Posted on 08/01/2006 12:42:58 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback
In the first chapter of their new book, 20 Compelling Evidences that God exists, Ken Boa and Robert Bowman write, “We don’t mean to discourage you from reading the rest of this book. But in the interest of full disclosure, we should tell you that, in a sense, there is only one good reason to believe that God exists: because it’s true.”
That statement is both profound and well expressed. Unfortunately, these days it’s not the kind of statement you can make in public without having scorn heaped upon your head. As the authors jokingly point out, the popular viewpoint regarding truth is, “Anyone who believes that he is right and others are wrong is intolerant.” Now that’s self-contradictory on its face, but it’s almost certain to be thrown at you if you assert a truth claim.
That’s why Boa and Bowman have titled their book 20 Compelling Evidences that God Exists—because they recognize that for any claim to truth to be taken seriously in today’s culture, it needs solid evidence to back it up. As the authors write, “There are many such evidences, but they all have value because they help us see that the God of the Bible is real.” In fewer than two hundred pages, they clearly and concisely examine some of today’s most pervasive worldviews and their flaws. Then they present their case for God’s existence and His revelation of Himself through Jesus Christ.
What kind of evidences are they talking about? There’s an amazing variety. They don’t state it right upfront, but they are organizing their “20 compelling evidences” in a way that takes readers through the doctrines of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration—the four basic elements of the Christian worldview that I set forth in How Now Shall We Live?
They start with evidence about the universe and the origins of life. And they talk, for example, about how finely our solar system and our planet had to be calibrated to support life. At “an extremely conservative estimate,” they say, the probability of our planet being capable of sustaining us is about one in a billion. It had to be at just the right place in the solar system, which had to be at just the right place in the galaxy. Even the expansion of the universe had to happen at just the right rate in order for all of us to be here today.
From evidence about the universe, the authors move on to evidence of humanity’s sinful nature; then evidence of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection; and finally, evidence of those who have lived and died for Christ. Examining concepts ranging from Greek philosophy to archeology to the Big Bang theory to postmodernism, the authors make a powerful case for the existence of a loving Creator.
In short, I highly recommend Boa and Bowman’s book. They provide in a very readable form an excellent apologetic resource for Christians wondering how to defend their faith in a world that’s “tolerant” of everything except Christianity.
Ken Boa is a great apologist—one of the most engaging and popular teachers in our Centurion’s training program. You can visit our website, BreakPoint.org, to find out how you can get 20 Compelling Evidences that God Exists. While you’re there, be sure to check out some of our other Christian worldview resources.
I've been in several accidents in my life. Based on previous performance my last words on this earth will be. "Oh Shit... " In one case where I knew what was going to happen for about two seconds I said, "This is gonna hurt."
No surprise there.
Feels like a spear.
Those hard-sell religions have never held anything for me.
You would post that and call MM's father egotistical? LOL.
Whatever he can get away with.
Anyone who prides them self on taking positions based purely on logic should be able to lay out the logic of their position on this very basic question about our form of government. Where are our rights derived?
Laws of men are only capable of taking rights. They are unable to give them.
Atheism is not a neutral position. Even someone who believes in a pixie creator will have a logical basis for their rights within our form of government. An atheist must rely on the good will of his fellow citizens. Trust me. Most of us not that nice.
Any of the other atheists around here wanna take on this challenge, I'll be around later.
Pretty much, yes.
But in practice, many Buddhists have deified him.
See post 66 for an example. I don't think atheists have the corner on thinking they "know" what the truth is. There are lots of dogmatic atheists out there. And lots of dogmatic theists too.
Well, if you don't allow for the idea that our rights come from other men, then it's clear that nobody will be able to refute your argument.
At the risk of stirring up a hornet's nest, Natural Law, which is basically what we're talking about, has it's routes in Greek philosopy, and more closely, the Roman flavour of Stoicism that followed it. Jewish theologians (such as Philo of Alexandria) were heavily influenced by this tradition, and judging by the style of the New Testament, Paul was also. This goes to show that despite the fact that Stoics were theists, their concept of natural law was independent of a need to believe in God (Seneca himself states this). The early church fathers largely lifted this philosophy in its entirety, and simply change the 'objective' from the happiness/contentment of the Stoics to the salvation objective of Christians.
To put it simply, the moral traditions of Christianity (and non-Orthodox Jewry) is largely based on pagan philosophy.
Is there a reason I should???
Im sorry for that. I wish I knew what you meant by hard-sell?
If you don't care about insulting others, then no, there's no reason you should care at all. I would point out, however, that if you are interested in holding a conversation as opposed to trying to score metaphysical points against someone, that your method is counter-productive.
Atheism still sucks.
'Routes'? I mean 'roots' of course...
You are on your own.
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