The Bible as Science: Order, Organization, and Laws

Order doesn’t explain itself. When you look at a universe built from a limited set of elements, arranged with mathematical precision, the real question isn’t “What is it made of?” but “Who arranged it?” 

We're pushing back on the familiar claim that modern science disproves Scripture, and we start with God’s warning about “science falsely so called” (1 Timothy 6:20) and why shaky objections often lean on slogans instead of evidence. Then we walk through a simple but powerful set of illustrations: mathematics built from ten digits, books built from an alphabet, and the physical world built from chemical elements. Carbon alone can become diamond, graphite, coal, or clay based on structure. That difference is not material, its organization raises the problem of intelligence.

From there we test the common substitutes for God. Chance cannot solve a higher mathematical problem, and it cannot reasonably be credited with a universe full of consistent law and instant enforcement. “Law” points to a lawgiver, and “nature” is a name for the collection of observed facts, not a mind. Step by step, the argument lands on a conclusion that matches logic, fits Scripture, and is supported by honest observation: creation points to a personal Creator.

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Transcript

Welcome And Series Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:09

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 of 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.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

And a very pleasant good day to each and every one of you. I'm Brother James. I greet you as always 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. This is a 30-minute program heard on this radio station by God's grace and the kind, prayerful support of his people. And we're so very happy that you've tuned in to the program today. This is the third in a series of radio broadcasts in which we are dealing with the theme, the Bible, as science. The Bible is science. Those infidels and agnostics and atheists and skeptics and all the rest, they always think they have come up with something really original. They always believe themselves to be very ingenious when they decide to argue against the Word of God, when they decide to justify their unbelief in the Holy Bible by saying that the Bible is not scientific and that the Bible contradicts the findings of modern science. Now, having said this, they will either, number one, never go on to give any evidence or any proof for their statement, or number two, they will make some statement about the flood or about Joan and the whale or about Joshua's long day, and never stay around long enough to allow the Bible-believing Christian to give them the truth of these matters. They are hit-and-run assassins. They take shots at the Word of God and then they flee just as fast as they can. They never allow someone who knows the truth to deal with them face to face for any length of time. Now, I realize that the average person listening to my voice right now is not a scientist. As I said to you at the start of this study, I am not a scientist. As a matter of fact, of all the fields of study, of all the potential realms of discussion, I would have to admit to you that science is my weak point. And so it's all the more blessed to me to find that someone without a scientific mind,

Science Falsely So Called Warning

SPEAKER_01 2:55

someone without scientific training, can go to the pages of the Word of God, the Holy Bible, and come out with the understanding, with the wisdom and knowledge that is necessary to refute all the gainsayers, including those who claim to be scientific or scientists. Now the Bible warns you, God gave you a warning in the Bible, and this warning is found in 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 20. O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoid profane and vain babblings and oppositions of science, falsely so called. Now, God gives you that warning in the King James Bible. All the modern perversions called Bibles, New American Standard, New International Version, just go right down the list and name them. All the modern perversions have changed that verse of scripture and have taken out the word science so that you would not have the warning from God to avoid the oppositions of science, falsely so called, which some professing have erred concerning the faith. What did God say in the Bible? He said, Those who profess to be scientists, those who profess to be scientific, those who profess to reject the truth of the Word of God on the basis of science, have erred. They've made a terrible mistake, they have fallen into error. Now, on this series of broadcasts, that's exactly what we are helping you to avoid. We are going to show to you by the time we're through, we are proving to you from logic, from reason, from fact, from science, that the Bible is true. And where science contradicts the Bible, it is science falsely so called. True science will never contradict the word of God. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing

Building Blocks Of The Universe

SPEAKER_01 5:05

the heart. The word of the Lord is right, all his works are done in truth. Now, we've been talking about the the building blocks of the universe. All mathematics, all mathematics consists of simply ten figures. Zero, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. That's all that's all you've got. I don't care what level of mathematics you're dealing in, I don't care what form of mathematics you are performing, you have ten figures coupled with intelligence. All of literature, every book I see upon my shelves right now, every page of every book consists of nothing more than twenty-six characters, known as the letters of the English alphabet, every one of them. And when those twenty-six letters are coupled with intelligence, they could produce hymns, books, poems, essays, speeches. Now, in this universe, there are elements. Some say ninety-three, some ninety-six, some as many as a hundred and uh four, something like that. There are elements. And these elements, coupled with intelligence, are used as the building blocks of everything you see, hear, feel, taste, and touch. Now this illustration in application, one of the factors in creation is a little letter or symbol called carbon. When the atom of carbon is arranged in a sentence of creation, so that each atom is touched at every point by four other atoms. That word spells diamond. Now, as we did on the last broadcast, in the case of the little word star, which we arranged into rats, tars, and arts, same letters, four entirely different things. We now rearrange the relationship of the atoms of carbon one to another, and changing the pattern, the little word becomes graphite. The first substance we wear on our person with pride and enjoyment, the diamond, as the highest and richest adornment that a person can afford. The second we use in our lead pencil to record our casual and passing fancies. Now, let's rearrange the order of this element again. And it becomes coal to burn in a furnace. We change it again, and it becomes clay, the substance out of which dishes and pottery may be made. So, we can resolve our conclusion with this very simple phrase. The physical creation is a mathematical organization of certain factors combined upon known and tested formula. This raises

Why Chance Cannot Be Creator

SPEAKER_01 8:10

the question. It's got to raise the question. Who is the combiner of these atoms? Now you know there's surprisingly few answers. There are very few answers that can be given to that question. There's only one answer that reason can accept. You've got to just be a blind fanatic and utterly lacking in logic to reply that chance is the combiner of the factors of creation. The statement that life began, as the scientists said when I was in college, with a fortuitous combination of accident through the circumstances, and started a process of development and gradual change, is not acceptable to a thinking and reasoning creature. Since the factors of the physical structure are known, and since we recognize the fact that they cannot be manipulated without intelligence into the mathematical formula and combinations of geometric intricacy, chance is utterly ruled out. You might as well say that success in solving mathematical problems depends upon luck. Whatever that might be. How many times would it be necessary to cast the ten factors of mathematics from a dice box onto a table before accident arranged these symbols into the proper answer to a problem in higher mathematics? The solution of a problem in calculus would not be arrived at in a hundred million years of constant casting forth of the factors of that problem if the entire matter were left to chance. Can chance solve a complicated mathematical equation? Absolutely not. You know it can't. Or multiply seven figures by six others and find the right solution? If mathematics depended upon luck or accident, you can be absolutely certain that some of us might have had better marks when we were in school in mathematics. If you did as much guesswork as I did, you'd understand that. Now, whatever else our conclusion may be concerning the origin of matter, you've got to rule out the theory of chance. It's just impossible. We may as well say that literature is the product of chance, as to ascribe creation to that source. Jay Vernon McGee used to say that to believe the universe came together by evolution is to believe that an explosion in a print shop resulted in a dictionary. How many times do you suppose you'd have to put the twenty six elements of the English language into a hat and shake them out on a table before they would shape themselves into an evangeline? Or fall accidentally into the arrangement of a Midsummer Night's Dream? The suggestion is utterly preposterous. Chances ruled out it just doesn't happen. It can happen, and you know it can't. No one would even think it, much less believe it. Seeking to evade the only logical conclusion.

Law Requires A Lawgiver

SPEAKER_01 11:30

Another scientist will stand and say, recognizing that the universe is a combination of known factors, we believe that law is the combiner. Well, I wouldn't deny for a minute there is law and order in the natural universe. I would, however, point your attention to this: to the fact that law is predicated on two postulates. Number one, there is no law without a legislator or a legislature. The first requirement for law is the presence of a body or being of sufficient authority to enact the law. Law, however, remains inactive until there is, secondly, a police power of sufficient authority to enforce the law that has been enacted. Now, occasionally, you might have been in a place where there's no law, such as the inner city of some of our large metropolises, and the only guide for conduct there was the desire of the individual. Because there was no person or body of authority over that sphere, or none with sufficient reach to enforce the nominal authority, the only law was the ability of the individual to enforce his own desires. It might be said that in these regions the law consists of six statutes, one in each chamber of a revolver. The only court of appeal was Judge Winchester. Now, this condition is possible only where there is no organized body with authority to enact and enforce the law of that land, or where the organized body has been overwhelmed and can no longer do so. When a region is too far removed from the governing authority, laws may not be enforced therein. So, let me say it again. It may not be questioned, it's beyond question, that there is law in the physical universe, and that such law is consistently and continually enforced. There is a law of gravity, break it, and injury will follow without mercy. The judgments of the universe, when its laws are broken, are instant and inescapable. These laws speak of the great power who enacted them and keeps them in force. You can't have law without a lawgiver. You can't have law without enforcement of the law. So I've got to ask you a question. What is this power? Where does its authority come from? Is it derived from the consent of the governed universe? Not at all. Natural law is extraneous to the universe that it governs. There is no greater, more logical argument for the existence of dominating intelligence behind creation than the very fact of law in nature. However, law is a creature and never a creator. Laws do not make themselves. Laws do not develop by themselves. Laws do not evolve out of nothing. Therefore, when we seek for the personality of the combining agency that has wrought this stupendous creation out of ninety-six elements mathematically aligned, the term law cannot satisfy the truly logical inquirer. Law is not the answer. It's an excuse, it's an alibi, it's a way to avoid facing the creator. But this universe didn't come from law. Now, some seek to find an easy

Why Nature Is Not Intelligence

SPEAKER_01 15:30

way out by the use of the nebulous term nature. You remember we talked about that in an earlier broadcast. Now I recognize the existence of the world of nature, and I believe that we will later offer a definition of the word nature that will meet with the with the agreement of those of you that are thinking properly. But you can't say that nature is a creator. Nature is itself a postulate. The only truly great scientist who ever sought seriously to define nature begins his definition with the very familiar statement, Nature is that blind, unreasoning force that creates without intelligence. Well, that right there would rule out nature as a creator. Can we have creation without intelligence? Oh yes, I believe we can. When the parts of an automobile will produce themselves and assemble themselves into a finished and perfect car without aid or direction? We can have creation without intelligence when an airplane will put itself together and fly across the Atlantic with no human help or guidance, or when a giant bridge builds itself across some vast chasm without the aid of engineers and mathematicians. Then I'll admit to you that we can have creation without intelligence. Now, why is it that the human mind always seeks to evade an issue that does not coincide with its individual prejudices? The clear-cut issue that we face here is the fact of a mathematical problem solved by intelligence in the vast realm of the universe. If the universe is a combination of these 96 elements, and you've got the courage to face the issue squarely, you will see that intelligence is as much demanded as are the physical factors themselves. It is impossible to postulate intelligence apart from personality. You cannot logically conceive of intelligence as a sort of a gas permeating the ether of space, as the scientists say. Intelligence not only must be personified, it must be localized. Where is it?

The Equation That Ends At God

SPEAKER_01 17:56

Now to meet this issue squarely and to set the matter clearly before you, let me suggest this resulting equation. Matter equals creation. That's what creation is. There's got to be something there that was created. Matter equals creation. Creation equals intelligence. It didn't just happen. Someone had to figure it out, someone had to devise the plan. Intelligence equals personality. Now once you've arrived at that point, intelligence equals personality. I have to say personality equals God. You might say personality equals nature. No, that's that's what was created. You might say personality equals a force. A force is not a personality. Personality equals something unknown. No, personality is not a thing. There's only one proper end of that equation, personality equals God. Now that's all that's all we ever started out to show. That there has to be a creator. The creation proves a creator. Logic demands the existence of an intelligent, personified being whom men call God. Simply and clearly, men and women of courage face the issue squarely and confess this fact. Behind the mathematical perfection of combinations that constitute the universe, there is a person whom we call God. This logic demands the very personality that the Holy Bible describes and that the evidences of science attest. The Bible says the visible things of creation have ever argued to the logic of a thinking creature the existence of an invisible creator? You can't escape this conclusion.

Logic Scripture And Science Agree

SPEAKER_01 20:10

It's unavoidable. So the next question has got to be this. Does science sustain what logic establishes? If we come to this conclusion, the creation proves a creator, then we've got to be able to go to the creation and hold that up. It's got to be supported by the creation. Now this is true science. Real science deals with the observable facts, not theories, not speculations, not guesses. And I believe that it's very easy to establish that science sustains the truth of God. We're really dealing here with Siamese triplets rather than twins. The three aspects of this matter cannot be divorced. Logic demands, Scripture states, science attests. What a reasoning man comes to, what the conclusion a reasoning man comes to by logic is the same conclusion that is set forth in the Bible, and the same conclusion that is set forth by a truly scientific study of the creation. That is, the living personality of an omnipotent creator. You know, when the Apostle Paul addressed the smart boys of his day on Mars Hill, Acts chapter 17, he was in the very center and stronghold of philosophy in his day. And he took for his theme this question Can a man find God? He then produced a sevenfold argument from the physical creation to sustain his answer of yes, a man can find God. Yet in the day of Paul the Apostle, men possessed none of the vast scientific knowledge that is ours today. You've heard that before. The world in which we live teems with myriads of evidences of the existence and manifestations of a God who is a person. If Paul in his day could produce seven known and tested physical facts which demonstrated the existence of God, it's not too much for us to say that we can produce seven hundred. Rather than science disproving the Bible as men have become more enlightened and their knowledge has increased, rather, their increasing knowledge has given increasing reason to believe the Bible. This union of science and scripture is really inevitable. If we grant the existence of an intelligent creator who is responsible for the creation of intelligent creatures, you would have to expect that God would seek to make some revelation of himself to his creatures. And this he has

God Revealed In Nature And Closing

SPEAKER_01 23:10

done. There is a twofold revelation of God spread out in majestic array before every inquirer of our generation. The first and simplest of those revelations is in the realm that men call nature. You see, nature is really just the compilation of the facts of the physical universe that science is made. The visible works of God are seen, they are studied, they are analyzed, they are correlated, and the resultant body of knowledge is called nature. It is in this arrangement of established facts that the presence of God is most clearly seen. Every realm of pure science ultimately leads men back to the fact of God and his existence, and leads the careful inquirer into the very presence of God, not away from God, not into unbelief, but into true faith in the God of the Bible.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

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 Baptistland, or our website, Bible BaptistLand.com. Until next time and throughout eternity, may Jesus Christ be praised.