1 Scientific Foreknowledge

2 References §“Scientific Evidences of the Bible’s Inspiration” by Bert Thompson (Apologetics Press) §“Ready with an Answer” by Dr John Ankerberg & Dr John Weldon

3 About Cosmology §The first verse of the Bible is a scientific statement: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) §Five fundamentals of science l Beginning - Time l God - Cause (or force) l Created - Action l Heavens - Space l Earth - Matter

4 About Astronomy §The size of the universe cannot be measured (Jeremiah 31:36-37) §The stars cannot be counted (Genesis 15:5, 22:17, Jeremiah 33:22) §Different variety of stars “There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.” (1 Corinthians 15:41)

5 About the Sun §“Its rising is from one end of heaven, And its circuit to the other end; And there is nothing hidden from its heat.” (Psalm 19:6) Two scientific facts §Part 1 does not refer to geo-centricity, but to the sun’s own orbit in space that takes 220 million years to complete §Part 2 reveals that the sun is the source of heat and energy

6 About the Earth The Shape of the Earth §“It is He who sits above the circle of the earth” (Isaiah 40:22) §“He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters,” (Job 26:10) §“When He prepared the heavens, I was there, When He drew a circle on the face of the deep,” (Proverbs 8:27) Contrary to popular beliefs that the earth was flat, not spherical - for many centuries

7 About the Earth “He hangs the earth on nothing.” (Job 26:7) §The earth is not supported by anything - contrary to several popular myths at that time §A foreknowledge of the presence of gravitational force

8 About the Earth Geologic Formation §How mountains and rivers are formed: “He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots. He cutteth out rivers among the rocks;” (Job 28:9-10) §Erosion “But as a mountain falls and crumbles away, And as a rock is moved from its place; As water wears away stones, And as torrents wash away the soil of the earth” (Job 14:18-19)

9 About the Earth §Oceanic reservoirs: “He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses.” (Psalm 33:7) §The atmosphere “Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.” (Isaiah 40:22)

10 About Physics Conservation §“Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.... God ended His work which He had done” (Genesis 2:1-2) §“You alone are the LORD; You have made heaven, The heaven of heavens, with all their host, The earth and everything on it, The seas and all that is in them, And You preserve them all.” (Nehemiah 9:6) §Also affirmed in Hebrews 1:3, Isaiah 40:26, Ecclesiastes 3:14, 2 Peter 3:7

11 About Physics §The Bible tells us of the cessation of the act of Creation “Nothing now being created anywhere in this universe” (Dr Henry M Morris) §God preserves His creation - His laws in nature dictate that matter and energy may change form, but they cannot be created or destroyed §Confirmed by the First Law of Thermodynamics - energy nor matter cannot be created or destroyed

12 About Physics Entropy §“You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment” (Hebrews 1:11) §“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” (Isaiah 51:6) - also Psalm 102:26

13 About Physics Second Law of Thermodynamics §Increasing entropy in the universe - going toward disorder, unstructured, disorganised - irreversible l Galaxies dispersing l Earth’s rotation is slowing down l Fuel for the Sun’s energy decreasing l “Murphy’s Law”, etc Decay (growing old) is everywhere around

14 About Physics Light “Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And darkness, where is its place,” (Job 38:19) “By what way is light diffused?” (Job 38:24) Facts discovered by Sir Isaac Newton: §Light is described here as something that has a source and transmitted - popular belief was that light was instantaneous §Light is known to be capable of diffused and divided - as in refraction, diffusion

15 About Physics § Atoms “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” (2 Peter 3:10) §A hint of radio communications “Can you send out lightnings, that they may go, And say to you, ‘Here we are!’?” (Job 38:35)

16 About Oceanography “The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea That pass through the paths of the seas.” (Psalm 8:8) §Literally “roads”, pathways for travellers in the seas “The wind goes toward the south, And turns around to the north; The wind whirls about continually, And comes again on its circuit.” (Ecclesiastes 1:6) §Existence of wind patterns (meteorology)

17 About Oceanography §Matthew Maury ( ), a US Navy officer and a believer in the Bible, inspired to research into Psalm 8:8 and Ecclesiastes 1:6 §Found and plotted wind circuits and ocean currents, and is considered the founder of oceanography §Psalm 8:8 inscribed on his tombstone

18 About Oceanography “Have you entered the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in search of the depths?” (Job 38:16) §“Depth” (or recess) a reference to trenches in the deep - how would Job know in his days about this? §Discovered as late as trench in the Pacific Ocean was about 9 km deep - too deep for people in Job’s time to know

19 About Hydrology The Water Cycle “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.” (Ecclesiastes 1:7) The Mississippi river dumps 6,052,500 gallons of water into the sea per second ! But Solomon knew the sea would not be full, but would “return again” - the water cycle

20 About Hydrology Concept of the water cycle not understood till the 16th-17th century, but Bible writers like Solomon and Amos knew them long ago §“For He draws up drops of water, Which distill as rain from the mist, Which the clouds drop down And pour abundantly on man.” (Job 36:27-28) §“Who calls for the waters of the sea, And pours them out on the face of the earth” (Amos 9:6)

21 About Hydrology §“He binds up the water in His thick clouds, Yet the clouds are not broken under it.” (Job 26:8) §“Also with moisture He saturates the thick clouds; He scatters His bright clouds.” (Job 37:11)

22 About Hydrology The Hydrologic Balance §“If the clouds are full of rain, They empty themselves upon the earth” (Ecclesiastes 11:3) §“For He looks to the ends of the earth, And sees under the whole heavens, To establish a weight for the wind, And apportion the waters by measure. When He made a law for the rain, And a path for the thunderbolt,” (Job 28:24-26)

23 About Biology §“since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.” (Acts 17:25) l Experiments to create life by “spontaneous generation - the “Holy Grail” of atheistic science - met with constant failure l Known to be impossible to Paul §Reproduction to be “according to its kind” (Genesis 1:11, 12, 21, 24, 25) l Crossing-breeding of different classes of life impossible - only understood in recent times

24 About Biology “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.” (1 Corinthians 15:39) §Bio-chemical make-up is different §Fact accepted by even evolutionists §How did Paul, a gospel preacher, know such a biological fact?

25 About Medical Science “For the life of the flesh is in the blood,” (Leviticus 17:11 - also Genesis 9:4) §That blood is essential to life not a known medical fact till recent centuries §“Bleeding” was a form of medical treatment because blood of the sick thought to contain evil vapours - hence need to rid the body of the blood §George Washington was bled to death

26 “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed” (Genesis 3:15) §Until recent centuries, common belief was that only man possesses the seed of life §Women considered to be “incubators” - even suggested that placing man’s seed in warm mud could do the trick About Medical Science

27 “He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised,” (Genesis 17:12) §Prothrombin produced by the liver essential for blood coagulation to prevent haemorrhaging §Triggered by Vitamin K which is produced in a newborn between the 5th and 7th day §Hence, 8th day is about the earliest for circumcision if the newborn were not to risk bleeding to death About Medical Science

28 “... many hundreds of workers who laboured at great expense over a number of years to discover that the safest day to perform circumcision is the 8th... we can almost hear the leaves of the Bible rustling... to remind us that 4000 years ago, God initiated circumcision... Abraham did not pick the 8th day after many centuries of trial-and- error experiments. It was picked by the Creator of Vitamin K.” (Dr S.I. McMillen, “None of These Diseases”) About Medical Science

29 About Medical Science Psychotherapy Principles §“A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.” (Proverbs 17:22) §“Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.” (Proverbs 16:24)

30 §Numerous laws concerning hygiene and good healthy practices - many only recently understood by medical science §Archaeologists have not found any other civilisations that could compare with Israel in their knowledge of hygiene and health About Health Science

31 About Health Science §Laws on hygiene (Leviticus 13-14) l Complex and comprehensive for a civilisation in that age §Sanitary disposal of human waste (Deuteronomy 23:12-14) l The “Black Death” was a consequence of poor waste disposal (microorganism from waste to rats to humans resulting in the dreaded plague)

32 §Classification of “clean” and “unclean” food (Leviticus 11) l Eg pigs are scavengers - more prone to acquire and pass on diseases and parasites, especially in times past when cooking may not have been very thorough l Eg poisonous fishes often do not have scales §Eating of blood forbidden (Leviticus 17:12- 14) §Eating of animals that died naturally forbidden (Leviticus 17:15) About Health Science

33 About Shipbuilding “And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.” (Genesis 6:15) §Noah’s Ark - the largest water vessel on record until 1858 §Ratio of Noah’s Ark = 30:5:3 - discovered to be the perfect ratio for vessel of sea- worthiness (stability) (but not for speed) §Ratio used for cargo vessels in WWII §Where did Noah get his experience from?