Does everything mentioned in the Holy Bible agree with the findings of modern science?

Let us consider how religion views science:

• a. If we start with the five books of Moses, we note that until the time of Moses, the discussion of creation revolved around myths and fantasies in which gods were depicted as marrying each other, fighting against one another, etc. On the other hand, the book of Genesis presents an extremely simplified account that even a young child can understand, without contradicting the findings of science; especially when we understand that the days of creation should not be taken to be twenty-four-hour periods but an unspecified period of time, as St. Basil the Great says.

• b. The Holy Bible does not have a problem with scientific research, but it does have a problem with haughtiness and with those who would discount that which transcends time and is its cause.

1149 St. Augustine of Hippo, PL 46:821.

1150 Origen of Alexandria, Homilies on Genesis 1.1 (FOTC 71:47).

1151 St. Didymus the Blind, Commentary on Genesis 1 (FOTC 132:25–26).

• c. The Holy Bible calls us to sanctify the body and its senses, and the mind and its faculties.

• d. Back in the first century, St. Mark the Evangelist came to Alexandria and encountered the pagan School of Alexandria that had been established by Ptolemy, among other Jewish and Egyptian schools. Rather than adopting a hostile attitude towards them, he instead established the Christian Catechetical School of Alexandria, as St. Jerome records. Its curriculum included the study of philosophies contemporary to that time, as well as medicine, astronomy, mathematics, and languages such as Greek and Egyptian (which evolved into Coptic). Through love and dialogue, the School of Alexandria won many scholars from the schools of philosophy to the faith. For this reason, some of these scholars continued to wear the pallium (cape) of the philosopher even as they studied at the Christian School.

• e. St. Basil the Great , who introduced monasticism to Neocaesarea, established schools that were attached to the monasteries to educate the young.

• f. The Holy Bible in no way undervalues the gifts of reason, science, or research. Rather, it discloses the purpose of the word of God as being to transport humanity to that which lies beyond our present world, to come to know our Creator, and to partake of the blessed life of those in heaven.

• g. Many theories that were once considered to be firm facts were later disproven and replaced by other theories.

• h. Most of the universities of Europe were originally founded by monks who were interested in science, although these institutions separate science from faith today.

• i. Surveys have shown that many well-known scientists from various fields who denied their faith in God returned to faith later in in their lives with even more zeal and enthusiasm.

• j. We ought to view the human being as a single entity: body, spirit, soul, mind, and emotions. Doctors research physical health, psychologists research mental health, and scientists research to advance scientific knowledge, etc. Yet we cannot ignore the reality of death that every human being faces. The purpose of faith is to provide us with what we need to know regarding our lives after death. Faith and divine grace can grant us inner joy with which we can face every hardship and tribulation so that we may experience the promise of heaven.

• k. Unfortunately, despite the there being no doubt that no person can escape death, some are preoccupied with their present lives and ignore the existence of eternal life.

• l. There are hundreds of prophecies about the Lord Christ the Savior, from the beginning of creation until His incarnation, that are consistent with each other, and which even non-believing historians accept. These prophecies were not produced by

the Christian Church — they are part of the Old Testament and were preserved by the Jews. They were only translated into other languages shortly before the coming of Christ, such as the Greek Septuagint which was completed at the request of Ptolemy around the second century B. C. The Apostles used this translation in their preaching, especially the apostle Paul who preached to the gentiles.

• m. We can appreciate the wisdom of the Christian Church in that from the first century on, it has allowed every nation to worship in its own language and culture; and yet, the Church enjoyed a wondrous unity until the fifth century. No nation insisted that its language alone was holy in Christian worship. With a spirit of love, many Christian writings were translated into the languages of other nations, while preserving their nuance and their spiritual and theological purpose. Some Coptic and Arabic texts about the Copts were lost amidst the destruction and burning of churches and monasteries, but translations of some of these texts into Amharic, Greek, and other languages have survived.

The believer does not deny the importance of the advancement of science, but he understands that these are theories that are liable to revision. For example: for a long time, scholars were confident that the Gospel of John was not written by St. John the Disciple, for its style was more like that of the second century. But when the Nag Hammadi papyruses were discovered in 1948, manuscripts from the first century were among them that exhibit the same style as this gospel. Also, some scholars doubted the historical accuracy of some of the events recorded in the Holy Bible, such as those of the Book of Daniel. But more recent archaeological discoveries have confirmed the record of the Holy Bible as historical facts.

Book 7

Eschatology and the

After Life

1. The Gift of Death and the Resurrected Life in Christ

2. The Sacred Pain of Loss

3. Millennialism (Chiliasm)

4. The Two Comings and the Rapture

5. The Final Judgment

6. The Resurrected Body

7. Heaven and the Jerusalem Above