The Case for Faith: A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity
by Lee Strobel
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Book Summary Information
Author: Lee StrobelEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-10-01
ISBN: 0310234697
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Zondervan
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780310234692
- Condition: New
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Book Reviews of The Case for Faith: A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity
Book Review: A REVIEW FROM LEO P.
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been reading "case for faith" for a month now, and I actually thought it is a very good book for me and other atheist. The book is clearly layout into 8 sections and each section discusses one objection which most atheists have. Out of the 8 objections, I am particularly interested in the objection number one of the book. Since my early 20s, I have spent countless hours pondering this very question -- if there is an all knowing, all powerful god, why there will be so much evil, pain and suffering. The title of this chapter is "SINCE EVIL AND SUFFERING EXIST, A LOVING GOD CANNOT". In the interview that addresses this topic, the author basically spells out the logic of the reasons why god allows suffering.
The reason number one is that there is a greater plan that god has for us. Even if there is pain and suffering now, it is a necessary piece of the whole divine plan. Since god's wisdom is infinite, it is impossible for human to understand this plan. In addition, through pain and suffering, there is always something good coming out from the ordeal.
The reason number two is that god created us and in this creation, god has also given us free will. This free will allows us to do both good and evil. When evil happens, it is the person who sins, not god. When evil and suffering happens, god weeps along with us.
The reason number three is that god is never unjust. Although people who committed great atrocity are not punished during their life time, they will be condemned to eternal hell. For the evil people who are living, during the second coming of Christ, they will be judge.
Anyways, the above explanations made me think about one time as I was researching the war crimes that were committed in the history of man, I came across a document that describes the atrocity that the Iraq national guards have done to their prisoners. These secret polices are known to torture people with dripping acid on a victim's skin, gouging out children's eyes in front of their parent, or raping killing women in front of their husbands. There are prisoners that were crucified, nails driven through their hands into the wall, beaten until their death. The torture and interrogations were often performed by trained medical personnel, and the goal was to inflict the maximum level of pain with minimum damage to the victim's body so that the pain and suffering can be prolong. [1]
One story had particularly trapped in my mind for years. It talked about how a guard demanded money from a family couple after the guard had tortured and kill the son of this couple. The remains of the boy were finally given back to the family in a big garbage bag and as the parents were going through the remains of their son, they discovered that their son's teeth, finger and toe nails were all pulled out, possibly one by one. Nose and ears were missing. Eye gouged out. His left foot was burn and melt by a blow torch of some sort. Besides the many-many holes on the boy's body, which was possibly drilled by an electric drill, their son was also castrated.
Sometime at night, I would wonder how many people are being tortured or dying at that very moment in the darkest corner of the world helplessly, as I was sleeping on my queen size mattress in my comfortable home alone. I wonder how many of these victim's death would be unknown to the world, such as people who are missing and in mass graves.
Or I would think about the kind of suffering that people had gone through during the last few thousand years -- generations after generations in terror regimes, documented and undocumented wars. I would think about what kind of plan it can be to justify this level of suffering. Or even as I am writing this letter to you now, I wonder how many people in Palestine are dying or going to die because of the Israel and Palestine conflict in the name of this very god. If the plan is to enlighten human being the horror of wars and the important of peace, it is definitely not working since killings and wars kept repeating itself every century since we have ability to record events. It pains me to know these things have happened in the past, are still happening, and is going to happen again --- and I can't help the situation even if I give every cent I make and do anything I can.
I think if a loving god exists, he would have shown up by now. As I was reading the old testament and comparing it to the documented human history in the last 2 thousand years, I felt it was so ironic that how the old testament describes the interaction and relationship between god and human as daily and almost on a first name bases (e.g. Cain and Abel, The Noahic Covenant, The tower of babel, The Abrahamic Covenant of Circumcision)
As I was reading the New Testament, I felt it was equally ironic that, miracles after miracles, the Jew and the soldiers at the time would still disbelieve the trinity god. Because let alone 2 thousand years ago, if there is a person who fly in the sky, walk on water, revives the death, and claims to be the god, no one will have any doubt, even in a relatively modern society like today.
If the god shows up at this very moment or even 100 years ago, kind of like what happened in the Old Testament, he will be well documented (on video) and that will settle this question once and for all. This will literally wipe out sins, evil, wars and religious conflicts, in Middle East or elsewhere forever. People won't commit murder and atrocity like I have mentioned, because they know there will be justice. All we need is merely one minute of his time, fly down from heaven to the New York time square in broad day light and tell us that 1.) he exists and, 2.) Stop the nonsense.
Although the reasons given in "case for faith" seems to be possible, but in many ways, I really think his explanations cheapen what countless victims have gone through in the past, present and future. There are so many instances that the Yale trained professor describe pain and suffer that man had suffered as "little" comparing to what Christ has suffered. It is like a cop is telling a murder victim that he can help the victim any time he want, but he won't because 1.) there is a bigger plan, 2.) the murder has freewill to commit murder, and 3.) the murder will be punished after he is dead, 4.) but I will weep when he is murdering you.
Three years ago, at the start of my mental transformation, I have determined that the purpose of my life is to be as good of a human being as I possibly can and be as happy as I possibly can. Along with setting my purpose to be that, I have also set a few other goals for myself. One of them is to actively seek god and read the bible from cover to cover. To be honest, I have not even finished the first 5 books of genesis, but the more I studied the bible and other materials (e.g. case of faith, case for Christ), the more my beliefs as an atheist was strengthened.
Base on the human history, one thing that I am sure of, is that we do have "free will", to do good and evil. In that case, to me, an "all knowing god" can not exist. It is because if god already has "a plan" and knows what we are going to do (prophecy), there can not be "free will" and we should not be accountable for what we are doing and what we are going to do.
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Summary of The Case for Faith: A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity
Was God telling the truth when he said, 'You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart'? In his #1 bestseller The Case for Christ, Lee Strobel examined the claims of Christ, reaching the hard-won verdict that Jesus is God's unique son. In The Case for Faith, Strobel turns his skills to the most persistent emotional objections to belief---the eight 'heart barriers' to faith. This Gold Medallion-winning book is for those who may be feeling attracted to Jesus but who are faced with difficult questions standing squarely in their path. For Christians, it will deepen their convictions and give them fresh confidence in discussing Christianity with even their most skeptical friends. 'Everyone---seekers, doubters, fervent believers---benefits when Lee Strobel hits the road in search of answers, as he does again in The Case for Faith. In the course of his probing interviews, some of the toughest intellectual obstacles to faith fall away.' ---Luis Palau 'Lee Strobel has given believers and skeptics alike a gift in this book. He does not avoid seeking the most difficult questions imaginable, and refuses to provide simplistic answers that do more harm than good.' ---Jerry Sittser, professor of religion, Whitworth College, and author of A Grace Disguised and The Will of God as a Way of LifeAward-winning reporter and author Lee Strobel (The Case for Christ) once again uses his investigative skills to address the primary objections to Christianity. As a former atheist, Strobel understands the rational resistance to faith. He even names the eight most convincing arguments against Christian faith:
1) If there's a loving God, why does this pain-wracked world groan under so much suffering and evil?These are mighty tough questions, and Strobel fields them well. Rather than write a weighty dissertation about the merits of faith, he brings us along on his quest as we meet leaders in the Christian community, such as Peter Kreeft and William Lane Craig. We also encounter his everyday friends and acquaintances that serendipitously fill in the holes in each of the eight arguments against faith. The use of dialogue from personal interviews and a scene-by-scene active narrative makes this an easy and engaging read. However, easy does not mean breezy. This is a book of substance and merit, one that will help Christians defend their faith, especially during the hardest of times, when they have to defend their faith to themselves in moments of doubt. --Gail Hudson
2) If the miracles of God contradict science, then how can any rational person believe that they're true?
3) If God is morally pure, how can he sanction the slaughter of innocent children as the Old Testament says he did?
4) If God cares about the people he created, how could he consign so many of them to an eternity of torture in hell just because they didn't believe the right things about him?
5) If Jesus is the only way to heaven, then what about the millions of people who have never heard of him?
6) If God really created the universe, why does the evidence of science compel so many to conclude that the unguided process of evolution accounts for life?
7) If God is the ultimate overseer of the church, why has it been rife with hypocrisy and brutality throughout the ages?
8) If I'm still plagued by doubts, then is it still possible to be a Christian?
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