The word "science" is from the Latin _scire_ ("to know"). Hence every
statement incompatible with the teachings and principles of science is
simply _ignorance_ arrayed against _knowledge_. It may surprise some
who have been taught that the Bible contains "a perfect embodiment of
truth," or who believe, with the redoubtable Dr. Cheever, that "the
Bible does not contain the shadow of a shade of error from Genesis to
Revelations,"--it will doubtless surprise all such persons to be told,
that, so far from Dr. Cheever's statement being correct, "the Holy
Book," by a fair estimate, is found to contain more than nine thousand
scientific errors alone; i.e., more than nine thousand statements and
assumptions which conflict with the established principles of modern
science, besides errors in morals and history, &c.
This, perhaps, should not be a matter of surprise to any person after
viewing the character and condition of philosophy and the wide-spread
scientific ignorance which reigned over the world at that period. Let
it be borne in mind that science was the book which does not contain
several errors of this character but just budding into life, and
philosophy had attained but a feeble growth amongst that portion of the
earth's inhabitants who constituted the representatives of the Jewish
and Christian religion. Not only does their history and their writings
show that they were, for the most part, ignorant of what little science
there was in the world,--which was small compared with the present
period,--but they opposed it whenever they came in contact with it.
Every thing was ascribed to supernatural power. The word "science" only
occurs twice in the Bible,--once in the Old Testament, and once in the
New; and, in the latter case, it was used for the purpose of condemning
it. Paul advises Timothy to "beware of the babblings of science" (1 Tim.
vi. 20). The word "philosophy" is used but once in the Bible, and then
not to recommend it; but Paul uses it to condemn it, as he does science,
or at least to discourage it: "Beware lest any man spoil you through
philosophy and vain conceit" (Col. ii. 8). It will be observed, then,
that there is apparently a veto placed upon the study of science and
philosophy in the only two instances in which reference is made to them
in the Bible. We can not wonder, therefore, that its devout disciples
have in all ages, until a very recent period, set themselves squarely
against the propagation of science and philosophy. It was but carrying
out the spirit of their Bible. The early Christians, almost to a man,
discouraged the study of science, and condemned and persecuted those
who attempted to propagate its principles, and even put some of them
to death. Copernicus was persecuted for setting forth principles of
astronomy which conflicted with the teachings of the Bible; Galileo was
sentenced to death because he taught the rotundity and revolution of
the earth in opposition to the Bible, which declares, "The earth has
foundations, and can not be removed" (Ps. civ. 5); and Bruno suffered
the penalty of death for teaching substantially the same doctrine.
And every discoverer in science was condemned and persecuted. Much was
written by the early fathers in acknowledgment of the incompatibility
of science with religion and the teachings of the Bible, and to warn the
pious disciple of the danger of occupying his mind in the investigation
and study of science. Even Eusebius, the popular ecclesiastical writer
of the third century, and one of the most intelligent Christians of
that age, acknowledged he had a contempt for "the useless baubles of the
philosophers:" "We think little of these matters, turning our souls to
the exercise of better things." And Lactantius, a Christian of the
same century, pronounced the study of physical causes of natural things
"empty and false." And St. Augustine, "a shining light of the Church,"
treated with contempt the notion that the earth is round, as "trees on
the other side would hang with their tops down, and the men there would
have their feet higher than their heads." He condemns it as false,
"because _no such race is recorded in Scripture_ among the descendants
of Adam." What profound reasoning! Martin Luther utters his malediction
against astronomy in the following language: "This false Copernicus will
turn the whole art of astronomy upside down; but the Scripture teacheth
another lesson, when Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, and not
the earth." Of course Joshua's order for the sun to stop knocks the
science of astronomy on the head, and extinguishes it for ever with all
true Bible believers; and men have had to outgrow their Bibles before
they could accept the teachings of astronomy. When we take into
consideration the almost boundless acquisitions that have been made in
the field of science since the invention of the printing art, and the
many discoveries evolved in every department of science and art, now
classified into a long list of new sciences, and which throw a flood of
light on almost every thing taught by the ancients in morals, religion,
or science, we should not be surprised to find more or less error in
every thing they taught. Let us look for a moment at the long list
of sciences now taught in our schools, most of which were unknown
two hundred years ago: Astronomy, geology, chemistry, mineralogy,
meteorology, pneumatics, hydrostatics, mechanics, psychology,
paleontology, anthropology, ethnology, archaeology, biology, history,
chronology, botany, zoology, philosophy, physiology, ornithology,
geography, mathematics, optics, acoustics, phrenology, animal magnetism,
&c. The facts and principles now comprised in these several branches of
science have mostly been developed within a comparatively recent period
of time; and almost every department of science here enumerated embraces
facts and discoveries which reveal important errors in the religious
creeds of the ancient representatives of the Christian faith. To
illustrate this statement, we will cite some examples:--
1. _Astronomy_.--More than forty errors in astronomy will be found
exposed in Chapter 15, treating on the Mosaic account of creation; and
here may be added a few more to the number. Several texts in the Bible
speak of the stars falling to the earth, or traveling in some lawless
direction. Even Christ committed this error. (See Mark xiii. 25.) How
ridiculous is this conception when viewed in connection with the fact
that these stars are many of them larger than the earth! Saturn is about
a thousand times larger, and Jupiter twelve hundred times larger, than
our planet. John speaks of one-third of the stars falling at once (Rev.
xii. 4). If these two large planets (Jupiter and Saturn) should be
of the number, our little earth would fare rather badly, though it is
evident they could not all have room to strike it. If they should strike
it from opposite sides, they would effectually grind it to powder. The
inspired writers of the Bible seem to have had their minds so filled
with heavenly things, that there was but little room left for scientific
knowledge appertaining to the earth. The idea of the sun being made "to
rule by day, and the moon and stars to rule by night," as taught in
Gen. i. 16, discloses still further the ignorance of Bible writers on
astronomy.
2. _Geological Errors_.--The story of the creation in Genesis (as
exposed in Chapter 15 of this work) contains many geological errors.
Almost every statement, in fact, conflicts with the teachings of
geology, and especially the assumption that the earth, with the retinue
of worlds which roll through infinite space, was brought into existence
by a fiat of Omnipotence, and only about six thousand years ago; while
many facts in geological science disprove its creation, and prove that
it existed hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years ago. For the
numerous Bible errors under this head, see Chapter 15.
3. _Errors in Geography_.--The language applied to the earth by various
writers of the Bible show quite plainly that they entertained very
erroneous conceptions of its form and size, and the laws that govern
it. Such language as "the foundations of the earth" (Ps. civ. 5; Job
xxxviii. 4), "the ends of earth," "the corners of the earth," "the
pillars of the earth" (1 Sam. ii. 8), clearly indicate that Bible
writers entertained the common erroneous conceptions of that age, that
the earth is a flat, square, angular figure, only inhabited on one side.
Matthew, who represents Christ as seeing all the kingdoms of the earth
from the top of a mountain, plainly discloses the same error.
4. _Errors in Ethnology_.--The Bible assumption of the origin of man
within a period of six thousand years, and the descent of the whole
race from a single pair, is directly at variance with the teachings
of ethnological science, which discloses the true history of man, and
proves, according to Agassiz and other modern naturalists, that
the human race has descended from at least five pairs of original
progenitors. See a work entitled "Types of Mankind," compiled from the
writings of the ablest naturalists of the age.
5. _Archæology_, which treats of antiquity, presents us with nearly the
same series of scientific facts to disprove the Bible history of man.
It presents us with many facts in the history of the ancient empires of
India, Egypt, Greece, China, and Persia, which directly contradict many
statements found in the Christian Bible, which the want of space compels
us to omit any notice of here. (See chapters on Bibles.)
6. _Biology_.--The Bible statements which make a son two years older
than his father (2 Chron. xxi. and xxii.), a girl only three years old
when she married, and two millions of people spring from seventy persons
in two hundred and fifteen years, are all at variance with the teachings
of biology.
7. _Botany_.--The origin of thorns and thistles, and the preservation of
the whole vegetable kingdom during Noah's flood, as inferentially taught
by the Christian Bible, conflict with the present established principles
of botany.
8. _Zoology_.--This science, which discloses the true history of animal
life, completely disproves some statements of the Bible relative to the
animal kingdom. The hare is pronounced unclean in Leviticus, "because he
cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof" (Lev. xi. 6). Here are three
incorrect statements. The hare does not chew the cud, and does divide
the hoof, and is not unclean (i.e., not unsuitable for food).
9. _Ornithology_.--The writer who represents God as showering down nine
hundred square miles of quails, three feet thick, around the Jewish camp
to serve as food (see Numb. xi. 32), must have been ignorant of the size
of this bird, if not of the whole feathered tribe.
10. _Physiology_.--The apostle James must have been ignorant of the
science of physiology when he declares the prayers of the elders of the
Church would heal the sick (Jas. v. 15). It is not denied but that the
presence of the elders could exercise a healing influence on the sick;
but it should be ascribed to their magnetism, and not to their prayers.
The numerous cases in which disease is represented by Christ and his
disciples as being produced by devils or evil spirits, and a cure
effected by ejecting the diabolical intruder, shows them to have been
ignorant of physiology; as does also the story of the sons of God
cohabiting with the daughters of men (Gen. vi. 4), and producing a race
of giants which, according to the Book of Enoch, were three hundred
cubits high. Rather tall specimens of humanity. Their heads would
be above the clouds, so that they could not see which way they were
traveling. This story finds a parallel in the traditions of India, which
once produced a race of giants so tall that they could neither sit down
in the house, nor stand up out of doors. Their eyes were so far from the
ground that they could not see their feet. All these stories originated
in an age which was destitute of a knowledge of physiology; and, as this
amalgamation of Gods with human beings did nothing to improve the race,
the story is destitute of a moral, and proves (if it proves any thing)
that the Gods were no better than men.
11. _Mental Science_.--The two hundred texts which represent the heart
as being the seat of the mind or soul furnish conclusive evidence that
the writers were ignorant of the first principles of mental science. "My
heart uttereth understand ing," and "a pure heart," are examples. "An
upright liver," or "a pure liver," would be just as sensible language.
There is not one text in the book that implies a knowledge of the brain
as being the organ of the mind, which is a scientific fact now well
established.
12. _Animal Magnetism_.--The exposition of this science by Mesmer,
Deluse, Townsend, and other writers, renders it clearly evident that
the phenomena of witchcraft, trance, and many cases of spiritual
vision, were nothing more nor less than the products of animal magnetism
superinduced by the action of mind on mind, or the control of the mind
by magnetic substances,--the science of magnetism being entirely unknown
in that era of the world. Every case reported of restoring life to a
dead person by Christ, Elijah, Elisha, and other God-men, if they
had any foundation in truth, are explained by the principles of this
science. Similar cases have been witnessed in modern times.
13. _Philosophy_.--The science of philosophy, in its matured aspect,
is of modern origin, and furnishes the true explanation for many of the
"mysteries of godliness," and other mysteries of the Christian Bible,
which, by the illiterate writers of that age, were ascribed to the
direct manifestation of deific powers. They are now known to be natural
occurrences, instead of supernatural, as assumed by the writers. The
Bible story of the rainbow furnishes one example. Moses must have been
ignorant of philosophy when he selected the rainbow as an evidence there
should be no rain in the future insufficient quantities to inundate the
earth again, when it is known that the rainbow is a certain evidence of
rain, as it is produced by the rain in the act of falling. This is but
one of many errors which the ignorant, illiterate Bible writers have
made for want of knowledge on scientific subjects, such as the history
of creation, the story of the flood, &c. The several cases in which
thunder is spoken of as being the voice of God disclose great ignorance
of philosophy; and several instances in which God promises to take away
the sickness of the people evince an entire ignorance of the natural
laws which control health and disease. (See Exod. xxiii. 25; Deut. vii.
15.)
14. _Mathematics_.--The Bible is deficient in many cases with respect to
the correct observance of the rules and principles of mathematics.
Its assumption that there can be but one God, and at the same time
acknowledging three, furnishes a striking proof of this. Its enumeration
of the families and tribes furnishes another evidence of this. Its
calculation of numbers rarely coincides with the names. For example:
Matth., in his gospel, states there are forty-two generations from David
to Joseph; but his list of names only makes forty-one. And Matthew says,
"From Adam to David are fourteen generations;" but, by counting his list
of names, we find but thirteen. The date of Methuselah's birth and
his age, when compared together, extend his age ten months beyond the
inauguration of the flood. How he sustained life, and avoided drowning
during that time, must be one of the "mysteries of godliness." These are
a few specimens of Bible mathematics.
15. _Chemistry_.--A specimen of Bible chemistry is found in the story
of "fire and brimstone descending from heaven together" without a
coalescence, or the chemical combination and product which usually
result from a contact of these two elements. Another specimen is
presented in the process of manufacturing a golden calf by merely
casting gold ear-rings, finger-rings, &c., into the fire; and also
Moses' invention for grinding the same gold into powder, and sprinkling
it on the water, and compelling the people to drink it. No process is
known in modern times by which gold can be ground to powder, nor for
holding it in solution if ground and thrown into water. The specific
gravity of all gold now in use causes it to sink to the bottom as soon
as it is thrown into water. Bible chemistry seems to differ from natural
chemistry.
16. _Pneumatics_.--Had Jehovah been acquainted with this science, he
could not have become alarmed about having his kingdom invaded by the
builders of Babel; for we learn, by an acquaintance with the principles
of this science, that the air becomes so rarefied as we ascend, that we
soon reach a point where human life must cease. Hence it was unnecessary
to confound the language of the people in order to arrest the completion
of the tower. They would have been compelled to desist before they had
got many miles from the earth.
17. _Acoustics._--Moses must have been ignorant of this science, or
presumed his readers would be, when he related the numerous cases of
himself and Joshua and others reading and talking to two millions of
people, some of whom must have been several miles distant. No human
voice in modern times could reach one-half of such an audience.
18. _Hydrostatics_.--This science teaches us that several cases reported
in the Bible of the waters of rivers and seas being separated and
erected in perpendicular columns so as to form embankments, are
contradicted by all the laws governing fluids, and hence are wholly
incredible. The sciences of optics, meteorology, philology, and
psychology might also be included in the above list as being ignored
and practically set aside by Bible writers. And yet, in the face of all
these facts, Dr. Cheever says, "There is a beautiful harmony between
the principles of science and the teachings of the Bible throughout the
whole book." And this seems to have been the universal conviction of
the disciples of the Christian faith before the progress of scientific
discovery in modern times laid bare the errors of the Holy Book. Since
that juncture in biblical theology culminated, a new theory has been set
on foot to dispose of the scientific errors of the Bible. We are told,
as an apology for these errors, that "the Bible was designed to teach
religion and morality, and not science." This is too true; but a true
system of religion must be based on the principles of science. The plea
also discloses a scientific ignorance on the part of the objector in
not knowing "there is science in every thing." Hence it is impossible
to write on any subject without coming in contact with the principles of
science, which you must either conform to or violate. Persons destitute
of scientific knowledge, as were Bible writers, are liable, in their
ignorance, to stumble into scientific errors in writing on any subject.