Scripture and Science
A Brief Overview
Laws of Physics, the Universe, and Nature
Job 38:33
Do you know the laws of the heavens?
 We are still continuing to figure out and explain all the laws which govern the universe
Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
 The universe did, in fact, have a beginning
Genesis 2:1-2 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day
God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.
 The First Law of Thermodynamics: The law which states that the total energy of a system and its
surroundings remains constant.
(http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryglossary/a/1stlawthermodef.htm)
Job 26:7
…he suspends the earth over nothing.
 Most early creation myths suggest that something/someone was holding the earth (Atlas, a giant
turtle, etc.). This verse correctly postulates that the earth is actually floating freely through empty
space.
Genesis 1:12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees
bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.
Genesis 1:21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water
teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind.
Genesis 1:25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds,
and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds.
 Law of Biogenesis: The principle stating that life arises from pre-existing life, not from nonliving
material. (http://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/Law_of_biogenesis)
Psalm 102:25-26
In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the
work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing
you will change them and they will be discarded.
 The Second Law of Thermodynamics: the state of entropy of the entire universe, as a closed
isolated system, will always increase over time.
(http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Physical_Chemistry/Thermodynamics/Laws_of_Thermodynamics/Sec
ond_Law_of_Thermodynamics)
 Entropy: the degree of disorder or uncertainty in a system (http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/entropy)
Isaiah 40:22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers.
 The earth is round!
Luke 17:34-36 I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other
will be left. Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. Two men will be in
the field: the one will be taken and the other left.
 Night and Day occurring simultaneously on Earth – alluding to the Earth’s rotation
Job 38:24
Where is the way that the light is divided?
 Light can be divided, dispersed, defused, or any other translation of that word. It travels in paths
and waves.
Psalm 8:8
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The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the
seas.
Matthew Fontaine Maury (January 14, 1806 – February 1, 1873), United States Navy, was an
American astronomer, historian, oceanographer, meteorologist, cartographer, author, geologist,
and educator. He was nicknamed "Pathfinder of the Seas" and "Father of Modern Oceanography
and Naval Meteorology" and later, "Scientist of the Seas," due to the publication of his extensive
works in his books, especially The Physical Geography of the Sea (1855), the first extensive and
comprehensive book on oceanography to be published. Maury made many important new
contributions to charting winds and ocean currents, including ocean lanes for passing ships at sea.
Matthew Maury's seagoing days came to an abrupt end at the age of 33 after a stagecoach
accident broke his right leg. Thereafter, he devoted his time to the study of naval meteorology,
navigation, charting the winds and currents, seeking the "Paths of the Seas" mentioned in Psalm
8:8. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Fontaine_Maury)
Jeremiah 33:22
I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister
before me as countless as the stars in the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore.
 Literally a countless number of stars in the universe
 Some estimates do predict that the number of stars in the universe greatly outweighs the number
of grains of sand. BUT the number of stars is roughly equal to the number of molecules in just 10
drops of water! (http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/09/17/161096233/which-is-greater-thenumber-of-sand-grains-on-earth-or-stars-in-the-sky)
Genesis 1:9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground
appear.” And it was so.
 There is evidence of one large super continent in the early days of planet earth. This also implies
the gradual separation of that one large land mass into several different continents and islands due
to continental drift and plate tectonics. (http://geology.com/pangea.htm)
Job 38:29-30 From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens when the
waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?
 Ice Age inferred? How could someone living in the Middle East known about frozen oceans or
mounds of ice/glaciers?
 The last Ice Age ended nearly 12,000 years ago!
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/earth/water_and_ice/ice_age)
Acts 17:26
From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he
marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.
 One human race, not many different species of humans
Isaiah 50:3 I clothe the heavens with darkness and make sackcloth its covering.
 The darkness of deep space has a physical substance to it that we are just now beginning to
explore and understand. (http://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy/)
Job 36:27-29 He draws up the drops of water, which distill as rain to the streams; the clouds pour down
their moisture and abundant showers fall on mankind. Who can understand how he spreads out the
clouds, how he thunders from his pavilion?
 Water cycle explained (http://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle.html)
Isaiah 40:12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand?
 The amount of water on our planet is perfectly “measured” to sustain life on earth. Any more or
less, no intelligent life could exist.
Isaiah 45:18 For this is what the Lord says—he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned
and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited—he
says: “I am the Lord, and there is no other.
 The anthropic principle observes that the total sum of probability for intelligent life to exist on earth
exceeds the limits of mathematical possibility. Our universe is so finely tuned to support intelligent
life on earth that it almost appears to have been set up that way.
(http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=12&article=77)
Job 9:8
He alone stretches out the heavens…
 The universe is indeed expanding outward from a central point at an increasing speed
 (http://www.space.com/25673-universe-expansion-real-time-cosmology.html)
Job 38:19
Where is the way to the dwelling of light?
 Light travels along a path (https://www.le.ac.uk/se/centres/sci/selfstudy/lac1.htm)
Job 28:25
When He imparted weight to the wind…
 Air has weight. We didn’t know this for a very long time!
(http://kids.earth.nasa.gov/archive/air_pressure/)
Ecclesiastes 1:6
Blowing toward the south, then turning toward the north, the wind
continues
swirling along; and on its circular courses the wind returns.
 Accurate description of the Jet Stream (http://www.intellicast.com/National/Wind/JetStream.aspx)
1 Corinthians 15:41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of
the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
 There are different classes, sizes, and luminosities of stars
(http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/startype.html)
Job 38:35
Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are’?
 Prediction of light-speed communication? Radio waves, fiber optics, etc.
Job 12:10
In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.
 Life is more than the sum of its parts
Genesis 4:17, 20-21 Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he
called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch … Jabal…was the father of those who
dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play
the lyre and pipe. Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron.
 Ancient peoples were more skilled than we think. They built cities, raised livestock, invented
musical instruments, and mastered metal working – all before the days of Noah!
Job 30:1-8
But now they mock me, men younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to put
with my sheep dogs. Of what use was the strength of their hands to me, since their vigor had gone
from them? Haggard from want and hunger, they roamed the parched land in desolate wastelands at
night. In the brush they gathered salt herbs, and their food was the root of the broom bush. They were
banished from human society, shouted at as if they were thieves. They were forced to live in the dry
stream beds, among the rocks and in holes in the ground. They brayed among the bushes and huddled
in the undergrowth. A base and nameless brood, they were driven out of the land.
 Cave Men? Neanderthals? (http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homoneanderthalensis)
Job 40-41
Description of behemoth and leviathan
 Incredibly similar to descriptions of ancient dinosaurs
Psalm 139:13-14
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I
praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
 We still don’t understand all the mysteries of DNA and the human genome
Job 38:31
Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades? Can you loosen Orion’s belt?
 The Pleiades constellation is gravitationally locked in place and will be for the next 250 million
years or so (http://www.constellation-guide.com/pleiades-the-seven-sisters-messier-45/)
 The stars along Orion’s belt are not gravitationally bound and will continue to drift away from each
other (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(constellation)#Future)
Job 26:14
And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who
then can understand the thunder of his power?
 The majority of what we know about the universe, laws of physics, etc. has only come about in the
last 200-ish years. Over the last few decades the rate of discovery has greatly increased. Only time
will tell how much we humans are actually able to fathom and comprehend about God’s great
universe.