Can You Help A Skeptical Brother Out?
I had a fascinating conversation with a new guy in our church yesterday. Since we have tons of Pharmaceutical companies in our area, we tend to attract a lot of really bright “PhD Cartesian linear logic research” types of folks to our church.
You know the type – keen insight, drawn to scientific principles, hair-splitting logic, looking to amass the data first-hand and analyze it methodically. I find myself squarely in their camp most of the time, minus the PhD, keen insight and the hair-splitting logic.
He asked, “I was wondering if you have anything I could read that would help me in my inquiry”
Rather than recommend books I’ve read, I thought I'd reach out for suggestions.
Can you recommend any books that you’ve read that would help a scientist struggling to find faith (or re-affirm the faith he is beginning to embrace but is being ridiculed by his colleagues)? My friend’s particular interests/struggles are: (1) existence of God (2) evolution/creation (3) evidence for a supernaturalistic worldview.
P.S. For my friends who are still rocking atheistic tendencies, I’d love to get your recommendations too. Since he’s a scientist he’ll want to know who represents the best of the loyal opposition.
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Comments (22)
Jonathan Williams on Aug 10, 2009 8:56am
Quarks, Chaos, and Christianity by Polkinghorne. Great book by former Cambridge math professor.
Joe Crane on Aug 10, 2009 9:24am
You can't start from nothing and prove God's existence. Many philosophies and books have tried...and failed. The Bible itself give us a "base that justifies both our knowledge claims and our claims to personal significance." (Robert Reymond)
And, for item 3, God always authenticated His Word through miracles as the plan of redemption was revealed (which coincided with the closure of the canon). So again, the same argument would apply for the first "interest."
I'm a bit far from my library now to recommend some of the books on creation vs. evolution.
Recovering Christian on Aug 10, 2009 10:10am
Darwin's Black Box, Behe - argument for intelligent design by a professor in your area
Can A Smart Person Believe in God, Guillen - quick read, the answer is yes
Mere Christianity, CS Lewis - the classic apologist
God is Not Great, Hitchens - popular atheisist arguments
The Bible - I would encourage people to read what God himself said. There is so much misinformation out there that you have to go back to the source and read it for yourself
Scott Baker on Aug 10, 2009 11:37am
"God the Evidence" by Patrick Glynn. Glynn went from being a believer to an atheist and back to a believer again. He looks at the sciences and shows how God reveals himself in all the sciences. If I remember right he is from some Ivy School. I think this may really connect with this guy. I was given the book by an attorney who was stryggling with faith. He handed it to me, ask me to read and then we discussed it.
I would also suggest Behe's book, "Darwins Block Box."
Ethan Magness on Aug 10, 2009 11:48am
Greetings,
I will try to give some thought to your specific questions in a moment, but I will also add that as a skeptical Christian, the ground of my faith is continually centered in the resurrection. I always encourage people to start there. If Jesus didn't rise, then who cares about creation and evolution and if Jesus did rise then you who cares about creation and evolution. (That second part is probably an exaggeration but only slightly.)
In light of this, I would suggest three book.
The Reason for God by Tim Keller
Simply Christian by NT Wright
Surprised by Hope by NT Wright
On the question of science and faith, Polkinghorne has already been mentioned. I would also offer Francis Collins. Neither fall into the trap of trying to prove God but both of then do a good job clarifying that the materialist supposition is equally non-provable and ultimately less explanatory than the alternative provided by Christianity.
This will not prove faith, but it can remove an important obstacle to faith.
For me there is no other ground to my faith than in my bedrock faith in the resurrection, everything else flows from that.
There are a lot more good resources and good thing to say, but I better get back to my day job. I'll try to share more later.
-Ethan
Ps. I feel a bit sheepish saying this, but I would also urge prayer on this topic. I would encourage any seeker to take the risk and spend some time asking, "God if you exist, give me clarity give me peace. Give me faith."
My journey to faith really began when I made Mark 9:24 my constant prayer. It still is my constant prayer.
Peace
nate on Aug 10, 2009 12:00pm
For creation and evolution, I recommend books by Ken Miller and Denis Lamoreaux. Some of your congregation might throw you into a fire upon hearing those names, but they represent what many Christians who are scientists have to say about the subject.
Nate Wolff on Aug 10, 2009 12:23pm
I really like Lee Strobel's Case for Christ and Case for Faith. He was an atheist investigative reporter who set out to "disprove" Christianity.
Max Randall on Aug 10, 2009 12:37pm
I love Ravi Zacharias' stuff, in particular, "Can Man Live Without God" - http://www.amazon.com/Can-Man-Live-without-God/dp/0849939437 . Good stuff.
Camilo Ruan on Aug 10, 2009 1:31pm
Hey Brian. I've been following your blog a bit since connecting on FB a few months back...
If I were you, I'd throw away all the creation vs. evolutionism stuff (no offense to your previous poster). In fact, I'd stay away from anything publised by Zondervan, Lee Strobel, Josh McDowell, or the throngs of "creation scientist" beating their chests with proof texts about seven day literal creation, etc. That stuff is mostly just Christian propaganda- and it comes across that way.
1. Agreed on Jonathan's suggestion re: Polkinghorne. In fact, he just came out with a book called "Questions of Truth: Fifty-one Responses to Questions About God, Science, and Belief". I browsed through it at Borders and it looks really, really good.
2. Another one to check out is "The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief" by Francis S. Collins. Francis is a geneticist who was the head of the Human Genome Project. He looks at the human genome code, DNA sequence and talks about the role of God. Fantastic.
3. From a Christian standpoint perspective, I'd only give two books to a person of that persuation. C.S Lewis Mere Christianity or Tim Keller's book he Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. Probably the only "christian book" I'd recommend.
Rock on.
Kyle B on Aug 10, 2009 1:54pm
1- I just finished "gorilla" thanks for writing it.
2- there's a book by a national level science guy... (head science writer for USA Today? I cant remember) that would be spot on, if i could remember the title. I saw it in a half priced books a few years ago.
Ethan Magness on Aug 10, 2009 2:35pm
Apparently Camilo and I are in the same book club.
Eric Lewis on Aug 10, 2009 3:16pm
For Rational types like myself, I can say nothing, shy of Scripture, has satisfied like the intellectual ammunition of Gordon H. Clark.
http://bit.ly/9eKsy
And specifically, "The Philosophy of Science and Belief in God":
http://bit.ly/2G1wlC
Anonymous on Aug 10, 2009 5:15pm
To supplement the apologetics, I would recommend "How should we then live?" by Dr. Francis A. Shaeffer. He takes readers brilliantly through ancient times through the Reformation, Enlightenment then philosophy,science, etc...completely affirming the morals, ethics, meaning and truths of the Bible.
Sherri Courtney on Aug 10, 2009 5:48pm
Sorry, forgot my name on the last comment about Francis Schaeffer.
bryonm on Aug 10, 2009 5:52pm
Knowing Christ Today by Dallas Willard
The Challenge of Jesus by N.T. Wright
John on Aug 10, 2009 7:07pm
Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust by Immaculee Ilibagiza.
This is a must read for people of all faiths (including no faith). Immaculee Ilibagiza is a beautiful and remarkable women and truly demonstrates how far we as Christians (especially myself) have to go to even come close to being a Godly, forgiving person.
I am simply astounded by this women, and I truy believe that her existence proves that God exists and is working in our world today to help set a shining example of Godlessness amoung unspeakable evil and carnage.
Before you buy the book, Google "Immaculee Ilibagiza", pull up her Wikipedia profile and at the bottom is a link to a 60 Minutes piece on her. A must see for all adults and teenagers.
John.
Jay Kelly on Aug 10, 2009 10:19pm
I don't count myself in the Christian camp anymore, but I'm pretty sure I'd enjoy the heck out of hanging w/ Ethan and Camilo.
I too would stay away from arguments for the existence of God. None the deductive ones 'work' in the sense of serving as sound logical proofs for God's existence. The Fine Tuning Argument, though, has some real legs as an inductive (read: probabilistic) argument for God's existence.
But even if any of these actually prove God's existence or show that His existence is probable, they don't really get you the Christian God. The best they get you is something like 'an entity that has sufficient capacities to create the initial configuration of the universe.'
I can't imagine that he's 'struggling' w/ creation/evolution. Does he have the view that 'holding to creationism is a necessary condition for being a Christian'??? I certainly hope not . . . And hopefully he's clear on the distinction between creationism and intelligent design. If not, Denyse O'Leary's blog (Uncommon Descent) is a great resource.
Steve Thurston on Aug 11, 2009 6:15pm
Being skeptical is okay. We should have doubts. If we don’t have doubts and are not skeptical about our surroundings and how or why things are the way they are, then we are mere robots programmed to function in a straight path… with no intuition as to the beautiful design work of our Creator.
I am a believer, but I’m a believer by faith, not because I have read the Bible, or scientific books that are pro or against evolution or creationism. What really roused my feathers ten or so years ago was the analogy of the watchmaker.
Yes, I know this analogy might be a bit loose and have its faults, but when someone shared it with me, it gave me a sense of peace that I was not just a mere accident or that somehow organisms and cells decided to have a party and joined each other to blindly start evolutionizing themselves into all the beautiful things we see in nature or in human kind.
My belief is that we all have this internal compass that provides this notion that there is something out there that is mighty with supernatural powers. This is evident in history and in most if not all cultures. Can this belief (my belief) be debunked? Sure it can. I think that is what makes life what life is. Having the ability for each person to make up their own mind on what they believe in and what not to believe in.
What is important though is that we choose to believe or disbelieve because we have this ability to be doubtful and skeptical and I love that. What is also important is that believing in things that we don’t understand or can’t explain requires faith that even though we can’t put our finger on the “why” or the “how,” we also have that choice to have faith and trust in something that we intellectually can’t explain.
Could I find evidence to support my belief? Sure. Do I need to? Not really.
But for some I understand that there needs to be concrete evidence... and a lot of times, the answers are in front of us all along but because of the way we are wired emotionally, intellectually and spiritually, it can become easy or difficult to open up to other truths that we cannot explain or understand.
I love the metaphor of a chair. Find a chair closest to you. Look at it closely. Examine its design. Is it structurally sound? Is it sufficiently engineered? Will the materials chosen by the manufacturer support your weight?
By now you have the understanding and belief that all chairs will most likely support you. That’s belief. You applied logic, knowledge and experience to make an informed intellectual decision.
Now sit in the chair. That’s faith! At one point, intellectual assent only goes so far. True living requires that we put our beliefs into action. Intellectual belief without actionable faith is hallow and meaningless.
In case you want to read about the watchmaker analogy that I mentioned above, I’ll paraphrase it below. It’s much more extensive but I've put it into simple words. I’m not a scientist but I am a very scientific and a logical kind of person in my ways. But even a simple analogy like this one, game me something to think about... above and beyond the realm of reason.
I am an analyzer. I will analyze everything very methodically before I do anything or before I decide to believe in something that my own reasoning can’t explain or decipher, but this analogy allowed me to get a better understanding that it’s not about how well we can reason with logic or intellectual knowledge, it’s about the simple steps of putting your guard and science down and let faith guide your understandings of what you believe or should believe.
I have no books to recommend, but let this analogy inspire to not only read some of the books outlined above by other bloggers, but also take the time to share with others verbally in conversation about this topic. Sometimes we learn things from books, sometimes we learn from watching or listening to others and sometimes we learn by mistakes. Either way, learning can be an eye opener to wonders that we might never have fathomed understanding.
The Watchmaker Analogy (paraphrased and condensed for a quick read)
If you were walking along and found a rock, you could say that it might just have happened, somehow… out of something else it just evolved and became a rock because it just looks so uncreative and with no purpose. But what would happen if as you walked, you found a watch on the ground. You would immediately, and with certainty, conclude that it has been designed by someone smart enough to have the skills and knowledge to design one.
The reason you would conclude this is because of its intricacies and ordering of the separate components to accomplish a function beyond that of the individual components. The function of the watch is to act as a timekeeping device. Its components are various gears, springs, chains, and so forth. It is a system of interacting components full of complex design work and process.
How in the world could such a wondrous time keeping piece just happen by itself? The difference between a rock and the watch is that we can see with our own eyes that the watch has several parts that are framed and put together for a purpose… formed to produce motion, and that motion so regulated as to point out the hour of the day. If that watch would have been differently shaped from what the pieces are, or placed in any other manner or order, no motion or correct motion would come out of it and the use of the watch would lose its purpose. If you focus on these intricacies, you can deduct that it did not happen randomly or by accident, but rather designed and created by someone skilled in the art of crafting watches. There must be a maker. There must have existed at some time someone, a watchmaker who formed it for the purpose which its construction was designed to be used as. – William Paley
God is our designer. He is the skilled one who crafted cells, skin, air, trees, clouds, rain, sun, animals and everything else that we see and don’t see. Everything out there has been created for a purpose and its intricacies have been masterfully crafted. Nothing evolved or randomly happened. Design, masterful design, is evident in all nature. God is the epitome of the Watchmaker.
I understand this is a blog and I’m sorry for writing so much. Sometimes I get excited and my little comments turn into a book. This is merely my own personal experience. Every one of you may feel differently, process understanding in a different way, or simply have a way of refuting anything I have said. That’s okay. That’s the beauty of free will. We can all make our own logical or illogical decisions, we are allowed to be skeptical and to doubt and we are allowed to have different perspectives on life. Please don’t use your time or this space to refute my personal belief. Instead, use it as a stepping stone to guide you either closer or away from the truth. I’m hoping it will guide you to the truth :-)
David on Aug 11, 2009 7:31pm
Richard Swinburne (Emeritus at Oxford) did a three-part book series: The Coherence of Theism, The Existence of God, and Faith and Reason (all partially accessible on Google Books). I can't vouch for the details, but he is a first class philosopher of religion, and I'd expect a thorough discussion. Swinburne also has books on the problem of evil and the soul.
Peter Van Inwagen (at Notre Dame) has a number of essays that might be of interest and many of them are collected in God, Knowledge & Mystery: Essays in Philosophical Theology. There is a review of the collection at http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~howardd/bookreviews/pvi.pdf . Van Inwagen also has books and articles on freedom and divine foreknowledge and the problem of evil, he's also one of a few Christians to defend physicalism regarding the soul. He is one of the best metaphysicians alive today.
Alvin Plantinga (at Notre Dame) has been one of the most influential Christian philosophers of the twentieth century both for his philosophy and his defense of Christianity/theism. Warranted Christian Belief takes Plantinga's epistemology and applies it to Christian belief; he's attempting to show that our religious beliefs are rational and justifiable.
There is also William Lane Craig (at Talbot) with a number of books presented at the scholarly and popular levels. I've only read a little bit of his work on freedom and divine foreknowledge, but it seemed good and some of my friends have good things to say about him and his books on other topics.
All four of these philosophers work within the analytic tradition, so hair-splitting logic is what they do. I expect the systematic approach of each of these philosophers would appeal to the person to whom you are referring.
Al Shaw on Aug 13, 2009 5:40pm
The Complete Works of Jonathan Edwards.
He's a thinker, right?
Sandy (the pharmaceutical one) on Aug 16, 2009 11:33pm
"Fingerprints of God: In Search of the Science of Spirituality." by BARBARA BRADLEY HAGERTY. Listen to the broadcast on WHYY (www.whyy.org) Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coanefrom 8/12/09
Jonathan West on Aug 26, 2009 5:11pm
Here's a recommendation from one of those pesky atheists.
By all means get him to read Swinburne's "The Existence of God". I'm in the process of blogging it chapter by chapter myself.
http://scepticalthoughts.blogspot.com/
But I suspect that he will soon see through the logical fallacies and abuse of statistical techniques that would get Swinburne laughed out of academia if he were writing on any other subject.
Get him also to read John Shelby Spong "A New Christianity for a New Age".