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Has Modern Science Refuted an Inerrant Bible?

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There have been a few articles in the news recently about the misdating of human fossils. Scientific discoveries have often challenged the inerrancy of the Bible and its claims, whether it be creation, the life of Jesus, or His resurrection. Many of these claims have been later refuted, while others are just outright irrelevant. The following article is from the BLB FAQs and addresses the concern that modern science has refuted the validity of the Bible’s claims as an inerrant work of God.

Modern science has supposedly rendered an inerrant Bible as something that is impossible. Reports of skulls of creatures who were half-human, half-ape, as well as confident assertions that the theory of evolution has been proved have led many to abandon the idea of an inerrant Bible. According to many, the scientific ideas, that the Bible teaches, are nothing but mythical ideas of a pre-scientific age.

Science Is Not the Main Topic of Scripture

There are several responses to these charges. First, Scripture is not mainly a presentation on the subject of science – it is God’s revelation of Himself and His plan to the human race. Science and scientific issues are not the main topics.

The Bible Speaks Reliably About Science

However, whenever Scripture speaks on areas of science it speaks reliably. God’s nature would not allow Him to accurately reveal information about Himself on one level but inaccurately reveal information in other areas.

Science Has Not Proven Any Errors in Scripture

In addition, scientific research has not proven anything that would refute Scripture. The theory of evolution, for example, is exactly that, a theory. The so-called missing links between humans and apes are not clear examples of some transitional creature between apes and humans. The missing links are still missing.

The Bible Uses Common Modes of Expression

The Bible does not speak unscientifically – it speaks non-scientifically. The Bible uses common modes of expression such as the sun rising and the sun standing still. In Joshua we read of the sun rising.

until the LORD gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall possess it, the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise. (Joshua 1:15).

There is also the famous incident of the sun standing still.

And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,
until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.
(Joshua 10:13)

These expressions were, and still are, the common ways of explaining things that are observable – they are not meant to be precise scientific statements.

There Is No Conflict When Properly Understood

There is no conflict between science and Scripture when both are properly understood. They key is to understand exactly what the Bible says and what exactly science has proven. When this is done there will be no conflict between the two.

Summary

Modern science has supposedly made the doctrine of inerrancy obsolete. With the advent of the discoveries of modern science the view of the world that was held in biblical time is now seen to have ben wrong. Yet this is not the case. Science and Scripture are not at odds with each other when there is a correct interpretation of what each of them are saying. The Bible speaks non-scientifically. Yet what it does say matches up with scientific reality.

Comments

  1. “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane [and] vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:”
    1 Tim 6:20

    There are false sciences. You see, true science agrees with Scripture and acknowledges the Lord. Science that denies what the Bible says is a science falsely so called.

    There is plenty of Christian research which proves the Bible is scientifically accurate and teaches TRUE science. Visit the Institute for Creation Research’s website.
    http://www.icr.org/books/defenders/7106/

    God Bless!

    • PB

      I agree with your comment that true science agrees with scripture. I am saddened by people on both extremes of a spectrum that has put science and the Bible on opposite ends. On one end the bible-less scientist fails to discern the central role of a creator, and the science-less Christian fails to see the true work of God in the Universe. On one end I can see people like Richard Dawkins, but on the other I can see people like Ken Ham. Both extremes are defended with a passion that blinds the eyes of reason and hinders the real quest for knowledge.

      • Paco, you obviously haven’t spent much time on Ken Ham’s site (Answers in Genisis). I challenge you to follow any of the series, including the past articles archived there, and then be (saddened) by Ken’s defense of the scripture. Be sure to follow the link to the recent TBN program where Ken Ham exposes Hugh Ross’s faulty eisogesis of scrpiture. There is a current follow up article on AIG about Ross’s sloppy interprative methods.

        Bravo Barbara! You are exactly right on Joshua’s long day. Excelent job!

        For a detailed explaination of why the Genisis creation narrative isn’t poetry, get a copy of the ‘Thousands Not Billions’ DVD fron ICR.org. Stephen Boyd, professor of Hebrew at Master’s College, puts to rest the notion of that passage being poetry, to 99.9973%!

        The main aspect of Ken Ham’s purpose and approach that I appreciate, is that he puts the theological ramiffications back into the fore front. (If you have millions of years of death before Adam’s sin, then sin didn’t bring death and decay. The logical question then is, just exactly what did Jesus die for? Plus that makes God’s “very good” creation full of death and decay. God then becomes responsible for our suffering instead of man.)
        BTW, I’ve gained a lot of insights into how to study the scripture from that site and ICR.org.
        About two years into my walk, I was faced with the problems posed by Genisis and evolutionary explainations on origins(2002). ICR happened to be just a few blocks away from the church I was attending at the time. Needless to say, I’ve never looked back.
        In conclusion, if we are going to change our views of clear statements of scripture, based on ever changing guesses of secular scientisits, then ask them if they believe in the virgin conception and birth of Christ and the resurrection? Are we going to start taking that out of scripture also?
        While Barabara and I have differing views on some issues, her insistance on staying with the plain meaning of the text is spot on.
        God knows what He did and how to convey it. If Jesus spoke the entire universe into existence, and is upholding it by the ‘word of His power’, then there is no reason to assume that He didn’t intervene supernaturally for Joshua just as the text says.

        • Tim

          I will graciously brush aside the beginning of your comment, in which I sense a condescending attitude sprinkled with a bit of sarcasm. It is understandable, since you do not know me and I plead guilty of having done the same thing in the past. This kind of attitude,however, is at the core of my concern of the efforts of bringing together science and the Bible. Consider what Ken Ham says in his post “The “god” of an Old Earth” (1). Essentially, Ken Ham is accusing anybody that does not believe what he does as a heretic, saying that we worship a different god. It makes me think that if this was the middle ages, my future would be a pile of ash at the feet of the inquisitors. If Jesus has not condemned me, why should Ken Ham? Is he my brother or my accuser? His rhetoric fuels the fire of divisiveness in the church instead of helping build the pillars of knowledge.

          (1) http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/cm/v21/n4/oldearth

          • Correction:
            Not what ‘he does’, what the text states. The challenge still stands.
            Have you ever examined the lack of evidence for evolution, presented by those like Ken Ham?
            You are using the straw man middle ages argument. The Bible never teaches a geo centric universe. It was the Roman Catholic church, responding to ‘scientists’ so called, that was doing the burning.
            Watch the TBN debate. Hugh Ross didn’t even have a Bible abd refused to use it when Ken offered him his, because Ross knows there is no support for millions of years either in biology, or cosmology. You have to import it from a failed therory.
            BTW, you didn’t cite any sources, biblical or otherwise.
            ‘Iron sharpens Iron’.

    • Thank you for your article and the way you articulated the problem. I believe today we need more than ever to arm ourselves with the truth. God wants to be known and glorified. We have not done the work of studying for ourselves. The church in the past was better prepared for apologetics and sharing thier world view. If your not in the word the word is not in you.

  2. I heard a scientist speak when I was a little girl and he described in detail that the sun indeed stood still. I cant remember verbatim because it was so long ago but I distinctly recall that seminar or lecture and it was at some planitarium. My family was not necessarily “believers” in the inerrancy of the bible when I was a child but that adventure stuck in my memory.

  3. Chris~

    Hi! I understand the idea that the Bible speaks in “common modes of expression” with regard to the sun rising because we witness that every day although we know that it the Earth that is doing the moving. I am also familiar with the expression about the sun stopping although I have never heard the one about the moon. I had always understood that what took place in Joshua 10:13 as something that took place literally, and as I went back and read the context, it still appears that it is to be taken as such for several reasons. One is that Joshua going up to the Lord (v. 12) is a literal account as is his speaking in the sight of Israel the command for the sun and moon to stand still. Secondly, we read that the sun and moon did, indeed, stand still (v. 13), literal expressions that even give a time frame (“until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies”) (v. 13), which doesn’t seem a likely addition to something that is merely an expression. Thirdly, we are told that this event is actually recorded in the “Book of Jasher” (v. 13), and it doesn’t seem reasonable to me that something that is known as used as just an expression would have been documented. Finally, the author of Joshua makes an additional comment (v. 14) to point out just how extraordinary the event was, again, not something that I think would have been done unless it had really happened. I would appreciate any clarification that you can give.

    Thank you for all your work. It is very much appreciated!
    Barbara

  4. Hebrews 11:1
    Now faith is the substance of things hoped for
    The evidence of things not seen

    Hebrews 11:2
    For by it the elders obtained a good report

    John 20:29
    JESUS saith unto him Thomas because thou hast seen me thou hast believed blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed

    Proverbs 8:23
    I was set up from everlasting from the beginning or ever the earth was

    Proverbs 8:27
    When HE prepared the heavens I was there
    When HE set a compass upon the face of the depth

    Proverbs 8:29
    When HE gave to the sea HIS decree that the waters should not pass HIS commandment
    When HE appointed the foundations of the earth

    Colossians 1:16
    For by HIM were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created
    by HIM and for HIM

    Colossians 1:17
    And HE is before all things
    And by HIM all things all things consist

    Hebrews 11:3
    Through —FAITH—we understand that the worlds were framed
    —BY THE WORD OF GOD—so that—THINGS WHICH ARE SEEN—
    WERE NOT MADE OF THINGS WHICH DO APPEAR

    YOU SAID IT O MY LORD HELP US ALL TO LEAVE AT THAT HELP US JESUS
    THAT WE BELIEVE AND TRUST AND THEREFORE DO HELP US LORD TO LIFT YOU UP AND GIVE YOU PRAISE FOR ALL THAT YOU HAVE DONE

    WE PRAY LORD IN YOUR NAME THAT WE MAY BE HEARD BY THE FATHER
    HELP US TO BE BELIEVERS THAT WE CAN BE HEARD WE NEED YOU LORD WE NEED YOU

    LOVING YOU LORD HELP US

  5. This has been going on for ages that man wanted to dispute what GOD has said thru HIS WORD the BIBLE and hides it in the name of science. Sad to say common man has embraced this from the enemy as we learn from the story of Adam and Eve.
    Science in itself actually glorifies GOD by explaining the things going on (natural phenomena)even though we are aware of it or not. For the supernatural, is there anything too difficult for GOD? Jer 32:27

    Bottom line is,they have not settled in their heart that GOD and HIS WORD cannot be separated so they will find any and all excuses to say that GOD does not exist and HIS WORD in not reliable. This is due to their choice and the effect of that choice is them getting on “the other side”, “condemnation”

    “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” John 3:18-21

  6. BTW, I am a rocket scientist (B.S. Aerospace Engineer). My dear wife saw Dr. Baugh on TBN, recorded a few episodes, then challenged me to dispute what he was explaining. I could not but be converted at that very moment. I came into the Kingdom directly as a result of such men as Ken Ham, Kent Hovind and many other converted scientists. Creation Science is reaching a certain segment of society in amazing numbers. Praise the Lord!