One of the ongoing feuds that the media loves to report on is the one between science and religion. The narrative that is told in news reports and even movies is that the two are mutually exclusive, and that both cannot exist simultaneously. Either science debunks religion, or faith is more powerful than science. No better example of this could be observed than the COVID pandemic itself. The media touted science and vaccines, while churches were deemed non-essential and were closed by the government. This narrative has only been a recent development, as past generations had believed in a balance between science and religion. However, as science and technology has made leaps and bounds in the last twenty years or so, the focus has shifted heavily towards it. And in a God-omitted culture today, religion has become a casualty of this narrative. However, what if science could prove religion? How would that disrupt the imbalance heavily skewed towards science right now? Let’s look at an example of how science can prove biblical prophecy.
With advancements in satellite technology, scientists can now examine the earth with data that they never could have collected on the surface. One of these regions is the oceans. If we examine a satellite photograph of Hawaii, we observe there are shallow land formations under the water on coastlines of many islands. These are known as continental shelves, where the island surface extends out past the shoreline a bit, and then drops off into the depths of the Pacific Ocean. However, if you look at the southeast coast of the big island of Hawaii, you will notice there is no continental shelf. As soon as land reaches the ocean, it drops off completely into the depths. In order to understand this, we need to explain the geology of Hawaii. The island chain sits on a weak portion of the earth’s crust known as a hotspot. Molten rock from within the earth rises up at this location and spews forth in the form of volcanic activity, which has formed the island chain over millions of years. The big island of Hawaii is the youngest of these islands, and is the most geologically active, as it currently sits directly atop the hotspot. The two most active volcanoes on the island are Mauna Loa, the tallest volcano in the world sitting in the middle of the island, and Kilauea, which sits on the southeast corner of the island. Contrary to popular belief, a volcano is not simply a single mountain point, but more like a rift or tear in the earth’s surface, similar to an earthquake fault. The Kilauea rift zone is shown on the map denoted by the white line, and while most activity takes place at the crater summit, volcanic activity can occur anywhere along the rift zone, as it did in 2019, and resulted in the destruction of hundreds of homes in the area.
Scientists have surmised that the reason for the lack of a continental shelf on the southeast coast has to do with the geologic instability of the region. Every so often, the volcanic activity of Kilauea will cause part of the island coast and shelf to plunge into the depths of the ocean. Such a landslide would trigger a mega-tsunami that would ripple out from the center of the Pacific Ocean to strike every shore and devastate nearly every port and city. The effects would also cause huge ecological damage to the ocean, and would be destructive to many sea animals by disrupting their migration patterns. The severity of the aftermath of such a natural disaster would affect the whole earth and its commerce. Scientists estimate the last time such a natural disaster occurred was approximately 200,000 years ago, before humanity had arrived on the scene. This mega-disaster scenario was documented by the History Channel in 2008.
So what does all this geological science have to do with biblical prophecy, you ask? After all, Hawaii was not known to the world during biblical times, and was not discovered by the modern world until 1778 by James Cook. Well, in the book of Revelation, we read about the tribulation and God’s final judgment of humanity. Part of the tribulation involves angels sounding seven trumpets. Revelation 8:8-9 (CSB) reads: “The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain ablaze with fire was hurled into the sea. So a third of the sea became blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.”
If we break down this vivid imagery, we discover that all of the text can now be explained by modern science:
- Great mountain ablaze with fire –> Volcanic eruption
- Hurled into the sea –> Landslide into the ocean
- Third of the sea became blood, third of the living creatures in the sea died –> Ecological disaster
- Third of the ships destroyed –> Coastline cities and ports wiped out by a mega tsunami
So are science and the Bible really mutually exclusive, or can science be used to prove the Bible correct? Ponder that this week.