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Section 1: What is Science?

History From the Beginning

The Developing Method of Science:
Experience, Asking Questions, Seeking Answers, Trial and Error.

We do not know how long Adam and his wife, Eve, were in the Garden of Eden before they disobeyed their Creator and fell into a sinful, lost condition and thus were cut off from direct communion with God. As long as he remained obedient, Adam could learn about the natural world which God had created, both by experience and by asking questions of God when He came down to have fellowship with him. As Adam proceeded to work with the living things in the Garden, he no doubt had many interesting experiences. He was continually learning about the natural world around him, both by experience and by divine revelation when God answered his many questions. By the expression, "natural world," is meant everything which can be observed and measured in some way through our natural senses or by means of instruments. In any event, the day finally came when Adam disobeyed God and fell into sin and separation from God (which is spiritual death). The Lord soon provided forgiveness and salvation for Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21), but He disciplined them and all their posterity by sending them out of the Garden into a world which was now cursed because of their sin (Genesis 3:22-24). No longer could Adam ask questions and be sure of getting direct personal answers from God about his daily problems living in the world. However, Adam could still go on learning by experience and developing the basic steps of science to help him learn more about the natural world. Adam and his children could also pray for God's help in their struggle for survival in a difficult world. They could still by faith receive from God grace, wisdom and knowledge in order to do the will of God on earth. They could pray for help in pursuing and using new knowledge for the glory of God and not for the glory of man or merely for human pleasure.

We do not know just how far Adam and his descendants before the great flood of Noah were able to develop and apply the scientific method. There are some hints in Genesis 4 that a considerable body of scientific knowledge and technology was accumulated in animal husbandry (v.20) and in metallurgy (v.22), for example. Archaelogical finds indicate that the ancients made important scientific discoveries thousands of years before Christ. For example, it is believed that electrolytic plating of metals was achieved in Babylon in very ancient times. Furthermore, the appearance of the advanced Sumerian civilization seemingly out of nowhere shortly after the great flood is strongly suggestive that a considerable body of technology had been accumulated before the flood and had then been carried into the post-flood era by Noah and his family.

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