It’s a truism of the Christian life:
Whenever science seems to contradict the Bible, just wait – given enough time, science will eventually catch up to the Scriptures.
Case in point:
A research team from the University of Oxford has been pouring over eight databases containing genome sequences from 215 populations.
According to Dr. Yan Wong, one of the authors of the study:
“We have basically built a large family tree, a genealogy for all of humanity that models as exactly as we can the history that generated all the genetic variation we find in humans today. This genealogy allows us to see how every person’s genetic sequence relates to every other, along all the points of the genome.”
In other words – we’re all related.
To date, Dr. Wong’s project has been able to genetically connect 27 million people, but as more information becomes available, that number is expected to expand exponentially.
“This study is laying the groundwork for the next generation of DNA sequencing,” Wong noted. “As the quality of genome sequences from modern and ancient DNA samples improves, the trees will become even more accurate and we will eventually be able to generate a single, unified map that explains the descent of all the human genetic variation we see today.”
Critics of the literal, inerrant and infallible Word of God will often suggest science regularly disproves the accuracy of the Bible, but it’s really the other way around.
Long before we were able to confirm the earth was a sphere hanging in space, we read in Isaiah: “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth” (Isaiah 40:22). And long before we ever traveled to space, it was written in Job: “He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; He suspends the earth over nothing” (26:7).
That hasn’t stopped antagonists of the Christian faith from regularly accusing believers of being either anti-science or embracing disproven falsehoods. But such charges are spurious and rooted, at best, in gross misunderstanding and confusion.
Dr. Keith A. Mathison is professor of systematic theology at Reformation Bible College in Sanford, Fla. He recently observed:
“Science and Scripture are completely compatible as long as science is understood to be the careful study of God’s works of creation. Science is at risk of being incompatible with Scripture only when naturalistic and materialistic metaphysical philosophies are imported into the definition of science.”
These are no small matters. According to Dr. Al Mohler, president of Southern Seminary:
“The New Testament clearly establishes the Gospel of Jesus Christ upon the foundation of the Bible’s account of creation. If there was no historical Adam and no historical Fall, the Gospel is no longer understood in biblical terms.”
Time will tell how quickly emerging technology will allow scientists to more fully confirm the Genesis account of Creation. But if the rate and pace of current discoveries are any indication, it may very well be sooner than most people think.
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