Science Speaks [Paperback]

Peter W. Stoner (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Moody Pr (June 1958)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802476309
• ISBN-13: 978-0802476302
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,703,593 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My conversion to Christ, January 12, 2010

By 

Charles W. Powell - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Science Speaks (Paperback)

On January 4, 1960 I surrendered my life to Christ, received Him as my savior, through reading this book. I had put it away, but it didn't put me away, so as a result of theclarity of the call to come to Christ, I did. He changed everything. Life is very different both now and during the years since believing. Thank you Dr. Stoner.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A POPULAR, VERY INTERESTING, BUT INCONCLUSIVE PRESENTATION, February 10, 2010

By 

Steven H. Propp (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Science Speaks (Paperback)

Peter Stoner was the former chairman of the Department of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena City College, and later Professor Emeritus of Science at Westmont College. Robert C. Newman (author of Genesis One and the Origin of Earth, as well as other books of science and apologetics) is a physicist who studied at Cornell with Carl Sagan. This book has been published several times, in various editions; first in 1952, then in 1958, 1963, 1968, and 1976 (the edition I have), and probably others. It is only the last edition that was co-written with Dr. Newman.

The book was famously used by Josh McDowell in his lectures on Bible prophecy, as well as in his book, Evidence that Demands a Verdict: Historical Evidence for the Christian Faith.

The first section is on "Changes in Science," in which the authors cite thirteen statements from the book of Genesis, and show them to be consistent with the scientific picture (particularly regarding the order of events) of the universe, and our planet. (They believe in an "old universe," of course, and the "Day/Age" theory of Genesis; Stoner/Newman write, "My own personal belief is that most of the days of Genesis are very short periods of time, separated by extremely long periods.") Newman's own book on Genesis One goes into such matters in more detail.

The second chapter of "Prophetic Accuracy" deals with Old Testament historical prophecies, and does the math to show that fulfillment of all of these by chance is very improbable. (But the strength of this claim is weakened when Stoner tells us how he computes the "probability" of, say, Nebuchadnezzar taking the city of Tyre: "The probability of the fulfillment of the items for various prophecies is difficult to arrive at.... The author has used the mean of the estimates given him by some seven hundred college students over a period of more than ten years as a starting point, but he has carefully weighed these and changed all that seemed questionable.")

The final (and most famous) chapter is on "The Christ of Prophecy," and computes the probability of anyone other than Jesus fulfilling eight Messianic prophecies, and again concludes that it is very unlikely. (But again, these "probability" estimates were simply obtained by asking students in a class on Christian Evidences at the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship at Pasadena City College to make estimates. Few of them---expect perhaps the estimate of the Messiah being born in Bethlehem---have much of a "factual" basis, other than conjecture.)

The final chapter, "Conclusions," makes a strong evangelistic presentation. (Perhaps too strong.)

I can only suggest that you read the book, and decide for yourself how persuasive it is.

2 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good evidence, conclusions incomplete, November 10, 2008

By 

Hesham Wahby (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Science Speaks (Paperback)

Chapter 1: Scientific changes

Basically demonstrates that the story of creation in the first few sections of Genesis agrees with science.


Chapter 2: Accuracy of the prophecies

Demonstrates how some of the prophecies in the OT came true and how they agree with historical accounts. Argues that this is evidence of Bible accuracy and inspiration from God.


Chapter 3: Christ of the prophecies

Presents 8 prophecies from the OT and shows how they match the story of Jesus in the NT, and again, argues that these and many others are inspired by God, which is most probably true. These 8 prophecies do not mention anything about him being God, son of God, or dying for sins, which supports the fact that these ideas were added to the Bible by Christians. Otherwise, if they were in the OT, the author would have chosen the prophecies mentioning them here. Also note that some of the other OT prophecies usually attributed to Jesus are quite forced and were not meant about him, in fact with the same logic, many apply better to Muhammad (eg. from brethren, leading nations, Paran).


Chapter 4: The results

Makes a sudden decision that the previously demonstrated facts mean that the Bible is all inspired from God! What's more, we are expected to conclude that these show that Jesus is God somehow. There is a big missing link in the logic here. Accuracy of isolated verses in the Bible does not imply that it is all accurate, and verses inspired from God do not refute additions/modifications by humans. These prophecies and scientific accounts were probably stories told by prophets, passed along, and some distorted, until they were included in the Bible, which is made up of many other stories and teaching that may or may not be true. There is nothing like the global checksum style features of the Quran and the scientifically and linguistically accurate "diction" apparent in almost every ayah (as well as fulfilled prophecies and scientific foreknowledge), which guarantees a global accurate inspiration from God, and preservation from error.


In the end, the author wants to force us to sign under either "I believe Jesus is God" or "I am pagan", which is not valid. I want to sign under "I believe in God, the One. And I believe in Jesus, the great man, prophet of God and Messiah." The author has not demonstrated any evidence against that.