“I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be An Atheist” by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek is a surprisingly easy read given its size (448 pages) and attention to detail. Thumbing through the pages and scouting the contents, charts, and index, I expected to be hunkering down for some serious digestion. Despite this pleasant surprise, my overall reaction to this work was ambivalence.
On the one hand, Geisler and Turek serve up some incredible encouraging evidences for the Biblical account of creation. I loved boning up on my knowledge of the Laws of Thermodynamics, and the basic laws of logic, like the law of non-contradiction and the “excluded middle”. As a Christian, I find these things exciting because science does indeed point to a transcendent God. In addition, the authors’ defense of Scripture, the person of Christ, and the Resurrection are helpful reinforcements to my faith.
On the other hand, it is the application of these evidences by the authors that I can’t agree with. The use of evidences is great for the encouragement of Christians, but I find their belief that evidences (both scientific and philosophical) are crucial to evangelism to be contrary to passages like Romans 1.16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” In the Forward the authors make several bold statements. While acknowledging that “Proof, of course, is no substitute for faith.” (p.7), they go on to say that evidences are instrumental in removing “intellectual obstacles” leaving them “naked to confront their real demons.” In the Preface, the authors jointly state: “We came to believe through evidences.” I find it hard to swallow such statements in light of the such passages as indicated below in First Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 1:18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing
1 Corinthians 2:1-2, 4-5 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. …my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
1 Corinthians 2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
As a side note, I also tire of recounting arguments in which such-and-such the noted expert in his field, was cornered into admitting that his argument was false but still wouldn’t cave. There’s definitely a lot of that here. These two authors are obviously tapped into the debate circuit, and though it is often noteworthy, it gets old.
All that aside, believe it or not, I actually liked this book. The book drives home the point that everyone has faith. The subsequent question then becomes, what is the object of your faith?
God is rational, his creation is rational, and when we start with the right premise we can reach the correct conclusions. Faith is not blind, it is supremely reasonable. All other beliefs other than Christianity lack sufficient support for their assumptions, Geisler and Turek do a good job of impressing this upon the reader. While I wholeheartedly disagree with the authors’ intent to use the book as a tool for evangelism, it still remains a great tool for encouragement as Christians learn that their faith is valid.
I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be An Atheist is available on Amazon.
[this review was written by Matt Fudge. Matt is the leader of the Senior High ministry at Omaha Bible Church. You can read Matt’s blog here]
