Dr. George Matzko is the science ambassador from Bob Jones University. He recently held a two day “God & Science” event at our church. I asked him to share some of the questions he has received over the years and his answers on this blog. I hope this is helpful to you as you study science and the Bible! — Pastor Gary Holloway
Are the magnetic poles moving and if so, what does that mean for us?
I was asked this question while doing a Q&A at Anchor Baptist Church in Little River, SC this past weekend and the folks at Northside Baptist in Greenville, SC were also interested in this topic last night.
Yes, the magnetic poles are on the move and not only that, they are moving faster and faster year by year. Currently, the north magnetic pole is moving toward Siberia at about 55 kilometers per year and the South magnetic pole has moved off the continent of Antarctica headed for Australia.
I think that it is very possible that this migration may signal a pole flip, something that hasn’t happened since the Deluge. It could happen tomorrow or years from now or even during the Tribulation period — no one knows, but the implications could be serious. There is also something called the South Atlantic Anomaly, that is growing apace, that may also signal a new polar reversal.
When the poles finally decide to flip, we could be left for a time without the magnetic field that protects our planet from solar and galactic radiation, the ionizing rays that can harm things on our planet. That not only means that cancer rates will skyrocket, but our electrical systems could fail as well. Some estimates I’ve seen say that that it might take up to two years to restore power for everyone affected.
Daniel Baker, of the University of Colorado, who is sun radiation expert, says there’s no question in his mind that parts of the planet will become uninhabitable.
If you are interested in learning more about this topic, I would recommend watching this short video even though it uses a bogus evolutionary time scale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6Ggs7nUjxA Creationists are not comforted by assertions that we don’t need to worry because it only happens every 780,000 years. Our time horizon is much more compressed than theirs.
Psalm 47:9b – “for the shields of the earth belong unto God: he is greatly exalted.”
What insights can we gain from Psalm 19 about our sun?
Psalm 19:4-6 speaks of the sun using imagery that is neither a scientific description nor a mythological account but uses typical Old Testament popular descriptive idioms for a natural phenomenon:
In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, 5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. 6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
First, we see in verse 4c that the sun has a tabernacle or tent (i.e., abode). From this it appears that David understood that the sun is not moving. God literally “set” it in place.
In verse 5 the sun is likened to a bridegroom and a strong man sunning a race. The sun was the only source of energy that David had ever seen that never cooled down or diminished in size. We know now that the sun is actually growing as it burns about as fast as fingernails grow. Certainly too slow for us to measure.
In verse 6 we read of the sun’s chamber where it passes the night, bursting forth at sunrise in its full glory and lighting up its splendid tabernacle. We also read that the sun “goes forth,” referring not only to its apparent transit across the sky as the earth turns but also to the outgoing of its radiant heat.
Just as the sun lights all of the earth, so also, the revelation of God’s character, power and wisdom is universal. Every human being knows something about the Creator God because every human being has seen the sun!
Romans 10:18 – But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.
What’s a good example of scientific foreknowledge in the Bible?
The Earth is suspended in space
Job 26:7 – He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. [“North – The northern part of the heavens, which is put for the whole visible heaven, because Job and his friends lived in a northern climate. Nothing – Upon no props or pillars, but his own power and providence” – John Wesley]
This Biblical idea is quite different from the “World Turtle” pictured above in an 1876 drawing of the world supported on the backs of four elephants, themselves resting on the back of a turtle. This mythological view has counterparts worldwide.
Even in Europe and America, the idea that there was some kind of aether medium in which the earth was embedded prevailed until 1887, when Michelson and Morley tried to use an interferometer in a vain attempt to detect the relative motion of the earth in the aether.
The earth suspended in space is only one of many examples of scientific foreknowledge in the Bible.
Here is what Matthew Henry had to say about Job 26:7 – The globe by the almighty power of God, is firmly fixed in its place, poised with its own weight. The art of man could not hang a feather upon nothing, yet the divine wisdom hangs the whole earth so. It is upheld by the word of God’s power. What is hung upon nothing may serve us to set our feet on, and bear the weight of our bodies, but it will never serve us to set our hearts on, nor bear the weight of our souls.
Does lightning have any purpose other than demonstrating the majesty and power of the Creator?
Yes, it helps provide our daily need of the element nitrogen. Nitrogen is the third most abundant element in the human body, and it must be renewed continually. We are actually surrounded by nitrogen since it comprises 78 percent of Earth’s atmosphere. However, our bodies cannot make use of the nitrogen in this molecular, gaseous form because nitrogen gas has a strong triple bond that is hard to break. That is where lightning comes in. The great electrical energy of lightning is easily able to convert nitrogen in the air to a usable form. The scale of this transformation is staggering. Worldwide, storms are estimated to produce one hundred million tons of useful nitrogen compounds each year. Perhaps up to one-half of all usable nitrogen in the soil is fixed or made usable by the energy of lightning.
In addition to keeping us alive, lightning is also beautiful and added beauty is the hallmark of God’s creative style.
Did the human writers of the Bible believe that the earth was flat?
http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/articles_flatearththeory.html
As we have traveled across the US this past year, we’ve had the misfortune to come across several flat-earthers in the churches we have visited. They all maintained that the Bible teaches that the earth was flat. No, this false idea is not taught in Scripture and here is why:
(1) Job 26:7 explains that the earth is suspended in space, the common sense comparison being with a spherical sun and moon.
(2) By 250 B.C. the Greek astronomer Eratosthenes had already measured the 25,000-mile circumference of the earth and we can assume that this information was known by the New Testament writers.
(3) Revelation 7:1 refers to angels standing at the four corners of the earth, but the four corners are actually a reference to the four cardinal directions: North, South, East & West.
(4) Bible writers used the language of appearance just like we do when we refer to the Sun rising and setting. If they didn’t it would make for some awkward reading. We can have full confidence that when the Bible touches on scientific subjects it is completely accurate.
Will human beings ever live on Mars?
No, and let me tell you why.
(1) Mars doesn’t have much of a gravitational field (only 38% of earth’s) so it can’t hold on to a dense atmosphere and it is unlikely that humans can remain healthy is such low gravity.
(2) Mars doesn’t have a magnetic field to deflect deadly radiation from space.
(3) The soil on Mars is full of perchlorates (think rocket fuel).
And that’s OK because we have a world that was created just for us. Isaiah 45:18 – “For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD, and there is none else.”