The Bible Scientific by G. D. Ballou

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · May 20, 1908

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 34, No. 21.

The Bible Scientific

By G. D. Ballou

READER, when you see this word "scientific," don't get frightened and look around for something else to read. Let us sit down and reason together for a short time. What is science?—Knowledge systematized. Knowledge put in order, made simple, made plain, made clear, so that a common mind can grasp it.

That is "science falsely so-called" which puts knowledge in such terms that it takes years to conquer the language used in conveying it, or, to say the very least, it is a very false, unkind, and foolish method of attempting to teach science.

The most profoundly learned men of all times have used the simplest language in conveying to the people important truths. The practical science of arithmetic, the foundation of all numerical calculation and of all business, is taught in language so simple that the sixteen-year-old boy can conquer every principle taught in the book.

History, that science of the past which reveals the effects of all sciences upon all the race in all ages, to be acceptable must be so stated as not to tax the mind too greatly in mastering it. The most successful writers have used the language of the common people so as to make visible to human minds the thoughts and actions of ages gone. Impartiality has been a factor of chief importance with every successful writer.

The common family almanac is a marvel of scientific attainment. This document in its calculations of the great problems of astronomy uses mainly the language of appearance. It says, The sun rises and sets, the moon rises and sets, Venus rises and sets; and uses almost as simple language in reference to all the phenomena of the heavens.

Now the Bible is noted for the sublime simplicity of its language. The story of Creation, the terseness of the Ten Commandments, the comprehensiveness of the Sermon on the Mount, especially the Lord's Prayer and the Golden Rule; the mathematical accuracy of its history, yea, even of its prophecies, stamps it thru and thru with the seal of genuine science. This book, too, uses the language of appearance. It says the sun rises and sets. It says the sun stood still at Joshua's command. In that wonderful ancient case of spirit materialization, when the witch had presented to her the form of Samuel, it uses simply the language of appearance, just what the on-looker seemed to see, that is what the record states.

The record it gives of men's lives is a towering monument to its wonderful impartiality. The great boast of science is its justice and impartiality. Did ever human writer produce such impartial biographies as are found in this book? Take the life of David or Solomon. Has the best profane historian ever been so successful in telling the exact truth, both the good and the evil, as the scripture writer? Without bias of fear or favor, the life is laid bare. No attempt to shield the friend, nor the shadow of an attempt to denounce the enemy.

There is a divinity about this book which reveals the science of humanity—its past, present, and future. As Saul said about the Christ after He revealed Himself to him on the way to Damascus: "I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ." So there is an excellency in the divine science, once it is appreciated, that makes the human pretensions to science look exceedingly meager and cheap.

We can not help feeling a kind of commiseration for the man who is ready to laud the wordy vaporings of the so-called science of evolution to the skies, and despise the simple story of Creation. The record of Moses needs no defense, explanation, or apology, but modern geology is all the while revamping and remodeling itself. No sooner has one writer finished than another feels sure he can do better with his system of suppositions, and so the process of "evoluting" geology goes on. Taking it as a whole it looks about like one fact, two suppositions, three guesses, and a conclusion; and it seems as if there must be something wrong with the heart and soul and mind that can be so satisfied with a system that demands so much readjusting and that can flippantly reject the Bible science of creation which fully explains every fact of geology.

The doctrine of a flood is the only thing that can explain how fossilized beasts were surprised by a sudden catastrophe and overwhelmed just as they perished. It will take nothing less than the humility and meekness of a child to be able to bow in submission to the divine will. Logic alone will not even accept of the perfect science.

(Concluded next week.)