Tag Archives: Scientific Foreknowledge

The Paths of the Sea

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Matthew_Fontaine_Maury-wmm6

   Matthew Fontaine Maury

     Have you ever taken a canoe trip?  Perhaps you were put into the river at one point and were later picked up at another point downstream.  If you want to take a leisurely trip, you do not even have to paddle other than to steer the canoe away from rocks or the bank.  The current of the water will carry you along to your destination.  If you have ever dropped anything out of your canoe, then you know how hard it can be to row against the current to go back upriver to retrieve it!

     Matthew Fontaine Maury is credited with the discovery of ocean currents, which make shipping and travel upon the seas much more efficient than they would otherwise be.  By using the paths of the sea, shipping vessels can use less energy and travel faster than they would if they had to struggle against the current.  Just how did Maury discover these paths?  How is it that he became known as the “Pathfinder of the Seas?”

     Matthew Maury was a member of the United States Navy in the mid 1800’s.  The story is told of how he was bed ridden with illness, and thus had one of his children read to him from the Psalms of the Old Testament.  As he listened to the eighth Psalm, he was intrigued by the phrase “paths of the sea.”  He was determined that if God’s word mentioned paths in the sea, then they must be there.  Thus it was because of the Scriptures that Maury went in search of ocean currents.

     In looking at the Psalm we find these words written about man, “You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, All sheep and oxen — Even the beasts of the field, The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea That pass through the paths of the seas” (Psalm 8:6-8 NKJV).  Just how is it that a shepherd, who became the King of Israel, could know about ocean currents?  David never sailed the high seas.  Yet David writes of the paths of the sea almost 3,000 years before man made this scientific discovery.

     This is yet further proof of the inspiration of the scriptures.  This shows us that the only way David could have had this information so long ago, was that God revealed it to him.  Maury heard the phrase “paths of the seas,” he believed God’s word to be true, and he went out and discovered what God’s word already knew was there.  Perhaps you would like to know more about other scientific knowledge that has been revealed in God’s word long before man discovered it.  If so, come and see what God’s word has to say about this and many other subjects!

How Did They Know That?

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The_Earth_seen_from_Apollo_17      Have you ever been amazed by a child, perhaps your own, who shows that they have been paying attention to something that was said? Maybe they show a grasp of a new idea, and you can see that light bulb going off in their head for the first time. Sometimes we may wonder, “How did they know that,” or “how did they pick up on that idea.”

    In the Bible there are many examples that can be studied where the writers of the Holy Scriptures had a knowledge of scientific facts that would not be discovered by man for many, many years. This should lead us to the same question that we have with the child. Just how did they know that? For instance, consider what we read in the book of Isaiah. “Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in” (Isaiah 40:21-22 NKJV).

      Notice that as Isaiah is speaking about our God, the Creator of the universe, he mentions that God sits above the circle of the earth. Isaiah is writing this sometime around 750 B.C., and he knows that the earth is round – it is a circle. Today we take this knowledge for granted, but it took a long time for man to come to the realization that the earth is round. We no longer worry about sailing over the edge of the earth. But how did Isaiah know this? He had never circumvented the globe or traveled into space to see this for himself.

       Furthermore, Job states “He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing” (Job 26:7). Job had never traveled into outer space either, so how does he know that the earth hangs on nothing? The ancients had all sorts of theories about what the earth was like and how it was held up. One theory was that Atlas held the world on his shoulders. Another was that the earth was on the back of some great tortoise. Now that we have traveled beyond our atmosphere, man can see that the earth indeed hangs on nothing.

       Did these men just get lucky with their knowledge of scientific facts that would not be discovered for a long, long time? That is unlikely. The only way these men could have known this information to be true is that God revealed this to them. “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20-21). This is just one small proof that the Bible is not from man, but indeed has been penned by God through His Holy Spirit!

Life Is In The Blood

Posted on by under Christian Evidences

George Washington     In December 1799 George Washington passed from this life.  He had been out taking care of his property in foul weather and had come down with what would appear to be a cold (sore throat, congestion, etc.).  In an effort to save the former president, his doctors took to opening veins and “bleeding” him, which was believed at the time to be the way to get the illness out of his system.  What the doctors of the time failed to realize is that life is in the blood.

     Man cannot sustain his physical life without blood.  This was well known to the Israelites, or should have been, since God forbade the eating of blood because “life is in the blood. . .” (Leviticus 17:11a NKJV).  Human medicine has come to realize the importance of blood in sustaining life in the years following Washington’s death.  Now, much can be done with transfusions to help stabilize patients who have suffered a loss of blood.

     In looking at man’s spiritual life, it can be seen that our spiritual life is also in the blood.  The Scriptures tell us that we have all sinned (Romans 3:23), and that the wages, the anticipated payment, of sin is spiritual death (Romans 6:23).  We know that this is not in reference to physical death, for we must all be subject to that unless the Lord returns first (Hebrews 9:27).  In order to have spiritual life, an eternity in heaven, we must have our sins covered by the blood of Christ (1 John 1:7; Revelation 1:5).

     We make contact with the blood of Christ when we are buried with Him in the act of baptism (Romans 6:3-4).  In obeying the command of Christ to be baptized (Mark 16:16), we can have our sins washed away (Acts 2:38; 22:16).  It is in our obedience to the words of Scripture, that the blood of Christ is applied to us and we are cleansed from our sins.  Thus, we are able to have spiritual life.  Thus, both our physical life and our spiritual life are in the blood!