The Bible and Nature

Among the varied ways in which God reveals Himself to man, the Bible and the book of nature are outstanding. "Next to the Bible, nature is to be our great lesson book." —Testimonies, vol. 6, p_. 185. In point of time, of course, the latter had priority, for during the first millennium and a half of our world's his­tory men had no written revelation. However, we are not here concerned with the relative importance of the Bible and nature to the pres­ent generation, but with certain principles re­garding their study which hold the same truths for both.

Both contain mysteries which the human mind can never fully solve. All of the chief themes of the Bible—the incarnation of Christ, the new birth, the resurrection, and many other subjects—are essentially mysteries too deep for the human mind to explain, or even to compre­hend fully. But these mysteries show the Bible's kinship with its divine Author. If it contained nothing beyond our easy comprehen­sion, its heavenly origin would not be so mani­fest, nor would it afford subjects to tax the most profound study as long as time shall last.

Nature also abounds in mysteries. And the deeper w.e go in the study of true science, the greater and the more numerous do they become. For us as Adventists, we have a multitude of mysteries clustering around the creation of our world and of the first plants and animals on it. We also have many mysteries still connected with the Flood and the destruction of the world, together with the ways in which new plants and animals again spread abroad upon the face of a completely changed landscape after the subsidence of the Deluge.

But many refuse to recognize any limitations to the human mind in studying either the Bible or the book of nature. The reason is the same in both cases—a pride of intellect, and a de­termination to pry open every door on which appears a notice of "No Admittance—Except by Special Permission of the Creator." Some people find it very humiliating to have to apply at the head office for special guidance, when setting out to explore the mysteries of the Great Unknown.

There have been definite time limits to the understanding of parts of the Bible. Certain portions of Daniel's prophecies were closed up and sealed until a definite period in the world's history, just as valuable papers are put away under the protection of a time lock by bankers or librarians, after which they may become available for those with a right to have them or to examine them.

All the chief facts about the sanctuary in heaven we're clearly stated in the Bible, and thus are available for all to study ; but only after special enlightenment and after the fixed date of 1844, were these facts clearly under­stood. And anyone who, before this time, or without this special divine enlightenment, at­tempted by sledge-hammer methods to break open these mysteries, was bound to meet with disappointment or with fanatical delusion, no matter how much he thought he had succeeded. The essence of fanaticism is an unwillingness to await God's time limits for the understand­ing of His secrets, either in the Bible or in na­ture, or a refusal to submit to divine guidance in their solution. We have been told:

"But it is Satan's work to pervert the investigative powers of the mind. A certain pride is mingled with the consideration of Bible truth, so that men feel defeated and impatient if they cannot explain every portion of Scripture to their satisfaction. It is too humiliating to them to acknowledge that they do not understand the inspired words. They are unwilling to wait patiently until God shall see fit to reveal the truth to them. They feel that their unaided human wisdom is sufficient to enable them to comprehend the Scripture; and failing to do this, they virtually deny its authority."—/bid., vol. 5, p. 701.

The same principles hold true in the study of nature. It is a well-known fact that Darwin and the other founders of the evolution theory recognized no limitations to the ability of the human mind to solve all the mysteries of exist­ence, or the origin of the universe. And a similar attitude of mind can be recognized among those who are today dealing with the so-called structure of the atom and the "proper­ties" of matter, which have been manipulated for destruction, but which we are told will soon be available for harmless and useful purposes.

And there are even some professed believers in creation and the Flood who seem just as re­luctant to admit that there are obvious limita­tions to what we are able to learn about these subjects. They seem determined to "explain" every detail about the distribution of the land and water before the Flood, and then to explain just how it all happened. No limitations are admitted, every feature of the ancient world and its destruction is presumed to be open for study and investigation, and the solution of all these problems is supposed to have been already largely accomplished by the geologists, their conclusions being taken at full face value in al­most every respect except in the one factor of time. We have been told:

"Many feel that a responsibility rests upon them to explain every seeming difficulty in the Bible, in order to meet the cavils of skeptics and infidels. But in trying to explain that which they but imperfectly understand, they are in danger of confusing the minds of others in reference to points that are clear, and easy to be understood. This is not our work."—Ibid., pp. 705, 706.

This applies also to the study of nature. For these believers in the Flood are much con­cerned over trying to explain every difficulty raised by the evolutionists. But as this state­ment from the Spirit of prophecy declares, in trying to explain certain features about the Flood which they understood only imperfectly, they are almost certain to confuse the minds of their hearers with reference to other points which are clear and easy to be understood. In other words, they are likely to make bad mat­ters worse, and give wrong interpretations of other, more important, features of the Flood or creation. "This is not our work."