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A Scientific Approach to Christianity
what does science say about it
- GenresChristian
196 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
2 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
Robert W. Faid
9 books1 followerAmerican author, numerologist and former nuclear engineer.
Faid was an agnostic in his early life and converted to Christianity after recovery from cancer.
One of his theological theories is that Mikhail Gorbachev is the anti-christ.
Faid holds 2 patents relating to the construction of nuclear plants.
Faid was an agnostic in his early life and converted to Christianity after recovery from cancer.
One of his theological theories is that Mikhail Gorbachev is the anti-christ.
Faid holds 2 patents relating to the construction of nuclear plants.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 15, 2021
I thought this is a substantive book that's worth reading, but think the title would be more accurate as "An Archaeological/Historical Approach to Christianity" although there were allusions to probabilities, evolution and other scientific concepts. Nonetheless, here is an excerpt that I thought was interesting/striking:
"Clearly, if evolution were indeed a fact, then the fossil records should shout it to the world. But the truth is that they do not. Fossils give no substance at all to the theory of evolution.
...
Charles Darwin himself had grave misgivings about his own theory. In Chapter 10 of The Origin of Species, he writes, "Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graded organic chain, and is perhaps the most obvious and gravest objection which can be urged against my theory."
- pg. 118
"Clearly, if evolution were indeed a fact, then the fossil records should shout it to the world. But the truth is that they do not. Fossils give no substance at all to the theory of evolution.
...
Charles Darwin himself had grave misgivings about his own theory. In Chapter 10 of The Origin of Species, he writes, "Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graded organic chain, and is perhaps the most obvious and gravest objection which can be urged against my theory."
- pg. 118
May 31, 2024
A SURVEY OF EVIDENCES FOR CHRISTIANITY BY A NUCLEAR SCIENTIST
Nuclear engineer Robert W. Faid wrote in the Preface of this 1982 book, “A scientist must base his conclusions on the best available evidence, as must every intelligent person, and not be too proud to change his position in the face of conclusive evidence to the contrary. It is my sincere hope the readers of this book examine evidence it presents with an open mind. For many, it will only substantiate a previously reached conclusion. But for some it will mean a decision must be made which drastically affects their lives, here and now and for eternity.” [NOTE: page numbers below refer to the 196-page paperback edition.]
He explains in the first chapter, “I was… a pure, died-in-the-wool agnostic. As a scientist, I observed a universe which adhered rigidly to a set of physical laws… It worked too well to be pure chance, I admitted… If some people wanted to call that First Cause ‘God,’ that was fine with me. But just don’t give me any of that Bible stuff. Man was on his own and was doing a pretty good job of it…. Then something happened which placed me face to face with God and that ‘Jesus person.’ I had cancer… I was going to die…I did not know at the time that my Christian wife and her brother were praying for me… the doctor had told my wife that only a miracle could save me… During that time, a change came over me… I had a certain unexplainable peace about the whole thing. Something… told me I was going to be all right. About a week later the doctor came into my room… ‘It’s gone… I can’t find a trace of cancer in you.’ … I dismissed my cure as a chance remission… I decided to face the issue once and for all… I approached the subject of Christianity exactly as I would have approached any scientific question… The crux of the matter was this Jesus person. If He was really the Son of God, then He should be able to hold up under an objective scientific examination…”
Of historical evidence for Jesus, he states, “Some of the most meaningful evidence comes from what a lawyer would term ‘hostile witnesses.’ These sources are not sympathetic to Jesus and any evidence given by them carries extra weight. Jews are not sympathetic witnesses to Jesus. They do, however, admit that a man named Jesus lived during the time claimed by the New Testament writers… Moslems also claim that a man named Jesus lived… These two hostile witnesses lend heavy evidence to the existence of the historical Jesus. But there is yet another, even more convincing witness… Jesus left the church which bears His name… The very fact that we reckon time according to B.C. and A.D. divisions testifies that a man named Jesus lived.” (Pg. 9)
He comments on Daniel 9:25, “God throws curves to confuse His enemies. When Cyrus defeated the Babylonians, he allowed the Hebrews to return home and to rebuild their temple. This was in the year of 538 B.C. This order was not, however, an order to rebuild the city… It was not until Darius, in about 450 B.C., sent Nehemiah back to Judah with permission to rebuild the walls… that God’s countdown began. If we subtract 450 from the 483 years [of Dan 9:25], we get 33, and allowing for the date of 450 B.C. being only approximate, we arrive at the date of about 30-33 A.D. which was the culmination of the earthly ministry of Jesus.” (Pg. 23-24)
After recounting Jesus’ resurrection appearances, he observes, “the disciples… were changed men… They scattered to far places of the world… They faced hardship, they lived in near poverty, and all but John died violent deaths. But they all gave their lives gladly, praising God and praying for those who were at that very moment killing them… the entire crux of Christianity depends upon the events in these last few paragraphs… If a person does not believe these last few paragraphs, he cannot call himself a Christian. Do I expect you to believe them? Yes, I do…” (Pg. 62-63)
He argues, “If Jesus had been a fraud, if His resurrection had been a staged plot, would not any such man who would perpetuate such a hoax then show himself to the multitudes? Would not such a man then capitalize on the trick? … Would not such a man allow himself to be proclaimed king? Jesus could have done all of these things. But He did not! If Jesus was a hoax, where was the gain in it for himself?... There is but one answer which we must allow for all of this evidence. Jesus was what He said He was.” (Pg. 68)
More controversially, he then strongly endorses the 1977 book ‘Theomatics’ by Jerry Lucas (former NBA player) and Del Washburn: “what… Del Washburn has discovered is a mathematical system which ties every verse in the Bible together with what he calls, ‘God’s best kept secret.’ … I heartily encourage everyone who finds this new discovery interesting to buy a copy of ‘Theomatics’…” (Pg. 69-70)
He goes verse-by-verse through Genesis 1, and notes, “We know now that in the Hebrew writings of that period, the word ‘day’ could mean a long and indefinite period of time, when used in the context of the book of Genesis. How long did it take for the earth to cool down or for the gases of the sun to build up the pressures necessary for the fusion reaction to begin?... There is no actual argument between what the Bible says and the facts collected by scientists. It is only between theologians and scientists that a disagreement exists.” (Pg. 88-89)
He observes of verse 19, “At first reading, it seems that there is a duplication of events on different ‘days,’ such as God seemingly making the sun again on the fourth day when He had already created the sun on the first day… Just as it is now clear to us that the word ‘day’ is used to mean a long or indefinite period of time, when the text is translated to say ‘God created,’ the meaning intended in the context in which it was written should read, ‘God BEGAN to create.’” (Pg. 91)
He says of the Big Bang, “This sounds good until the second law of thermodynamics is applied to it. This law just won’t let that happen… There are other flaws in the Big Bang theory… If the universe had begun with the ‘big bang,’ elements would have been uniformly distributed throughout the universe… the makeup of our earth is quite unique… The Big Bang Theory raises as many questions as it solves.” (Pg. 96)
Of Evolution, he points out, “What good would a partially developed trunk be to an elephant? Without the versatility of his present-day trunk, the animal could not survive. But the theory of evolution tells us that it had to take millions of years for the trunk of an elephant to fully develop into what it is today. Just what good would a partially developed fin or an embryonic gill be to a fish? What happened to the hypothetical missing link when he possessed a half fin-half wing appendage? He would not have been able either to swim or fly… There is about as much evolutionary evidence that fish evolved into birds as there is for the horse evolving into a Model-T Ford.” (Pg. 112-113)
He asks, “How did God create men? The Bible does not say. All it says is that God created man our of ‘the dust of the earth.’” (Pg. 124) He adds, “Do we not have every right to believe that the seventh day was every bit as long as the other six days of which the Bible speaks? How long was it? The Bible does not say and we do not know, but he have to also believe that just as the other creatures which God had made on earth were multiplying during this seventh day, man was doing the same… The Bible is quite clear about there being many people on the earth at the time of the parable concerning Adam and Eve and their fall from obedience to God’s will.” (Pg. 124-126)
He states, “Jesus said, ‘No man comes to the Father BUT BY ME.’ If a person does not believe in Jesus as the Son of God, then they are on a train heading in the wrong direction… If the Hindu or the Moslem, or the Buddhist does not believe in Jesus Christ, he has already condemned himself to an eternity in Hell…” (Pg. 165-166)
He asserts, “But do these [biblical] miracles still happen today?... Since… my own miracle, God has allowed me to witness a substantial number of miracles… Can miracles happen today?... Now I know that they not only can, they DO… They happened right before my very eyes!” (Pg. 181-182) He concludes, “Now we must come to the point of decision. If Jesus was a hoax, a liar, a fraud, then the decision you must now make is meaningless. But, if He is real, and you have seen an overwhelming amount of evidence that He is, then you could be playing Russian roulette with your life and the lives of your children.” (Pg. 194)
This book will be of keen interest to many students of apologetics (although some of his opinions may be rejected by some Christians).
Nuclear engineer Robert W. Faid wrote in the Preface of this 1982 book, “A scientist must base his conclusions on the best available evidence, as must every intelligent person, and not be too proud to change his position in the face of conclusive evidence to the contrary. It is my sincere hope the readers of this book examine evidence it presents with an open mind. For many, it will only substantiate a previously reached conclusion. But for some it will mean a decision must be made which drastically affects their lives, here and now and for eternity.” [NOTE: page numbers below refer to the 196-page paperback edition.]
He explains in the first chapter, “I was… a pure, died-in-the-wool agnostic. As a scientist, I observed a universe which adhered rigidly to a set of physical laws… It worked too well to be pure chance, I admitted… If some people wanted to call that First Cause ‘God,’ that was fine with me. But just don’t give me any of that Bible stuff. Man was on his own and was doing a pretty good job of it…. Then something happened which placed me face to face with God and that ‘Jesus person.’ I had cancer… I was going to die…I did not know at the time that my Christian wife and her brother were praying for me… the doctor had told my wife that only a miracle could save me… During that time, a change came over me… I had a certain unexplainable peace about the whole thing. Something… told me I was going to be all right. About a week later the doctor came into my room… ‘It’s gone… I can’t find a trace of cancer in you.’ … I dismissed my cure as a chance remission… I decided to face the issue once and for all… I approached the subject of Christianity exactly as I would have approached any scientific question… The crux of the matter was this Jesus person. If He was really the Son of God, then He should be able to hold up under an objective scientific examination…”
Of historical evidence for Jesus, he states, “Some of the most meaningful evidence comes from what a lawyer would term ‘hostile witnesses.’ These sources are not sympathetic to Jesus and any evidence given by them carries extra weight. Jews are not sympathetic witnesses to Jesus. They do, however, admit that a man named Jesus lived during the time claimed by the New Testament writers… Moslems also claim that a man named Jesus lived… These two hostile witnesses lend heavy evidence to the existence of the historical Jesus. But there is yet another, even more convincing witness… Jesus left the church which bears His name… The very fact that we reckon time according to B.C. and A.D. divisions testifies that a man named Jesus lived.” (Pg. 9)
He comments on Daniel 9:25, “God throws curves to confuse His enemies. When Cyrus defeated the Babylonians, he allowed the Hebrews to return home and to rebuild their temple. This was in the year of 538 B.C. This order was not, however, an order to rebuild the city… It was not until Darius, in about 450 B.C., sent Nehemiah back to Judah with permission to rebuild the walls… that God’s countdown began. If we subtract 450 from the 483 years [of Dan 9:25], we get 33, and allowing for the date of 450 B.C. being only approximate, we arrive at the date of about 30-33 A.D. which was the culmination of the earthly ministry of Jesus.” (Pg. 23-24)
After recounting Jesus’ resurrection appearances, he observes, “the disciples… were changed men… They scattered to far places of the world… They faced hardship, they lived in near poverty, and all but John died violent deaths. But they all gave their lives gladly, praising God and praying for those who were at that very moment killing them… the entire crux of Christianity depends upon the events in these last few paragraphs… If a person does not believe these last few paragraphs, he cannot call himself a Christian. Do I expect you to believe them? Yes, I do…” (Pg. 62-63)
He argues, “If Jesus had been a fraud, if His resurrection had been a staged plot, would not any such man who would perpetuate such a hoax then show himself to the multitudes? Would not such a man then capitalize on the trick? … Would not such a man allow himself to be proclaimed king? Jesus could have done all of these things. But He did not! If Jesus was a hoax, where was the gain in it for himself?... There is but one answer which we must allow for all of this evidence. Jesus was what He said He was.” (Pg. 68)
More controversially, he then strongly endorses the 1977 book ‘Theomatics’ by Jerry Lucas (former NBA player) and Del Washburn: “what… Del Washburn has discovered is a mathematical system which ties every verse in the Bible together with what he calls, ‘God’s best kept secret.’ … I heartily encourage everyone who finds this new discovery interesting to buy a copy of ‘Theomatics’…” (Pg. 69-70)
He goes verse-by-verse through Genesis 1, and notes, “We know now that in the Hebrew writings of that period, the word ‘day’ could mean a long and indefinite period of time, when used in the context of the book of Genesis. How long did it take for the earth to cool down or for the gases of the sun to build up the pressures necessary for the fusion reaction to begin?... There is no actual argument between what the Bible says and the facts collected by scientists. It is only between theologians and scientists that a disagreement exists.” (Pg. 88-89)
He observes of verse 19, “At first reading, it seems that there is a duplication of events on different ‘days,’ such as God seemingly making the sun again on the fourth day when He had already created the sun on the first day… Just as it is now clear to us that the word ‘day’ is used to mean a long or indefinite period of time, when the text is translated to say ‘God created,’ the meaning intended in the context in which it was written should read, ‘God BEGAN to create.’” (Pg. 91)
He says of the Big Bang, “This sounds good until the second law of thermodynamics is applied to it. This law just won’t let that happen… There are other flaws in the Big Bang theory… If the universe had begun with the ‘big bang,’ elements would have been uniformly distributed throughout the universe… the makeup of our earth is quite unique… The Big Bang Theory raises as many questions as it solves.” (Pg. 96)
Of Evolution, he points out, “What good would a partially developed trunk be to an elephant? Without the versatility of his present-day trunk, the animal could not survive. But the theory of evolution tells us that it had to take millions of years for the trunk of an elephant to fully develop into what it is today. Just what good would a partially developed fin or an embryonic gill be to a fish? What happened to the hypothetical missing link when he possessed a half fin-half wing appendage? He would not have been able either to swim or fly… There is about as much evolutionary evidence that fish evolved into birds as there is for the horse evolving into a Model-T Ford.” (Pg. 112-113)
He asks, “How did God create men? The Bible does not say. All it says is that God created man our of ‘the dust of the earth.’” (Pg. 124) He adds, “Do we not have every right to believe that the seventh day was every bit as long as the other six days of which the Bible speaks? How long was it? The Bible does not say and we do not know, but he have to also believe that just as the other creatures which God had made on earth were multiplying during this seventh day, man was doing the same… The Bible is quite clear about there being many people on the earth at the time of the parable concerning Adam and Eve and their fall from obedience to God’s will.” (Pg. 124-126)
He states, “Jesus said, ‘No man comes to the Father BUT BY ME.’ If a person does not believe in Jesus as the Son of God, then they are on a train heading in the wrong direction… If the Hindu or the Moslem, or the Buddhist does not believe in Jesus Christ, he has already condemned himself to an eternity in Hell…” (Pg. 165-166)
He asserts, “But do these [biblical] miracles still happen today?... Since… my own miracle, God has allowed me to witness a substantial number of miracles… Can miracles happen today?... Now I know that they not only can, they DO… They happened right before my very eyes!” (Pg. 181-182) He concludes, “Now we must come to the point of decision. If Jesus was a hoax, a liar, a fraud, then the decision you must now make is meaningless. But, if He is real, and you have seen an overwhelming amount of evidence that He is, then you could be playing Russian roulette with your life and the lives of your children.” (Pg. 194)
This book will be of keen interest to many students of apologetics (although some of his opinions may be rejected by some Christians).
April 8, 2014
This book is deeply flawed. Faid steeps himself in mathematical calculations while completely ignoring simple logic. For example, after tracing how Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies in the old testament about the messiah to come, he calculates the probability that any person would be able to fulfill all those prophecies were he not the messiah predicted. He then attempts to address a straw man argument of a possible conspiracy to change the old testament by inserting the prophecies into the earlier texts to match them to the events of the life of Jesus, not surprisingly concluding that such a conspiracy is completely impossible. He does not, however, entertain or defend against a more likely hypothesis that the events of Jesus' life, reported by others who clearly have a motivation to match these events to prophecy, were invented to serve just that purpose--a glaring hole in logic. Another: Faid documents several events from Biblical accounts of Jesus' early life to known events, e.g., Herod's reign, Pontius Pilate's tenure, the census that took Joseph and Mary back to Bethlehem, but completely ignores one of the most important events, Herod's massacre of the innocents. He uses writings of the contemporary Jewish historian, Josephus, to "prove" many of these events, but completely leaves unaddressed why Josephus would document nothing of this horrendous event, even though it had to be a part of Jesus' history if he were to meet the prophetic requirements of the messiah. There are many such failures of hypothesis testing throughout the book.
One can only assume that while Faid knows a good deal about engineering and math, he has very little understanding of science and hypothesis testing as well as the nature of proof and disproof, something that the unsophisticated reader likely shares with him. The two are not the same. In fact, this book does not constitute "a scientific approach to Christianity," but rather an attempt at a Christian challenge to science, and a rather silly and untutored attempt at that. This attempt would not really matter were it not that low information readers might take this work to have some sort of validity. It does not.
One can only assume that while Faid knows a good deal about engineering and math, he has very little understanding of science and hypothesis testing as well as the nature of proof and disproof, something that the unsophisticated reader likely shares with him. The two are not the same. In fact, this book does not constitute "a scientific approach to Christianity," but rather an attempt at a Christian challenge to science, and a rather silly and untutored attempt at that. This attempt would not really matter were it not that low information readers might take this work to have some sort of validity. It does not.
November 28, 2012
I really, really wanted to like this book. Robert W. Faid and I share the engineering background and desire to "prove" through reason and science that what God says is true. We share the same faith in the Savior and see that for some, the science culture of our day repudiates faith and demands proof (even if that is applied as something of a double standard). It is the author's desire and mine that people "come to a knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim 2:4). Unfortunately, this book missed the mark for me, I hope it works for others.
To begin with, it is outdated. This is not the authors fault. It is I who chose to read a book written 30 years ago, so I am not penalizing the book for that. The writing is very "engineer" like, stark and matter of fact, with a big focus on numbers. Not a pleasant read, even for another engineer. Mr. Faid obviously did his homework and some of his arguments are well crafted. Unfortunately, about Chapter 8 he latches on to Theomatics and won't let go. OK, maybe one chapter to introduce and lay out the concept of Theomatics, but this number theology creeps into several of the following chapters. If your reader didn't buy into it in Chapter 8, which I didn't, then using the same as proof in later chapters wins you nothing. It left me flat.
Mr. Faid had a purpose for writing this book and with God's help, I am sure it could reach some people for Christ. I just know that had I been an unbeliever, I would have been intrigued by the evolution discussion, but the numerology would have lost all credibility with me. There are far superior apologetic books out there.
To begin with, it is outdated. This is not the authors fault. It is I who chose to read a book written 30 years ago, so I am not penalizing the book for that. The writing is very "engineer" like, stark and matter of fact, with a big focus on numbers. Not a pleasant read, even for another engineer. Mr. Faid obviously did his homework and some of his arguments are well crafted. Unfortunately, about Chapter 8 he latches on to Theomatics and won't let go. OK, maybe one chapter to introduce and lay out the concept of Theomatics, but this number theology creeps into several of the following chapters. If your reader didn't buy into it in Chapter 8, which I didn't, then using the same as proof in later chapters wins you nothing. It left me flat.
Mr. Faid had a purpose for writing this book and with God's help, I am sure it could reach some people for Christ. I just know that had I been an unbeliever, I would have been intrigued by the evolution discussion, but the numerology would have lost all credibility with me. There are far superior apologetic books out there.
July 29, 2012
He presents fascinating information that I could not ignore, read years ago and I still marvel at the mathematical beauty of scripture. I do not recall being impressed at the quality of writing, but then that's not why he wrote the book.
March 7, 2007
Horrible book, outdated, poor writing.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews