by jimwalton » Wed Mar 21, 2018 3:10 pm
The Bible was written to reveal God to us. There's an awful lot about an awful lot it doesn't say. But you're asking particularly about science stuff.
There is no new scientific revelation in the Bible. God never speaks to people with science beyond their understanding. No statements in the Bible offered to the original audience any new insight into how the material world regularly works or how the naturalistic cause-and-effect system works. The "scientific" perspectives on the material world that we find in the text accommodate the Old World science of the time and era. God revealed Himself in concepts within their understanding of things. After all, some understanding of the world and its operations inevitably had to be used in some discussions in the text. Why would we think that the human communicator would use the science of our day to communicate to people thousands of years ago? In fact, that would be foolishness because a century from now we will undoubtedly have adopted some new scientific conclusions ourselves that differ from what we believe today. Science is always changing, and is expected to continue changing. God chose human communicators associated with a particular time, language, and culture and communicated through them into that world, and indirectly to us. It has information for us as we are able to penetrate the message being conveyed by the human communicators to their audience.
Suppose God were to communicate directly with us, using scientific understandings and terminology 1000 years to our future. It wouldn't be communication at all. We would all go, "Huh?" There's no sense in that kind of communication because it is not addressed to its audience.
It's a pretty misguided conclusion, then, to say that "Kinda makes you think that God didn't write the Bible". Why wouldn't God want to mention something as big as dinosaurs? Because they were extinct and had nothing to do with the salvation of humankind. The Bible is God's revelation of Himself to humanity, His covenant with humanity, and His desire to be in relationship with his people. The existence of dinosaurs and the science of astronomy have nothing to do with those.
But as far as they understood about astronomy, God used that to reveal Himself: Psalm 8.3-4; 19.1.
> If the Bible was written today, it would probably include things about space and dinosaurs.
Not necessarily, but possibly. Who's to say. It would only be part of the Bible if it pertained to God's plan of salvation, which is what the Bible is about.
The Bible was written to reveal God to us. There's an awful lot about an awful lot it doesn't say. But you're asking particularly about science stuff.
There is no new scientific revelation in the Bible. God never speaks to people with science beyond their understanding. No statements in the Bible offered to the original audience any new insight into how the material world regularly works or how the naturalistic cause-and-effect system works. The "scientific" perspectives on the material world that we find in the text accommodate the Old World science of the time and era. God revealed Himself in concepts within their understanding of things. After all, some understanding of the world and its operations inevitably had to be used in some discussions in the text. Why would we think that the human communicator would use the science of our day to communicate to people thousands of years ago? In fact, that would be foolishness because a century from now we will undoubtedly have adopted some new scientific conclusions ourselves that differ from what we believe today. Science is always changing, and is expected to continue changing. God chose human communicators associated with a particular time, language, and culture and communicated through them into that world, and indirectly to us. It has information for us as we are able to penetrate the message being conveyed by the human communicators to their audience.
Suppose God were to communicate directly with us, using scientific understandings and terminology 1000 years to our future. It wouldn't be communication at all. We would all go, "Huh?" There's no sense in that kind of communication because it is not addressed to its audience.
It's a pretty misguided conclusion, then, to say that "Kinda makes you think that God didn't write the Bible". Why wouldn't God want to mention something as big as dinosaurs? Because they were extinct and had nothing to do with the salvation of humankind. The Bible is God's revelation of Himself to humanity, His covenant with humanity, and His desire to be in relationship with his people. The existence of dinosaurs and the science of astronomy have nothing to do with those.
But as far as they understood about astronomy, God used that to reveal Himself: Psalm 8.3-4; 19.1.
> If the Bible was written today, it would probably include things about space and dinosaurs.
Not necessarily, but possibly. Who's to say. It would only be part of the Bible if it pertained to God's plan of salvation, which is what the Bible is about.