Without God, Do We All "Bleed The Same"?- Introduction
Without God, the war against racism makes no sense at all. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. grounded his fight and mission in the fact that God exists, because he knew that without God, so many foundations of such a fight are nonexistent. I was recently made aware of this beautiful song by Mandisa (featuring TobyMac and Kirk Franklin) addressing the tensions that still plague America today. Please take the time to listen, then read below to see how nothing that moved your heart in this video can be explained unless Christianity is the true worldview.
What a beautiful song that should express the heart and desire of every human. However, unless the view promoted by the song has a foundation in reality, then our emotions are merely playing a trick on us to believe that something is true and noble when those are merely illusions. There areseveral foundations that disappear if Christianity is false, but I want to focus on three today:
Several years ago, when I was struggling with science/faith issues, I stumbled upon astrophysicist Dr. Hugh Ross' book "The Creator and the Cosmos." He had released the third edition of the book, and many people were recommending it for those with science/faith concerns. I was already somewhat familiar with Dr. Ross' name since I had read "The Fingerprint of God" in the mid-90s but had not pursued much more investigation (most of the content was way over my head at the time). I decided to pick up a copy of that new book in the mid-2000s and took the time to read through it carefully. I was astounded at the strength of the scientific case Dr. Ross presented for the existence of the God of the Bible.
The book helped me overcome my struggle with science and paved the way for a deeper and more reasonable faith that I still continue to investigate and communicate to others to help them through their intellectual struggles. Not only can I know emotionally and spiritually that Christianity is true, but I can know it intellectually and reasonably. Of course, I have been blogging for quite a few years regarding how to demonstrate the reasonableness and truth of the Christian worldview, and in doing so, I have been providing my readers with chapter-by-chapter summary-style reviews of many of the books that I read.
A couple years ago I decided to begin going back through some of the apologetics books that I read early on, and "The Creator and the Cosmos" was in my stack. Not too long after I made that decision, though, I found out that Dr. Ross was working on a new edition that would add the most current discoveries to his original case (making it even stronger) and address even more challenges to his case that various scientists have proposed since the book's third edition was published. I decided to hold off on my review until that new edition had been released. Well, IT IS HERE!!!!! And I cannot be more excited for it! In keeping with my usual book reviews, I will provide a chapter-by-chapter summary then provide my recommendations. If you are reading this review on the Faithful Thinkers blog, I have embedded quotes and videos to enhance the review and better communicate the content of the book. Before I get to the summary, let's start with this short video from Dr. Ross about how his investigation of the cosmos led him to the conclusion that the personal God of the Bible exists and led him to dedicate his life to Jesus Christ.
Are you ready to see how astronomers and astrophysicists are discovering every day that "the heavens declare the glory of God" (Psalm 19:1)?
One of the first books that I read that presented evidence for God's existence from cosmology was the third edition of astrophysicist Dr. Hugh Ross' book "The Creator and the Cosmos." While I had been introduced to the finetuning argument years ago, this book laid it out in detail and in a way that was easy to comprehend. Of course, in the study of cosmology, the teleological argument is not the only one that can be formulated; there is also the argument from the beginning of the universe (the cosmological argument), which Dr. Ross explained has been overwhelmingly, evidentially supported by the latest scientific discoveries, yet was already expected by the authors of the Bible thousands of years ago (thus scientifically establishing the Creator as the Author of the Bible and establishing the Bible's authority and inerrancy).
About a year ago, I decided to bring the book back out to give it my full chapter-by-chapter review treatment for those interested in getting the book. However, shortly after I pulled it off my shelf, I heard that Dr. Ross was working on a fourth edition that would add a considerable amount of scientific evidence to both arguments, so I decided to put my review on hold until the new edition arrived. That new edition is coming THIS THURSDAY! And my chapter-by-chapter review will be posting in the following weeks. In the meantime, here is the trailer for the new edition, and do not forget to place your (pre-)order to get your copy as soon as possible!
I have reviewed several of Dr. Ross' other books that explore everything from the beginning of the universe to the appearance of humans, all from a perspective of Biblical historicity and inerrancy and the reliability of science to discover the truth about God's creative acts:
