The Bible is the most amazing book in all of human history. In no other work has man been able to get an understanding of space, medicine, engineering, physics, and a plethora of other sciences. The purpose of this lesson is not to defend the Bible, after all, how can any man properly defend the Creator of all life? The Apostle Paul wisely wrote in Galatians 6:7 "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Over the centuries, "scientists" have tried to mock the Bible only to be proven wrong by real science. Science and the Bible are not at odds. On the contrary, science CONFIRMS that the Bible had to have been written by God! God does not want us to be ignorant. In multiple verses, the phrase "I would not have you to be ignorant" is used (Rom. 1:13, 11:25; 1 Cor. 10:1, 12:1; 2 Cor. 1:8, 2:11; 1 Thess. 4:13). God wants us to have knowledge and to use wisdom (Proverbs 25:2).
Throughout the Old and New Testaments are verses that must have appeared odd to the readers. After all, during Biblical times there weren't microscopes or telescopes or any of the modern tools that we have enjoyed over the past few centuries. However, God made sure that all things included in His Word had meaning and that includes some of the commands given to the Israelites.
It is common medical practice to quarantine the sick in order to keep an infectious disease from spreading. Sometimes it is a matter of staying in bed and away from the family for a few days and sometimes quarantine zones have to be set up in order to protect the population at large. Did you know that when the Black Death was ravaging Europe in the 14th Century A.D., the people turned to the Church for answers? It was through reviewing the Law given to Moses that proper waste disposal, quarantine, and handling of the dead were implemented and millions of lives were saved.
"And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be." - Leviticus 13:45-46
Think about that verse on quarantine for a moment. Leviticus was written in approximately 1400 B.C. According to the CDC, quarantine wasn't "discovered" by man until the 14th Century A.D.!
"Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad: And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee:" - Deuteronomy 23:12-13
Deuteronomy, also written around 1400 B.C., provided instruction on proper human waste disposal. One way that infectious diseases can spread is through a lack of proper sanitation. In civilizations dating back to around 3000 B.C. there is evidence of early plumbing, however, the water from the primitive plumbing mixed in with the drinking water that was provided to the community. The first proper, enclosed sewer was not created until 1370 in France by Hugues Aubird. In George Commair's book The Waste Water Network: An Underground View of Paris, he notes that the system's primary purpose was to keep the foul odors away from the city. The clean drinking water was a byproduct of Aubird's design.
In Leviticus chapters 11, 12, 13, and 15, and Numbers chapter 19 basic sterilization was given to the Jews by God. These sterilization techniques cover everything from handling dead bodies, childbirth, bodily discharges, infections, and more. Protection from diseases associated with these acts was given in the forms of thorough washing of hands and clothing, and the burning of unclean materials. The importance of proper hand washing was not discovered and implemented by the medical community until the 1800s by Ignaz Semmelweis and Joseph Lister roughly 3400 years after God had instructed the Israelites on these techniques. Prior to Semmelweis and Lister's "discovery", hand washing primarily consisted of rinsing off hands in a bowl. One of the main differences in the techniques was that God instructed the Jews to cleanse themselves using running water.
In Genesis 17:7-12, God established a covenant with Abraham through circumcision. Aesthetics aside, this practice was quite marvelous and something that was not fully understood until the 20th Century A.D. God told Abraham to circumcise every male child on the eighth day. Newborns are extremely susceptible to hemorrhaging and even the smallest of cuts can be deadly. Vitamin K (the necessary vitamin for producing prothrombin) is not produced sufficiently in the body until day eight. In days three through seven, the body only has roughly a 30% prothrombin level, but on day eight, it jumps to 110%. Only the One that created man could have known that.
Even more miraculous is that circumcision was found to be a reliable means of preventing cervical cancer in women. Doctors S.I. McMillen and David Stern wrote in their book None of These Diseases that research conducted in the mid-1900s discovered that Jewish women had the lowest rates of cervical cancer. A major cause of this form of cancer is smegma bacillus which is often carried in the foreskin of uncircumcised males due to smegma acting as a lubricant during sex. If a woman had any abrasions of the cervix (which is commonly caused by tampons, condoms, childbirth, etc.), the smegma bacillus was easily transmitted.
"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handywork." - Psalms 19:1
It was popular belief that the stars were all equal until Sir William Herschel in 1780. However, take a look at what the Apostle Paul wrote in 50 A.D.: "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory" (1 Corinthians 15:41). It was also thought that there were a finite number of stars that could be counted (roughly 1100) until 1920. In about 600 B.C., the prophet Jeremiah claimed that the stars could not be counted (Jer. 33:22). Astronomers estimate that there are over 100 billion stars in the Milky Way Galaxy alone according to Christopher Conselice, a professor at the University of Nottingham. He also claimed that there are about two trillion observable galaxies as of 2016.
Additionally, Isaiah 40:22 (written around 700 B.C.) and Job 26:7 (written around 1440 B.C.) both accurately describe the shape of the Earth and that the Earth is suspended in space over nothing. In fairness, other philosophers and cultures did hold that the Earth was round; however, it wasn't accurately proven until Ferdinand Magellan's circumnavigation in 1522. Unfortunately that is where the similarity ends as those same civilizations taught that the sun revolved around the Earth (geocentrism) or that our planet was suspended by a god (Chinese and Hindu cultures) or other mechanism (Egyptian culture). Copernicus, in 1475, concluded that our planet was actually not suspended by anything in space.
Noah's ark was an engineering marvel (Gen. 6:14-16). Naval engineers have confirmed that the design of the ark was ideal for the stability of a non-propelled ship (also known as a barge). Furthermore, it wasn't until the 1900s that comparably sized ships were constructed. The material that was used was also impressive. Gopher wood is an exotic wood that is considerably stronger than oak and approaches the strength of steel. Throughout the world are buildings constructed of similar woods. Wood can be both stronger and more durable than steel which makes it ideal due to its ability to absorb the shock of heavier loads and is considerably cheaper to obtain. Examples of these structures are the Superior Dome in Michigan, Murray Grove in London, Treet in Norway, the Tillamook Air Museum in Georgia, and the Horyu Temple in Japan.
Until the discovery of barometric pressure in 1643 by Torricelli, science believed that air was weightless. Job 28:25, again written roughly around 1440 B.C., states "To make the weight for the winds; and He weigheth the waters by measure."
Also in the book of Job, he states that light travels (38:19-20). Prior to the confirmation of the motion of light by Isaac Newton in his Theory of Light in 1672, light was thought to be instantaneous.
There are still other amazing insights found in the Bible such as the Hydrologic Cycle. Job 36:27-28 and Ecclesiastes 1:7 describe this process of water coming down to earth as rain from the clouds, evaporating, and falling as rain again. Scientists Pierre Parrault and Edme Mariotte confirmed the Hydrologic Cycle in the 1700s.
Isaiah 43:16 and Psalms 8:8 both describe currents in the ocean. Matthew Fontaine Maury reasoned that "pathways of the seas" had to be correct and spent much of his life discovering and mapping ocean currents. He published his research in 1855 and is known as the "Father of Oceanography". This wise man gained fame and knowledge because he trusted the Bible!
Paul said that God is not mocked. Scientists, historians, doctors and individuals from multiple fields have tried to disprove God's Word, but as time passes and we develop new technology, they have all been proven wrong. If the Bible is true regarding these topics (which can be verified in a matter of mere minutes), then doesn't that mean we should pay attention to what else God has to say? Since the Bible has been confirmed by history, geology, oceanography, medical science, physics, astronomy, and engineering, then it must stand to reason what the Bible says is true regarding the afterlife.
The Bible says is that there is only one way into Heaven and that is through Jesus Christ (Rom. 10:9-10, 1 Cor. 15:1-4).