_______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ The Science and the Bible E-zine _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Publisher: Max B. Frederick ("An Old Scientist") Motto: The Simple Truth Date: September 30, 2008 Issue: Volume 1, Number 1 Home Pages: http://www.AnOldScientist.com http://www.ScienceAndTheBible.net http://www.EyewitnessToTheOrigins.com Circulation: So far there is no subscription list. This is the first issue. And it is circulated by readers passing it on. To get another issue, you must put your name and email on the list by forwarding this email. Forward this email to signup@anoldscientist.com. Be sure to change the subject line to your name. _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ "Truth: That which is in accord with fact and reality." This is written so that you may believe the bible because of science rather than in spite of science. _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ What's in This Issue: 1) Welcome to the Science and the Bible E-zine! 2) Special Feature: What is Science and the Bible? 3) Special Feature: Why Science and the Bible? 4) What's New At ScienceAndTheBible.net 5) Steal This E-zine! 6) Reprint Rights 7) Sign up for the E-zine _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ What's in Next and Coming Issues: 1) Real Examples, And What They Mean. 2) Big Bang, Product of God or Imagination of Science? 3) Is God's Favorite Subject, Science? (and evidence to support that outrageous idea.) _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ 1) Welcome to The Science and the Bible E-zine! This first issue is being sent out to my friends, relatives, and other acquaintances that I think might have an interest. Please feel free to forward it to others who may be interested to the ends of the earth. (What is that concept, "the ends of the earth" anyway?) But please be careful to send it only to those who may be interested. I do not like span any more than you do. Also, please sign up for future issues or I will assume you want your name removed from the list. (Go to the end of this issue for directions.) Are you reading my blog? Join in for discussion of science and the bible: http://www.ScienceAndTheBible.net/blog _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ 2) Special Feature: What is Science and the Bible? And what it is not. True science in the bible is more prolific and more accurate by orders of magnitude (that's a technical term for many, many, many times) than anyone has ever published. Many scientific truths recorded in the bible so long ago are only now coming to light. Many were obscured to the thinking of theologians because they had not yet been discovered by modern science and humans could not even imagine what scientists were yet to discover. (For much more information, go to my web site, http://www.ScienceAndTheBible.net.) Typically, when theologians cannot understand science in the bible, rather than admit it, they resort to theobabble. (Theobabble is a word the Old Scientist had to make up to describe such religious nonsense used to fill in for what they could not understand. It's a human trait illustrated by the construction worker when he cannot think of the correct descriptor and resorts to swearing.) All this good science that is actually found in the bible, yet obscured by theobabble, is regrettably overshadowed by the junk science passed around among Christians trying to make their God look good. In fact, most of the stuff that is passed around by Christians as seeming proof that the bible is scientifically correct is either made up by well meaning Christians trying to make their God look good, or the bible misinterpreted to make it look like some profound scientific statement when the simple truth is, it can be interpreted many possible ways. And the claimed interpretation is a stretch. For example, that verse about the "circle" of the earth used to "prove" the bible knew the earth was a sphere, when everyone believed the earth was flat. First, it is a myth that everyone thought the earth was flat. Even the ancient Greeks knew the earth was a sphere. They even had a pretty good estimate of the diameter of the earth. Second, that verse, in reality could easily have meant everything one sees when he turns in a circle. Almost everyone that knows me is aware that for the past several years I have been working on writing about science and the bible. In fact, we have been having nearly weekly meetings in our house where a group of people discuss science and the bible. At first, we accumulated all the stories we could find about science proving the bible was correct. We tried to trace each one back to its source. You know the stuff I mean, the stories about some NASA scientist not being able to reconcile ancient time with reality until he made a correction for the stories in the bible about the sun standing still or going backward. Well, almost without exception, we traced each one back to some overzealous but, well-meaning fraudulent source. Most of them were just fictitious stories made up by some well meaning person trying to make their God look good. In the end, credibility is destroyed rather than enhanced. With friends like that who needs enemies? The one we had the most trouble with was the one about the blood clotting best on the eight day after birth. At best, the medical doctor associated with the origin of that highly technical information, was considered a kook by many of his peers and his work was ignored by credible journals. That does not mean his work was not valid, just ignored by credible judges. No scientist who valued his reputation would touch it with a ten- foot pole. This did not advance the cause of science making the bible look good, especially to a scientist. This sort of over zealousness is held up by critics of the bible as indication that the bible is not in touch with fact and reality. Anyway, as time went on, it became more and more difficult to ignore the long-standing controversy about the differences between what modern science believed about the origins and what Christians teach that the bible has to say on the subject. For quite a few years now, the Christian world has been divided into three camps on that subject. Some were known as Young Earth Creationists. They teach that nothing existed before some six-thousand years ago (or some comparably short time ago.) These have been criticized for re-interpreting science to match the bible. Others, known as Old Earth Creationists, have been criticized for reinterpreting the bible to agree with science. Still others, known as Evolutionary Creationists, seemingly took the easy out and used compromise to ignore the whole problem. In any event, it has seemed to be universally accepted that there is a disconnect between science and the bible. No one checked and see what the bible really said. But that is in for a change. There are in fact, about three dozen different accounts of creation in the bible. All but the one up front in the bible have been methodically ignored. That realization began an effort that has resulted in the book, Eyewitness to the Origins. For the past several years a major effort has been put into extracting details from those many accounts, and interleaving them according to chronological clues contained in those accounts. Then that time line was compared to the simple truth as recently discovered by modern science. This effort required about fifteen thousand hours of scientific research. That is equivalent to seven and a half years full time employment in scientific research by An Old Scientist. (That is what I call myself.) The result has been amazing. When you combine all the creation accounts of the bible, you get a time line that stretches all the way from Eternity Past, to Eternity Future. But, even more amazing, that time line is verified by the recent independent discoveries of fact by modern science. Rather than assign a number of years as modern science has, the bible relates the relative timing of a sequence of events. It is now known that the exact sequence of events recently discovered by modern science is undeniably exactly the same as the sequence of events recorded thousands of years earlier in the combined accounts of the bible. This scientific verification of the bible is a recent development. In fact, some of the facts recorded in the bible have been, or continue to be discovered by modern science since the beginning of the writing of the book, Eyewitness to the Origins. No longer is there a need to reinterpret either science or the bible for the truth to be consistent with both. Finally one can believe the bible because of science rather than in spite of science. _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ 3) Special Feature: Why Science and the Bible? Every year churches across America send their best and brightest high school graduates off to secular colleges. The attrition rate is high. Many are lost. It is like their roots are not deep into the soil of the word. In reality, the pseudo science they have been taught in church is easily refuted, and they loose confidence in the credibility of all they have been taught about the bible. This is a needless waste. Some people say there is no need for a Christian to study a comparison of science and the bible. They say, "If the bible says it, I believe it. That's enough for me." Some people say it is a waste of time that should be used evangelizing. Others seem to take the position that the bible is truth and that when Jesus claimed, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" He was defining truth to be what God says, independent of fact and reality. Anything else that claims to be true is a perversion of the meaning of the word truth And, besides, even if "my" interpretation of the bible is not how God did it, He has the power, He could have done it that way if He had wanted to. But I say: What about the thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of our brightest young Christians that every year lose their faith due to this head in the sand attitude? They go to college. They learn that what they have been taught by well meaning Christians is pseudo science. They are ridiculed to shame. They look and feel stupid. They give Christianity a bad name among thinking people. They turn their backs on the religion of their parents. Isn't that a vast mission field? They could have been lights in this dark segment of our society, if only they had known the truth. For too long, in the name of Christianity, we have been teaching science that is not true. For too long we have believed that the Christian theologians interpretation of the bible is truth no matter what scientists say. For too long we have been taught that scientists are wrong, if they do not agree with our interpretation of the facts. That is not what the bible teaches. The bible teaches that God created man to be a creature that was capable of recognizing the greatness of the creation of God by first hand observation of the creation. That creatures purpose is to glorify God by virtue of the fact that he actually does recognize the greatness of God. Not only is God in accord with fact and reality, but his creation is also true, and reveals the greatness of the creator, even to those who have no other source of this truth. But, "What is truth?" you say. Webster defines truth to be that which is in accord with fact or reality. When Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life," He was saying that Jesus is the way, Jesus is that which is in accord with fact and reality, Jesus is life. In other words, Jesus is not some far out concept that is out of touch with reality. He does not ask you to believe something that is not true. He is down to earth and is compatible with everything else that is true. Truth is truth, whether it is found in the bible, or found in science. There is no discrepancy between truth found in the bible and truth from any outside source. No one needs to fear the truth of science. "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." The argument is not between science and the bible, the argument is between the interpretations of scientists and the interpretations of theologians. Neither of them have a monopoly on the truth. It is not until the facts of science and the facts of the bible are seen to agree that one can be assured that either one has interpreted the truth correctly. Most scientists will not agree to be bound by that statement, but will agree that they are, in reality looking for the valid truth. Most current theologians have never considered that statement because they believe their interpretation of the bible is true in spite of contradiction by the facts of science. Know full well: I am not proposing a compromise with the theory of evolution. The bible clearly states that living beings are the product of Gods creative design. Living beings did not, and do not, arise spontaneously. Science has discredited spontaneous generation many years ago. The facts of science, in agreement with the bible, indicate that no matter how much time you give it, evolution cannot cause spontaneous generation of life forms. On the other hand, I am proposing that many of the supposedly scientific interpretations of what the bible says, interpretations by well meaning Christian theologians, are not truth. They are not a correct interpretation of what the bible does say. In the long run, to the thinking mind, they bring into question the credibility of everything else these theologians teach. They lead many of our brightest young Christians to question their very faith. We can not afford this waste. We must teach truth to the salvation of these potentially lost souls. Many scientific sounding pronouncements, taught by well meaning theologians, are not what the bible says and, quite frankly, are not true. They are false, pseudo science, junk science. Examples range from the canopy theory to the assertion that if you say everything was not created within the time span of one hundred forty four hours, (six, twenty-four hour days,) you make Jesus a liar. These are blatant distortions of what the bible truly says. On the other hand, the bible is rich with examples of scientific truths known centuries before modern science is credited with their discovery. These instances, correctly interpreted, give great credibility to the claim of the bible to having a supernatural source. These are the inspiration for the writing of this book. These are the things that excite the author. These are the truths that will lend credibility to the teachings of the bible among the thinking scholars. These are the supernatural truths of the bible that cannot be denied by scoffers. These are the truths a bright young Christian can hold on to in the face of ridicule. These are the truths that will give Christians a good name among thinking scholars. These truths have the power to save the faith of our best and brightest young people _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ 4) What's New At ScienceAndTheBible.net I am impatiently waiting for my new book, Eyewitness to the Origins, to be available on the internet. It will still be a few weeks before it is available through all book stores If you sign up for this e-zine, I will notify you when it is available. Or you can check for yourself at: http://www.EyewitnessToTheOrigins.com I am available to occasionally teach on Science and the Bible. If you want to hear me speak on Science and the Bible, contact me here: http://www.anoldscientist.com. Nearly every week a group of interested people meet at my house to discuss science and the bible. We have been doing it for years. If you live in the local area of Central Point, Oregon, and are interested in participating, you are welcome to contact me at: http://www.anoldscientist.com. Otherwise, the blog is your last resort: http://www.ScienceAndTheBible.net/blog. A few days ago, on September 2, 2008, when I fully expected the book to be available by that day, I was interviewed on the local radio station by local talk show host Bill Meyer. That interview was somewhat of an embarrassment to me, but others said it was OK. If you want to suffer through it you can hear it here as long as the radio station web site keeps it posted. http://www.kmed.com/common/global_audio/51/223 2.mp3 _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ 5) Steal This E-zine! This E-zine is free, you may take it and pass it on to others. However, this E-zine is copyright Max B. Frederick, 2008. Therefore, with my permission I encourage you to email this E-zine to any friends of yours who might be interested in Science and the Bible. I only ask that you email the whole thing, not bits and pieces. Otherwise, you'll be getting desperate calls at midnight from your friends asking where they can get their own free subscription. Here is the place to subscribe: http://www.ScienceAndTheBible.net ______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ 6) Reprint Rights Permission is granted to use any of the articles in this e-zine in your own e-zine or web site, as long as you include the following blurb with it: Retired Scientist, Theologian and Author, Max B. Frederick, "AnOldScientist," publishes the FREE Science and the Bible E-zine, every month. Visit http://www.ScienceAndTheBible.net For more articles like this. Also download your free Special Report on "Thirty-two Creation Accounts Found in the Bible." _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ 7) Sign up for the E-zine In the future you should be on this list only if you signed up for it. As soon as I get it automated, there will be a place to sign up for the e-zine on my web site at http://www.ScienceAndTheBible.net Right now there is not an automated way to sign up. So for now, to sign up, just forward this email to me with your name in the subject line, and I will manually add you to the list. For this purpose forward this email to signup@anoldscientist.com. Just be sure to replace the subject line with your name before you press send If you miss an issue, I plan to archive all back issues on my web site at: http://www.ScienceAndTheBible.net/ezine _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Max B. Frederick Publisher, Science and the Bible E-zine _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________