Customer Reviews

The Creator and the Cosmos: How the Latest Scientific Discoveries of the Century Reveal God

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

This is a very enjoyable book, for anyone who likes science and is inclined to believe in God. Hugh Ross is an astrophysicist, a pastor, and a gifted writer. In plain language, he seamlessly integrates science and the Scriptures on this most vital of topics -- how did the universe begin?

With great enthusiasm, Dr. Ross uses the latest scientific discoveries to present a comprehensive case for a Creator. Some complain that he is too quick to discuss the latest scientific theories, such as a 10-dimensional universe. But these theories are taught every day to science students, with a secular spin. Must Christians remain silent until, perhaps 40 years later, these theories have the same level of acceptance as relativity? This would put the church at an immense disadvantage in presenting an appealing, unified world view.

In the world today there are basically three views regarding creation:
1. On the one extreme is the view that there is no God, and that the world was created by natural causes. In this view, science holds the only answers. We must use our inquiring minds to learn the truth, and there is a constant search for better answers.
2. At the other extreme is the Young Earth Creations (YEC). They believe that all scriptures must be interpreted literally, and any science that contradicts a literal interpretation must be wrong, and they therefore dismiss all of science as incorrect, and attempt to define an alternative science where the speed of light changes.
3. There is the middle ground between these two. Proponents, such as Ross, take the view that the Bible is true, but that being men, our knowledge is never complete, and that therefore, while the Bible is never wrong, we must occasionally be flexible in changing our understanding of it. These people believe that God does not lie, and that therefore as we use science to learn about his creation, what we find will also be true, and consistent with his word. Therefore they attempt to reconcile science and the Bible, finding common ground in an old-earth creation (OEC) interpretation.

Typically YEC do not get along with either group, viewing both as the enemy. According to their view, you are forced to choose to accept the Bible according to their entirely literal reading, or you must reject the Bible entirely. Faced with this choice many thinking people are driven away from Christianity, or at least are forced to deal with cognitive dissonance - On Sunday the Bible is true and science is ignored, but the rest of the week science is true and the Bible is to be ignored.

By contrast there is typically more constructive dialogue and respect between the scientists and the OEC group. In the world today, most people believe that science is true. OEC provides an interpretation of the Bible that rconciles Science and the Bible. In my personal experience, when I attempt to evalgelize people with any level of scientific sophistication, they immediately prepare to attack and ridicule the YEC view. When I take the OEC perspective, they are always quite surprised to hear that the biblical account written 3000 years ago is consistent with science not discovered until recently. As a result, this book by Ross is an outstanding evangelical tool - it permits thinking people to be reached who reject YEC out of hand. This approach doesn't necessarily convert them, because in most cases their disrespect for YEC has led them to a hard-core atheistic view, but it does eliminate the major obstacle to their ultimate acceptance of the Bible.

Basically, in evaluting this book, you have to ask - does this book lay out its view is a clear, convincing way. The answer is that it does. I'm not here to attack or defend one of the views above, but I can tell you that as a scientist, I am delighted to read books like this which help to clarify that the Bible is consistent with Science. I can tell you that this book has reinforced my Christian beliefs, and that it has also been a powerful evangelical tool. I highly recommend it.

I recommend this as a must-read book to just about everyone. Not because I agree with everything Ross says (because I don't) but because it opens up a completely new and refreshing perspective on the whole cosmology, religion, and the meaning of the universe topic. I especially liked the part describing just what conditions must be met for human life to develop in the universe.

His arguments are quite reaching in many places, but that does not disqualify his valid points, of which there are many, and it is worth it to the reader to hear them in a society increasingly being indoctrinated by a secular, politically correct elite.

Very interesting book.

This book approaches the creationism vs. science controversy in a new way that is both interesting and satisfactory. It is well worth the read if only to get people thinking out of their preconcieved ruts on the topic. But, it goes beyond that, and truly has some wonderful insights.

I have made a lot or progress with this book and I have learned a lot from it. There are a few places where Ross gets a little bit more into Physics than I want to get into, but they are easy to skip over. There are chapters in this book that in and of themselves make it worth the while to make the purchase. The main thing is the book is a LOT better than the critics claim. In their hatred of God they would try to lead you to believe that their is nothing of any substance to be found here and that is not true at all. There is a lot to be gained from reading this book and it is well worth it.

Hugh Ross takes the reader on an exciting tour de force of the most recent discoveries in astronomy and enlightens the reader on the logical implications of these discoveries. This book devestates the too often repeated canard that science and religion are (as the late Stephen Gould termed) "non-overlapping magesteria." A must read for anyone who is asking themselves the deepest questions a human can ask: "Why am I here? and Where did I come from?"

This book is 100% pure science. I loved it!

Dr. Hugh Ross, a respected physicist and astronomer talks with authority on the matter of how our universe came to be, its structure and amazing complexity and how all the recent cosmologic theories points toward God. The author will expose all the recent scientific studies about that subject and analyze them one by one: big bang, dimensions, time, probability, space structure, galaxies and planet formation. Very thought provoking.

The thing i liked most is that the book delivers what the title promises. Dr. Ross doesnt get into theological, philosophical or existensial discussions but only deal with hardcore science; and still, you'll see that science is very much on God's side.

I would give it 4.5 over 5 stars instead of 5/5 just because it can get a bit complex for those who have little formation in physics. But don't let scare you, Dr. Ross is really thorough in his explanations. All in all, a highly recommended book!

This edition received a major overhaul, updating the massive amounts of new scientific discoveries since the last edition (only 1995!). The discoveries seem to come faster, with each new telescope and spacecraft or upgrade of the Hubble. Another good reason to support space exploration: Endless knowledge.

Ross continues to detail the support for Intelligent Design in the universe. Since he first published this book years ago, we've seen a slew of ID books like "Rare Earth" and ones from Denton, Behe and Dembski. Ross got it first and continues to bring astrophysics to readers in an understandable manner.

I'm not going to write some review that should be sectioned off in chapters. Here's the book in a nutshell. Us Christians are all the time faced with challenging questions about science and God. Most people want to keep them seperate and use fluffy statements like "just because." You cannot use that stuff to prove to any hardcore scientist that God exists and created the universe. Saying that there had to be SOMETHING that created everything doesn't quite hold up in court. Some scientific facts have pointed otherwise.

I was blessed to go to a Christian college where this book was required reading for my astronomy class. Frankly, I hate reading. But this book was amazing. Read it. I have recommended it to many people who have a hard time believing that science and faith can go hand in hand. Heck, for centuries the church has believed that they can't go together. Look what they did to scientists in the past, especially those who said the earth was round! But this book shows how the two can go hand in hand. It still goes against the young earth beliefs. But we have to remember, the Bible answers the Who and the Why. Science answers the What and How. God is amazing to have created us the way He did... He wouldn't have just thrown everything together without it stacking up with science. Scientists can neither prove nor disprove God. What else is there out there that is like that? But people like Hugh Ross show how science, truth and God can all co-exist. I loved this book. It's great for appologetics. Read it if you are having a hard time witnessing to a hard core scientist.

The Heisenberg theorists and militant evolutionists among us always seem to revel in huge probabilities, vast time periods, and unknowable quantums of hard equations. Ross ties much of this up in a way that terminates the numbers, puts limits on the time periods, and confines the quants. His big point is that the onward-rushing universe means that it was not always here; and that it has only been here for so long. Using facts discerned by the Hubble telescope and various writers in journals you and I would never be able to read, if we read them all day, Ross ties together the strings of probability for the existence of our planet, our biospere, and us. Then he comments on the other side of this probability, regarding the reasonableness of God existing right alongside us, as well as prior to the start of the universe. What will be controversial about this is how he puts limits on the confident assertions of the Darwinists, who want to use Darwin for too much. They protest, and he quotes them as they do, that he and others like him must not hold them accountable to the outer limits of their time periods, nor to the chemical limits of biology.

The style of reasoning Ross uses here is classical, or even Medieval--stating the proposition, listing the objections to it, and responding to each objection. Aquinas would say "On the contrary..." But Aquinas didn't have the science and math. In short, Ross reasons like your better professors always urged you to, especially when you felt like letting loose with a slur or attack on something you just didn't like. Ross takes a higher road, and justifies his decision to accept the universe and how it all adds up, as evidence for an intelligent designer. He also makes the point that human beings are more chemically complex than the universe. Some people just can't stand it that we might be the crown of creation after all. They may prefer to muck around in pre-biotic pools of argument. But it will take more than that to deal with the information Ross has assembled here. This is a very impressive book.