Scientific foreknowledge in Sacred Texts

Scientific foreknowledge in Sacred Texts is the belief that certain sacred texts show a more advanced awareness of the NATURAL world than could have been discovered by the technology and science of the times.

Such beliefs are held by some Orthodox Jews about the Hebrew Bible (Tanach)., by some Muslims regarding the Qur'an,, by certain Christian fundamentalists regarding the Christian Bible, and by certain adherents of Hindu revivalism regarding the Vedas.

Scriptural literalism (specifically Creationism, Biblical archaeology) is a related ideology, but strictly the reverse process of aligning scientific observation with scriptural reading rather than aligning scriptural reading with scientific observation.

Bible

Supporters of biblical scientific foreknowledge believe that parts of the Bible contain observations regarding aspects of the natural world in line with modern scientific and medical research, which could not have been discovered with the technology of the times, and are therefore evidence of Biblical inspiration and of Biblical inerrancy.

Critics contend that these references either represent information that was common at the time, or even no real knowledge of the scientific reasons behind the phenomena described. (see Criticism section)

History and Advocacy

An early example of claimed Biblical scientific foresight was the interpretation of passages of the Bible as showing Copernican motion, suggested in 1584 by Spanish Theologian Diego de Zuñiga in his Commentary on Job:

"Therefore the present passage[Job 9:6], which we have been discussing, is easily reconciled with Copernicus' opinion. And in order to show the marvelous power and wisdom of God, who initiates and maintains the motion of the whole earth, which is enormous by nature, the text adds, 'and its pillars are shaken.' This teaching means that it is moved from its foundations."

William Harvey, the medical doctor who in the 1600s discovered the circulation of blood, believed that this discovery was proof of Biblical foreknowledge. In his 1628 work De motu cordis, he wrote: "the life, therefore, resides in the blood (as we are informed in our sacred writing)," referring to Leviticus 17:11 and 14.

David Macht, a pharmacologist and doctor of Hebrew Literature was a notable advocate of biblical health practices. In Dr. Macht's 1953 study entitled An Experimental Pharmacological Appreciation of Leviticus XI and Deuteronomy XIV, he suggested that the Levitical clean animals were less toxic than the Levitical unclean animals:

Every word of the Hebrew Scriptures is well chosen and carries valuable knowledge and deep significance

The Old Earth Creationist and astronomer, Hugh Ross, Ph.D., is a notable advocate of Bible scientific foreknowledge.

"Some of the latest discoveries about the universe, specifically about the hot big bang model, speak volumes about the predictive power of a Bible-based, science-affirming perspective on the cosmos."

Henry M. Morris, a hydraulics engineer, in 1951 published Science and the Bible which based on the work of George McCready Price. The first chapter of Science and the Bible dealt with Biblical scientific foreknowledge and set forth many of the arguments that are still in use by proponents today.

Harry Rimmer (1890 - 1952) was president of the "Science Research bureau" and published "Harmony of Science and Scripture" (1936), which attributed much scientific foresight to the Bible, including the wave nature and spectrographic analysis of light, stating "either Job knew this, or supernatural wisdom is revealed here!" . Rimmer had no earned college degree, although he was awarded an honorary "Doctor of Science" degree from Wheaton College (Illinois), an evangelical religious institution.

Oceanography

In the book of Jonah, there is an account that appears to describe the undersea world:

The waters compassed me about, [even] to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars [was] about me for ever... - Jonah 2:5-6

Some believers of divinely inspired scientific foresight claim that prior to modern echo-sounding techniques, mankind was unaware of any mountain-like underwater structures. According to geoglogist Harold L. Levin, oceanographers interpreted the few measurements available as indicating that the ocean floors were monotonous flat plains, and thus Jonah presents the first known accurate description. However, many ancient pearl divers regularly visited the shallower parts of the ocean floor, and would have been well aware of its non-flat nature. Extrapolation from the slopes leading down to the shores, as well as those of inland lakes, and their sometimes crystal clear waters, are other plausible non-supernatural sources for the information.

Criticism

Scientific and engineering knowledge have been documented in early cultures that claimed no divine guidance . For example, scientists of Ancient Egypt documented knowledge of engineering and anatomy that were unknown to medieval Europe thousands of years later, such as the existence of cerebrospinal fluid: see Ancient Egyptian medicine.

Farrell Till asserts that biblical passages with supposed foresight can be interpreted in a number of ways, and that believers "see prophecies and their fulfillments in passages so obscurely written that no one can really determine what the writers originally intended in the statements." Till is an author with master's degree in English (and a former pastor and missionary of the Church of Christ ) who has had public debates with well-known Bible inerrantists such as Dr. Norman Geisler and Kent Hovind.

Anthropologist Mary Douglas who wrote in her book "Purity and Danger" that the biblical cleanliness passages merely represent cultural concepts of symbolic boundary integrity .

See also

  • History of science in early cultures
  • Science and the Bible
  • Biblical archaeology
  • Kashut - Reasons for the Biblical dietary laws
  • Ancient astronaut theories

Electricity

Apologetics

Skeptical views

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