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Summary: Accessible resource for arguments supporting Christianity
Review: The strength of this particular work of apologetics lies both in its accessibility to the layreader inexperienced with philosophy, and the potency of the arguments contained therein. Dr Geisler and Ron Brooks have outdone themselves in compiling this eminently readable resource for Christians who routinely encounter difficult questions attacking their faith, such as the problem of evil, religious pluralism, and the historicity of Christ's resurrection. The lucidity with which the cosmological argument is presented is especially impressive. The purpose of the cosmological argument is to shed light on the question of Why there is something rather than nothing. Since all limited, finite things are just that -- limited and finite -- it follows from the law of causality that they were caused by something independent of themselves. And since the law of causality dictates that whatever has a beginning must be caused by something independent of itself, Geisler and Brooks postulate that what orchestrated the transcendent cause of the universe was a timeless, necessary, uncaused supernatural being of inconceivable power. The current reigning cosmological model, the Big Bang theory, which posits that the beginning of the universe was ignited by an enormous explosion fifteen billion years ago, is perfectly consistent with this hypothesis. Geisler and Brooks point out to atheists who apply the law of causality to the Creator that they need remedial reading lessons. Theists have never claimed that "everything" needs a cause, just everything that has a beginning; and since a self-caused being is impossible, God is ergo an uncaused, necessary being. Atheists have also countered the cosmological argument by claiming that the universe is eternal (occasionally invoking the long-debunked Steady State Theory to make their case), and therefore doesn't require a first cause to account for its existence. But Geisler and Brooks explain this doesn't work for two reasons. Firstly, the second law of thermodynamics makes clear the fact that the universe is running out of usable energy; and since what is running down must have been wound up, the universe couldn't be eternal. Secondly, if time stretches infinitely into the past, then we never would have arrived at this moment today. For to reach this moment today, we would have had to pass through an infinite series, which is impossible. Most readers will find the book's treatment of the problem of evil sufficient enough to disarm non-believers who use it as evidence against the existence of an all-loving God in debate. Many Christians have been faced with this perfectly legitimate question before: how can belief in the existence of an all-loving God be reconciled with the amount of evil that goes on in the world on a daily basis? Moreover, if God is the creator of everything -- and evil surely qualifies as "something" -- then God is also responsible for evil. Geisler and Brooks respond by denying the supposed incompatibility between the existence of an all-loving God with the existence of evil by raising several points. Firstly, God created free will, enabling man with the option of chosing both good and evil. If God were to eliminate evil, free will would also have to be eliminated, itself an evil act. This is so simply because God gave human beings free will to realize their greatest good -- to love freely. Secondly, in decrying evil atheists are actually presupposing God's existence; for if God doesn't exist, then neither do objective moral values. But the fact that atheists recognize that things like genocide and rape are evil suggests they aren't mere social-conventions to the atheists. An excellent primer for Christians beleagured with questions attacking their faith.
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Summary: wow
Review: This book changed my life.. It has given me a much better understanding and clarification about the things I believe in. It's also written in layman's terms. *ANY* question you have about God is answered here! Enjoy.
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Summary: Very good overview of many topics
Review: This book is one of the books on the shelf that you can keep coming back to. I am a very advit reader on apologetics and I find this book to be well writen and thought out. This book could be a little hard in spots for the beginer. It's good all around and dose not get to boged down on one topic and where it out.
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Summary: Great Introduction
Review: This book serves as a great introduction to Christian Apologetics. It is comprehensive enough to cover all the major issues involved. For texts with more depth, I recommend "Christian Apologetics" by the same author, "Reasonable Faith" by William Craig, "Classical Apologetics" by R.C. Sproul, and "On Good and Evil" by Vincent Cheung.
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Summary: The most accessible and complete introduction to apologetics
Review: This is the most exhaustive introduction to apologetics. It is up-to-date, rich in sound arguments and yet accessible to those who are not so philosophically minded or who have not had the benefit of higher education. It reads very easily, it covers all issues, and even contains some discussions that are not easily found in apologetics books (see the excellent discussion on archeology). Any Christian who is not so intellectually minded should have this book! A weaker part in the book is the introduction to apologetics (chapter one). The authords present apologetics as "preevangelism", but I think that apologetics belong to the gospel (as shown in 1Co 15, the evangelistic discourses in Actes...). Another problem with the introduction is that it presents apologetics only in the context of evangelization, and does not mention another very important aspect: strengthening one's faith so as to be able to resist periods of doubts, building a shield of faith capable of stopping the darts of the enemy. Anyway the introduction makes of very good job of showing the necessity of apologetics for evangelization in a very few pages. Concerning the existence of God, the authors succeed in explaining the Kalam, design, moral and ontological arguments with simplicity and in dealing with many God-related issues. The authors do also a good work of simply introducing and refuting the other worldviews. Concerning the problem of evil they present a combination of free will, "best-way" and soul-deciding theodicies. They treat well the question of miracles. Instead of dealing with the historicity of the Bible, they very shortly explain why it should be considered a historical book, and then argue on this basis for the resurrection and deity of Christ, develop a christology and show Christ to be a better way than the other "great teachers". I wonder why the authors did not first argue for the historicity of the NT documents and the historicity of the resurrection (the argument based on the fact that women were the first witness is therefore not used here). They then classically argue for the inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible, deal with diverse problems and end with the reliability of the manuscripts. The other chapters (Bible difficulties, archeology, science, afterlife, truth, morals) seem perfectly treated to me, I have hardly anything to report. I wonder why the chapter concerning truth was not placed right at the beginning. I guess the authors estimated it to be difficult (too abstract) for the average reader, and therefore relegated it at the end. My overall impression is that Geisler and Brooks greatly succeeded in packing a lot of information in a modest volume (about 350 p.), in dealing with many delicate topics and aspects, and in making many difficult subjects understandable, enjoyable indeed. I highly recommend their book. But more is needed and I hope that the readers of this book will then read more of Geisler's books, as well as Moreland's and many more. so as to be intellectually responsibl
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