Changing Scientific Position

Science frequently moves from one position to another. As soon as a statement is made, defining some property of matter, or some finding has been established as certain, a revision appears in which the former statements have to be scrapped or modified. Many scientists have had to retreat from what they originally thought and 'swallow their words'. A few examples follow, drawn from the pronouncements of qualified experts, past and present:

If a vehicle travels faster than 30 mph the air will be sucked from the interior and suffocate the passengers. The universe is expanding/collapsing/neither expanding or collapsing. Stars are always being 'born'. The Grand Canyon was formed slowly over millions of years. Fossil beds contain millions of transitional forms. The moon was captured as it passed Earth a long time ago. A huge amount of human DNA is useless junk. An exclusive diet of meat is not good for you. Gem stones take millions of years to form. Oil takes about the same time. There are only about 5000 stars in the universe.

It has often been said, by scientists, that Neanderthals were one of the 'missing links' between primates and modern humans, and many textbooks pictured them as primitive ape-like humans, but as more evidence has coming to light this view has had to be revised. A recent book 'Neanderthals and Modern Humans' by Clive Finlayson points out that it was "a combination of intellectual mindset and the skeletal remains of an old and decrepit Neanderthal man led to the idea that they were all thuggish in looks, temperament and intelligence."

There is now abundant information about these remarkable people which shows that they were "very robust, barrel-chested" and physically powerful hunters, adapted to the harsh conditions of an ice age, with "strength and endurance required for high mobility and close contact hunting." Their remains have been found with musical instruments, well-made tools and evidence that they cared for their dead and believed in an afterlife.

Unlike changeable science, the Bible makes pronouncements about the real world that have never needed to be revised. For example long before Man understood the orbit of Earth through the vacuum of space, the Bible said that God "hangs the Earth upon nothing" (Job 26:7), long before the whole hydrologic cycle was understood, in which salt-free water evaporates off the ocean and falls on the land, only to flow back to the ocean and repeat the cycle endlessly, the Bible described the exact same thing in Ecclesiastes chapter 1. Long before telescopes were turned on the sky and the untold billions of stars discovered, the Bible already said the stars were numberless - in fact the Bible compared the number of stars to the grains on sand on Earth (Gen.22:17), which is a very good approximation.

But the Bible is not just accurate when it comes to describing present real things; it has also proved absolutely accurate in describing future real events.

One hundred and twenty years before the flood of Noah's day, Noah accurately predicted it - to the very day. Four hundred years before the Hebrews left Egypt, God foretold their departure, to the very day. God spoke through His prophets many times, predicting the downfall of nations and cities, and all has happened precisely as He said.

God also foretold the coming of His Son, named His family tree, His place of birth, His manner and character, His place of childhood, and His journey to and from Egypt. He also told us what His Son would do, how He would be received, who would betray him, how He would die, and what would happen after that. Every essential detail was described sometimes hundreds of years before the event.

No scientist would be bold (or stupid) enough to predict what was going to happen in the world even ten years from now, yet many of them do make statements, with total assurance, about things which they really do not know anything about - such as the origin of the universe, or of life, of language, or of even something as basic as the origin of sex - just why and how did male and female come about? Where science has no answers, the Bible has clear statements. Logically, if the Bible has been shown to be correct in all the areas in which it can be investigated, why is it assumed to be wrong in what it says about origins and ancient history?

Perhaps the Neanderthals can teach us something here? Their descendants are probably with us, mixed into the general population of the planet, and some of them may be Bible-believing creationists.