Science Or The Bible
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Letter to a skeptic
By Hal Lindsey
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I recently received a letter from someone who saw a broadcast of my
television program, The International Intelligence Briefing, on TBN last
week. According to my correspondent, I'd have to be an idiot to put my faith
in the Bible.
Hal:
I saw you on TBN and boy, I am impressed. Why don't you pick up a science
book and learn the real truth? All religion is mythology. People of many
religions have been predicting the end of world for years. The Garden of
Eden, The Flood, The Last Supper, the Resurrection story, The Trinity, etc.
were all in religions before Christianity. Do you deny that? Do you honestly
believe the Earth is only 6,000 years old? That we lived with dinosaurs?
That we did not evolve from apes? Do you think there is a conspiracy of
scientists in all different fields against the Bible? Einstein, Darwin,
Sagan, etc. were not out to disprove the Bible, they were seeking knowledge.
Because of them the world is a better place.
I often get letters like the one above, but I usually answer them privately.
This one deserves a wider hearing.
Dear Sir:
You argue that because of Darwin and others the world is a better place. A
woman has a "right to choose" to kill her unborn baby - the baby has no
right to "life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness." Families are breaking
up, kids are turning schools into war zones, perjury is no longer a "real
crime," gangs run rampant in our cities and serial killers are now
commonplace. Sure, things have never been better.
(Who told you I believe that the earth is only 6000 years old? The Bible
does not teach or require that belief.) Also, please explain the fossilized
human footprint in the same impression as a dinosaur footprint located in
the Permian Basin outside Midland, Texas. So far, science has been unable
to. Apparently, you are willing to put your faith in science books alone.
I'm sure it provides you with plenty of hope for the future.
I agree people have been predicting the end of the world. Indeed, that comes
as no surprise to those who eschew the "real truth of science" ("man will
never fly" - "bloodletting will cure disease" - both once scientific truths)
for the "myths" of the Bible. How many people do you think have tried to
prove the Bible wrong in the last 20 centuries? Philosophers, thinkers,
scientists and doctors from every generation, on every continent, for 2000
years have tried to conclusively disprove the Bible - archeologically,
historically, medically, scientifically - the one who found a single
provably incorrect statement in any of these fields would prove the Book was
written by a man.
Such a one would utterly destroy the underpinnings of the Judeo Christian
ethic and would be the most famous philosopher who ever lived. The man who
proved the Bible wrong! Surely history records such a genius - it's not like
the Bible and its precepts haven't been under constant attack throughout
history. But, sadly, there is no record of our historical genius.
You can't really believe you are the first to question it. I challenge you
to conclusively disprove the Bible. While you're at it, can you conclusively
prove evolution? Science demands empirical evidence that can be re-created
in a laboratory before it labels something as "fact." Consequently, we teach
evolution as fact in schools, but call it the "theory" of evolution. Look up
"theory" and you'll find it means "a supposition" - an unproved fact.
On the other hand, the Bible is made up of 66 books, written by at least 40
different men in different cultures and places over a period of 2,000 years.
Yet the message is perfectly consistent, homogenous, connected and
progressive.
The Bible details history, medical information, scientific information (the
Book of Job tells us, among other things, the world is round, wind moves in
cyclonic patterns rather than a straight line and that light is in motion),
without contradicting the latest findings of science. Archeological
information has never disproved but rather confirmed the details of the
Bible. Archeology has proven the existence of such key figures as Pontius
Pilate, Caiaphas the High Priest, and we also have the record of Flavius
Josephus, the secular Roman historian who mentioned the life of Jesus.
You are entitled to your opinion, as am I. And if you're right, the same
thing happens to me as happens to you when we die - nothing! If you're
wrong, however, you will pay for all eternity.
I'm unwilling to gamble on a discipline (science) that has been wrong so
many times before, when I have before me a discipline (Biblical
Christianity) that has never been disproved a single time in history.
So, I thank you for your suggestion that I pick up a science book and learn
the "real" truth. But I already have and found that "truth" wanting. When I
was a boy, science told me it was impossible to split the atom. Science told
my dad that man would never fly. I've lived to see both scientific truths
disproved, yet I still await the disproval of a single point in all
77,000-plus verses of Scripture.
I've studied science. I've read dozens of books on dozens of scientific
theories and breakthroughs. Have you read the Bible? Or are you basing your
condemnation of me on only half the evidence necessary to support your
argument? Surely you aren't saying to me "I've read science, but not the
Bible, and I conclude the Bible is wrong and science is true," are you? That
wouldn't be very scientific, would it?
I'd like to invite you to know the One Who not only wrote the "real" Truth,
but has kept it to this day. You can meet Him here.
Sincerely in Christ,
Hal Lindsey