The Fingerprint of God

Rating:
Summary: Great book, until the last chapter on sin and evil
Review: I am a former physics student, and now a computer system manager. I found this book to be very well written and useful for understanding the evolution of philosphy, science, and theology. Ross does a great (and fair) job of bringing us the history of it all and relating it to the modern issues of the reliability of the bible. He also address's the issue of science and the bible being in agreement.
It is not until the last chapter on sin and suffering that he drops the ball. No doubt the weakness in this last chapter is only due to Ross extending out of his area of expertise. When he speaks on physics, he is on target. But in the area of sin and evil, he needs to go back and be taught by the exegetes and theologians and philosophers. The answers he gives are just about the same as C.S. Lewis. Well, this is a very good book, but I warn of the last chapter to not get sucked into the armenian hole of thinking. Our human wills are not sacred items that the Creator would never dare to comprimise! The explanation of evil and suffering that Ross gives are not very well supported by scripture. I expect Ross will eventually figure this out. In any event, he appears to understand the essentials, and had been blessed by God to be 'able' to see the light.
Anyone interested in the issues of the bible in relation to science should read Ross's books, they are unmatched in their ability to explain how the bible is in agreement with science.
Read them. Then BELIEVE. Do it now, or later you will when it is to late. You think there is suffering now? Disregard the truths of this book, and you will find out what real pain is. Accept the truths of this book and grow in the knowledge of God, Jesus, and you will begin to know what real love is. As a last note, I like C.S. Lewis, just that he and many others in the Christian community have an tendency to get the wrong idea about love and the human will.

Rating:
Summary: Very powerful!
Review: I was stunned by reading the other reviews of this book. It appears that the purported reviewers don't even pretend to actually review the thing; they are merely using the pages as springboards to launch off on their own hobby horse, be it Flood theology, end times theology, atheism, or whatever. I see virtually no correlation between the reviews posted here, and the actual content of the book. Those that do actually refer to chapters of the book seem not to have actually _READ_ it, but only scanned it to find something to justify posting their own flawed theology.

There oughtta be a law against posting reviews as a way of having one's say. These reviews can affect the sales of a book. But I guess the reviewers either never thought of that, or don't care. Some Christian attitude.

Well, I _HAVE_ read the book. It was my first discovery of Dr. Ross, and I thought it was wonderful. For those who actually care about its contents, let's get something very straight: Dr. Ross is an _ASTRONOMER_, not a theologian. His book is not about apologetics, no matter what you may have read to the contrary. He has one purpose, which he very clearly states: To point out that there is no need for a war between science and religion, much less a war between different factions within Christianity. As Dr. Ross carefully points out, there have been _NO_ -- that's no, as in zero -- scientific discoveries in recent years that are not consistent with the Bible's depiction of Creation. Quite the contrary, all modern discoveries -- the Big Bang being one obvious example -- point to a creation much like that described so perfectly in Genesis.

Therefore, says Ross, let's bury the hatchet. Let's stop fighting amongst ourselves, let's stop the bickering between scientists and believers, let's stop the bickering between Young Earth Creationists and Old Earth Creationists, let's stop the bickering between Evolutionists and Creationists, and for a change, let's just look at the evidence of God's nature, left for us both in His Word, and in His Creation.

A novel idea, wouldn't you say? A pity no one posting here was paying attention, or bothered to read and comprehend Ross's message. They would, it would seem, much prefer to bicker.

Rating:
Summary: This is not a bulletin board!
Review: I was stunned by reading the other reviews of this book. It appears that the purported reviewers don't even pretend to actually review the thing; they are merely using the pages as springboards to launch off on their own hobby horse, be it Flood theology, end times theology, atheism, or whatever. I see virtually no correlation between the reviews posted here, and the actual content of the book. Those that do actually refer to chapters of the book seem not to have actually _READ_ it, but only scanned it to find something to justify posting their own flawed theology.

There oughtta be a law against posting reviews as a way of having one's say. These reviews can affect the sales of a book. But I guess the reviewers either never thought of that, or don't care. Some Christian attitude.

Well, I _HAVE_ read the book. It was my first discovery of Dr. Ross, and I thought it was wonderful. For those who actually care about its contents, let's get something very straight: Dr. Ross is an _ASTRONOMER_, not a theologian. His book is not about apologetics, no matter what you may have read to the contrary. He has one purpose, which he very clearly states: To point out that there is no need for a war between science and religion, much less a war between different factions within Christianity. As Dr. Ross carefully points out, there have been _NO_ -- that's no, as in zero -- scientific discoveries in recent years that are not consistent with the Bible's depiction of Creation. Quite the contrary, all modern discoveries -- the Big Bang being one obvious example -- point to a creation much like that described so perfectly in Genesis.

Therefore, says Ross, let's bury the hatchet. Let's stop fighting amongst ourselves, let's stop the bickering between scientists and believers, let's stop the bickering between Young Earth Creationists and Old Earth Creationists, let's stop the bickering between Evolutionists and Creationists, and for a change, let's just look at the evidence of God's nature, left for us both in His Word, and in His Creation.

A novel idea, wouldn't you say? A pity no one posting here was paying attention, or bothered to read and comprehend Ross's message. They would, it would seem, much prefer to bicker.

Rating:
Summary: More implausible theology
Review: I'm an agnostic, but the more I read apologetics, the more atheistic I become. I can see that Dr. Ross is intelligent. And has a good grasp of science. But that seems to not make him any better at theology. I'd like to talk about his discussion of evil and hell.

Dr. Ross' chapters on evil and hell are roughly what any other apologetic writer would say, with all the same flaws. I was surprised, however, that he says that it is actually a good thing that Satan brought evil into the world as we need it to test us. Seems rather strange that God Almighty, who is presumably all Good, would find evil a useful tool. So God is a willing and able accomplice to evil? This seems to be rather strange theology, Dr. Ross.

So why doesn't Satan just shoot massive pain through everybody until they confess their allegiance to Satan? Ross explains that Satan is not allowed to tempt us more than we are capable of withstanding. So I guess that means that nobody is ever successfully tempted by Satan, right? If they are, then by definition, they have been tempted more than they can withstand, right?

I guess Dr. Ross is saying that Satan is only allowed to tempt us to the extent that God expects us to be able to withstand. But if Satan can use supernatural powers against us, even "a little bit" then how can we really have free will? How can God really expect us, mere mortals, to be able to withstand any temptation by a supernatural evil being?

For example, some Christians believe that fossils were placed on Earth to mislead man to believing in evolution. I know that most Christians do not believe this - I just happened to pick this for an example - any other would do. So say that Satan did in fact place fossils on Earth to mislead man to believe evolution. This would mean I can't believe anything I see, or what any of my other senses tell me, for they could be just satanic delusions. How can I have free will if I there is nothing that I can know? So I say again, if Satan can use any of his supernatural powers against us, then free will does not exist.

Here is another way to look at it. If Ross is right and God limits Satan's evil, then is Satan constantly asking God, "hey, God, can I, like, shoot massive pain through Joe's body and see if that tempts Joe?" And God says, "no, Satan, you may not". And then Satan asks, "well can I, like, kill Joe's baby and see if that tempts him?" And then God says, "oh, okay, Satan, I guess you can do that." You probably think I'm being sacrilegious. But the point is, theologies like Ross presents about evil and Satan may sound logical when you read them in a book. But when you try to take them off the pages of the book and see how they might work in practice, they become exposed as just being pat answers that have no real value.

As far as hell, Dr. Ross seems to be painted into a corner, trying to defend the indefensible. He wants to make hell look like a bad place, and yet not make God appear vindictive in sending people there. And Ross fails miserably. He says that those people who are in hell are inherently evil and will never change and that is why they have to stay in hell forever. Why is it that Christians teach that no matter what bad things a person has done in his life, it is never too late to repent and choose God - at least until they die. But that at the moment a person dies, they mysteriously loose any ability to ever repent. Why? Why couldn't somebody repent some time after they died?

Dr. Ross also says that as far as any pain or suffering that God inflicts upon those in hell, it is merely an unfortunate necessity. The people in hell are so evil that they would be doing terrible things to each other if God wasn't distracting them with pain. Oh, gimme a break! God Almighty can't think of a better way to prevent people in hell from inflicting evil upon each other? Dr. Ross' God, for being omniscient, is astoundingly short-sighted. God couldn't come up with a punishment/reward system in hell where those that insist on harming others are kept in solitary confinement while those that behave well are allowed some more freedom? God Almighty isn't smart enough to think of this? And this God is to be worshiped?

Dr. Ross, the point of your book, I assume, is to help readers be more Christian. If anything, you've pushed me the other way.

Rating:
Summary: Children share your toys
Review: It is so amusing to see how Dr. Ross has managed to tweek the insecurities of both fundamentalist Christians and materialists. Particularly funny are the comments of the reviewer who tried to catch the good doctor in a contradiction when he contends that God has limited satan's power to tempt humanity. "How can anyone withstand the temptation of a supernatural being?" Duuuhhh - because God gives supernatural help, Einstein. If we sin, it is because we choose to give in to temptation. We exercise our free will. The point is, we can't just say "the Devil did it."

Following close behind in amusement value are the folks who can't accept that the earth is more than 10 thousand years old. Face facts, people; there is evidence of continuous, gradual erosion all around us. And no, one gigantic global flood us not a sufficient explanation. The orderly nature of the sediment layers alone disqualifies this explanation. All in all, I highly recommend Dr. Ross' books for those strong enough to face the truth.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Changle to the religion of Evolution.
Review: Its funny, If you believe that a God (or intelligent force) created the universe you are called religious. Yet if you believe the Theory of evolution (micro evolution) you are called scientific, even though it is not proven or even a theory by the scientific definition (Read God and The Astronomers by Robert Jastrow an agnostic if you don't believe micro evolution is a religion). To be a theory it must be testable and it is not. I think Dr. Ross does a terrific job of showing how science can be reconciled with the Genesis account of creation. Without losing ones credentials as a scientists. Also this book though highly scientific is written in a way that is very easy to read and understandable for the non scientists out there like me. I would hope that everyone who has doubts and questions about the Genesis creation account would have an open mind and give "The Fingerprint of God" a read.

Rating:
Summary: Very powerful!
Review: The evidences Dr. Ross provides are very convincing and thought provoking.