporation and condensation, but he still held to the idea of subterranean water being the main source of the supply. These theories came about largely because no one could believe that rainfall was sufficient to keep rivers flowing. It wasn't until the 16th century that Pierre Perrault who measured the precipitation and the water in the Seine basin in France, demonstrated that several times more rain fell than there was water in the river.

Yet, several centuries before Pierre Perrault the book of Ecclesiastes said

    All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, there they flow again. (Ecclesiastes 1:7 NASB)

 God also told Job and Amon what He does

    "Also with moisture He loads the thick cloud; He disperses the cloud of His lightning. "It changes direction, turning around by His guidance, That it may do whatever He commands it On the face of the inhabited earth. "Whether for correction, or for His world, Or for lovingkindness, He causes it to happen. (Job 37:11-13 NASB)

    The One who builds His upper chambers in the heavens And has founded His vaulted dome over the earth, He who calls for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the face of the earth, The Lord is His name.  (Amos 9:6 NASB)

And how fragile clouds manage to support water that can be many times heavier than air

    1. For He draws up the drops of water, They distill rain from the mist, Which the clouds pour down, They drip upon man abundantly. (Job 36:27-28 NASB)

    3. He wraps up the waters in His clouds, and the cloud does not burst under them.  (Job 26:8 NASB)

Evaporation and precipitation were also mentioned in the Psalms and in the book of Isaiah

    He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth... (Psalms 135:7a NASB)

    He waters the mountains from His upper chambers; The earth is satisfied with the fruit of His works. (Psalms 104:13 NASB)

    For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; (Isaiah 55:10 NASB)

Rainwater continually seeps into the ground to replenish aquifers (underground layers of permeable water-bearing rock), which store huge amounts of water that can supply springs or wells and/or seep into streams. The importance of groundwater is seen in verses like Deuteronomy 33:13 and Genesis 16:7

    Of Joseph he said, "Blessed of the Lord be his land, with the choice things of heaven, with the dew, and from the deep lying beneath (Deuteronomy 33:13)

    Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.  (Genesis 16:7 NASB)

None of this is meant to be a scientific explanation of the hydrologic cycle, but merely shows that nothing on earth happened as result of random chance. The laws of nature were set in place by the Father Himself. Ron Neller's superb article on the subject goes into greater detail and is well worth reading. See Do you know the laws of the heavens?

The Oceans

The Paths Of The Seas:
Psalm 8:8 speaks of the "the paths of the seas"

 A path is, literally or figuratively, a well trodden road. But since there are no roads in the seas, it is more than likely that it is referring to ocean currents, which was discovered only in the 1850's. The following history of the discovery of these "paths" is an excerpt from Answers in Genesis....

    Matthew Maury, (1806 -1873) was U.S. naval officer, pioneer hydrographer, and one of the founders of oceanography. What is rarely mentioned about Maury is that he was a strong belief in God as the Sovereign Creator. And if the Bible spoke of 'paths' in the sea, there had to be 'paths' in the sea that could be found. So he set out to find them - and find them he did!

    After a stagecoach accident that left him partially disabled and ending his active duty with the Navy "he was placed in charge of the Depot of Charts and Instruments, out of which grew the U.S. Naval Observatory and Hydrographic Office". Unfortunately Maury discovered that the Navy had very few charts of the oceans! 

    What it did have was Navy ship logbooks in which sea captains had recorded their daily locations, and the speed and directions of winds and currents. When Maury compiled these records he saw a pattern that he added to by asking merchant captains to make and send him more observations. Additionally, Maury set adrift weighted bottles known as drift bottles that were not affected by wind because they floated slightly below the surface of the water. Instructions sealed in each bottle directed anyone who found one washed ashore to return it with details of where and when the bottles was found. This information enabled Maury to develop charts of the ocean currents - the 'paths' of the seas, which helped captains plot the best sea lanes for their voyages [08]

And that was far from all. Among other things Maury also created maps that showed rocks, reefs, shoals and other hazards. His charts became so indispensable that at an 1853 conference in Brussels, the representatives of a dozen nations unanimously adopted them as definitive guides for international shipping. [09]

He eventually produced charts of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans and published the first modern oceanographic text, The Physical Geography of the Sea. On page 403, he wrote

    In observing the working and studying - the offices of the various parts of the physical machinery which keeps the world in order, we should ever remember that it is all made for its purposes, and that it was planned according to design, and arranged so as to make the world as we behold it, a place for the habitation of man. Upon no other hypothesis can the student expect to gain profitable knowledge concerning the physics of the sea, earth, or air.” Maury

a decade or so before he died, Maury laid the cornerstone for the University of East Tennessee in 1860. The speech he gave reads in part,

    I have been blamed by men of science, both in this country and in England, for quoting the Bible in confirmation of the doctrines of physical geography. The Bible, they say, was not written for scientific purposes, and is therefore of no authority in matters of science.

    I beg pardon! The Bible is authority for everything it touches.

    What would you think of the historian who should refuse to consult the historical records of the
    Bible, because the Bible was not written for the purposes of history? The Bible is true and science is true, and therefore each, if truly read, but proves the truth of the other. The agents in the physical economy of our planet are ministers of Him who made both it and the Bible.

    The records which He has chosen to make through the agency of these ministers of His upon the crust of the earth are as true as the records which by the hands of His prophets and servants, He has been pleased to make in the Book of Life.

    They are both true; and when your men of science, with vain and hasty conceit, announce the discovery of disagreement between them, rely upon it, the fault is not with the witness of His records, but with the worm who essays to interpret evidence which he does not understand.” [10]

A monument erected in his honour on Monument Avenue, Richmond, Virginia, reads "Matthew Fontaine Maury, Pathfinder of the Seas".

Mountains Under The Seas:
Jonah, who lived close to 3000 years ago spoke of going down to the "bottoms of the mountains". His prayer from the stomach of the fish included the words

    "For You had cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current engulfed me. All Your breakers and billows passed over me.... Water encompassed me to the point of death. The great deep engulfed me, Weeds were wrapped around my head. I descended to the roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever, But You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. (Jonah 2:3, 5-6 NASB)

Only in recent history has man discovered that there are mountains on the ocean floor. The tropical Revillagigedos Islands are the visible peaks of a underwater mountain chain-known as the Eastern Pacific Rise, that stretches all the way to Antarctica. The deepest part of Mariana's Trench, east of the Mariana Islands, has been measured at 35,798 feet below sea level. Mount Everest is only 29,035 feet high


Springs Under The Seas:
Hydrothermal vents also are found in areas of the ocean floor that are spreading, such as at mid-ocean ridges, where tectonic plates are being pulled apart. This movement allows the molten magma to rise from deep inside the Earth, superheating the cold ocean water around it.

    The average temperature of deep-ocean water is only 2°C (36°F). The water coming directly from a hydrothermal vent can go as high as 350°C (662°F) and is rich in dissolved chemicals. The hot spring water forms a plume above the vent, somewhat like smoke rising from a chimney into the air. [11]

The first underwater hot spring was probably discovered in 1977, when scientists discovered hot springs at a depth of 2.5 km, on the Galapagos Rift (spreading ridge) off the coast of Ecuador. Since then other hot springs have been found at a number of sites along the mid-oceanic ridges, many on the East Pacific Rise. Giant tube worms, huge clams, and mussels all thrive around the hot springs. [12]

Yet once again the Bible was slightly ahead of man's discovery..

    "Have you entered into the springs of the sea Or walked in the recesses of the deep?  (Job 38:16 NASB)

CONTINUE ON TO PART II - HERE


End Notes (Unless otherwise mentioned all URL's were accessed November 2017) Please note that there are some references simply marked as [DP] These refer to an article on scientific knowledge in the Bible written by David Pyles. The articles seems to have disappeared from the internet.

[01] Bobby Duncan. "The Inspiration of the Bible". http://acoconline.com/uploads/Duncan/the%20inspiration%20of%20the%20bible.pdf. Emphasis Added

[02] http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,947769-3,00.html Link is no longer active.

[03] ibid.

[04] Robert Roy Britt. Huge Hole Found in the Universe space.com. https://www.space.com/4271-huge-hole-universe.html

[05] Contributed by Leonardo Motta. Ether. scienceworld.wolfram.com. http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/Ether.html

[06] A Summary of the Hydrologic Cycle. Department of Atmospheric Sciences (DAS) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/hyd/smry.rxml

[07] Galileo's Telescope. http://galileo.rice.edu/bio/narrative_6.html

[08] Matthew Maury's search for the secret of the seas. Answers in Genesis.
http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v11/i3/maury.asp

[09] Dale M. Brumfield: Why we should save the Maury monument. https://goo.gl/yyinTV

[10] Cited in Corbin, Diane Fontaine Maury, 1888, A Life of Matthew Fontaine Maury, USN & CSN, compiled by his daughter. Sampson & Low & Co. Quoted from Matthew Fontaine Maury - Pathfinder of the seas by Effie Munday. https://creation.com/matthew-maury

[11] Hot Springs on the Ocean Floor... http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Ge-Hy/Hot-Springs-on-the-Ocean-Floor.html

[12] Exploring The Deep Ocean Floor: Hot Springs And Strange Creatures. http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/exploring.html
 

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