How Science Affects Your Life

The Bible and Proven Scientific Facts

The Bible does not claim to be a textbook of scientific knowledge. Its writers, however, did more accurate comments on matters that should interest scientists today. Here are some examples. 

Age of the earth and the universe

Scientists estimate that the earth is about 4 billion years old and that the universe was born some 13 to 14 billion years ago.  The Bible sets  no date for the creation of the universe. In no place does it affirm that the earth is only a few thousand years old.  The very first verse in the Bible reads:  "In the beginning God created  the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1) That general statement  allows scientist to determine the age of the physical world according to sound scientific principles.

Preparation  of the earth for human habitation

Genesis chapter 1 uses the term "day" to set out the stages in the preparation o the earth for life in all its diverse forms.  The culminating event in this simple description was the appearance of humans.  The Bible fixes no duration for th six creative "days." Instead, it opens the door for modern scientists to study them and assign accurate time spans to them. We know that the creative "days" were much longer than the 24-hour days. 

How the earth is suspended

The Bible describes the earth as suspended "upon nothing." (Job 26:7) There is no mention of our planet resting on the shoulders of a giant or on the backs of elephants that stand on a turtle, as some popular myths  of ancient times had it. Rather, the Bible leaves the door open to scientific discovery. In time, Nicolaus Copernicus and Johannes Kepler described how the planets move around the sun driven  by an invisible force. Isaac Newton later showed how gravitation governs the movement of all objects in space.

Instructions on disease control and hygiene

The book of Leviticus contains the instructions given to the Israelites on how they were to avoid outbreaks of contagious diseases, including the practice of quarantine. And regarding sanitation, the law recorded at Deuteronomy 23:12, 3 ordered the Israelites to care for their waste in a private place outside their encampments.  They had to 'cover their excrement'  in the ground. It is only in the least 200 years that scientists and doctors have seen the need to set such standards. 

The Bible information  here was written down centuries ago. How did those writers come up with such information when even the most learned people of their time were ignorant of such things?  The Bible's Author answers:   "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." -Isaiah 55:9.

Next time: Science Has Its Limitations

From the Watchtower magazine, 2015