Protestant Christians received an valuable heritage from the courageous men and women of the Reformation, which can be summarized by the Latin Sola Scriptura. These words simply mean “by scripture alone.” That world altering revolution against the tyranny of Roman Catholicism began when daring men, often at the expense of their lives, translated the scriptures into the language of the common man. Before that, the Roman church veiled the Bible in the Latin tongue, insisting that the average person had no business reading or interpreting its meaning. Ignorance of the Bible allowed the Roman Church to enslave the masses with the chains of church tradition and papal authority, which often contradicted the Bible’s teachings and obscured the gospel. By putting the Bible into the hands of the common man and insisting that it alone was the supreme authority in our lives, the Reformation effectively wrested power away from the Roman Church, at least for those who believed the gospel.
The Roman Catholic Counter Reformation began in 1540, some 23 years after Luther posted his 95 theses, and was led by Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order. One of Loyola’s strategies was to win people back to Catholicism by focusing on education. If Roman tradition and papal authority could not overcome people’s new reliance upon the authority of the Bible, perhaps education could.
If we recognize that our spiritual battle is not primarily against people, I believe we can see Satan’s hand in this.
The devil has always insisted that education is more important than naive reliance upon what God says.
In fact, in Loyola’s lifetime, what is called the High Renaissance was flowering. It was a return to classic (pagan) roots of civilization, emphasizing literature, learning, and art derived from the Romans and Greeks.
At the same time that God was turning people to the scriptures, the devil was reviving paganism with a brand new twist – the Scientific Revolution.
Interestingly, this revolution is commonly believed to have begun in 1543 with the publication of Copernicus’ book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres). Copernicus derived some of his thinking from the pagan sun worshiper, Tresmegistus. Here is a quote:
The introduction of the heliocentric theory of the “solar system” was every bit as transformational as the Protestant Revolution, perhaps even more so as far as the world is concerned, not in the least because it set in motion the abandonment of Sola Scriptura by the church.
The Scientific Revolution led to breakthroughs in many areas and established science as an autonomous discipline set free from the “shackles” or limitations previously imposed on it by the Bible.
Since the temptation in the garden of Eden, Satan has pushed mankind to abandon God’s Word in a quest of for independent knowledge. He set up Eve to see God’s restriction from eating from the one tree in the garden as a much larger prohibition against enjoying fruit from any tree.
That evil spirit always wants us to view God as the Great Restrictor, keeping humanity back from reaching its potential.
This is exactly how those who embraced the Scientific Revolution came to see the Bible. Since that time, it has been largely viewed as an anachronism, perhaps a sort of fairy tale, sadly wanting in scientific accuracy.
The early reformers, such as Luther and Calvin, rejected Copernicus’ heliocentric theory because they still adhered to Sola Scriptura. Luther used one verse of the Bible to reject Copernicus – Joshua 10:13.
So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies. Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. Joshua 10:13 (NASB95)
When I bring up this argument against the heliocentric theory, my Christian friends usually counter with “God can do anything.” That, in my opinion, is a flimsy excuse for contradicting the plain meaning of the Bible.
Calvin wrote that Copernicus’ teaching originated from the demonic realm.
But those adherents to the authority of Scripture over all other authorities died out, and the education system spearheaded by the Jesuits taught the heliocentric model to succeeding generations, insisting that Copernicus’ theory is a scientific fact, and so it is thought today by those who reject the supreme authority of the Bible.
Satan gained a significant victory over our heritage from the Reformation, Sola Scriptura, by convincing most Christians that we dare not resist the Goliath of modern science. Instead of Sola Scriptura, we now have Sciencia Prima – Science First. Having been intimidated by scientific theories proclaimed as facts, many Christians now find it obligatory to view such science defying passages as Genesis Chapter One through the lens of heliocentrism.
When we take the plain meaning of the Bible and deform it to agree with science falsely so called, it is a betrayal of the heritage we received from the Reformation and proclaims that we think God is a liar.
I believe this makes us like Saul after his battle against the Amalekites. Samuel told him to kill every living thing, but he spared king Agag and best of the livestock. When Samuel challenged him regarding his disobedience, he remonstrated, that he did obey the Lord. Samuel retorted, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears?” (1 Samuel 15:14) God likewise asks us who claim to believe every word of the Bible, “What then is this pagan heliocentrism?” We cannot have it both ways.
And just as Saul’s disobedience, according to Samuel, was as the sin of witchcraft (1 Samuel 15:23); so, our departure from the authority of God’s Word has allowed a bewitching spell to be cast over the entire earth, blinding us to God’s truth regarding the world in which we live and the existence of the creator.
We cannot say that we believe the authority of the scripture is supreme when we make the Bible bow the knee to scientific theories.
I have talked to enough Christians who believe in heliocentrism to know that they believe that they still adhere to Sola Scriptura. They see no contradiction in believing Copernicus’ view of the heavens and earth and holding to the authority and truthfulness of Genesis Chapter One. However, they do not believe Genesis is literally accurate. They think that it contains truth but is not the truth and must be interpreted so that it somehow agrees with Copernicus. But this is not how the authors of the Old Testament saw things, and one of the fundamental rules of interpretation is that the scriptures must at least mean what the authors intended them to mean. They believed that Genesis is the literal truth.
Modern Christians who adhere to Sciencia Prima do not realize that Satan effectively undermined the validity of the entire Bible by convincing even Christians that Genesis Chapter One is not scientifically accurate.
Do we really think that unbelievers will be convinced that Christ rose from the dead when they find out we do not even believe that the Bible is literally true about something so fundamental as creation? Yet, we go about preaching the resurrection of Christ, the creation of humans (as opposed to Evolution), and the Noahic flood as being totally believable, while at the same time rejecting Genesis Chapter One. I find this odd.
It seems we have been so divorced from our Reformation heritage that many Christians today are embarrassed when someone stands up to say he or she believes those verses about creation and the earth and heavens are literally true!
Perhaps the biggest test we Christians in the West face today is whether we will be loyal to God’s word. Jesus reminded us that he expects for us to be unashamed of him and his words. (Luke 9:26) John the Revelator was exiled to the island of Patmos for his allegiance both to Jesus and God’s Word. (Revelation 1:9) It is time for us to embrace the Word and scorn the shame that will be heaped upon us by a disbelieving world and church.
Modern astrophysics stands against the Bible like a Goliath, daring anyone to have the courage to defy him publicly. Up to this point, most Christians have cowered in fear, but God is raising up a band of Davids who will take the challenge, disregard our fears of disapproval and persecution, and boldly reaffirm Sola Scriptura.
