STUDIES IN THE BIBLE PART 5

International Bible Baptist ChurchSunday School LessonNovember 9, 2013

I. THE BIBLE IS SCIENTIFICB) IT SHOWS US THE EARTH IS HANGING IN OUTER SPACE Job 26:7 (2000 B.C.)Majority of ancient traditions and legends would speak of the earth as being supported by huge pillars or on the back of some giant tortoise. When these moved, then you will have earthquakes.

A) IT SHOWS US THE EARTH IS ROUND Isa 40:22 (740-680 B.C.)Most ancient civilizations believed that the world is flat. Their mariners would not venture too far out into the oceans fearing that they would go over the “edge” into some unknown, Fearsome, watery abyss.

C) IT SHOWS US THERE ARE UNDERSEA CURRENT

Psalm 8:8 (1410-430 B.C.)In 1885, Matthew Maury, a Us Navy officer, after reading Ps. 8:8 set off to find these curious “paths of the seas.” He eventually discovered these oceanic currents and came to be known as the “pathfinder of the seas.”

D) IT SHOWS US THE UNIVERSE IS RUNNING DOWN(THE SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS)Ps. 102:25-26 ( 1410-430 B.C. )The sun and all the stars in the Universe are burning themselves out and the process is irreversible. The Universe, like a wound-up clock, is running down today. But the question: who raised the energy level so high to make photosynthesis possible thus making life possible.

E) IT SHOWS US THE EXISTENCE OF DAY AND NIGHT(Lk. 17:30-34)

(58-63 A.D.)The Bible predicted that when the Lord Jesus Christ comes again, it would be day in certain parts and night in the other parts.

F) IT SHOW US THE HYDROLOGIC CYCLE OF WATER: Ecc. 1:7 (950 B.C.)

The process of evaporation and condensation of water were only discovered by Galileo in 1630.

G) IT SHOWS US THE REALITY OF ADAM AND EVE(Gen. 1:27-28)

(1450 B.C.)Mitochondrial DNA is inherited always from the mother. A researcher, Rebecca Cann, studied the mitochondrial DNA of the placenta of babies from 147 women from Africa, America, Europe and the Middle East and Asia. All the babies’ DNA could be traced to one woman.(Newsweek, Jan. 11, 1998)

H) THE BIBLE AND ARCHEOLOGY AGREE

Seashells and fossils of fish were found in mountains which is an evidence of the flood during Noah’s time

1) But now proof of the Great Flood can be found in the preserved vessel of Noah, who's story is told in Genesis, chapters 6 through 9. I use the word "preserved" cautiously. The vessel is so ancient that it is now a fossil. That's right, the ark has turned into petrified wood. An earthquake in 1978 caused much of the earth that covered it to fall away and expose the noticeably man-made structure of the gigantic rock formation (see figure 1, below). Made from gopher wood (likely cypress-pine) and covered with pitch (tar) per biblical instructions, the Ark has withstood eons of time, and within its lower chambers are deeply buried secrets.

The unmistakable shape of a large vessel is evident in this picture. First observed by the West in aerial shots of the Ararat Mountain Range in 1959 and featured in a small article in LIFE magazine in 1960. The object went largely unnoticed after earlier expeditions concluded it was a natural rock formation. The object is the exact dimensions of the Ark given in Genesis chapter 6 verse 15: the length 300 cubits (the Egyptian cubit is exactly 20.6 inches) or 515 feet by 50 cubits (86 ft) wide and 30 cubits (51.5 ft) high. The person responsible for relating the accounts of Noah was Moses (who is credited with the first 5 books of the Old Testament). Moses was schooled in the courts of Egypt and would have used the Egyptian "Royal Cubit" for his measurements.

2)There are hundreds of relics discovered by archeologists which existence coincides with Bible history According to Nelson Glueck, a respected Jewish archeologist claims: “It may be stated that no archeological discovery has ever contradicted a biblical reference.” The liberals made wild claims against the Bible a hundred years ago but now they are silent. This is not true of other religions. The Mormon claim for inspiration of the Book of Mormon has been condemned by the Smithsonian Institute because of the fallacies by archeology.

A dedicated archeologist, Dr. Eliat Mazar, world authority on Jerusalem’s past, has taken King David out of the pages of the Bible and put him back into living history. Mazar’s latest excavation in the City of David, in the southern shadow of the Temple Mount, has shaken up the archaeological world. For lying undisturbed for over 3,000 years is a massive building which Mazar believes is King David’s palace and now most recently has discovered ancient fortifications from the time of King Solomon.

Recent archeological investigations have demolished the position of those who rejected the biblical account of Israel's kings such as King David. In 1993, archeologists digging at Tel Dan in the Galilee in northern Israel found a fragment of a stone inscription that clearly refers to the "house of David"ÿand identifies David as the "king of Israel." This is the first inscription outside the Bible that confirms the Bible's statement that David was the king of Israel in the ninth century before Christ. Many Bible critics who had rejected King David as a myth were upset to discover their position could no longer be defended. Some critics suggested that the fragment was a "fake." The following summer, two additional fragments of the original inscription were found that provided scholars with the whole inscription, confirming that it referred to David as king of Israel.

Furthermore, another scholar, Andre Lemaire from the College de France, discovered another ninth century B.C. stone inscription created by King Mesha of Moab that also referred to "the House of David." These incredible inscriptions, recorded a century after David's death, confirm that David was king of Israel at the time the Bible stated and that he established a dynasty, the "House of David"ÿas the Scriptures said.

• Archaeology makes a believer

• The abundance of archaeological evidence in support of the Bible can strengthen faith, and in some cases it has greatly contributed to giving birth to belief where none existed before.

• An example of physical evidence building one's faith is the life of Englishman William M. Ramsay (1851-1939). Born in the lap of luxury, Ramsay was dutifully raised as a nonbeliever by his atheist parents. He graduated from Oxford University with a doctorate in philosophy and became a professor at the University of Aberdeen.

Determined to undermine the historical accuracy of the Bible, he studied archaeology with the aim of disproving the biblical account. Once ready with the necessary scientific tools and learning, he traveled to Palestine and focused on the book of Acts, which he fully expected to refute as nothing more than myth. After a quarter-century of work, Ramsay was awestruck by the accuracy of the book of Acts. In his quest to refute the Bible, Ramsay discovered many facts which confirmed its accuracy.

He had to concede that Luke's account of the events and setting recorded in the narrative were exact even in the smallest detail. Far from attacking the biblical account, Ramsay produced a book, St. Paul, the Traveller and Roman Citizen , which supported it.Eventually, William Ramsay shook the intellectual world by writing that he had converted to Christianity. Ironically, this man who set out to refute the Bible, found himself accepting the Bible as God's Word because of his explorations and discoveries. For his contribution to biblical knowledge with his many books, he was knighted also.

House of Peter