Customer Reviews

20 Compelling Evidences That God Exists: Discover Why Believing in God Makes So Much Sense

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This book merely whets one's appetite. The arguments presented are truly compelling evidences for God's existence as the title suggests, but they lack the detailed substance that the topic requires. But readers are forced to dig elsewhere to resolve missing details. This entire book is like a preface to the real arguments. It's best feature are it's quotes, bibliographies and endnotes. These features lead the reader on to more meaty details. This book does a valuable service in introducing (scientific and theological) laymen to the true arguments and debates that surround the evidences presented here. The writing is geared to people who are just getting acquainted with the arguments. Folks with some study behind them will be disappointed. Look through the notes and bibliography and if you've read 50% of what's there, you can pass the book along to an uninitiated friend. However, another valuable service of the book is that it provides easy to remember analogies that readers can carry with them into discussions on God's existence. If you've ever been in a discussion and couldn't quite remember the facts of your case, their handy analogies will prove a big help. I believe it's still worth having as an introduction and for it's references. Their writing style is easy and fluid as well.

Really good book! I would recommend this book to anybody. While their chapter on prophecy hints their dispensational slant (referring to the significance of Israel occupying Palestine and the dates 1948 & 1967), they don't spend a lot of time on the subject. The book makes a strong case for the existence of God that a non-Christian could read and understand. I enjoyed their lists of books at the end of each chapter for people who want to read further on the subjects discussed.

Just as its title says, 20 Compelling Evidences takes a deep look at how we can know for sure that God exists. The Foreword is an interesting discussion about our relevant doubts and how to find answers for them. Then the evidences begin. Commencing with reality, knowledge, and existence, the authors reach outward to the Universe, life's origins, and a fallen world, and then take a hard look at the Bible, its reliability, prophecies, and wisdom and our Lord's own life and those who have lived for Him. It is written with humor and fact, embellished with quotes ranging from Scripture to Lily Tomlin, firmly seated in the Bible, a wide range of data, and intense research. Closing materials include useful indices and a Reader's Guide which will help with focusing the information and in group discussions.

Graduate of several prestigious schools including Dallas Theological Seminary and Oxford University, head of Reflection Ministries, and prolific author, Kenneth Boa brings wide experience and knowledge to this book. Professor of Christian Apologetics and Christian researcher, Robert Bowman provides a strong base of facts. 20 Compelling Evidences is the most recent book in an honorable genre with a long lineage, going all the way back to our Christian forebears and the New Testament era. It still behooves Christians to know what they believe, why they believe it, and how to voice these beliefs to honest questioners and as well as scoffers. This book both grips the interest and provides ammunition for the beleaguered Christian. - Donna Eggett, Christian Book Previews.com

My favorite hobbies are reading philosophy and Christian apologetics, but it's hard to find anyone who enjoys discussing them. Most people really don't care that inductive arguments never lead to certain truth (Kant), or for puzzling out the implications of God having a nature (or not) (Aquinas/Plantiga), etc. My wife and daughter roll their eyes at me before I get 2 sentences out. And if I play devil's advocate and argue (for example) that Stalin and Mao were virtuous saviors of their people, people think I really believe that and keep their children away.

But while I enjoy intellectual puzzles, the core of philosophy and apologetics are questions of utmost practicality and vital importance. Does evil exist? Are any of the following people evil, and why: Hitler, Osama bin Laden, George W Bush, Barack Obama, James Dobson? Is human life morally distinct from animal life? Your philosophical and religious assumptions guide many things you do, from what you serve for supper, to how you vote and whether you have an abortion.

So since I'm a terminal egghead, how can I discuss these vital issues with normal folks who don't care for the jargon or detail? This book is well written and easy, even entertaining, to read; and it lays out a comprehensive framework for reasonable Christian belief. Yes, it leaves things out and relies on intuition when a philosopher would write pages or books of arguments; but it makes solid points which have philosophy and theology books to back them up. I don't know any other book which covers the whole picture as succinctly and readably. So it's Christian Philosophy and Apologetics for Dummies -- a cookbook collection of great arguments for God and Christianity for Normal People. Now the real test -- will my wife and daughter read it?

As you can imagine some points are stronger then others but thought-provoking and well written. Very effective 'beginners' type book that strikes a nice balance without getting too deep or too shallow.

I found the book to be repetitious of information I already knew so it was a fairly fast and interesting read. I highly recommend it.

I found the book to be an interesting read and easy to understand even to those unfamiliar with the Bible and Christianity in general. Everyone should at least enjoy this book regardless of their beliefs. You might also want to read A Startrek to Eternity, which covers similar material in an easy to read manner, although it doesn't try to prove the arguments. It simply poses questions and compares scientific discoveries with stories from the Bible.A Startrek to Eternity

The authors try to give 20 "compelling" reasons, that Christianity is right - and to the extend that other religions or atheism differ they are simply wrong!
This attempt fails miserably!
The chapter on Intelligent Design simply shows that they have not understood Darwinism.

The chapter about the origin of the universe is equally flawed. The Germanic tribes centuries ago needed Wotan to explain thunder, today we know better - but the authors argue at this level.

They quote scripture to show, that the Bible condems racism and treats women and men equal, but there are other quotations in the Bible which claim the opposite.

Maybe the book gives additional 'arguments' to a devout Christian, but it is simply to flawed and too simplistic to convince anybody else.

I'm a non-believer, and I picked up this book at a used book store to entertain myself.

First, the authors are confusing the words testimony and evidence. Evidence is something like digging in the ground and finding a fossil, or dropping a feather and a penny in a vacuum and seeing they both fall at the same rate. Testimony is what's written in the Bible or Harry Potter or any human account of anything. About 15 chapters' arguments are based on testimony, not evidence. The other 5 are flawed games of logic.

And shooting holes in the arguments is like shooting fish in a barrel. Easy example: the old argument that Earth is perfect for humans existing, therefore it must have been created for us. Got the cause and effect totally backwards. First, Earth is not perfect for us. What about small pox, tsunamis, and ultraviolet radiation? Second, for all those planets that are totally inhospitable for life, no life evolved, so no one there is thinking, "Gosh, this planet is totally inhospitable for us." It's called the survivor bias. Look it up.

So I picked up this book to entertain myself by challenging my mind to find flaws in the arguments. It was too easy. I was hardly entertained.

For starters, this book seems fairly substantial...until you open it. I laughed out loud when I saw that the only reason it is 276 pages is because it is triple spaced throughout with big gaps between paragraphs. If it was printed like most any book you see, it wouldn't be 100 pages long.

The arguments are among the weakest I've ever seen.

For example, chapter 4 provides a chronology of scientific thought from Einstein to the 1970's on the question of whether the universe is expanding or not. The authors point out that many scientists, including Einstein, resisted the idea of the universe having a beginning because a begining implies the existence of a beginner. Obviously this is silly (and patently false) since scientists don't ask the question, "Does this imply a god?" when formulating hypotheses and conducting experiments. They consider only facts that can be tested and proven.

Ultimately of course, everyone accepted the idea of an expanding universe as a scientific fact and the authers cite that as evidence God exists. (Which is ironic since fundamentalist christians were among the last to accept the idea of the big bang and the most fundamentalist still do not accept it.) Perhaps that is the case yet there is no evidence of a creator in that line of thinking. Essentially, the authors are assuming that where no explanation exists, there can only be one answer: God and not just any God but their God.

It is interesting to me that there are so few books on this topic. After reading the pathetic arguments contained in this one I think I understand why.