Church of God Message
Call Us: 8133745451
WHICH HOLY BOOK IS THE WORD OF GOD
CHAPTER 16
BIBLE AND ARCHAEOLOGY, ASTRONOMY AND MEDICINE
The authenticity of the Bible has been questioned in many other ways. Here are other ways the critics have been proven wrong.
Bible and Archaeology
Many critics questioned the existence of empires such as the great Assyrian Empire, and individuals mentioned in the Bible. But the spade of archaeology has proved the accuracy of the Bible and its historical details. Archaeology proved the existence of the mighty Assyrian Empire and its capital Nineveh, existence of ancient Israel and its interactions with Egypt, existence of Bible personalities like Kings David, Ahab, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Jehu, Omri, Josiah, Uzziah, Zedekiah, many other kings and officials of Judah, Israel, ancient Assyria, Babylon and Persia. In addition, the existence of many New Testament personalities such as Anna the high priest, Caiaphas the high priest, Pontius Pilate, Herod the Great, Sergius Paulus and emperors of Rome has also been confirmed by archaeology.
The only conclusion we can draw can be stated in the words of archaeologist Nelson Glueck: "It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And, by the same token, proper valuation of Biblical descriptions has often led to amazing discoveries" (Rivers in the Desert: A History of the Negev, 1959, p. 31).
To research this subject thoroughly, please refer to the United Church of God booklet titled “Is the Bible True?” available free of charge at www.ucg.org.
Bible and Astronomy
A further proof of divine inspiration of the Bible is that it is in perfect harmony with the observations of astronomy. Theologians had endorsed the treatise by the sixth-century monk Cosmas...who...held that the world was a flat, rectangular plane...(William Manchester, A World Lit Only by Fire, 1993, p. 89"). But through observations and the use of mathematical tables, Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus concluded that the earth is not a disk about which the sun rotates; rather it is a sphere revolving around the sun.
But the Bible had given an accurate description of the earth thousands of years before Copernicus’ discovery. In the oldest book in the Bible, about 3,600 – 3,700 years ago Job wrote: “He [meaning God] hangs the earth on nothing.” This was written thousands of years before astronomer and physicist Isaac Newton discovered the invisible laws of gravity that showed the earth truly is suspended "on nothing." Job knew this more than 3,600 years ago.
Some accuse biblical authors of believing in a flat earth because of the references to the "four corners" of the earth in Isaiah 11:12 and Revelation 20:8. But this is an expression that simply designates the four points of the compass. When we use the expression “four corners of the earth” today, we DO mean going north, south, east and west to gather information or search for something.
About 2,700 years ago, the prophet Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 40:22 that God "sits above the circle of the earth," showing that the earth was round. By using the expression “four corners of the earth” in Isaiah 11:12, the prophet was not implying that the earth is a flat rectangular plane.
Bible and Medicine
Further proof of the divine inspiration of the Bible is that it is thousands of years ahead of modern medicine. Research conducted by doctors of medicine and nutrition has provided many examples from instructions on prevention of disease and controlling infection, written by Moses more than 3,500 years ago, which if obeyed would have saved millions of lives from dread plagues.
During the time of Moses, Egyptian medical practices such as applying a salve of worm blood and donkey dung resulted in a gruesome death from lockjaw, rather than curing the wound. Egyptians believed that illness was caused by evil spirits. That’s why they often used “magical” cures to treat illness. Moses was familiar with all this ‘wisdom’ of the Egyptians but included none of such cures in the Bible. Instead God through Moses provided instructions for preventing and stopping epidemics through cleanliness and hygiene.
For example, cholera spreads through the fecal matter of cholera victims. But God instructed Israelites in Deuteronomy 23:12-13 to bury or dispose off raw human sewage in order to prevent humans and animals from direct contact with it. This could have prevented all the cholera pandemics of the early 1800s. In addition, avoiding the practice of throwing garbage and sewage in the streets would have prevented the bubonic, pneumonic and septicemic plagues or the Black Death which destroyed one fourth of Europe’s population. The Jewish population avoided contracting these dread diseases because they practiced cleanliness as instructed in the Bible.
The simple instruction in Numbers 19:12-13 to not come into contact with another human being for 7 days after touching a corpse and to bathe at least twice in that period would have prevented all the deaths among pregnant women in 19th century Vienna. The simple example of the Good Samaritan in applying wine and olive oil to wounds would have prevented more than 50% of the deaths of soldiers in the American Civil wars. The reason is that the mixture of wine and oil acts as a disinfectant.
Doctors of medicine and medical researchers have also concluded that the dietary laws in Leviticus 11-15 protected Israel from bad diet, dangerous germs and vermin, and communicable diseases.
Only in the past 50 years has medicine discovered that animal fat is not good for us. Also, blood of the animal carries all the germs in the body. But the Bible prohibited eating animal blood more than 4,300 years ago in Genesis 9:4 and animal fat about 3,500 years ago through Moses in Leviticus 3:17.
Doctors of medicine and nutritionists have also commented on the lists of clean and unclean meats in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. United Church of God booklet titled “Is the Bible true?” notes:
“Dr. Russell asks, "What is so good about 'clean' meats, and what is so bad about 'unclean' meats?" He explains that "the flesh of clean animals such as beef, and fish that have scales and fins, is ideal for the health of humans—just as we would expect from the hand of a loving Creator...Many land animals God designed for food provide an additional benefit in that they generally eat grasses and grains that were also designed for food" (Russell, What the Bible Says About Healthy Living, 1999, pp. 73-74).
“In contrast, David Meinz summarizes the potential health risk of eating creatures the Bible classifies as unclean. "Almost all of the creatures on the unclean list are scavengers," he notes. "In many cases they don't hunt for their own food; they eat the dead and decaying matter of our environment. A catfish does that at the bottom of a pond; lobsters and shrimp do it in the ocean. A pig will eat anything. Vultures, almost by definition, are known for their scavenger habits" (Meinz, Eating by the Book, 1999 p. 225).
Dr. Russell notes that "the differences between clean and unclean animals appear to be related to their primary food source and to their digestive systems. Scavengers that eat anything and everything are not suitable for food, according to the Bible. Animals described as clean, and therefore good for food, primarily eat grasses and grains.
"... [But] note that an animal doesn't have to be a scavenger to be unclean. Horses and rabbits, for example, are unclean because they do not have split hooves. Although they are considered to be good food in some countries, studies have shown that horse meat often contains viruses and parasites. Rabbits, as innocent as they appear, are the cause of tularemia (an infectious disease) in humans.
"One reason for God's rule forbidding pork is that the digestive system of a pig is completely different from that of a cow. It is similar to ours, in that the stomach is very acidic. Pigs are gluttonous, never knowing when to stop eating. Their stomach acids become diluted because of the volume of food, allowing all kinds of vermin to pass through this protective barrier. Parasites, bacteria, viruses and toxins can pass into the pig's flesh because of over-eating. These toxins and infectious agents can be passed on to humans when they eat a pig's flesh" (Russell, pp. 76-77).
Don Colbert, M.D., adds: "Besides being gluttons, swine are also extremely filthy animals. They will eat garbage, feces, and even decaying flesh. All that is eaten usually becomes part of the pig's own flesh...Aside from the diseases routinely carried by swine, pork is also a very fatty meat. The toxins in pork are held especially in the fat, which is not isolated from the meat as can be the case in lean beef, but rather, it is dispersed throughout the meat" (What Would Jesus Eat? 2002, pp. 49-50).
The Bible contains many instructions on sexual purity. If sex was restricted to monogamous relationships always within the context of marriage as the Bible instructs, humanity would avoid all the scourges of Sexually Transmissible Diseases (STDs) and prolonged emotional pain and suffering. Children as innocent victims of broken marriages and relationships would also be spared the suffering.
The Bible also declares the virtues of a positive attitude in the proverbs of Solomon and other places and that “a merry heart [meaning laughter] does good like medicine.” Researchers have confirmed that laughter reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, and that depression increases the risk of dying from heart failure.
Do the health laws of the Bible have a foundation in medical fact? Rex Russell, M.D., writes: "As we look at modern science and nutrition, we will find that...there is an amazing overlap between God's original laws of clean and unclean and solid hygienic principles...Scripture and medical research agree that modern lifestyles lived without reference to God's laws and design shorten life and hasten death" (What the Bible Says About Healthy Living, 1999, pp. 14, 16).
All these discoveries of science were written in the Bible as sound advice for human health and well-being more than 2,000 to 4,300 years ago. Thus, science has only proved that the Bible is scientifically accurate and has been thousands of years ahead of our time as a reliable guide for human living. Science, archaeology and observations of astronomy only confirm what fulfilled prophecy has proved that ALL the words of the Bible are inspired by the only true Creator God.
To research this subject thoroughly, please refer to the United Church of God booklet titled “Is the Bible True?” available free of charge at www.ucg.org.
Copyright © Church of God Message. All rights reserved.