Bible Science

If you watch the History Channel, or the Discovery Channel as I do, eventually you come across a show that takes a look back at the Bible. These shows have "experts" comment on the events and people of the Bible.

In and of itself, that is not a bad thing. Here is my beef. They come up with logical or pseudo-scientific guesses at what "really" happened. I have heard of many over the years, so some of these are dredged up from memory. The most recent is the crossing of the Red Sea. They say Moses didn't cross through what we now know as the Red Sea, but farther north where it is shallower. According the expert, Moses didn't part it, but the Israelites waited 45 minutes while the tide lowered the water 10 inches (though that number could be wrong) leaving dry ground. The Israelites crossed, and the tide came back in, making the water impassable for the Egyptians; some who got stuck, some who drowned. By the time the Pharaoh went around, the Israelites were long gone. There is another, where a volcano caused a tsunami which in turn caused the sea to part. They explain the Great Flood as an higher then normal local flood, not a global one. Another I recall is the conversion of Saul/Paul. I forget the details, but the explanation is to the effect of he didn't see Jesus, nor was he on the way to Damascus. He was in the temple, and got blinded by the sun and imagined the whole experience! There are explanations for Sodom and Gomorrah as well, though I do not have the details.

The thing is, these explanations always leave out information. They may have an explanation that fits one part of the story, but complete ignores, if not contradicts the rest. In the example of the Red Sea, they don't explain the pillars of fire and cloud. They small details like that a strong east wind rose up, or that they walked beside a wall of water, or that the waters came and went at Moses stretching out his hands over the Sea. And the big one is they ignore that the whole of Pharaoh's army was drowned. If the theory above is right, the miracle of the Red Sea isn't the God split the sea, but that he drown an entire army in 10 inches of water!

The Great Flood is the same. If it was a local flood, why collect the animals, more accurately, why did the animals come to them? If it was a local flood, why was there no sight of land for over a year? If it was just a local Mesopotamian flood, how did the ark land on a mountain. Which, circumstantially has been found. If this was an isolated event, why is there flood accounts all over the world? So much information from the Biblical acount is ignored.

I have no problem with science or "experts" taking a look at the Bible and trying to prove or disprove it. But, to change details, to ignore others, just to make your theory fit is appalling. It's the bad science. If you are going to take a logical and scientific study of the Bible and the stories within, you have to do it as you would approach questions of gravity or medicine. In medicine, you can't ignore the people that are dying, just to make your medicine work and be what you want. Similarily, you can't leave out details that the Bible shows us. If you are going to believe Moses lived, then why would you ignore other details like the Pillar of Fire? Or the drowning of the Pharoh's Army? Bending the facts to fit a theory gives you one pretty weak theory.

My view is this. The Bible is a book of Faith. It's stories are far too old to be proven or disproven conclusively. Plus, the "experts" that look at the Bible through scientific eyes ignore the most central thing to the Bible, God. If you don't believe in God, how can you believe he parted the Red Sea? It would be like telling Moby Dick, without the whale! You can't just take out the central character in a story. When you take God out of your explanations, all other ones fall short, because nothing else matches up perfectly without ignoring or contradicting details. To me, the only way the Bible makes sense, and fits together is if you factor in God. Without God, the Bible, and even life makes no sense. To me at least.

Ok, rant over, I'm feeling better now.