DISCOVERER OF OXYGEN
Hebrews 3:4
“For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.”
Joseph Priestley was, by all accounts, not a pleasant man. He was brought up in a dissenting chapel in Heckmondwicke, Yorkshire, having been born in Birstall, near Leeds, Yorkshire, in 1733. That chapel believed the Bible to be completely true, but Priestley began to develop ideas that rejected the divinity of Christ and the Virgin Birth. In adulthood, he was, therefore, a Unitarian. Indeed, he was one of the founders of the Unitarian Church in England and eventually became a minister of a Unitarian chapel.
In 1765, he met the American statesman and scientist Benjamin Franklin, and this inspired Priestley’s love of science. Not very interested in theory, he was fascinated by experimental technique and developed many of the chemical apparatus, especially for measurement, that have been used until comparatively recently.
It was just such an experiment that led to the discovery of oxygen. Prior to Priestley, most people had thought that fire actually caused materials to emit a substance called phlogiston. Having experimented on burning solids in known quantities of air, Priestley noted that the resulting “dephlogisticated” air had less volume than normal air. Comparing his own results with those of the French scientist Lavoisier, it was realized that actually air contained a gas which supported combustion rather than combustion itself being a material. We now know this gas as oxygen.
While Priestley’s religious views were unbiblical, it should be noted that he ascribed all the order that he noticed in his experiments to God’s design and purpose, believing that nothing he noted could have come about by random chance.
We know, Lord, that even people who do not fully acknowledge Your Lordship can understand Your creative power. Thank You for all those who have pushed back the frontiers of knowledge before us. Amen.
Hebrews 3:4
“For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.”
Joseph Priestley was, by all accounts, not a pleasant man. He was brought up in a dissenting chapel in Heckmondwicke, Yorkshire, having been born in Birstall, near Leeds, Yorkshire, in 1733. That chapel believed the Bible to be completely true, but Priestley began to develop ideas that rejected the divinity of Christ and the Virgin Birth. In adulthood, he was, therefore, a Unitarian. Indeed, he was one of the founders of the Unitarian Church in England and eventually became a minister of a Unitarian chapel.
In 1765, he met the American statesman and scientist Benjamin Franklin, and this inspired Priestley’s love of science. Not very interested in theory, he was fascinated by experimental technique and developed many of the chemical apparatus, especially for measurement, that have been used until comparatively recently.
It was just such an experiment that led to the discovery of oxygen. Prior to Priestley, most people had thought that fire actually caused materials to emit a substance called phlogiston. Having experimented on burning solids in known quantities of air, Priestley noted that the resulting “dephlogisticated” air had less volume than normal air. Comparing his own results with those of the French scientist Lavoisier, it was realized that actually air contained a gas which supported combustion rather than combustion itself being a material. We now know this gas as oxygen.
While Priestley’s religious views were unbiblical, it should be noted that he ascribed all the order that he noticed in his experiments to God’s design and purpose, believing that nothing he noted could have come about by random chance.
We know, Lord, that even people who do not fully acknowledge Your Lordship can understand Your creative power. Thank You for all those who have pushed back the frontiers of knowledge before us. Amen.
ISAAC NEWTON – CREATIONIST OR HERETIC?
Exodus 20:11
“For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”
It surely is not possible to learn science without coming across the name of Sir Isaac Newton, one of history’s greatest scientists. While many scientists concentrate on one field of study, Newton is famous for three: light, calculus, and gravity.
Newton studied carefully how white light could be split into the various colors of the spectrum. He also invented calculus to give mathematical expression to the problem of measuring the velocity of an accelerating object at a precise instant in time. And, of course, we all know about his discovery of gravity.
It is less well known that Newton wrote a lot about history and theology. He accepted a biblical timescale of events. Indeed, his calculation of the age of the Earth is similar to that of Archbishop James Ussher, of whose work Newton approved. Newton believed the Bible, stating, “‘I have a fundamental belief in the Bible as the Word of God, written by men who were inspired. I study the Bible daily.”
However, before we fully claim Newton as a creationist hero, we must remember that even Newton had feet of clay. It turns out, when we read Newton’s studies of the early church, that he had a great deal of sympathy for the position of Arius at the Council of Nicea. He even once described Christ as “a divine mediator between God and man, who was subordinate to the Father who created him”, and labeled Trinitarianism as “the Great Apostasy”.
So this great man had views which we would not consider to be biblically orthodox. Nevertheless, his scientific achievements were immense and entirely in accord with God’s word.
Thank You, Lord, for great men of the past and that we can learn from them. Help us also to examine everything, first and foremost, by Your word. Amen.
Exodus 20:11
“For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”
It surely is not possible to learn science without coming across the name of Sir Isaac Newton, one of history’s greatest scientists. While many scientists concentrate on one field of study, Newton is famous for three: light, calculus, and gravity.
Newton studied carefully how white light could be split into the various colors of the spectrum. He also invented calculus to give mathematical expression to the problem of measuring the velocity of an accelerating object at a precise instant in time. And, of course, we all know about his discovery of gravity.
It is less well known that Newton wrote a lot about history and theology. He accepted a biblical timescale of events. Indeed, his calculation of the age of the Earth is similar to that of Archbishop James Ussher, of whose work Newton approved. Newton believed the Bible, stating, “‘I have a fundamental belief in the Bible as the Word of God, written by men who were inspired. I study the Bible daily.”
However, before we fully claim Newton as a creationist hero, we must remember that even Newton had feet of clay. It turns out, when we read Newton’s studies of the early church, that he had a great deal of sympathy for the position of Arius at the Council of Nicea. He even once described Christ as “a divine mediator between God and man, who was subordinate to the Father who created him”, and labeled Trinitarianism as “the Great Apostasy”.
So this great man had views which we would not consider to be biblically orthodox. Nevertheless, his scientific achievements were immense and entirely in accord with God’s word.
Thank You, Lord, for great men of the past and that we can learn from them. Help us also to examine everything, first and foremost, by Your word. Amen.
EVERYONE LOVES BACON
Proverbs 9:10
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.”
Everyone loves bacon; or maybe every scientist loves Bacon. The Bacon to which I am referring is Sir Francis Bacon, later Viscount St. Alban, 1561-1626. It is to him that we owe a debt of thanks for the introduction of an early scientific method.
Science is about discovery. Today’s scientific method requires the development of hypotheses, together with the systematic testing of the same. Bacon’s method began from a basis of empiricism. The Encyclopaedia Britannica states that the Baconian method comprises of three steps.
First, a description of facts; second, a tabulation, or classification, of those facts into three categories – instances of the presence of the characteristic under investigation, instances of its absence, or instances of its presence in varying degrees; third, the rejection of whatever appears, in the light of these tables, not to be connected with the phenomenon under investigation and the determination of what is connected with it.
Bacon served as Lord Chancellor of England under King James I for three years, a few years after the publication of the King James Bible. It would be no surprise, therefore, to learn that Bacon’s philosophy was strongly influenced by the biblical atmosphere in much of the court circles at the time. In his philosophical work, The Advancement of Learning, Bacon wrote:
Let no man upon a weak conceit of sobriety or an ill-applied moderation think or maintain that a man can search too far, or be too well studied in the book of God’s word, or in the book of God’s works, divinity or philosophy.
The Bible was the guiding principle behind Bacon’s science, philosophy, and politics.
We know, Father God, that everything has come from You. Therefore, we pray that our actions will all be guided by Scripture in every aspect of our lives. Amen
Proverbs 9:10
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.”
Everyone loves bacon; or maybe every scientist loves Bacon. The Bacon to which I am referring is Sir Francis Bacon, later Viscount St. Alban, 1561-1626. It is to him that we owe a debt of thanks for the introduction of an early scientific method.
Science is about discovery. Today’s scientific method requires the development of hypotheses, together with the systematic testing of the same. Bacon’s method began from a basis of empiricism. The Encyclopaedia Britannica states that the Baconian method comprises of three steps.
First, a description of facts; second, a tabulation, or classification, of those facts into three categories – instances of the presence of the characteristic under investigation, instances of its absence, or instances of its presence in varying degrees; third, the rejection of whatever appears, in the light of these tables, not to be connected with the phenomenon under investigation and the determination of what is connected with it.
Bacon served as Lord Chancellor of England under King James I for three years, a few years after the publication of the King James Bible. It would be no surprise, therefore, to learn that Bacon’s philosophy was strongly influenced by the biblical atmosphere in much of the court circles at the time. In his philosophical work, The Advancement of Learning, Bacon wrote:
Let no man upon a weak conceit of sobriety or an ill-applied moderation think or maintain that a man can search too far, or be too well studied in the book of God’s word, or in the book of God’s works, divinity or philosophy.
The Bible was the guiding principle behind Bacon’s science, philosophy, and politics.
We know, Father God, that everything has come from You. Therefore, we pray that our actions will all be guided by Scripture in every aspect of our lives. Amen
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