I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist (Paperback)

~ (Author), (Author), David Limbaugh (Foreword) "THE UNIVERSITY RELIGION professor gave his wide-eyed undergraduate class a clear warning the very first day of the semester..." (more)
Key Phrases: teleological argument, cosmological argument, great moral teacher, New Testament, Old Testament, Moral Law (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I already know ten people to whom I will give this book. It's truly a Godsend." -David Limbaugh, author, Absolute Power and Persecution, from the Foreword "I wish [this book] had been available when I was an atheist-it would have saved a lot of time in my spiritual journey toward God!" -Lee Strobel, author, The Case for Christ and The Case for Faith "If you're still a skeptic after reading I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, then I suspect you're living in denial!" -Josh McDowell, speaker, author, Evidence That Demands a Verdict "Atheism requires gobs of blind faith while the path of logic and reason leads straight to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Geisler and Turek convincingly show why." -Phillip E. Johnson, author, Darwin on Trial and Reason in the Balance "I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist will equip, exhort, and encourage you'to give the reason for the hope that you have . . . with gentleness and respect.'" -Hank Hanegraaff, president, The Christian Research Institute, host, Bible Answer Man "This book should disturb anyone claiming to be an atheist . . . perhaps enough to persuade them to begin a search for the God who has been there all along." -Cal Thomas, syndicated columnist, host, After Hours, Fox News Channel "Geisler and Turek present the crucial information needed to avoid being swept away by the onslaughts of secular ideologies that cast science, philosophy, and biblical studies as enemies of the Christian faith." -William A. Dembski, author, The Design Revolution --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Description

All worldviews, including atheism, require faith. I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist argues that Christianity requires the least faith of all because it is the most reasonable. The authors lay out the evidence for truth, God, and the Bible in logical order and in a readable, non-technical, engaging style. A valuable aid to those interested in examining the reasonableness of the Christian faith, Geisler and Turek provide a firm challenge to the previous beliefs of doubters of all sorts.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Crossway Books (March 12, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581345615
• ISBN-13: 978-1581345612
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (175 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,724 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #13 in	Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Christian Living > Faith

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

270 of 298 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Review In Two Parts, June 19, 2005

By	Mark Eremite "This Is A Display Model Only" (Seoul, South Korea) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Amazon Verified Purchase

THE BOOK:

I am an agnostic who is looking for something to believe in. I have searched for years now, and generally am met with lukewarm explanations and radical fundamentalism from both camps. I am not self-righteous or pig-headed enough to categorically dismiss atheist or religious arguments simply because their tone bothered me, but it does get tiresome to be on the receiving end of what is usually more bitterness and dogmatic posturing than any kind of intelligent thought or reason.

Again, I'm talking about atheists as well as religious zealots.

Which is why I enjoyed this book so much.

This is a concise, well-crafted, thoughtful and thought-provoking piece of work. There is real insight to be gleaned from the pages, and although the sum total isn't what any open-minded person would call 100% convincing, it definitely gets much closer than anything else I've discovered.

There is much talk about this book setting up straw men to be knocked down, and although the book does do that on a few occasions, it is by no means what the ultimate premise is based on. In fact, although there were some sketchy arguments and hastily covered bases, and although there were explanations missing and topics omitted, I still felt, on the whole, that it was one of the more successful books I've read from either camp.

The tone (while every once in a while devolving into brief moments of snideness and cockiness) is generally quite intelligent and emotionally removed. There is little here that is bullying or smug, and for that I was grateful. It leant the text, with its vast array of debates and discussions, a snappy and no-nonsense delivery that helped elucidate the more hazily understood, philosophical explanations.

Although, in the end, I wasn't entirely convinced by the book, I was pushed much closer to being convinced than I have yet by any book, religious, atheistic, or otherwise.

THE CRITICS:

In the course of my research, I read the reviews and the comments made by consumers on Amazon.com in order to determine how best to spend my money. I don't want to buy an atheist or christian apologetic book if what I'm going to get is watered down theories and trite cliches.

At this point, I think it would be appropriate to point out that this is, in fact, a forum for discussing the merits of the product, and not the merits of the beliefs or arguments espoused within. I understand that it's hard to remove the deeper values of the work from the work itself, but it can be done. So, if, for instance, if you are an honest consumer, you can point out the cinematic brilliance of films like the Last Temptation of Christ in spite of what that film may or may not say about the religion you may or may not adhere to.

I was dismayed by how many inflammatory and rather pointless criticisms I found for this book. I'd never read it, but I could tell by the tone and stance of the reviews that they were reacting more out of indignation toward the subject matter than out of any knowledge of the text itself. One reviewer scorned the book for being written by David Limbaugh, when the man only wrote the forward. Another person decried the book for being "all about politics," when, as far as I could tell, there wasn't a word about politics, just beliefs or the lack of them.

If you are a critic of christianity, that's fine. Trust me, I understand your point of view. But your clumsily summarized view points and your indignant rebuttals do little to enlighten people who may be interested in buying this book. There are forums in which you can openly discuss and debate these topics, but this is not one of them. This is about saying whether or not the book is worth buying. Instead of doing that, most of you have instead attempted to explain your own beliefs, as if you want to write your own book in response to Christianity, but can't be bothered.

For someone such as myself, looking for intelligent and candid help with the question of Larger Purposes (or their absence), your poorly worded rants and emotional appeals -- especially those of you wearing your rage on your sleeve -- do nothing to help me. For future reference, if you really want to help someone like me understand your points of view, instead of typing out some sloppy summation or more key-worded dismissals (argument from ignorance! straw men!), perhaps you could actually RECOMMEND A DIFFERENT BOOK.

I am always on the lookout for some way to increase my knowledge of the world, and my knowledge of what that world may do to better explain the validity or non-validity of any religion. Unlike many of you, though, I haven't been convinced yet, either way. I read your reviews in the hopes that you may be able to point me down the same path that led to your own enlightenment of absolute certainty, but all most of you did was make vacuous complaints about the book and then insult people who might actually believe or buy it.

So, if you've come online to write a scathing review or to tear apart the praisers of this book, go right ahead. But keep in mind that your own viewpoints -- as right or wrong as they might be -- are less welcome than your criticisms of the actual book in question. And if you DO think you've got it all figured out, and if you DON'T think this book does, you could at least try to share that knowledge by pointing someone like me in the right direction, and by doing that without the same snobbish condecension that you sometimes find in the relgious believers whom you so adamantly decry.

387 of 459 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Atheist almost swayed by this book, April 19, 2004

By	Mike (Princeton, NJ) - See all my reviews

Having read quite a few Christian apologetics books, I feel I can say that this one is by far the best in scope, logic, and wit. The authors convincingly build up their case in layers, starting with well-reasoned arguments why God exists, and building in stages as to why Jesus is the way to go, once everything else is accepted.

The authors include run-ins they've had with professors and debate opponents, making for an interesting read. The appendixes, which feature a mock dialogue between a Christian and an atheist, are entertaining. The book covers all the important issues that this topic entails, from cosmology, life origins, evolution, morality, and a defense of the Bible.

No honest atheist can read this book without being impressed by the quality of the theistic arguments as presented by the authors. The objections of skeptics are confronted with confidence. Did it change my mind? It may have planted a seed.

I highly recommend this book to both atheists and Christians, and to anyone else interested in this topic. It is VERY convincing. These guys know their stuff.

167 of 224 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Truth Is Marching On!, April 21, 2004

By	R. J. Hough "solafide" (Peachtree City, Ga. USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist" convincingly shows why atheism and other non-Christian views require a lot more faith than Christianity. Geisler and Turek build their case from the question of truth all the way to truth of the Bible. Along the way, in a readable and often entertaining way, they debunk relativism, agnosticism, atheism, Darwinism and New Testament liberalism. Their explanations of how the big bang, the design found in both the Universe and living organisms (like humans!), and morality point to God are worth the price of the book.

I especially like the clarity they bring to the creation-evolution debate. Their point about how science is built on philosophy helps clear away much of the dust kicked into that often raucous debate. "It's not about the Bible vs. science or religion vs. science" they write, "but about good science vs. bad science." Geisler and Turek show that it's actually the Darwinists who are practicing the bad science. Darwinists rule out intelligent causes before they even look at the evidence. In doing so, they ignore observation-- the very foundation of science-- much as the opponents of Galileo once did. That's bad science built on bad philosophy.

I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist has four great chapters that systematically show why the New Testament documents are telling the truth. The authors show why we can be assured that the documents were written within a few decades of the evens which they report and contain historically-confirmed eyewitness details. They also cite non-Christian writers, archaeology, and list over 30 characters found in the New Testament that have been confirmed by secular sources. But they are at their best when they point out how the New Testament story is an unlikely invention. After listing a series of embarrassing gaffes of the apostles, Geisler and Turek ask the reader, "If you were a New Testament writer, would you include these embarrassing details if you were making up a story? Would you write that one of your primary leaders was called 'Satan' by Jesus, denied the Lord three times, hid during the crucifixion, and was later corrected on a theological issue? Would you depict yourselves as uncaring, bumbling cowards, and the women-whose testimony was not even admissible in court-as the brave ones who stood by Jesus and later discovered the empty tomb? Would you admit that some of you (the eleven remaining disciples) doubted the very Son of God after he had proven himself raised to all of you?" Geisler and Turek don't have enough faith to believe it's a made-up story. Neither do I.

This is an engaging and affirming book with a vast scope. I highly recommend it!