I've heard it said that the Bible shows unexplainable knowledge of science ?

Question

Exactly what knowledge does it show that can not be attributed to common sense or past experience?

Answer 1

That the value of pi is exactly three.

And that bats are a kind of bird.

And that there are four-legged fowl.

And that rabbits chew their cud.

Answer 2

One good example of "science" that the Bible writers understood is found in the book of Job, chapter 41. It describes there a creature called the Behemoth. If you read through it, it fits in detail with what we case today as the "bird-hipped" dinosarus (creatures like the T-Rex, Raptor, etc). Yet modern science tells us that those types of dinosaurs were extinct long before man. And the first recreation of such creatures from fossils were not made until the late 1800s.

Yet somehow the Bible authors knew about them thousands of years before "science" discovered them.


Keep in mind though, that the Bible was not written to be a textbook on science. So what science it includes is often secondary in importance and may not be fully explained. Just as you probably would not take the time in a conversation to fully explain every scientific detials about the universe every thing you mention the stars, or give a complete zoological listing of species on earth every time you mention an animal.

The Bible authors use language the same way that "normal" people do. They speak of the sun "raising", like everyone does, when we know that it is actually the earth turning. This is not a scientific "mistake", but rather just using the standard name given to the event.

What you will NOT find are any glaring wrong statements. Nowhere does the Bible say the earth is flat. (Notice that everyone who states that never gives a reference.) Sorry, but that is not in the Bible. There are no stories of people falling off the edge of the earth, or other such nonsense. You will find a flat earth in some medieval religious paintings, but they just followed what science taught in those days, that the earth was flat.

Answer 3

Job 26:7 - earth hanging upon nothing
Isaiah 40:22 - earth a circle (sphere) - NOT flat
Leviticus 11:6 - the hare being a chewer of the cud - not observed by scientists and reported until the 18th century
Ecclesiastes 1:7 - water cycle

Answer 4

My hat is off to Dewcoons above. Good answer.

I don't think the Bible was intended as a science textbook but here is one interesting item:

“Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades?

Can you loose the cords of Orion?" (From Job)

The stars in the pleiades actually are coming together and the stars in the cords of Orion actually are moving apart. Pointed out to me by an amateur astronomer.

I should also point out that the Big Bang is NOT the theory that atheist physicists would have liked just because it was too much like Genesis. They had hoped for a steady state universe without a beginning or end.

Answer 5

At a time when the best minds believed the world was flat and rode on the back of a giant turtle, Isaiah 40:22 and Job 26:7 showed the earth was round and hung upon nothing in space.

At a time 4,000 some years before doctors got the idea maybe they should wash their hands between surgeries, Israelites were given dietary and sanitary laws that protected them from germs and bacteria leading to disease.

Those are two I came up with in 10 seconds.

Answer 6

Nothing.What you have heard and probably will hear are "prophecies" which are so generalized when pertaining to the future that they can and have been and are often used to apply to any situation in order to claim that such events that occurred or will occur or are occurring have been prophesied.Any other alleged prophesies are usually ones that were written after the fact in regards to Jesus and then claimed to be prophetic.There is not a single drop of science in the Bible.Unless talking snakes and boats built by single families that carry two of every animal on Earth is really scientific.

Answer 7

God's Law protected and guided the Israelites in every facet of life. For example, the regulations on diet, hygiene, and quarantine spared them from many of the diseases that ravaged other nations. Only after the discovery of bacteria in the 19th century did science begin to catch up with God’s Law. The laws on land ownership, repurchase, debt release, and usury brought social benefits in Israel by promoting a stable society and a just economy. (Deuteronomy 7:12, 15; 15:4, 5)

Answer 8

I have PhD's in both ancient and comparative religions and have studied the bible and many other religious texts for decades. If the bible "shows an unexplainable knowledge of science", I have yet to discover it.

Answer 9

That the earth was round, hung on nothing (pagans thought it was on back of a turtle and elephants, etc), are a few.

The rabbit is a cud chewer. You do not have to have multiple stomachs to be a cud chewer. You only have to eat predigested food (re eat food that came out of you). Whereas the cow has 4 stomachs and food must pass through 2 (they regurgitate and rechew), the rabbit re-eats certain color of its poop pellets until they have passed through stomach twice. The rabbit food is made to look like the little pellets that they excrete.

Debbie

Answer 10

For example, the number Pi is already mentioned in the bible. It is given as exactly three. This is indeed unexplainable ...

Answer 11

It doesn't. Religion does scientific phenomenon, and science does not try to explain religious phenomenon.

When religion tries to explain science it gets humans living with dinosaurs.

When science tries to explain religion it gets "Science is not that advanced yet", like when explaining miraculous cures.