'They have been long written in the Bible'

Submitted by admin on Fri, 04/16/2010 - 15:24
…IF YOU WERE living in the past when there were no telescope, camera, television, space shuttle, and the like, would you believe if someone came with the news that the earth was round and hanged on nothing?
 
The old view is contrary to this. Such news was then far-fetched and hard to believe. People would have probably just raised an eyebrow, shrugged the shoulders, or condemned the one who brought such unusual information. This happened to Galileo Galilei, one of the first scientists to use a telescope, who challenged the old universal belief that the sun goes around the Earth. 
 
In these modern times, with the help of science, the old belief has been corrected. People now accept Galilee’s discovery. The fact that the Earth is indeed a sphere floating in space is no longer disputed.
 
But, did you know that these facts about the Earth as well as others about the space and the stars were already in the Bible ages before their discovery by science?
 
 The earth is spherical.
“When the Bible was written, it was universally believed that the earth was flat. … Finally, Magellan and his men sailed around the earth and thus proved it to be spherical in shape.” (George Dehoff, Why We Believe the Bible, p. 49)
 
The prophet Isaiah, more than 2,000 years before Magellan’s historic voyage had written down this fact in his book: “That He sits over the round earth” (Isa. 40:22, Moffatt Translation).
 
The earth hangs on nothing.
“The ancient Greeks and Romans were the most advanced peoples of their time, yet they believed that the earth was held in place by poles or by the neck of Atlas. Others believed that Atlas had the earth on his shoulders.” (Why We Believe the Bible, pp. 49-50)
 
While the “most advanced” peoples in ancient times held a view that was but a myth, it was inscribed in the book of Job (26:7), which some Bible scholars place between 600 and 400 B.C., that “He hangs the earth on nothing” (New King James Version).
 
Empty space in the North.
“Astronomers have discovered that there is a great empty space in the North. … When the telescope is set exactly to the North there is a great empty space. … They did not know until recently that there was such an empty space.” (Why We Believe the Bible, p. 50)
 
Even without the aid of telescope, you can discover the same in the Bible: “He stretches out the north over empty space” (Job 26:7).
 
The stars cannot be counted.
“The ancients believed that there were only a very few stars in the heavens. In 150 B.C. Hipparchus said that there were less than three thousand. In A.D. 150 Ptolemy said there were not more than three thousand. … After the middle ages and the invention of the telescope, men discovered that the stars are innumerable.” (Why We Believe the Bible, p. 56)
 
This truth has long been written in the Bible: “as countless as the stars of the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore” (Jer. 33:22, New International Version).
 
God-inspired
Today, we are all the more convinced that the world is indeed spherical and floating in space because of the photos and video clips taken from space shuttles and probes, and satellites. Also because of these, as well as the telescope, we now accept that the stars are countless.
 
Without the aid of instruments such as what we have today, how could the writers of the Bible, who lived thousands of years ago, had known these facts? ...
 
            … While human knowledge changes when proven wrong by new discoveries, the inspired word of God in the Bible lasts…
 
            … Far more vital than being able to tell facts about the physical world, the Holy Scriptures promises “to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (II Tim. 3:15)…
 
(excerpted from the pamphlet, “Be wise for salvation,” Quezon City, Philippines)

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