Scientific and Biblical Explanations of Interesting Facts
Here’s some interesting facts to get you thinking …
- What you think affects your health!
- Why does the moon look the same size as the sun, when the sun is 400 times larger than the moon?
- Why is the number 3,168 associated with Jesus (Hebrew: Yeshua)?
- Why are some Jews super intelligent?
- Why don’t polystrate fossils fit nicely into evolutionary theory?
- Why is the Jewish nation, Israel, still in existence after 2500 years of severe persecution?
- Why was the design of Noah’s Ark close to modern naval practice in terms of stability, strength and comfort?
- What caused mankind’s lifespan to decrease exponentially from around 2300 BC?
Your thoughts affect your health!
Research shows that a positive mental attitude can benefit our health. Scientists from Harvard School of Public Health, the University of Pittsburgh and Boston University linked an optimistic outlook with lower risk of heart disease in older men and less thickening of the carotid artery walls in women, link. An American study of 2,564 men and women who were 65 and older also found that optimism is good for blood pressure. Overall, “optimism appears to protect the heart and circulation”.
So optimistic people live longer and, conversely, pessimism is linked to negative affects on health. Also, studies show that speaking negative words e.g the word “No” can have negative effects on our health. Fear-provoking words – like poverty, illness, and death also stimulate the brain in negative ways, link, link.
This scientific research simply echoes advice given in the Bible:
A calm and peaceful and tranquil heart is life and health to the body, but passion and envy are like rottenness to the bones (Proverbs 14:30)
The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and a good report makes the bones healthy (Proverbs 15:30)
A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones (Proverbs 17.22)
Human Ageing Suddenly Got Worse!
This is a really interesting fact since it applies to everyone alive today. Man’s lifespan is currently about 70 or 80 years. But Bible records suggest that man originally lived much longer – hundreds of years. That is, until a certain date, link. Why? Some claim that date was the time of a universal Flood, perhaps around 2300 BC, link. Does science have an explanation for such an exponential decrease in lifespan?
A major model of human aging is based on human cells and how the many proteins inside a cell coexist and interact. It is claimed that defective proteins result in aging and that ‘proper aging’ depends upon proper protein folding. Put another way, it is claimed that protein misfolding is strongly related to age-related degenerative diseases, and that misfolding, link, can arise from radioisotopes that speed up or slow down protein folding. Moreover, damage caused by radiation can be cumulative, link.
So it is scientifically plausible that a significant increase in radioisotopes in the atmosphere after the Flood could cause the observed progressive reduction in the age of man after the Flood. More at lifespan change.
Optimal Medical Timing
The number 8 is important in male circumcision. God instructed Abraham to circumcise a male child when he is 8 days old (Gen 17.12). Why day eight? Medical science has shown that on the eighth day the amount of blood clotting factor prothrombin present in the body is more than 100% above normal, and this is normally the only day in the male’s life when this is the case, link. Vitamin K and prothrombin levels are at their peak. Today, Prothrombin Complex Concentrate (PCC) is used to accelerate blood coagulation, link. So day eight is the optimal day for minimizing hemorrhaging during circumcision!
The Solar Eclipse – fluke or design?
Scientists say “it is a happy accident of nature”, “a striking coincidence”, “a sheer chance”, “a fluke of celestial mechanics”. They refer to the amazing geometry associated with the Sun, Moon and Earth. During a total eclipse the Moon casts its umbra (shadow) upon Earth’s surface so that the Sun is totally obscured. The Earth, Moon, Sun geometry is such that only the beautiful corona of the Sun is left (permitting astronomers to analyse the Sun’s atmosphere, link).
Since the Sun’s diameter is about 400 times that of the Moon, the eclipse can only happen if the distances of Sun and Moon from Earth are just right. It turns out that this is the case and both Sun and Moon subtend virtually same angle such that they look virtually the same size in the sky. Do the maths here. Sheer chance, or God’s design?
In recent years there has been much interest in so-called “blood moons”. This phenomenon is caused by the scattering of red sunlight onto the moon as the earth passes between the sun and the moon (a lunar eclipse), link. Such events are entirely predictable, see NASA lunar eclipses.
Even so, blood moons generate a sense of public awe, and for Jews their timing seems especially significant when they occur on a Jewish festival. For instance, during 2014-2105 four total lunar eclipses occurred as follows:
15-04-14 (Pesach), 08-10-14 (Sukkot 09-10-14), 04-04-15 (Pesach), 28-09-15 (Sukkot)
Note the near perfect correspondence of dates with Jewish festivals. In the past, such strange coincidences have been difficult times for Jews. A similar awesome scenario is prophesied at the end of this age, link:
I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, blood, fire and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes (Joel 2:30,31)
Polystrate Fossils don’t make Evolutionary Sense
In geological excavations, tree trunk fossils are frequently found cutting across many geological layers. Hence the name “polystrate fossils”, link. Curiously, these fossilized trees stand vertically i.e. in growth position through geological layers supposedly created over many thousands of years! For example, evolutionary theory might claim a coal seam of 1000m would be laid down in about 10 million years, link. So it could take 100,000 years to bury a tree 10m high. Ridiculous!
In order to be fossilized, a tree must be buried rapidly to deprive it of oxygen – a necessary ingredient for decay. The watery mud and sediment from a sudden flood would meet such requirements, link. And since polystrate fossils are found in many countries e.g. in the United States, Canada, England, France, Germany, and Australia, this suggests a global flood.
Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth (Gen 7:17)
Observations point to a Young Earth
Classical Old Earth (OE) dating – radiometric dating – is based upon the spontaneous decay of atomic nuclei, where a radioactive parent atom decays to a stable daughter atom. The exponential decay rate equation is N(t) = N(0).exp [- K t ] where K is the (assumed) positive decay constant. The ‘half-life’ of the decaying quantity is simply ln(2)/K. The clash between OE dating (billions of years) and Young Earth (YE) dating (thousands of years) centers on the decay constant K. OE dating rests on the evolutionary concept of uniformitarianism and an assumed constant decay rate for all time. Is this true?
There is scientific support for an exponential reduction in the speed of light ‘c’ shortly after creation, see Atomic Constants Light and Time. Hundreds of measurements of ‘c’ since 1675 indicated a small but statistically significant decrease in ‘c’, link, link. In fact, between 1880 and 1941 there were over 50 articlles in the journal Nature alone addressing the topic of the decline in the actual measured values of ‘c’, link. Montgomery and Dolphin made a statistical analysis of the measurements and concluded: “The evidence for a decrease in the measurements of ‘c’ is very strong”. In 1999, Albrecht and Magueijo proposed a reduction in ‘c’ over time as a solution to cosmological puzzles.
Accelerated Decay: It is well known that the radioactive decay ‘constant’ K can be changed i.e. half-life can be changed, link, link. In particular, Setterfield has shown that K is strongly related to ‘c’. So if the speed of light slows down, then the radioactive decay rate also slows down, link.
On this analysis it follows that radioactive decay rates were much higher in the past. In other words, when ‘c’ was higher, atomic clocks ticked more rapidly and ‘atomic time’ ran fast. So standard radiometric dating must be corrected for this early accelerated decay rate, reducing millions of years to thousands!
Corrected Earth dating then fits much better with scientific, historical, geological, archaeological, demographic and biblical observations, link. For example, corrected earth dating and a YE model help explain: world-wide flood evidence, the ice age, earth tilt change, polar coal, ancient civilization collapse, human demographics, human aging and global warming.
Prophecies that are now Reality – Fact
Increase in Travel
Do you travel a lot? Holidays abroad perhaps, or perhaps you fly around on business? One hundred years ago commercial air travel was unheard of, but now there are typically 100,000 commercial flights each day! Just Look at the statistics:
- Annual air travel in the US: in 1950 less than 100 miles/person, in 1978 about 1000 miles/person, in 2000 about 1500 miles/person
- Aircraft fuel consumption: 130 million tonnes in 1992, increasing to 450 million tonnes by 2050
- Tourism is the world’s largest industry: annual revenue of $500 billion, and is one of the major sources of foreign exchange in 83% of countries. International tourism: 1950: 25m , 2003: 693m , 2020: 1.6 billion [WTO].
Bible prophecy: “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro …” (Dan 12.4)
Increase in Knowledge
Only a few hundred years ago man communicated by drums and smoke signals. Now he brings back images from the planets and monitors our weather from satellites. For millennia man has worshiped the sun; now he understands it is a nuclear reaction turning hydrogen into helium. In medical knowledge, we now have MRI scans, ultrasound, pacemakers, radiotherapy, IVF, artificial hearts, DNA, organ transplants and vaccines against major killers (typhoid, cholera, polio, smallpox). The rapid increase in knowledge is reflected in US Patents: 1900-1920: 25,000 … 1995-1998: 150,000 [University of Maryland]. Bible prophecy: “in the last days … knowledge will increase” (Dan 12.4)
Water tables are falling on every continent e.g. falling 1.5m/year in China and 1-3m/year in India. Taken together, India, China and Pakistan pump about 400 cubic km of underground water for irrigation in a year – twice as much as is recharged by the rains. Aquifers are emptying. Two out of every three people will be short of water by 2025 [National Geographic, Worldwatch Institute, and Tearfund]. In Africa, persistent drought since the late 1960’s has caused Lake Chad to shrink by 95% in the last 38 years. Bible prophecy: “The earth mourns and fades away, the world languishes and fades away; the haughty people of the earth languish.” (Isa 24.4)
Air pollution fatalities now exceed traffic fatalities by 3 to 1 [Earth Policy Institute]. In developing countries, 70 percent of industrial wastes are dumped untreated into waters where they pollute the usable water supply. An area some 80km x 80km around the Chernobyl nuclear plant is still an exclusion zone due to soil pollution by Caesium 137, link. Contamination from the Fukushima nuclear disaster link affected an area nearly as big as Cyprus and included some 6,500 villages. In 2013 some 300 tons of contaminated water (an Olympic-sized swimming pool) was seeping into the ocean EVERY DAY. In 2019 there was still no end in sight to seepage of radioactive water, link. Bible prophecy: “the earth is also polluted by its inhabitants” (Isa 24.5).
Electronic funds transfer at point of sale (EFTPOS) in shops, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Transactions (SWIFT), biometrics and RFID (radio frequency identification), all herald the cashless society. Financial transactions of every person will soon be totally computer controlled. This provides a mechanism for government monitoring and control of all personal details and activities (shopping, healthcare, invoice payments, tax returns, residency, lifestyle preferences, travel, beliefs etc. In 2018, UK cash payments accounted for just 22 percent of purchases, and the UK was the third most cashless society in the world.
Estonia (a member of the EU) is the most digitally advanced society in the world and is being used as a live social experiment on how we are all going to live, link. Estonia has built a technological hub with a universal database for its citizens. Everyone uses their mandatory ID card to access some 5,000 e-services, such banking, tax payments, healthcare, voting, travel, residency etc.. No card – no access! The personal ID card is issued by the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board! Bible prophecy: (at the end of this age) “no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark” (Rev 13.17)
Massive Jewish Migrations to Israel
In 1915 there were just 83,000 Jews in Palestine/Israel but this increased to nearly 6.5 million in 2017, link – an amazing 7700% increase! In comparison, over the same period the UK population increased just 55%. Why such sudden migration to Israel? It is a fulfillment of prophecies which say that, at the end of this age, God will take His people from all the nations and bring them back into their own land (the land promised to Abraham). Jews call it “Aliyah” – a “going up” in holiness to Jerusalem. Today, organizations like The Jewish Agency and WZO help returning Jews get installed in Israel. Bible prophecy: “Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone … and bring them into their own land” (Ezekiel 37.21)
Noah’s Ark – a stable design!
According to the Bible, Noah was instructed to make an Ark according to the following specification:
The length of the Ark shall be 300 cubits, its width 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits … You shall make it with lower, second and third decks (Genesis 6:15,16)
A naval study in 1977 assumed the common cubit of 18 inches, making the Ark some 450 long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. This study concluded that “the Ark was extremely stable” when four major stability features were examined, even in 210 knot winds, link. Another naval study in 1993 used a cubit of 20.4 inches and concluded that the biblical dimensions were optimal for stability, strength and comfort, and that the Ark could handle 30 meter waves, link. So, in major design aspects, Noah’s Ark was as good as modern shipping!
Jews are Top of the IQ Chart
Research shows that Jews are top of the IQ chart. Their average IQ has been measured at 108-115. A Jewish average IQ of 115 is approximately 40 percent higher than the global average IQ of 79, link. This may explain why about 22% of all Nobel prize recipients worldwide between 1901 and 2015 were Jews or people of strong Jewish ancestry. Prizes were given to Jews in such fields as Economics, Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, Literature and Peace Awards, link. This is an amazing achievement bearing in mind that Jews comprise less than 0.2% of the world’s population!
Why are Jews taking a disproportionate number of Nobel prizes? Several reasons are advanced. Geneticists claim that Jews exhibit a distinctive genetic signature and as such can be defined as a ‘race’ (a people group with distinct biological traits). This is supported by genetic research from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. They suggest that the Ashkenazi bloodline branched away from other Jewish groups in Israel 2,500 years ago and that 40 percent of them are descended from only four Jewish mothers, link, link. It is claimed that it is the Israeli Ashkenazi Jews that the world sees in terms of Israel’s cultural, intellectual, political, and economic activity, link. High IQ could also be due to the Jewish practice of Eugenics.
The Amazing Survival of the Jews
The Jewish nation, Israel has survived for over 3,500 years despite some 2,500 years of exile and severe persecution. In recent years Jews have been drawn out of the nations to come and live in the land (Canaan/Israel) promised to Abraham and his descendants. Out of the 14.5 million Jews in the world, 46 percent now reside in Israel, link. Moreover, the ancient Hebrew language has been revived, link, and is now the official state language of Israel.
Isn’t all this unusual for a nation? When King Louis XIV of France (1643-1715) asked Blaise Pascal, the great Christian philosopher to give him proof of God, Pascal answered, “Why the Jews, your Majesty, the Jews!“. As Winston Churchill remarked:
Some people like the Jews, and some do not. But no thoughtful man can deny the fact that they are, beyond any question, the most formidable and the most remarkable race which has appeared in the world.
The Old Testament scriptures explain why. The prophet exclaimed:
And what one nation on the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went … to make a name for Himself (2 Samuel 7:23)
Jerusalem – the Special City
- Jerusalem has been fought over sixteen times in its history. It has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times, link
- The word “Jerusalem” is mentioned more the 600 times in the Hebrew Bible, but not once in the Quran
- Mount Moriah is an elongated ridge in Jerusalem’s Old City and the top of the Mount is near the Muslim Dome of the Rock. The bedrock here is where Abraham would have walked when he came up to sacrifice Isaac around 1800 BC (Genesis 22)
- Jerusalem has many names. For example, when Christ rules the millennial earth from Jerusalem the city will be called “THE LORD IS THERE” (Ezekiel 48:35), Hephzibah or “My delight is in her” (Isaiah 62:4) and City of Truth (Zechariah 8:3)
Clearly, Jerusalem has deep spiritual significance. It is God’s city (Isaiah 62:1-7), and it will again be fought over at the end of this age:
Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples … And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it (Zech 12.2,3)
The Maths of “Lord Jesus Christ”
The Hebrew and Greek alphabets use letters to represent numbers e.g. the Hebrews wrote “gimel” for 3 and the Greeks wrote “kappa” for 20. The numerical value of “Lord Jesus Christ” in Greek is:
Lord: kappa,upsilon,rho,iota,omikron,sigma: arithmetic sum = 800
Jesus: iota,eta,sigma,omicron,upsilon,sigma: arithmetic sum = 888
Christ: chi,rho,iota,sigma,tau,omikron,sigma: arithmetic sum = 1480
Total sum: 3,168
Is 3,168 significant? First note that 3 × 1 × 6 × 8 = 144 or 12 × 12. Now 12 and 12 is symbolic of the New Jerusalem (Rev 21.10-14) with its 12 gates (the 12 tribes of Israel) and 12 foundation stones (the 12 apostles). Also note that the number 12 denotes governmental perfection and Jesus is coming back to rule the earth with perfect justice (Zech 14.9).
The number 3,168 appears in other scriptures, each time underscoring the attributes of Christ. For example, the phrase “mediator between God and men” (1 Tim 2.5) sums to 3,168 in Greek, pointing to Jesus as the mediator. And the Hebrew letter values in Isa 53.11 (the suffering Servant) also sum to 3,168. Thus 3,168 not only highlights the Lordship of Christ, but also His Priestly and sacrificial roles for mankind.
Curiously, the latitude of Christ’s birthplace, Bethlehem, is about 31.68°, link!
Christ’s name is embedded in Solomon’s Temple
When Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem was completed the Lord appeared to Solomon saying:
I have consecrated this house which you have built to put My name there … (1 Kings 9.3)
Really? In what way? Usually, numbers and sizes in the Bible are not random but are given for a purpose. Do the dimensions of the temple give us a clue? Consider the footprint of the temple:
The length was 60 cubits (by cubits according to the former measure) and the width 20 cubits (2 Chron 3.3, 1 Kings 6.2)
So the perimeter of the temple was 160 cubits, where the cubit here is sized “according to the former measure”. What was this measure? Some claim that the temple cubit was 18 inches. But others claim that in large-scale construction projects, ancient civilizations typically used the long cubit, about 19.8-20.6 inches, link. Let’s assume that Solomon used the Babylonian royal cubit of 19.8 inches, link. Recent measurements on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem support the Babylonian royal cubit, link. In this case the perimeter is 19.8 × 160 inches = 3,168 inches. Applying Bible gematria, the Greek letters in ‘Lord Jesus Christ’ sum to exactly 3,168. Coincidence? No. It seems the Lord inscribed His name in the very dimensions of the temple!
Israel Restores her Land
The Problem: In 1869 Mark Twain described Palestine (Israel) as “a desolate country given over wholly to weeds”. The Negev Desert (Israel’s southern region) accounts for over half of Israel’s total land mass. It has an arid and semi-arid climate with an annual rainfall of just 2-6 inches. In fact, Israel’s total annual renewable natural sources of fresh water are well below the UN definition of water poverty. Add to this, only 20 percent of Israel’s land is arable.
Restoration: Given such a bad start, the first Jewish immigrants embarked upon an extensive program of afforestation, making Israel one of only two countries in the world that began the 21st century with more trees than it had at the beginning of the 20th century! Some 250 million sub-tropical trees have now been planted in all regions of Israel, from the Golan and Galilee in the north to the Negev in the south, link.
Then there’s agriculture. Today more than 40 percent of the country’s vegetables and field crops are grown in the Negev desert. Fish are also farmed in the desert. Fruit and vegetables amount to typically 50 percent of Israel’s total agricultural output, and Israel manages to produce 95 percent of her own food requirements.
All this is possible due to Israel’s cutting-edge agricultural technology, link. Bible prophecy is coming true:
Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit (Isaiah 27:6)