Extensive Reading Assignment.
Lecturer : Bp. Parlindungan Pardede.
Prepared by: Hendra (0812157005)

A Passage Report of “When Science Fails”
Many non-Christians belief that Bible is actually wrong; Bible and science are contradictory. Because what the Bible say cannot be proven or what the science say is against to what is stated in the Bible. Thus, this book which is written by John Hudson Tiner tries to prove that science itself does not have all the answers; science and Bible are actually different. Science is to support what the Bible states. Science and Bible are two different ways of looking at the world. The author tries to see the science through the Bible view and to see the Bible from the science point of view.
This book revealed that some scientists had the bad habit of thinking that science has all the answers. There were experiments or research or thoughts that were considered right at one time but later proven wrong in later time. Take one as an example, there was a case of Rudolf Virchow, who flatly refused to belief Pasteur’s germ theory as the cause of the disease. As time passed, other scientists agreed with Pasteur, but Virchow, who had worked in medical research all of his life, simply couldn’t accept the theory.
The author mentioned an astronomy professor, who had spent his life studying the solar system, was using a text book that described Mars as a planet with a rather uninteresting surface because of its low gravity and high winds. Blowing sand would have worn mountains down to foothills, and valleys would be filled by drifting sand. Not long after that, there was an unmanned Mariner Spacecraft to Mars radioed back high quality photographs of the Martian surface. Instead of level plains and shallow valleys, the planet turned to have towering volcano cones, deep meteor craters, spectacular canyons that appeared to be the work of dried up rivers, and vast mountain ranges.
How many scientific “facts have proven false? In science, everything seems to be an interesting field of investigation. A short survey revealed an astonishing number of such cases. Bible has been tested in this way for four thousand years. Is there a science book that will be completely accurate four thousand years from now?
Some or even many people think that science and Bible cannot agree with each other. Max Born, the German physicist who won the Noble Prize in 1954, said,” Those who say that the study of science makes a man atheist must be rather silly people.” One of the greatest scientists of all time, Isaac Newton, spent his younger years studying sciences. As he grew older, he turned to Bible. “It keeps me from the study of scripture,” he said. He regretted the demand science took upon his time.
The author stressed that science and Bible are two different ways looking at the world. One is mainly concerned with physical matters and the latter, with the spiritual matters. Christian should not be too quick to accept scientific “facts” when the “facts“ come in conflict with the Bible. One of the hidden facts between science and Bible is caused by the fact that Bible was written before the beginning of science. When Bible talks about science, the words are not scientific words. Instead, Bible uses common, everyday language.
As an example of this, a scientist would say that rain is caused by condensation of moisture from the water vapor in the atmosphere. Gravity causes the liquid drops in the atmosphere to fall to the earth. While Bible, on the other hand, describes rain in this way: “All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.” (Ecclesiastes 1:7).
Bible description is good science. That is exactly how it happens. No matter how the language is changed to put the statement into scientific terms, Bible account is one of the briefest, most concise, and accurate descriptions of the water cycle. No scientist could improve on it in as few words.
To make his explanation clear, the author uses many examples, whether from the science fact, or point of view; or from the Bible point of view. The use of the science fact or Bible is to support and to contrast every finding. The language used is quite simple, even though some scientific terms are used. The purpose of using the scientific terms is only to give examples and not to make the readers confused, thus, it makes reading interesting.
Besides its clear explanation, the author, also, provides factual data. The author tries to see science from the point of Bible view and to see the Bible from the science point o view, in order to make sure that Bible never contradicts with science. Furthermore, the step-by-step explanation brings the reader into a better understanding.
Finally, the main purpose of the author writing this book is, the author would like to open the readers mind, whether Christians or non-Christians that there is God who created the universe. It is God that hold the control of the universe. It is Jesus that created the universe, amen. GBU.