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Review by Dr Pravin Thevathasan


The Case For Faith
A Journalist Investigates the
Toughest Objections to Christianity
Lee Strobel
Zondervan



Rather like his book The Case For Christ, this proved an easy and exciting read. Among the objections raised are: since evil exists, there can be no good God.Since miracles contradict science, they cannot be true. God is not worthy of worship if he kills innocent children. A loving God will not send souls to hell. It is offensive to claim that Jesus is the only way to God. Church history is littered with violence.

The author consults the well known Christian apologist William Lane Craig about miracles. Craig observes that a miracle is an event which is not producible by natural events that are operative at the time and place of the event. Miracles do not contradict science: they lie beyond the bounds of science. The resurrection does not contradict science. It is a supernatural event that disrupts the laws of science. The real problem for the atheist is not disbelief in miracles but disbelief in the maker of miracles.

One very powerful section of this book is when it is noted that objective moral truths cannot exist without the existence of an eternal moral being. What happens to morality when we stop believing in God?All we have to do is to see what is going on around us in the name of medicine and science.

What about evolution? Evolution cannot explain the beginning of things. There have been various theories to explain the origin of species without God and they have all been laid to rest. For example, the theory of chemical affinity postulated that certain chemicals bring about order and complexity due to their attraction to other specific chemicals. That theory is no more. Indeed all the theories "fall short of the specific complexity that living matter needs."

What about the claim of Christianity to be the one true religion. But all major religions make the same claim, including the belief system we know as atheism and secularism. When Senator Feinstein tells Christians to keep dogma out of politics, she should really be taking some of her own advice. All other religions apart from Christianity claim that salvation depends on ourselves. Only Christianity has a Saviour. Only in Christianity is there belief in a founder who alone atones for our sins. No other religion makes this claim.

Could a loving God send souls to hell? A loving God does not want souls to go there. In Ezekiel, God says: "I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked." God gave us hell because he wants us to love him freely and that freedom entails the possibility of saying no to him. He does not want robots to worship him but sons and daughters.

From Epicurus to Stephen Fry, we have the following statement: evil exists. So God cannot exist, at least not a loving God. But as Peter Kreeft notes, if the world were a perfect pleasure garden with no suffering, faith would not be needed. Only in a world where faith is difficult can faith really exist. Also, God did not create evil. He created the possibility of evil. Furthermore, we define evil as a privation of good. Our goodness is found in God. Where does the atheist find goodness? Why should the atheist get upset when children die? After all, is it not a natural occurence? For Christians, God allows pain in this life so that we may have abundant blessings in the next. There is meaning in suffering.Who would think of God in a pain-free world?

Strobel has masterfully dismantled frequently raised objections to faith in Christ.



Copyright ©; Dr Pravin Thevathasan 2017

Version: 12th September 2017



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