Rating: Summary: Didn't go far enough! Review: I like Lee Stroebel's writing and this topic was a breath of fresh air...to a point. The people he interviews are excellent, however, to attack Evolution, one must attack the entire beast, not just one or two of its arms. The book is heavy into refuting biological Evolution and mentioning geological Evolution but ignoring the clear evidence that refutes cosmological evolution (i.e. Big Bang) is sad. It appears that the writer, like many of those he interviewed believe the cosmological lie! I would like to see Lee do another book and investigate the evidence for a Young earth and Young Universe and all of the scientific evidence that supports both!
Rating: Summary: The Book I've Been Looking For Review: I read only books that pertain to my Christian faith. I like to get to the facts by looking at all views and decerning the truth by comparing to scripture where possible. I've only offered a couple of book recomendations to readers, and this is one of those. Good for Christians in defending Creationism, and a great gift for science minded atheists, if this book doesn't change their view, I don't believe they will find it in books.
Rating: Summary: Were we created by a God or are we a mutated worm? Review: I think readers of this book should first study the title carefully. This is a journalist's approach to a serious question. The journalist is somewhat flippant with personal comments to evoke emotion. The facts, both scientific and religious are this. No one today can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that any God or Gods exist but many have strong thoughts, ideas, and opinions about it. No scientist can prove beyond a shadow of doubt we accidentally evolved from a soup mixture of gasses and other elements. Science has many "facts" leading us to believe this is true, notice I said, "believe" since no scientist yet has put together a soup that produced a living animal, although many have tried. There are scientific "facts" that would lead one to rationally believe today's humans evolved from more primitive man and earlier even animals, however there are gaps in the timeline. Science is a slow developmental process. We must let time lead us to better answers. In the end it may be science that proves there is a God or Gods that created this highly organized large universe with a tiny dash of fragile humanity, or not. Now my fellow flatlanders, consider this - what if God and science are the same thing?
Rating: Summary: Engaging Entry Level Apologetics Review: I'm not a Christian but I like to read Christian Apologetics. If you are a Christian and are interested in how various Christian intellectuals argue for the faith, Strobel's books are probably the place to start. He gives good overview type coverage of the problems facing contemporary Christian apologetics without skimping on too many of the details and his dialogue format and dynamic writing style should make for engaging reading. After reading this book you should be able to tackle some of the works of the interviewees themselves. Personally, I still wish that Strobel would interview some non-Christians just for the sake of perspective, but i realize that that is not the function of this work. Also, though William Lane Craig is "seasoned philosopher" he is not a cosmologist, it might have been better if Strobel would have interviewed Hugh Ross for the chapter titled "Cosmology", just for the sake of convention. I will forgo other comments, needless to say I do not follow the authors to their conclusion that the evidence points conclusively (or even at all) toward a creator. For those of you who want to ease their way into Christian apologetics, this is the book for you. For refutations (i.e. other perspectives) check the secular web (infidels.org) or the plethora of books by popular authors like Stephen Jay Gould, Daniel Dennett, Carl Sagan, Richard Dawkins, Steven Pinker, Douglas Hofsteadter and others. Enjoy!
Rating: Summary: Just What The Doctor Ordered!!! Review: In The Case for a Creator, by Lee Strobel we have one of the most important Books of our time. This is just what the doctor ordered, as we enter a time of testing and choosing, in the world today. Strobel a former atheist (I don't believe in atheist's), who came to belief in God by his study of science and on studying the resurrection of Christ, takes us all on a remarkable investigation into the newest scientific information on how the universe began (remember for hundreds of years science taught that the universe was eternal-study state theory). Strobel interviews the world's top scientific experts and follows the evidence, the facts, to wherever they may lead. Strobel presents all that evidence to us in a way all us layman and laywomen can understand. Strobel's facts and evidence leads us to the confident conclusion that we can make the case for a Creator with scientific facts. I would encourage everyone to read this book. To the skeptics you may find what your looking for; To the Christian you will find a blessing.
Rating: Summary: Review: Interesting questions raised; but ultimately unsatisfying. The final conclusion is: "well, it doesn't make sense, so it musta been God!!!"
Rating: Summary: Great read and summary for scientific evidence for Creator Review: Is the case for evolution clearly a shut case? Are all the basic aspects of evolutionary theory known to be correct? Can the entire universe be explained simply in terms of matter and energy? Do science and religion conflict? Do people who believe in a Creator suffer from an inability to rationally comprehend the brute facts of the world around them? If you've ever pondered these questions, then this book is for you. If you are looking for a summary book with highlights of intelligent design, along with several key evidential problems with evolutionary theory, this is it. In a wonderfully engaging style, Lee Strobel takes you through his investigation for the scientific evidence for a Creator. But do not feel like you need to be scientifically sophisticated to follow the extremely informative interviews with leading academics - the down-to-earth and always practical approach exemplified in Strobel's first two books (The Case for Christ and The Case for Faith) is refined further in this work. Tough, contemporary questions, the hallmark of Strobel's investigative approach, are ever present and address conundrums from eminent skeptics. The framework for this book follows a logical and well-thought-out progression. Strobel poses the questions hard skeptics ask on such broad topics as: evolution, faith and science, the Big Bang, fine-tuning of the universe, Earth's privileged place in the cosmos, biochemical complexity, the origin of life, DNA and, finally, the mind. He interviews many of the top minds in each of these topics, including many prominent ID personalities, such as Michael Behe, Jonathan Wells, Stephen Meyer, Jay Richards, Guillermo Gonzalez, and J. P. Moreland. The material in his interviews often covers very recent work, such as Richards' and Gonzalez's Privileged Planet, which came out approximately the same time as The Case for a Creator. Strobel gets at the heart of the scientific issues for the various topics, even such esoteric concepts as superstring theory and Stephen Hawking's supposedly "non-singularity" universe. Though reading those words may cause your eyes to cross, the book provides easy to follow examples, analogies, and explanations to drive home the basic ideas. For example, when considering Hawking's "non-singularity" universe (that is, a universe without a beginning) interviewee William Lane Craig, Ph.D., shows how Hawking attempts to deny a beginning point for the universe. However, to do so, Hawking has to employ an imaginary number (i.e. the square root of negative one), which appears to mathematically address the issue, but cannot be valid for the real world - in reality, the beginning has just been masked behind a mathematical model. Craig exposes Hawking's mathematical slight of hand for what it is. Reflections, anecdotes and big picture summaries are interspersed throughout the book along with the engaging interviews. One noteworthy story is from Strobel's own life, where he recalls his early days as a reporter at the Chicago Tribune. He was a self-proclaimed atheist at the time and was assigned to cover a local dispute over the teaching of evolution in West Virginia. Various Christians opposed the teaching of evolution, and at the time, Strobel wondered, "Why couldn't these people get their heads out of the sand and admit the obvious: science had put their God out of a job!" 30 years later, Strobel gives a compelling account of how the scientific evidence does not support the naturalist worldview, and points out that ironically, "My road to atheism was paved by science ... but, ironically, so was my later journey to God." Similar to Strobel's past works, this book is very well referenced and provides great information for further reading after each chapter. In fact, there's even a website specifically aimed at helping people to learn more about and promote intelligent design: www.caseforacreator.com. The website includes highlights from the book and an entertaining audio program online, complete with sound effects to help visualize Strobel's personal recollections of events past.
Rating: Summary: For the scientifically illiterate and naïve Review: It is difficult to understand how a professional journalist could write such one sided nonsense. Lee Strobel does not once interview anyone with an opposing view. If Strobel was to write an article on the war in Iraq, I am sure he would only interview Saddam and his generals. For the lack of journalistic balance alone, one is tempted to dismiss the entire book. However judging from the number of positive reviews I am compelled to set the record straight First; science cannot prove or disprove the existence of god. Therefore to use alleged scientific errors to prove that god exists is a form of circular reasoning. Science simple tries to make predictions about certain natural events based on evidence. Since god is not a natural event nor is there any evidence for god one cannot use science to argue for or against god. There may be fairies at the bottom of the garden. There is no evidence for it, but you can't prove that there aren't any, so shouldn't we be agnostic with respect to fairies. Certainly scientists have expressed awe when confronted with some of natures most mysterious challenges. If a physicist says God is another name for Planck's constant, or God is a superstring, we should take it as a picturesque metaphorical way of saying that the nature of superstrings or the value of Planck's constant is a profound mystery. It has obviously not the smallest connection with a being capable of forgiving sins, a being who might listen to prayers, who cares about whether or not the Sabbath begins at 5pm or 6pm, whether you wear a veil or have a bit of arm showing; and no connection whatever with a being capable of imposing a death penalty on His son to expiate the sins of the world before and after he was born. Strobel's interview with Craig on Hawkings model of the universe illustrates the sloppy thinking and ignorance that pervade this book. Craig insinuates that since Hawkings used imaginary numbers he is resorting to deception to make his model work. Imaginary numbers for all of you that failed grade 11 math are multiples of the square root of negative numbers. They were called imaginary numbers because when they were first discovered no one understood what they meant, so people thought that they were just imaginary. Today imaginary numbers are used every day by electrical engineers to determine a capacitor's charge. He then claims that since Hawkings admits that his work is nothing more than a mathematical model of the universe and that "he was not able to successfully write god out of the picture." Here again we see the flaw. Hawking is attempting to make a description of the universe based on scientific reasoning, which has nothing to say about the existence of god. To state that Hawking's work is incomplete because it does not prove what it did not set out to prove is sloppy thinking of the highest order. The Plains Indians thought that lighting was the result of god's anger. Today we know that lighting is the result of electrostatic charges. We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further
Rating: Summary: Fair and thorough Review: Lee has told a captivating and compelling case for the existence of a supernatural Creator. He interviews a topnotch list of experts on the issue of science and faith and poses the tough questions that we all ask from time to time. Having said that i wonder why William Lane Craig was interviewed on the cosmological argument (big bang theory) and not astrophysicist Hugh Ross? Ross has been one of the pioneers for using the big bang to prove the existence of God and has written some ground breaking books on the topic such as The Creator and the Cosmos and The Fingerprint of God. The book is superbly written, covering all the objections fairly and writing in a way that keeps the reader interested. He is sure to stay clear of the young/old earth controversy which i don't think is wise since it is a major stumbling block to non-believers. The 6-10,000 yr old universe/Earth proposed by groups like Institute for Creation Research and Answers in Genesis is so scientifically implausable that it is making a laughing stock of the Christian faith. This is the reason that many atheists/skeptics won't accept Christ since they think that Christianity must be false since it is pushing an absurd doctrine. The Christian should work hard to counter the misconception that to believe in the Biblical world view is to swallow the nonsense of a 10,000 yr old Earth.
Rating: Summary: Puts The Cookies on the Bottom Shelf Review: Lee Strobel has done it again-- only this time he's done it better! In his most ambitious work to date, Strobel has made the latest scientific findings regarding the design of the universe and life accessible to the average person. Strobel, with his engaging conversational writing style, builds a critical bridge between the academics and the rest of us. Now anyone from high school on up can clearly understand the mounting scientific evidence that there is a Creator responsible for us and the world in which we live. Strobel leaves no stone unturned as he draws the evidence out of some of the most brilliant minds that most people have never heard of. Playing devil's advocate, he challenges experts in cosmology, astronomy, physics, biochemistry, biology and other fields to defend their theistic views against the strongest attacks of atheists and skeptics. The experts meet the challenge, and the most reasonable conclusion from the multiple lines of evidence is that God exists. That fact has incredible implications for your life and eternity. Indeed, if you're an honest doubter, this book will eliminate most of the reasons you may have had to doubt God's existence. The only question Lee Strobel can't answer for you is the most important question you must ask of yourself-- "How will I respond to the God who created me in the first place?"
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