Have you ever wondered?
- Does truth exist?
- Does God exist?
- Are miracles possible?
- Is the Bible true?
Norman Geisler and Frank Turek address these four main questions and others in their book “I Don’t have Enough Faith to be an Atheist.”
This book is a systematic approach to proving the existence of truth, the Theistic God, the Bible, and Jesus Christ. Although the Bible is the ultimate authority for the standard of truth, they do not presuppose this. They prove this fact and their other positions through the means of logic, reasoning, reality, history, archeology, and science.
Below is an essay that I wrote advocating the existence of God, based on arguments from this book, using the teleological argument and the anthropic principle.
A widely held idea for the origin of the universe is macro-evolution. Macro-evolution is the belief that random chance mutations created life. There are many factors that point out the problems with this theory including the study of biogenesis, the fact that only intelligence can produce information, and the application of the second law of Thermodynamics.
The ultimate question between the macro-evolution and divine creation debate is where did the first life begin? The conclusions of the study of biogenesis, from scientists like Louis Pasteur, reveal that life cannot originate from nonlife. Hence, life must have originated from something that was already alive.
Not only does it take a living being to create life, it also takes intelligence. All messages require an intelligent author behind them. Therefore an amoeba, which consists of over 1,000 encyclopedias worth of information in its genetic makeup, must also have an intelligent author behind it.
Many try to say that macro-evolution could have happened by giving life enough time to evolve. This is proved false based on the second law of Thermodynamics. This law states that things left as they are tend to disorder. So based on the law, the perfect environment for life to begin could never have evolved because things are continually going toward imperfection. Therefore, there would never be a perfect situation in which macro-evolution could take place.
Some say that micro-evolution and divine creation are compatible. But the law of non-contradiction tells us that, “contradictory claims cannot be both true at the same time in the same sense.”[1] Consequently, one of these ideas on the origin of the universe must be false since the two views are contradictory. The three examples― biogenesis, intelligence, and the second law of thermodynamics―show that micro-evolution cannot be true. Therefore, it leaves the option of an eternal, intelligent, living Creator as the only standing conclusions of how the world came into existence.
This is just one of the issues addressed in this book. If you are interested in ethics, religion, or Christianity I would highly recommend reading this book. If you are a member of the Mid-Continent Public Library system, you can check the book out there. This book will take you on a journey to find out what you truly believe. I, personally, found this book to be one of the best resources I have read for understanding the logical reasoning behind my Christian faith, defending my faith, and proving to me that I do not have enough faith to be an atheist. And if you are honest, you too will discover that you do not have enough faith to be an atheist. So what are you waiting for, go check it out!
To watch video clips of Mr. Turek presenting the information found in his book, go here: http://crossexamined.org/video-clips
[1] – Norman Geilser and Frank Turek, I Don’t have Enough Faith to be an Atheist (Wheaton, IL.: Crossway Books, 2004)
Hanna Sims, Teen Blogger