Evidence for God

Description

There have always been challenges to belief in God as he is revealed in the Bible and each new year seems to add more questions to the doubter's arsenal. In Evidence for God, leading apologists provide compelling arguments that address the most pressing questions of the day about God, science, Jesus, the Bible, and more, including Is Intelligent Design really a credible explanation of the origins of our world? Did Jesus really exist? Is Jesus really the only way to God? What about those who have never heard the gospel? Is the Bible today what was originally written? What about recently publicized gospels that aren't in the Bible? and much more

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Christian theology

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 01 juillet 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781441211798
• Langue: English

Extrait

evidence for GOD
evidence for GOD
50 Arguments for Faith from the Bible , History, Philosophy, and Science
Edited by William A. Dembski Michael R. Licona
2010 by the North American Mission Board
Published by Baker Books a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.bakerbooks.com
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-for example, electronic, photocopy, recording-without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Evidence for God : 50 arguments for faith from the bible, history, philosophy, and science / edited by William A. Dembski, Michael R. Licona. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-8010-7260-4 (pbk.) 1. God (Christianity). 2. God-Proof. 3. Apologetics. I. Dembski, William A., 1960- II. Licona, Mike, 1961-
BT103.E95 2010 239-dc22 2010005990
Scripture marked HCSB is taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.
Scripture marked NASB is taken from the New American Standard Bible , Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Scripture marked NIV is taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION . NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Scripture marked NKJV is taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture marked NLT is taken from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To all teachers of Christian apologetics May their numbers multiply
Contents
Introduction
Section One: The Question of Philosophy
1. The Cosmological Argument
David Beck
2. The Moral Argument for God s Existence
Paul Copan
3. Near Death Experiences: Evidence for an Afterlife?
Gary R. Habermas
4. Naturalism: A Worldview
L. Russ Bush III
5. Suffering for What?
Bruce A. Little
6. Responding to the Argument from Evil: Three Approaches for the Theist
David Wood
7. God, Suffering, and Santa Claus: An Examination of the Explanatory Power of Theism and Atheism
David Wood
Section Two: The Question of Science
8. Creator and Sustainer: God s Essential Role in the Universe
Robert Kaita
9. The Pale Blue Dot Revisited
Jay W. Richards and Guillermo Gonzalez
10. Oxygen, Water, and Light, Oh My! The Toxicity of Life s Basic Necessities
Joe W. Francis
11. The Origin of Life
Walter Bradley
12. What Every High School Student Should Know about Science
Michael Newton Keas
13. Darwin s Battleship: Status Report on the Leaks This Ship Has Sprung
Phillip E. Johnson
14. Debunking the Scopes Monkey Trial Stereotype
Edward Sisson
15. How Darwinism Dumbs Us Down: Evolution and Postmodernism
Nancy Pearcey
16. Limits to Evolvability
Ray Bohlin
17. Evolutionary Computation: A Perpetual Motion Machine for Design Information?
Robert J. Marks II
18. Science, Eugenics, and Bioethics
Richard Weikart
19. Designed for Discovery
Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay W. Richards
20. Intelligent Design: A Brief Introduction
William A. Dembski
21. Intelligent, Optimal, and Divine Design
Richard Spencer
22. Molecular Biology s New Paradigm: Nanoengineering Inside the Cell
Bill Wilberforce
23. Panning God: Darwinism s Defective Argument against Bad Design
Jonathan Witt
24. The Role of Agency in Science
Angus Menuge
25. The Scientific Status of Design Inferences
Bruce L. Gordon
26. The Vise Strategy: Squeezing the Truth Out of Darwinists
William A. Dembski
Section Three: The Question of Jesus
27. Did Jesus Really Exist?
Paul L. Maier
28. The Credibility of Jesus s Miracles
Craig L. Blomberg
29. The Son of Man
Darrell Bock
30. The Son of God
Ben Witherington III
31. Jesus as God
Ben Witherington III
32. Did Jesus Predict His Violent Death and Resurrection?
Craig A. Evans
33. Can We Be Certain That Jesus Died on a Cross? A Look at the Ancient Practice of Crucifixion
Michael R. Licona
34. The Empty Tomb of Jesus
Gary R. Habermas
35. The Resurrection Appearances of Jesus
Gary R. Habermas
36. Were the Resurrection Appearances of Jesus Hallucinations?
Michael R. Licona
37. The Trinity
Bill Gordon
38. Is Jesus Superior to All Other Religious Leaders?
Tal Davis
39. Is Jesus the Only Way?
Michael R. Licona
40. What About Those Who Have Never Heard the Gospel?
Michael R. Licona
41. Did Paul Invent Christianity?
Ben Witherington III
Section Four: The Question of the Bible
42. Is the Bible Today What Was Originally Written?
Andreas J. K stenberger
43. Inerrancy and the Text of the New Testament: Assessing the Logic of the Agnostic View
Daniel B. Wallace
44. Why All the Translations?
Denny Burk
45. Archaeology and the Bible: How Archaeological Findings Have Enhanced the Credibility of the Bible
John McRay
46. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels
Craig L. Blomberg
47. The New Testament Canon
Craig L. Blomberg
48. What Should We Think About the Coptic Gospel of Thomas ?
Craig L. Blomberg
49. What Should We Think About the Gospel of Peter ?
Charles L. Quarles
50. What Should We Think About the Gospel of Judas ?
Craig A. Evans
Notes
Contributors
Introduction
In the spring semester of 2003, Derrick McCarson began his college experience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A committed Christian, Derrick enrolled in a course titled Introduction to the New Testament. On the first day of class, he was surprised to see that nearly five hundred students had enrolled in the same class. The professor, Bart Ehrman, walked in and started abruptly, I d like to see a show of hands. How many Bible-believing Christians do we have in the auditorium today? Come on. Don t be bashful. After about a half dozen students raised their hands, Ehrman said, That s good. It looks like we have a few Christians here today. Welcome to Intro to the New Testament. My goal this semester will be to change everything you Christians think you know about the Bible and about Jesus.
Similar actions have occurred and continue to occur in a number of universities across North America. Students have likewise told us of atheist professors who have informed their Christian students on the first day of class that their goal was for them to give up their faith by the end of the semester.
The ideological war glimpsed here goes beyond the usual political controversies in the U.S. between liberals and conservatives. It even goes beyond the battle between religion and secularism-it is focused against evangelical Christians. A 2007 report by Tobin and Weinberg published by the Institute for Jewish and Community Research reveals that American faculty overwhelmingly assert[ed] their desire to see Christian influence lessened while being far less critical and even supportive of increasing Muslim religious influence in politics. They added that it is interesting and even perplexing to see a shared inclination among faculty atheists, those faculty with no religion, and those faculty for whom religion holds no importance: They defend the right of Muslims to express their religious beliefs in American politics, while holding openly hostile views of fundamentalist Christians. 1 And for such faculty, any evangelical Christian is an unthinking bigot and therefore a fundamentalist.
The researchers added that the most troubling finding in the survey was that American faculty feel less positively about Evangelicals than about any other religious group. The survey responses showed that evangelical faculty were perceived as few to nonexistent, that Muslims were much more likely to find support when advocating their religious beliefs on the American political scene, and that tolerance, though regarded as a virtue when applied to other religious groups, was regarded as inappropriate when applied to evangelical Christians. According to the researchers, these findings raise serious concerns about how Evangelical Christian faculty and students are treated or feel they are treated on campus. 2
This bias against evangelical Christian students might give some a reason to wring their hands. We see it as an opportunity. Indeed, on many college campuses, this can be turned to evangelicals advantage. After all, Christians are called to defend their faith (1 Pet. 3:15). And in defending the faith, we have the opportunity to share it. Unfortunately, many of our churches have failed to prepare their young people for the task. As a result, many Christians are unaware that philosophy, science, and history all provide abundant evidence that the Christian God exists and that he has powerfully revealed himself to humanity in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
This book contains fifty articles written by leading scholars and scientists. They give scientific arguments that reveal how the universe and life itself are the products of a Designer of immense intelligence and power. They give philosophical arguments that reveal the goodness, transcendence, and eternity of the Designer. They give historical arguments that reveal how the Designer visited earth in Jesus of Nazareth two thousand years ago. (It s no accident that before embarking on his ministry, Jesus made his living as a designer, specifically, as a carpenter.)
Additional articles in this book address questions such as why an all-good and all-powerful God has allowed evil and suffering and whether Jesus is the only