As the complexity of interpreting the passage increases the number of ways it might have been fulfilled (the numerator of each probability-term), increases with it. This numerator was usually presumed to be "1" in my Grandfather's book, but this is no longer a satisfactory assumption. As the numerators increase, their product also increases greatly. The job of answering every critic with a computer is, at best, a full time job.
Those of us who attempt to use century-old arguments to defend the Gospel, must understand that we have a hundred years worth of raised objections which must now be addressed. (See Here for some different strategies.) If you want to use these arguments, please be aware of difficulties involved, and be prepared to supply answers to the new objections which critics might supply.
- Don W. Stoner
Science Speaks, Scientific Proof of the Accuracy of Prophecy and the Bible
By Peter W. Stoner, M.S.
and Robert C. Newman, S.T.M., Ph.D.
Moody Press Chicago
Peter Stoner, June 16, 1888 - March 21, 1980
PETER W. STONER, M.S.
Chairman of the Departments of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena City
College until 1953; Chairman of the science division, Westmont College,
1953-57; Professor Emeritus of Science, Westmont College; Professor Emeritus of
Mathematics and Astronomy, Pasadena City College.
ROBERT C. NEWMAN, S.T.M., Ph.D.
Ph.D. in Astrophysics,
Cornell University, 1967; S.T.M., Biblical School of Theology, 1972; Associate
Professor of Physics and Mathematics, Shelton College, 19689-71; Associate
professor of New Testament, Biblical School of Theology, 1971-
Science Speaks, by Peter W. Stoner. Copyright � 1958, 1963, 1968 by the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. Manufactured in the United States of America. All rights reserved. Revised, 1976
On-line HTML revised edition 2002
Moody press, a ministry of the Moody Bible Institute, is designed for education, evangelization and edification. If we may assist you in knowing more about Christ and the Christian life, please write us without obligation to: Moody Press, c/o MLM, Chicago, Illinois 60610.
by Peter W. Stoner
In this revised edition of Science Speaks Professor Stoner examines the findings of science and the Genesis account of creation. He considers the day by day order of creation and shows the accuracy of Moses' record. The well-accepted principle of probability is applied to Bible prophecy. A fascinating discussion centers around Ezekiel's prophecy concerning Tyre, Micah's predictions about Samaria, and Jeremiah's utterances dealing with Moab, Ammon and Babylon. Attention is given to Old Testament prophecy which finds fulfillment in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.
The attack by critics of the Bible has often come in the name of science. Faith has been threatened because the Bible has been thought to be in serious error. Today, through the efforts of Christian scientists, items of conflict between science and the scriptures are being harmonized. The evidence continues to accumulate in favor of the Bible as the product of Divine intelligence. Science Speaks is an enlightening comparison of Biblical truth and the established scientific data.
by Peter W. Stoner
... Forward, by H. HAROLD HARTZLER, Ph.D.
... Preface
... Introduction
1. Changes in Science
... I. Scientific Accuracy
... II. Powers of God
... III. Scientific Problems Discussed
2. Prophetic Accuracy
... Tyre
... Samaria
... Gaza and Ashkelon
... Jerico
... The Golden Gate
... Zion Plowed
... Jerusalem Enlarged
... Palestine
... Moab and Ammon
... Edom
... Babylon
... Summary
3. The Christ of Prophecy
4. Conclusions
... Appendix 1: Preface to the 1944 Edition
... Appendix 2: Other Interpretations of Genesis
... Appendix 3: A Challenge to Critics of Chapter 3, By Don Stoner
... Appendix 4: A Challenge to Apologists (including myself in Apendix 3), By Don Stoner
American Scientific Affiliation
H. HAROLD HARTZLER, Ph.D.
Secretary-Treasurer
Goshen College, Ind.
ON MY DESK I have Young's General Astronomy (1898). Many changes have taken place in astronomy since this was the standard college text of our country. This book indicates that the heat from the sun comes from its cooling off. Science now believes that the heat of the sun comes from its changing some 4,200,000 tons of matter into energy each second. Young teaches that the solar system was formed according to the Nebular Hypothesis. That is, that our solar system started as a flat disc-shaped body of gas, that it shrank and speeded up as it cooled off, leaving small parts of itself behind to form the planets, and that the main central part became the sun. This theory today is discredited.1 Young believed the dark spots in the sky to be holes through which we looked into empty outer space. We now know most of these to be dark nebulas. Young tells us that all spiral nebulas are gaseous bodies in our own galaxy. We now know them to be galaxies, great aggregates of stars for out in space from our own galaxy. Young knows of nothing beyond our galaxy but outer empty space. We know now that there are billions and perhaps trillions of other galaxies. In fact Young's book is of relatively little value when it treats of things far from our own solar system.
Texts of astronomy two hundred years old are very entertaining, but in the light of present-day knowledge nearly everything is in error.
Genesis 1 is not just one or two hundred years old; it is several thousand years old. If it were written by man, representing the scientific ideas of that time, we should expect to find most of its definite statements in error. If we find them all verified by the best of our science today, we shall be certain that Genesis does not present the beliefs and culture of the day in which it was written.
Genesis 1 has for generations been the ground for criticism of the Bible and of attacks on its authenticity. Let us carefully examine its statements, for it is in this chapter that God makes His main claims to His acts of creation. It will be necessary to read carefully and to analyze the account just as it is given---neither reading into the account things that are not there, nor omitting things which are definitely stated.
There are thirteen acts very definitely named in this chapter. God claims in some places to have "created," in other places to have "made," and in still other places He uses the word "let." God also claims to have done these things in a very definite order. We shall be very much concerned with this order, for this account was written long before scientific information was available to guide the writer of Genesis.
There is often disagreement regarding the date of writing Genesis 1. I shall not enter into a discussion of this subject, for while I have very definite ideas on it, the subject can in no way affect the present consideration. None of the scientific evidences which I shall use was established by science even within one thousand years of the latest date ever proposed for the writing of Genesis, and much of the scientific information was not even known as recently as the early 1900s. It is evident, therefore, that if this material in Genesis agrees with modern science, the agreement did not come from scientific knowledge when the Bible was written. Reference to the teachings of Egypt, Babylon, and other ancient civilizations regarding their theories of creation is found here.