Bible Answers

Today we find ourselves living in a fast-paced technical and scientific world. It is a world in which knowledge is becoming an essential part of living. Knowledge, accompanied by skill, is becoming part of even having a job. They say that employment prospects for a person without any skills are becoming remote.

And yet, for all the emphasis placed on learning, little emphasis is being placed on the need for any religious knowledge-such is labelled as 'superstition', and is to be scorned.

Today we find ourselves living in a fast-paced technical and scientific world. It is a world in which knowledge is becoming an essential part of living. Knowledge, accompanied by skill, is becoming part of even having a job. They say that employment prospects for a person without any skills are becoming remote.

And yet, for all the emphasis placed on learning, little emphasis is being placed on the need for any religious knowledge-such is labelled as 'superstition', and is to be scorned.

As scientific knowledge is increased, so is the amount of evidence that shows that there is an all-encompassing design behind what exists in nature today. With some things, design is acknowledged and appreciated. For instance, it is widely credited that we would not have digital watches today, was it not for the technology required for putting satellites into orbit around the earth. The watches were a small part of the design involved in such a technology.

But when it comes to naturally occurring things, the fact that everything is so carefully designed to fit in with the things associated around that object is all but ignored. The nearest one gets to it today is the concept of 'Mother Earth', where the overall design is put down to the ability of the conditions around the planet itself to control the design of the things that are on it.

But what has all this to do with the Book of Genesis? What place has the ancient Biblical book got to do with modern science of today, or even with religion in today's world? If we look around us and ask a few questions of scientists or theologians, we would find that either group to the first book of the Bible pays very scant attention.

The reason is two-fold. One is that very many scientists do not accept that there is a God, as this would amount, in their eyes, to accepting a non-provable superstition. The second reason is that many theologians today do not accept that God wrote, through inspiration, the Book of Genesis. So with those two reasons, the book of Genesis is left to gather dust. To many, the book lacks credibility.

But this results in an appalling situation: for if the book of Genesis was inspired by God, then people are turning their back on what not only is a book of religious explanation, but also of scientific explanation. In fact, as we look at a few points today, we shall see that the inspirer of the book of Genesis was really a genius!

If we were to read a book, then it would be logical to read that book commencing at the first chapter, with the plot developing as we continue reading from chapter to chapter. There would only be two exceptions to this rule. The first would be if the book were a dictionary or an encyclopaedia, (and the Bible is clearly not this type of book). The second would be if the book were a selection of independent stories (and again this does not apply to the Bible, for is evident that it has a number of common themes that go right through the whole book). So then, it would be logical to assume, that like any other book, the Bible should be studied by reading progressively through it, and particularly with the first book. The fact that most church people ignore the book of Genesis contributes to their misunderstanding of what the Bible is all about. And the failure of scientists to read the book of Genesis results in their failure to understand what is the true basis of science.

The Bible record begins with these words from the book of Genesis:

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1

It does not state that there was a "Big Bang". Neither, these days, do all scientists; because the evidence gained from orbiting satellites does not support such a theory. But they have no other theory, so the Big Bang is continuing to be promoted as fact, though there is no evidence to support it, but evidence to the contrary to deny it. For there would still be "hot-spots" abounding in space, yet the background radiation of the universe is uniform and constant. Listen to some words of Sir Fred Hoyle, outstanding astronomer and cosmologist:

"As a result of all this, the main efforts of investigators have been in papering over holes in the big bang theory, to build up an idea that has become ever more complex and cumbersome… I have little hesitation in saying that a sickly pall now hangs over the big bang theory. When a pattern of facts become set against a theory, experience shows that the theory rarely recovers." "The Big Bang Under Attack", Science Digest, Vol. 92, May 1984, p84.