The Bible as Science: Who Wound the Clock?

The universe is here, it is real, and it is stubbornly hard to explain away. From that one conceded fact, I build a case that doesn’t lean on buzzwords or hazy spirituality, but on plain logic, everyday examples, and a Bible-centered view of reality. If you’ve ever heard someone say “the Bible isn’t about science,” I push back and explain why I believe Scripture speaks truthfully about the world we live in and why Christians don’t need to apologize to the scientific spirit of the age.

We move from the certainty of a physical cosmos to the question that follows it everywhere: where did it come from? I walk through the simple principle that out of nothing comes nothing, then connect it to the observable pattern that power and motion come through breakdown rather than spontaneous build-up. Using an easy-to-picture petroleum illustration, I argue that the universe looks like it began already “charged” with immense energy, like a clock that has been wound and has been running down ever since. That leads to the question I want you to sit with: who wound up the clock?

Then we turn to a story about a boy, a scientist, and the periodic table of elements to show how “many things” can be traced back to a limited set of building blocks. From there, I draw analogies to mathematics and the alphabet: factors alone do nothing until intelligence orders them. A quick STAR RATS ARTS TARS wordplay drives the point home that arrangement and meaning require mind, not accident.

If you care about the existence of God, intelligent design, the origin of the universe, and a clear defense of biblical Christianity, this message will challenge you. Subscribe, share this broadcast with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the preaching and the truth of God’s Word.

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Transcript

Welcome And Ministry Purpose

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Welcome to the Preaching the Cross Radio Podcast, featuring the radio ministry of Pastor James W. Knox of the Bible Baptist Church of the land, Florida. Our prayer is that these half-hour Bible study programs bring the lost to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and enable the saved to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Savior. Now here's your host, Pastor James W. Knox.

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I'm Brother James. I greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. And I welcome you to the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast, a 30-minute program sponsored by the Bible Baptist Church of the Land, Florida, and those people across the nation and around the world who are so kind to send financial support this way so that we can come to you over this radio station. I just can't tell you, there's no way that I can tell you how much I enjoy presenting to you the truth of God's word. There is no way that I could ever express to you. I mean that I've thought about ways to do it. We have thought about things that we could do to express our appreciation. When the letters come and the comments that you send our way, when those of you listening locally take the time to come and visit with us at the Bible Baptist Church, I just cannot express to you what a joy, what a thrill, and a blessing that is. The greatest desire of my heart. I mean this. God knows I mean this. I speak to you from the bottom of my heart, with God Almighty looking into that heart. God knows. The greatest pleasure of my life is ministering the truth of God's word to men and women who wish to hear it. I mean that. It's not a money thing. I have had the privilege now of being the pastor of the Bible Baptist Church for nearly seven years. Have never taken any wage, never taken any salary for so doing. Now I'm not saying it's wrong for any man to do that. I'm not saying that someday the situation might be such that that will be my lot in life. But this is not a thing that's done for money. This is not a job. This is not a career. You that listen to this broadcast, you've never heard of solicit funds one time and you never will. This is a joy, this is a privilege. This is not only

Gratitude Without Fundraising

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a work of faith, but it is a labor of love. And we're so happy that you've tuned in to the Preaching of the Cross radio broadcast today. We began a series of messages on the last program. We have no idea how long this series will run, but we are going to prove to you before we're finished that the Bible, in spite of all the criticism, the Bible, in spite of all the lying propaganda that's set forth against it, the Bible is indeed not only accurate when it speaks scientifically, but it is the only truly accurate book of science on the face of this earth. How many times have you heard someone say, how many times have you heard those words from a Christian? Well, the Bible is not a book about science, but where it speaks about science, it speaks accurately. You don't have to make apology to the scientific world. You don't have to compromise to try and get along with them. Tell the truth. The Bible is the word of God. Thy word is truth. And so when it comes to religion, when it comes to psychology, when it comes to humanities, when it comes to anthropology, when it comes to science, the Bible is the only truly accurate book on the face of this earth. It's the only inerrant book. It's the only book that has not had to be rewritten and revised to keep up with the findings of the next generation. The first fundamental of the Christian faith is this. The first fundamental of the Christian faith is this. The fact of deity is universally conceded by all but the fool who had said in his heart, There is no God. This traditional and foundational tenet of all faiths is found in false and true philosophy alike. Even those who would be cloud the issue with nebulous evasions of fact speak of the existence of deity, a deity. Even though they postulate it as some etheral and unknowable force or principle, they're still talking about God. They just don't name him. They despise him, and so they call him nature, or they call him something else. But the Christian revelation goes right to the heart of the matter with a plain annunciation of the most vital fact in the thought of the human race. There is a God who is a person. There can be no question about that. This was the reason for the coming of Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ clothed himself in human flesh, that he might manifest

The Bible As True Science

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God. He stated that the purpose of his coming was that he, Jesus, might show forth God. The only begotten Son, who was in the bosom of the Father from eternity, clothed himself with the garments of flesh, that he might teach the reality, the personality, and the certainty of God's being. Upon this foundation of the personality of God, the entire structure of Christianity rests. So, when we turn to the realm of science and reason to see what the basic foundational facts of science might say as to the existence of God, we are going to appeal to an unvarying law of logic. That law is this. Begin with a fact that is universally conceded, and reason from that fact to your conclusion. Let me say that again. You begin with a fact that is universally conceded, and you reason from that fact to your conclusion. So, at the start of this study, at the start of this investigation, I'm going to ask you to grant a concession. Would you do that? Would you just grant something at the outset? Once that concession is granted, then we can demonstrate each successive step as we press on to the scientific evaluation of the credibility and reliability of the existence of God. Now, this is what I'm asking you. Would you grant there is a universe? Would you grant that there is a universe? Now, no reasoning mind can deny that. You can't deny there's a universe. It's real. The solar system is concrete. You're standing on a part of it. The planet on which we live, which is the source and scene of most of our scientific investigation, is a stubborn, indisputable, unchanging, irrefutable fact. Now then, beginning with the certainty

God As Personal And Knowable

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of the fact of the universe, we raise the eternal question from whence did it come? Now we don't live in a world made up of a single ball of solid matter. We're part of a marvelous and complex system. Not only does the sun, which is the source of our earthly light, revolve as the nucleus of a solar system, but this system is itself part of a universe. This universe, in turn, is one of many such that make up the physical cosmos. We're a tiny but integral part of a complex physical creation. Some people say there are 350 million solar systems, with their suns, their planets, their satellites, all in our galaxy. Then, beyond all this, the spiral nebulae are seen as silver snails in the Garden of God. Each of them is so vast in diameter that they are at present beyond the reach of our counting devices. And reason, reason lifts up her head and cries, Here it is, this marvelous and amazing universe. From where did it come? Now it's kindergarten logic to reply that you can't get more out of anything than you have previously put in. I think it'll be conceded as a principle that out of nothing you get nothing. Also, out of something you can get no more than that thing is able to contain. You can't take a gallon of milk out of a pint bottle unless you refill the bottle again and again. You can't put a hundred dollars in the bank and take out a thousand. Matter of fact, uh, the way things are going right now, you've got to be a financial genius to get back what you put in, but that's another subject for another day. Now, the man who seeks to take out of the bank far more than he put in will find himself the recipient of free room and board at the local lockup. This is a fundamental point of logical reasoning. Out of nothing comes nothing. Now, add to that what Hull of Dartmouth calls the fundamental law of physics. This expresses the case perfectly in scientific terms. This law may be stated in these words. And I quote, all transformations of matter that result in the production of energy are a result of degeneration, a breaking down from the complex to the simple. That is the fundamental law which governs the physical, the material universe. All transformations of matter that result in the production of energy are a result of degeneration, a breaking down from the complex to the simple. Let me illustrate. This is an unquestionable scientific fact. You can't argue with it. You may not like it, you may not like its application, but you can't deny it. It's a fact, it's an absolute fact. Now, let me introduce the complex, highly organized material that we call petroleum. This petroleum is put through what is called a cracking process. This process results in the degeneration or breaking down of the original mass into its simpler component ingredients. Out of the complex mass called petroleum, an almost innumerable list of substances will be derived: kerosene, benzene, gasoline, various grades of lubricating

Begin With One Concession

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oils, vaseline, and greases, all produced in the breaking down and shattering of the amazingly complex structure of petroleum. One of these simpler ingredients we call gasoline. This gasoline is introduced into a manifold which gasifies this substance, in which form it is put into the cylinder of an internal combustion engine. This compressed matter is energized by an electrical spark and is further degenerated by an explosion. In the course of its final destruction by flame, power is imparted to the piston of the engine, and the exhaust gases are wasted on the atmosphere. Through this process of degeneration, power and motion are created. Now then, in all of the physical universe, all motion, all power, and all energy are the result of degeneration. In the entire universe, the opposite process is never seen, not one time, not one place, by one scientist ever. Nowhere in physics do we see a natural tendency to build up from the simple to the complex. Therefore, Hall's conclusion is, and I quote, no matter what your theory of creation may be, you have to start with a universe already charged with a tremendous amount of high grade energy, like a clock that has been wound up and started and has been running down ever since. If you don't believe that, you are not a scientist. If you don't believe that, you are denying the fundamental law of this physical universe. In light of this view of the universe, which is true, the logical question to ask is who wound up the clock?

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The clearest discussion of this problem of where the physical matter came from was presented one evening by a little boy who didn't realize that fools can ask questions that the wise may not be able to answer.

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In this case, he challenged the interest of one particular scientist when he asked, In all the whole world, how many different kind of things are there? Now that's an interesting question for a little boy to ask. In all the world, how many different kind of things are there? His mother interrupted and said, You don't need to answer that question, Doctor. I don't know what he was going to ask you. I didn't know he was going to say that. But the scientist thought and he said, Freddie, that was the boy's name. Freddie, I don't know much, but I happen to know that. In all the whole world, the heaven, the earth, all the stars and suns and moons and planets, there are not more than 100 different things. Now the boy looked in amazement. He said, Oh, you're kidding me. I know

Energy Comes From Degeneration

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there are more than a million. I know a million different things myself. Well, let's examine and see. You can't know a million things. For in all the universe, there are only ninety-six, some say, some say ninety-three, some say 104, some 107. But there are only 96, give or take a few different things. And these are called elements. Now think back. I don't want to take you into torture chamber, but think back to that science class. Think back to that first day. That first day, your freshman year in high school, when you walked into that biology class. Remember that day? When you walked in there and saw on the wall, in all its raging glory, in all its terrifying splendor, the periodic table of elements. You remember that monstrosity? You remember that beast? Some people think the mark of the beast or the or the beast of the Bible is a computer over in Brussels, Belgium. I think it's a biology class myself, but just just kidding, just kidding. I know the beast is. Anyway. 96. The boy shook his head with stubbornness. He said, I know there are more than that. Scientist said, Alright. What is one of those things that you know? Well, he was at the supper table and he said, Salt. Well, that's easy. Salt is not one thing, it's two things. Somebody took a piece of metal called sodium and a piece of gas called chlorine and mixed the two things together. And the result is what chemists call sodium chloride. We common people call it salt. Who wants to say pass the sodium chloride? But salt is not one thing, it's two things in a combination. Then the little boy said, What about water? That's one thing. But no, wrong again. Water's two things. Somebody put two pieces of a gas called hydrogen and one piece of a gas called oxygen, mixed them together, and made water. Somebody did that. I don't know who did it. Do you? He was leading the boy on. How about air? Isn't that one thing? Wrong again, said the scientist. Air is always three things. Seventy-nine pieces of a gas called nitrogen, mixed with twenty-one pieces of a gas called oxygen, with a tiny, tiny portion of carbonic acid gas, make up the simplest kind of air. Air is not one thing. It might be as many as twelve or fourteen things, depending on how close you live to a glue factory or garbage dump. I see, said the boy. It's kind of like arithmetic or like the alphabet.

Who Wound Up The Clock

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And hasn't God put wisdom in the mouth of babes? Hasn't God given the simplest of his creatures such great understanding? You see, that's the perfect figure of creation. The whole world of mathematics resolves itself into two divisions. First, we have the factors that men call the numerals. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. There's only nine of them. There are only nine factors in all the world of mathematics. These factors have added to them the cipher, the zero, you might call it, for the convenience, for convenience in multiplication. With these ten factors, combined with intelligence, we can solve all the problems of mathematics, even the most intricate of problems. Mathematics, then, are predicated first upon factors, and secondly upon intelligence to manipulate those factors. The science of figures would be utterly impossible without intelligence of a high order, capable of making absolutely innumerable combinations of the few factors. The universe, then, is a combination of factors on purely mathematical formula. These factors number ninety-six. Now, factors alone can't be resolved in the mathematics. Intelligence is the more important element in the juggling and arranging of these factors. The entire physical creation is a solved problem in mathematics, for these various elements are combined in different proportions to make up all the intricacy of the physical creation. The same is true in the world of literature. In the English language, we have twenty-six factors called the alphabet. When these twenty six letters are manipulated by intelligence of a sufficiently high order, literature is the result. The twenty six factors by themselves remain dead. When they are combined by intelligence into orderly sequences, they then become a twenty third Psalm. The same factors may be framed by intelligence into some great message, some great doctrine or decree, some great hymn of praise. Again, they may be recast into treaties of peace and documents of eternal fidelity, but no matter what the purpose and intent of the expressions of literature may be, they can be no literature until there is intelligence directed to the manipulation of the factors. The creator has, as the basis of his mathematics, ninety-six figures instead of ten. These figures may be arranged and rearranged again and again into all of the marvelous and ponderable structures that we call the physical universe. Or we may say that the creator has,

Elements Need Intelligence To Arrange

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as his alphabet of creation, ninety-six letters at his disposal. As an illustration of this, let's take one small series of alphabetical symbols and put them together in this form S T A R. Now the connotations of that assembling of factors are very definite and concrete and real. Those four symbols, thus arranged, open to us. Us all of the unfathomable vistas of the realm called astronomy. Now, without changing the value of those factors, we rearrange them into new positions and put them in this order R A T S rats. Now at once the mind is struck with the ludicrous nature of this contrast. There is as wide a difference between the orbs of the sidereal space and the rodents of a dark and gloomy basement as there is between any two extremes that the human mind can frame, but we have expressed those two extremes by our intelligence through a simple rearrangement of factors. Once more, we rearrange this figure and now it is ARTS Arts. In this new order, these tiny creatures spring into our intelligence with all the world of beauty and wonder that is open to the finer side of the human nature. Herein we have music and sculpture, painting and drama, poetry and prose, and all the finer things that make life worthwhile. Again, we can recast these same symbols and they become TARS Tars. Can there be a wider gulf in the meaning of words than that which exists between the black, foul-smelling, vicious masses that form the tars and the values of the realm of the arts? So, with this one simple demonstration, star, rats, arts, tars, which might be multiplied into a thousand, we are showing that intelligence,

Star Rats Arts Tars And Closing

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by the use of the same identical factors, may express widely divergent conceptions. Now, we believe and I've got to sum up, I've got to finish up today, we've got much more to say about this. But we believe that God took originally out of nothing and formed these elements, which are known as the periodic table of the elements, they're shown on that chart there, these these basic building blocks of the universe, and by his intelligence arranged them in various ways, in order to create a manifestation of his wisdom and power, which we know as the physical universe, or the creation. Now the Bible says the fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. The heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament showeth his handiwork. And we've got much more to say about this, but we'll have to continue it on the next broadcast.

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Thanks for tuning in today. Join us every weekday for another episode of the Preaching of the Cross Radio Podcast. For hundreds of hours of in-depth expository Bible teaching, please visit our YouTube channel, James W. Knox Sermons, our sermon audio page, Bible Baptistoland, or our website, Bible BaptistToland.com. Until next time and throughout eternity, may Jesus Christ be praised.