I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist (Book Review)

Posted by Israel Wayne on Feb 9, 2012 in Book Reviews | 0 comments

By Norman L. Geisler & Frank Turek

I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek, is a modern-day Christian apologetics classic. I have to place this book in the top ten books written so far on regarding understanding a Christian philosophy of of all of life.

This is a very linear, comprehensive work that seeks to answer the major questions of life and religion. The book begins with Epistemology and the fact that truth can be known. It then moves to Cosmology and addresses the origins of the universe. It addresses the questions of morality, the existence of miracles and the supernatural, the historicity of Jesus Christ and His claims to divinity, the compilation and canonization of the New Testament texts, the bodily resurrection of Christ, and includes some good appendix chapters that address things like “If God, Why Evil?” and “Isn’t That Just Your Interpretation?”

Another outline could be:

Origin:Where Did We Come From?
Identity: Who Are We?
Meaning: Why Are We Here?
Morality: How Should We Live?
Destiny: Where Are We Going?

To give you an idea of the general acceptance of the overall soundness of this book, it is endorsed by: Ravi Zacharias, Josh McDowell, Lee Strobel, Phillip E. Johnson, Cal Thomas, William A. Dembski, Hank Hanegraaf, John Ankerberg & J. Buudziszeski.

As with all of the Hovel audiobook titles, the narration is excellent and the quality is superb.

Hovel Audio
ISBN: 978-1-59644-399-0
Copyright, 2006.
www.ChristianAudio.com

Crossway Books
ISBN: 1-58134-561-5
Copyright, 2004.
www.crossway.com

448 pages. On a scale of 1-5, I’d give this a 4.5 overall.

Review by Israel Wayne.

“The End of Reason” by Ravi Zacharias (Re: Sam Harris)

Posted by Israel Wayne on May 13, 2011 in Book Reviews | 1 comment

One of the great things about a bus ride (or flight)…okay probably the ONLY good thing about a bus ride, is that it gives me some time to read books that I’ve been wanting to read for a while. I started The End of Reason by Ravi Zacharias a long time ago, and just haven’t had time to finish it. Well today, I won.

In order to understand the book, you first need to know a little something about the guys who some call “The New Atheists,” or the “Four Horsemen of Atheism”:

Clinton Richard Dawkins (evolutionary biologist)
Daniel Clement Dennett (cognitive scientist)
Sam Harris (neuroscientist and philosopher)
Christopher Eric Hitchens (journalist)

These guys have taken Atheism and tried to make it as chic as a Starbucks Mocha Latte. This book is a specific critique of Sam Harris‘ NY Times Best-Seller: Letter to a Christian Nation.

Now if you know anything about Ravi (I’m a huge fan and have read everything the man has ever written, except for his newest book, which is on my nightstand), you know that Ravi is a very kind and gracious man. He is ever the gentleman in every setting. HOWEVER, in this book, you see a rare side of Ravi that reminds you of what an intellectual powerhouse he is. Almost as though he is forced into it out of sheer moral obligation, Ravi straps on the proverbial boxing gloves and goes 15 rounds with Harris without ever seeming to break a sweat.

Sam Harris

With razor-sharp logic, and penetrating critique, Ravi simply shreds the many fallacious arguments in Harris’ approach to Atheistic Apologetics. Now mind you, he is still civil, respectful and completely Christian in his approach, no ad hominem attacks or personal viciousness.

The main point of Ravi’s assault on The New Atheism focuses on the impossibility of Atheism to provide an Objective Moral Framework for Ethics. For all the moralizing that Atheists do: Blaming Christians for the Holocaust, Blaming Christians for the Crusades, Blaming Christians for Colonization, Blaming Christians for Slavery, etc., etc., their philosophical system cannot account for such definitive “right and wrong” categories. As Richard Dawkins himself once admitted, Science may be able to tell us “what something is,” but it cannot tell us if something is right or wrong.

This is a reductionistic way of saying it, but if we all came from a rock, you can’t get good and bad from a rock. Or as some philosophers have stated, “You can’t get an OUGHT out of an IS.”

As with all of Ravi’s books and teachings, I highly recommend this title.

I’d give it an overall 4.75 out of 5 stars.

Visit www.RZIM.org to learn more about Ravi and his work.

William Lane Craig & Sam Harris debate at Notre Dame University / Does Good Come From God?

Posted by Israel Wayne on Apr 9, 2011 in Commentary, Videos | 0 comments

On April 7, 2011 Dr. William Lane Craig and Sam Harris met to debate on the topic: “Does Good Come From God?”

Having personally seen a Dr. Craig in person at a previous debate (with liberal author, Bishop John Shelby Spong), I can attest that he is one of the truly great Christian Apologists of our times. Sam Harris, considered to be one of the “Four Horsemen” of Atheism, is probably best-known as the author of the anti-religious book, Letter to a Christian Nation.