Answers to Questions - The Bible and Science

What are some examples of scientific insights relating to physics?

The facts and laws of physics were generally not discovered until the last few hundred years. A few topics that the Bible addresses:

Air Has Weight
From earlier centuries until rather recently, the scientific world believed that air lacked weight. The Bible indicates otherwise. The book of Job, written as early as 2000 B.C., indicates that air has weight.

"God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof. For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven; To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure." Job 28:23-25

Torricelli discovered that air has weight in 1643 A.D., and applied it to the discovery of barometric pressure.

Light Moves
People once thought that light was instantaneous. After all, the tremendous velocity of light certainly made it appear in an instant. We now realize not only that light moves, but also that its' movement and velocity are critical to the existence of earth. The book of Job implied that light moves:

"What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside? Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings?"
Job 38:19,20

The First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics
#1: Energy cannot be created or destroyed.
#2: Entropy: Things tend to move from a state of order to a state of disorder (randomness). i.e. Things tend to decay. Stars burn out. Heat dissipates. Springs unwind.

Regarding the first law, the Bible makes reference to the idea that no mass or energy has been input into the universe since God finished the creation process.

"By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done." Genesis 2:2-3

"Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, "So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'" And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world." Hebrews 4:3,4

The second law is referenced either directly or indirectly in Psalm 102:25,26; Isaiah 51:6; Matthew 24:35; Romans 8:20-22.

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