Some believe that discoveries from astronomy conflict with the Bible. But in fact there is no conflict, and the Bible has proven itself to be well ahead of its time in what it reveals about the universe and the planet we inhabit.
To be the Word of God, the Bible must be true. This should be self-evident.
In recent centuries, however, we find that some scholars and scientists
have made discoveries that, with superficial consideration, seem to contradict
the Bible. Some such findings have sent tremors through the Christian world.
An example was a discovery by the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus,
who in the early 16th century concluded that the Western world's prevailing
view of the universe was incorrect. It was an article of faith during the
Middle Ages that the earth was the center of the universe, around which
all other heavenly bodies revolved.
Historian William Manchester centuries later wrote that "the world was
[believed to be] an immovable disk around which the sun revolved, and ...
the rest of the cosmos comprised heaven, which lay dreamily above the skies,
inhabited by cherubs, and hell, flaming deep beneath the European soil.
Everyone believed, indeed knew, that" (William Manchester, A World
Lit Only by Fire, 1993, p. 89).
Copernicus, after years of observing the skies and consulting mathematical
tables, arrived at a radically different conclusion: The earth is not a
disk about which the sun rotates; it is a sphere traveling around the sun.
His discovery brought shock and alarm to many religious authorities.
His view was about as welcome to the educated mind during the Middle Ages
as the plague. Upon Copernicus' presentation of his evidence to influential
men in education and religion, his reward was jeers and ridicule. The established
church branded Copernicus as an apostate for challenging the conventional
wisdom of the day.
