The Bible Was Right After All

Bible critics and skeptics abound, but there are inspiring cases of some who have changed
their minds. What kind of evidence brought about their surprising turnarounds?

by Mario Seiglie

By all accounts, Lee Strobel was an ardent Bible critic. This award-winning journalist of the Chicago Tribune didn't believe in God or the Bible. Having graduated from Yale Law School, he had honed his skills in reporting important legal cases and had little respect for the Holy Scriptures.

"For much of my life," he writes, "I was a skeptic. In fact, I considered myself an atheist. To me, there was far too much evidence that God was merely a product of wishful thinking, of ancient mythology, of primitive superstition "The Case for Christ, 1998, p. 13).

Yet he came to admit there was a hidden reason for his skepticism about God and Christianity: "I had read just enough philosophy and history to find support for my skepticism—a fact here, a scientific theory there, a pithy quote, a clever argument. Sure, I could see some gaps and inconsistencies, but I had a strong motivation to ignore them: a self-serving and immoral lifestyle that I would be compelled to abandon if I were ever to change my views and become a follower of Jesus" (ibid.).

Accepting a challenge from his wife, however, he launched into a thorough investigation concerning God, the Bible and Jesus Christ. "I plunged into the case," he continues, "with more vigor than with any story I had ever pursued. I applied the training I had received at Yale Law School as well as my experience as legal affairs editor of the Chicago Tribune. And over time the evidence of the world—of history, of science, of philosophy, of psychology—began to point to the unthinkable" (p. 14).

The "unthinkable" for Mr. Strobel meant reluctantly accepting he had been wrong. He spent two years carefully gathering evidence as if he were conducting a court trial, including interviewing 13 leading scholars with impeccable credentials. The results stunned him, and he grudgingly accepted that the Bible was true and that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. As a consequence, he mentions in his book, he became a Christian.

How many times have similar situations occurred? Many intelligent skeptics, when challenged to carefully examine the case for God and the Bible, have eventually come to accept the evidence that God exists and the Bible was right after all. What kind of evidence did they find to convince them? Here are some more examples.

An astronomer considers the evidence

Allan Sandage, one of the world's leading astronomers, was another skeptic about a God who could create the universe.

During the 20th century, astronomers such as Dr. Sandage had two main astronomical models that attempted to explain the origins of the universe. The first was the "steady state" theory, which postulated the universe had no beginning and matter had always existed. The second was the "big bang" theory, which described the universe, composed of energy and matter, as having come to existence at a given moment in time. Today, as more astronomical evidence has come to light, the big bang theory has convincingly won out.

At first, this finding made many scientists uncomfortable. They felt the data they collected led to a strikingly similar conclusion to the opening words in Genesis 1:1—"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

Moreover, a former director of NASA, Robert Jastrow, remarked in his book God and the Astronomers that, as the big bang theory gained ground, his colleagues became increasingly angry. "In fact," he comments, "some prominent scientists began to feel the same irritation over the expanding universe that Albert Einstein had expressed earlier. Arthur Eddington (a famous British astronomer) wrote in 1931, 'I have no axe to grind in this discussion, but the notion of a beginning is repugnant to me' (1978, p. 112, emphasis added).

Mr. Jastrow summarizes what the astronomers found annoying: "A sound explanation may exist for the explosive birth of our Universe; but if it does, science cannot find out what the explanation is. The scientist's pursuit of the past ends in the moment of creation. This is an exceedingly strange development, unexpected by all but the theologians. They have always accepted the word of the Bible: 'In the beginning God created heaven and earth.' It is unexpected because science has had such extraordinary success in tracing the chain of cause and effect backward in time.

Now we would like to pursue that inquiry farther back in time, but the barrier to further progress seems insurmountable. It is not a matter of another year, another decade of work, another measurement, or another theory; at this moment it seems as though science will never be able to raise the curtain on the mystery of creation.

"For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries" (p. 116).

In 1998, Allan Sandage met with other astronomers at a conference in Berkeley, California, and admitted that contemplating the majesty of the big bang theory had helped make him a believer in God. He was willing to accept that creation could only be explained as a miracle from God.

"Not that long ago," says U.S. News and World Report, "such a comment from an establishment scientist would have been shocking . . . Today, 'intellectuals are beginning to find it respectable to talk about how physical law seems to favor life,' notes Ian Barbour, a professor of both religion and physics at Carleton College, in Northfield, Minnesota) (Scientists and Theologians Find Common Ground, July 20, 1998, online edition, p. 2).

The crumbling theory of evolution

Law professor Philip Johnson of the University of California at Berkeley was another skeptic about God and the Bible.

He reminisces about how his life was changed in 1987 when he went on a sabbatical leave to the University of London. Browsing through a bookstore, an intriguing title caught his eye—The Blind Watchmaker, by noted British biologist Richard Dawkins.

Up to this time, Professor Johnson had believed the theory of evolution satisfactorily explained the origin of life. Then he read this popular book that fiercely defended the evolutionary theory by an author who relegated those who believed in God and the Bible as being "ignorant, stupid or insane (or wicked, but I'd rather not consider that" (Darwin on Trial, 1993, p. 9).

As a law professor, Dr. Johnson was surprised by the lack of objective evidence for the theory and became suspicious when he read the heated and demeaning attacks against those who doubted the theory.

"The theory," he writes, "is sustained largely by a propaganda campaign that relies on all the usual tricks of rhetorical persuasion: hidden assumptions, question-begging statements of what is at issue, terms that are vaguely defined and change their meaning, attacks on straw men, selective citation of evidence, and so on. The theory is also protected by its cultural importance. It is the officially sanctioned creation story of modern society, and publicly funded educational authorities spare no effort to persuade the public to believe in it"Objection Sustained, 1998, p. 9).

So began the "intelligent design" movement, which has gained many adherents among scientists and educators. "Backers of the intelligent design," reports The New York Times, "organized university-sanctioned conferences at Yale and Baylor last year and the movement has spawned at least one university student organization—called Intelligent Design and Evolution Awareness, or the IDEA club—at the University of California in San Diego" (Evolutionists Battle New Theory on Creation,) online edition, April 8, 2001, p. 2).

As a result of his research, Philip Johnson came to confirm his belief in God and the validity of the Bible.

Ahead of its time regarding environment

The subject of ecology, the science of preserving the natural environment, might not appear to have anything to do with God and the Bible—but it does. Despite the critics, the Scriptures were well ahead of their time.

In 1962, Rachel Carson published a book, Silent Spring, documenting the harm pesticides were causing in the countryside. Soon an environmental movement started that awakened the world to man's destruction of the environment through pesticides, industrial waste, deforestation and pollution. Before this time, it seemed as if the earth had endless resources and was invulnerable to man's activities.

Now everyone is aware of the issue—and many are quite concerned. Yet the Bible had already laid out basic principles to avoid contaminating one's surroundings. Regarding human waste disposal, it said: ". . . You shall have a place outside the camp, where you may go out; and you shall have an implement among your equipment, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and turn and cover your refuse" (Deuteronomy 23:12-13).

This process of properly eliminating human waste ensured the environment would be preserved without breeding diseases. "It is a noteworthy attempt," says The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, "to control the spread of such insect-borne diseases as ophthalmia and poliomyelitis" (1982, Vol. 2, p. 644, Heal).

Another law that served to contain the spread of harmful pathogens is found in Leviticus 11:35-36: ". . . Everything on which a part of any such carcass falls shall be unclean; whether it is an oven or cooking stove, it shall be broken down; for they are unclean, and shall be unclean to you. Nevertheless a spring or a cistern, in which there is plenty of water, shall be clean, but whatever touches any such carcass becomes unclean."

"Observance of these rules," notes the same encyclopedia, "would reduce the incidence of infectious fevers and diseases such as cholera, spirochetal jaundice, polioencephalitis, and bubonic plague. The legislation was the first of its kind to recognize that infection could be transmitted by both food and water" (ibid.).

Today one of the greatest dangers to the environment is the indiscriminate cutting of trees that depletes forests, increases erosion and destroys many of the animal habitats. The Bible talks about tree conservation when it says, "When you besiege a city for a long time, while making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them . . ." (Deuteronomy 20:19-20).

Unlike other ancient peoples who disregarded the environment, the Israelites were exhorted by God to regard trees, especially fruit trees, as a valuable resource to be preserved and not to be indiscriminately destroyed.

Yet another biblical example of an ecological principle is found in Deuteronomy 22:6-7: "If a bird's nest happens to be before you along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young; you shall surely let the mother go, and take the young for yourself that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days."

God gave this principle for the preservation of the species. He commanded that the mother bird be protected so she could breed again to quickly replenish the species. This law was to prevent species from being consumed into extinction—as has happened to some through man's careless disregard of such laws.

We can be thankful that many of these laws of conservation have now been discovered by scientists and are being applied throughout much of the world. Trees are carefully preserved and, when cut down, new ones are planted in their place. Sewage is now properly disposed of in many areas, and animals that breed are valued and protected so they can replenish their species.

Digging up proof through archaeology

William Ramsay, an early 20th-century British scholar, was born to atheist parents—and then proudly followed in their footsteps. This eminent professor of humanities diligently prepared himself in the fields of archaeology and geography before departing for the Middle East and Asia Minor to prove the Bible was full of myths. He was sure he would succeed in debunking the Bible by carefully applying the scientific method to the historical aspects of the biblical accounts.

After a quarter century of research in the Holy Land and Asia Minor and carefully retracing the narratives of the Bible, especially those of the book of Acts, this famous unbeliever astounded the intellectual world by announcing he had converted to Christianity. He confessed this radical change was greatly due to the surprising accuracy he had found in Luke's accounts in the book of Acts.

"Luke is a historian of the first rank," he concluded. "Not merely are his statements of fact trustworthy, he is possessed of the true historic sense . . . In short this author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians" (The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the New Testament, 1953, p. 80).

Ramsay wrote many books on the historical and geographical accuracy of Acts and the Epistles of Paul and was knighted for
his contributions in the fields of archaeology and geography.

Health and the Bible

Many physicians are skeptical about the medical worth of the health laws in the Bible, but there are important modern practices
that have derived from these for which they should be grateful.

In the Middle Ages, two of the most terrible plagues to afflict Europe were the Black Death and leprosy. One third of all Europeans died in the 14th century as a result.

Dr. George Rosen, a professor of public health at Columbia University, wrote about the horrors of these plagues: "Leprosy cast the greatest blight that threw its shadow over the daily life of medieval humanity. Fear of all other diseases taken together can hardly be compared to the terror spread by leprosy. Not even the Black Death in the 14th century or the appearance of syphilis toward the end of the 15th century produced a similar state of fright" History of Public Health, 1958, p. 62).

Physicians tried everything, but failed to control these terrible plagues. Some medical doctors thought they were a result of eating hot food, garlic or sick pigs. Others believed they were a result of an evil conjunction of the planets.

How were these devastating plagues halted? "Leadership was taken by the church," adds Dr. Rosen, "as the physicians had nothing to offer. The church took as its guiding principle the concept of contagion as embodied in the Old Testament. This idea and its practical consequences are defined with great clarity in the book of Leviticus. Once the condition of leprosy had been established, the patient was to be segregated and excluded from the community . . . It accomplished the first great feat in methodical eradication of the disease" (p. 63).

Seeing the positive results on leprosy, European countries used the same procedures to combat the Black Death—known today as the bubonic plague—and were able to stem the disease. Millions of lives were saved by applying this biblical injunction: "Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare . . . He shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore he shall be unclean. He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp" (Leviticus 13:45-46).

Furthermore, another aspect that biblical skeptics have ceded ground on is the beneficial effects religion has on health.

Harold Koenig is director of Duke University's prestigious Center for the Study of Religion/Spirituality and Health. In recent decades Dr. Koenig and his team of scientists have conducted numerous studies that indicate religious involvement is associated with better health.

An article in Christianity Today titled "Take Ten Commandments and Call Me in the Morning" mentioned the results of these studies. "Using both anecdotal and research data, Koenig demonstrates that there is ample evidence to show that people who regularly attend church, pray, read, and put into practice what the Bible or their faith teaches are overall healthier.

"Just for starters, they have significantly lower blood pressure, are hospitalized less, recover from surgery faster, have stronger immune systems, and are likely to live longer. Emotional health also benefits: family life is better and depression is lower in those with faith" (online edition, Nov. 20, 1999, p. 2).

Time to examine the evidence

There will always be Bible skeptics— for they know much is at stake. History has shown that civilizations rise and fall according to their prevailing beliefs.

In fact, the ancient Greek civilization fell in part because philosophers began to ridicule the notion that gods lived atop nearby Mount Olympus. Although the Bible makes it clear that these religious beliefs were wrong, many Greeks associated them with the moral underpinnings of society, and the result was a relaxing of the nation's morals. As the Greeks experienced, when doubt and absolute liberty to do as one pleases sets in, moral degeneration is not far behind, and then a general weakening of the nation's resolve can lead to a successful invasion from its enemies.

Today, we are harvesting the seeds of more than a century of skepticism. We live in an increasingly lawless and degenerate society. Some skeptics should know better, but as Lee Strobel put it, they are not willing to give up "a self-serving and immoral lifestyle."

Yet, in spite of all the secular critics who rail against God and the Bible, there are some who, by carefully examining the evidence of the world that surrounds them—be it history, astronomy, archaeology or health—finally come to the conclusion that the Bible was right after all. Then begins a great adventure, for beyond believing it comes the hard part of trying to live it—which is to the lasting benefit of all. GN

 

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