Isaac Newton and the Bible

QUESTION: Isaac Newton and the Bible

ANSWER:

Isaac Newton said of himself near the end of his life, "I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."

To Dr. Bentley, he had written, "When I had written my Treatise about our system, I had an Eye upon such Principles as might work with considering Men, for the Belief of a Deity, and nothing can rejoice me more than to find it useful for that purpose."

Isaac Newton's pebbles and shells formed the basis for the scientific revolution and the industrial revolution which created our current civilization. This demonstration of the incredible power of his discoveries is, however, itself minor in comparison with their role in 17th and 18th century miracles that serve as a continuing testimony of the literal truth of the Bible and of the remarkable creations of the Lord.

Isaac Newton and the Bible – Final Thoughts on God and Prophecy
In my own scientific work, I also have continually compared the Bible with the findings of modern experimental science. Like Isaac Newton, I do not know of any verified scientific facts that are inconsistent with the literal truth of every aspect of the Bible.

I am grateful to have had an opportunity to read Isaac Newton's book about the Prophecies and am publishing this reprint so that others may have this experience.

Thanks are due to the Manley Foundation and Dr. Richard Pooley who helped finance this reprint; to Bruce Tippery who gave essential help with its production; and also to Andy Hopkins whose similar and independent desire to reprint this book is hereby fulfilled.

This reprint has been made as an exact photographic duplicate of Thomas Jefferson's personal copy. This reprint is dedicated to my wife, Laurelee, whose death in November 1988 delayed it for these past two years, but whose life caused me to undertake it.

As Isaac Newton wrote in the second edition of the Principia:

"The true God is a living, intelligent, and powerful Being. His duration reaches from eternity to eternity; His presence from infinity to infinity. He governs all things."

Footnotes:
Excerpted and rendered from the “Introduction” to: Observations Upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John, by Sir Isaac Newton (London, 1733). Reprinted by: The Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, Cave Junction, Oregon (Copyright September, 1991). All Rights Reserved in the Original.

INTRODUCTION by Arthur B. Robinson, Cave Junction, Oregon (July, 1991) -- By Permission: James Fletcher Baxter, Lewisville, Texas.