Is the Bible Outdated and Incorrect?
Is the Bible OUTDATED and UNTRUE?
Some feel that the Bible is outdated and has nothing to contribute. Some feel that bible has a lot of scientifically wrong facts and has a lot of contradictions.
This document intends to show the reader that it is ignorant to claim that Bible is fallacious and outdated. Though this is a vast subject, the authors have attempted to highlight a few of the many events where Bible was ahead of the society for most of the History and even now is revealing secrets as our understanding grows.
Let us see how the Bible informed a few of the major fields of research.
Historians and Archaeologists:
Many archaeologists claimed David to be a legendary figure, till Tel Dan Stele was found, proving that Bible correct.
Many archaeologists claimed that there was no city at Ai, hence the battle at Ai, mentioned in the Bible, could not have happened till excavations at Khirbet el-Maqatir began in 1995 and proved them wrong again
http://christianapologeticsalliance.com/?s=Convince+Me+There%E2%80%99s+A+God+%E2%80%93+Archaeology+20
http://www.biblearchaeology.org/page/Is-the-Bible-Wrong-About-the-City-of-Ai-in-Joshua-7-8.aspx
Again as far as Historians and Archaeologists are concerned Bible was not out dated but post-dated. They always had to agree with the Bible as more and more evidence came to surface.
Astro Physicists
The Earth hangs on nothing – Job 26:7
We do not know who came up with the idea that the Earth hangs on nothing but it is taken for granted in the heliocentric theory proposed by Copernicus.
Quantum Physicists
Space is not empty. It is full, a plenum as opposed to a vacuum, and is the ground for the existence of everything, including ourselves….
-University of London physicist David Bohm, a protégé of Einstein
… we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible…
-Hebrews 11:2
Theoretical Physicists
But there are an infinite number of parallel realities coexisting with us in the same room, although we cannot "tune into" them. ….. For all intents and purposes, the waves of these various worlds do not interact or influence each other.”–
-Prof. Michio Kaku
That which is born of the spirit is spirit and that which is born of flesh is flesh
–John 3:6
Classical Physicists
Air has weight
–Galileo wrote about specific gravity of air in 1663
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v78/n2022/abs/078294a0.html
..weight for the winds…
-Job 28:25 mentions things centuries prior to Galileo
Meteorologists
The fact that global wind currents would have a circuit, is impossible to know over such large distances in the ancient times.
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_wind_patterns
The wind goes toward the south, and turns about unto the north; it whirls about continually, and the wind returns again according to his circuits.
-Ecc. 1:6
Geophysicists
The knowledge of the hydrological cycle is mentioned centuries before Bernard Palissy, discovered this cycle
…unto the place from whence the rivers come, there they return again…. Ecc. 1:7
Engineers
Genesis 6 has the dimension ratio of a very stable ship. This design is among the most stable floating ship ever.
The hollow lampstand made with beaten gold mentioned by Moses has not yet been replicated as we have lost the skill in making such articles.
Mathematicians
Infinity was discussed by mathematicians but the Bible gives a definition that still stands today.
….as uncountable as the number of stars ….
-Jer. 33:22
Medical Doctors and Sanitation
Until the tragic life of Dr. Semmelweis western doctors did not have an understanding of the importance of cleaning hands properly leading to innumerable deaths.
(with unclean fluids on body)….bath in running water…Lev. 15:13
(with transferable disease)…. he must live outside the camp … Lev. 13:46
In addition to the above there are many passages in the Bible that refer to mountains and springs in the seas, dinosaurs, the dividing of earth landmass (Pangea theory), stars singing (they emit radio waves that has been converted to audible sound), emptiness of the heavens in the north (a 300 million light year gap in the universe over approximately the north pole, etc. etc. and this is not even a science book, it just mentions scientific facts off hand.
So we have seen that the Bible was actually post dated for most of our history. Does the Bible still hold future secrets?
It is clear that Bible is post-dated for most of the humanity’s history but is it up-to-date in the 21st Century?
Nuclear fallout:
….Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth…. Zec. 14:12
Climate Change
…and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in diverse places… -Mat. 24:7
Travel and Knowledge
….until the time of the end, when many will rush here and there, and knowledge will increase. -Dan. 12:4
This level of travel was unprecedented throughout the history and internet certainly led to the increase in knowledge.
Life styles
We might think that ‘modern lifestyle’ includes many things the Bible does not encourage behaviours such as homosexuality, sex outside marriage, atheism, abortion, legal prostitution, paedophilia, etc. but these behaviours are not modern at all. The ancient Greek and Roman culture had practiced these customs in sections of their society before and after their power and influence dwindled. The ‘Sacred Band of Thebes’ (homosexuality), Heraclitus, Aristophanes (atheism), Dioscorides (abortion), pederasty, etc. bear witness to this. The worship of many gods, polytheism, as well as worship of one god, monotheism, were also popular. It was into this culture that Christianity was preached and practiced, slowly spreading among them to become influential but outlawed religion for the first three hundred years since Christ.
So we see that the Bible and its lifestyle is actually newer than the lifestyle which we falsely claim to be modern. The intent of a Biblical lifestyle is to provide more stable and loving individual, family and social life in the long run.
How do we know the Bible was not just written down in the modern times?
In addition to the thousands of ancient copies and references to the Bible by other authors, etc. and many other evidences we have something which would interest linguists. There are
Linguists:
Try coming up with a list of names used by a tribe of people who are now culturally extinct. They existed last about 1200 years before you and your story need to include the names they used and the place names they go by. For example, write a story set in 900 AD of people in Greenland (oops… already there are two issues, that back then the island was certainly not named Greenland, we do not know if there were any people at that time in Greenland) It’s not easy to write an accurate historical story. Archaeologists excavating a site at Mari, Syria, found an archive of 15,000 texts. The names of people, places and tribes mentioned in these texts match the names places and tribes used while telling us about Abraham who lived in the same region.
http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2006/02/06/Great-Discoveries-in-Biblical-Archaeology-The-Mari-Archive.aspx
An Israeli scholar, Tal Ilan, who compiled totals of all the recorded name occurrences in Palestinian Jews from 330 BC to 200 AD. The frequency of names tallied to an astounding degree. For example, if you look at a class of students some names like John, George, Smith, Matt, etc. would be shared by more than one or two students but other names like Sabra would be a rare find. It’s this kind of matching frequency that’s even more amazing and proves the authenticity.
http://christianapologeticsalliance.com/2017/02/22/the-least-popular-jewish-names/
The same is true for all the books in the Bible. The fact proves that the Bible is again true and trustworthy.
How do we know that the Bible is from the true God and not from an imposter or an imaginary being?
…Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done…
-Isaiah 46:10
In the first verse of the Bible we find hints of creation of space, matter and time. God is beyond the time and creation, hence, for Him the past, present and future are all the same. If this is true, then consistently, this God has to prove multiple times that He declares and records the future events, many centuries in advance.
Let’s see how this works:
Just one chapter Ezekiel 26 contains 7 prophecies about one of the greatest cities at that time. Nebuchadnezzar shall conquer the city (vs. 7-11). Other nations will assist Nebuchadnezzar (v. 3). The city will be made like a bare rock (vs. 4 & 14). It will become a place for the spreading of fishing nets (vs. 5 & 14). Its stones and timbers will be thrown into the sea (v. 12). Other cities will fear greatly at the fall of Tyre (v. 16). The old city of Tyre will never be rebuilt (v. 14). Every detail of that prophecy has been fulfilled. Israel was predicted to be dispersed over many nations and then brought back together to re-establish their nation. No other nation in the history was dispersed for thousands of years and maintained their cultural identity.
Jesus has fulfilled many distinct prophecies concerning His family heritage, His place of birth, circumstances of His birth, the land that He will go to, the miracles that He did, the manner of His death, the circumstances of His death and His resurrection. It is impossible to predict a life of such impossibilities such as the life of Jesus and get it right. The probability of these tens of predictions coming to pass accurately is statistically an impossibility.
Any event with a chance of 1 in 1050 is considered a statistical impossibility. The probability that the second law of thermodynamics being reversed is 1 in 1080, and that is considered practically an impossibility. The probability of just a selection of 13 prophecies to be accurately fulfilled is 1 in 10138. So there is more chance of heat flowing from a cold body to a hot body than all these prophecies coming true.
http://www.reasons.org/articles/articles/fulfilled-prophecy-evidence-for-the-reliability-of-the-bible
http://y-jesus.com/what-are-the-odds/
These are few of the reasons why no educated, reasonable and unbiased person can say that the Bible is outdated or inaccurate.