Customer Reviews

GOD? Reviews All Major Evidence and Arguments For and Against God

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Note: After I wrote this review, and before he passed away, the author was kind enough to speak to a discussion group I attend (in Boulder, CO). It was a good experience and confirmed that he was a sincere investigator. It didn't make the arguments in this book any more convincing, but we were honored to be his audience.

Suggested Reading

Below is a review of the book by the author who Dennis and Carol have invited to come speak to our group (see this thread). Here are the parts of the book I'd recommend to someone who wants to get a taste for it but not read the whole thing:

* Chapters 1-3
* Chapter 6
* Section 9.2
* Chapter 16
* Sections 20.3 through 20.6
* Chapter 24

That's about 85 pages. Skim around in Chapter 6 to make it shorter.

The Book

Chris DeSalvo's God? purports to tackle the question of God's existence by presenting and analyzing evidence and arguments from both the theist and atheist viewpoints in order to aid readers in finding their own answer to "the most vital choice in life." I read the second edition PDF version from http://www.god-book.com/.

The front matter of the book gives this description of the book's approach (and answer) to the title question:

Quote:
The book emphasizes that there is no absolute proof either way. The evidence is necessarily circumstantial. Therefore a rational person must examine all evidence, pro and con, and reach a personal conclusion. This book, "GOD?" clearly and thoroughly presents the reader with both sides of all major evidence and arguments. To answer that pesky question: "Does God exist?" the author offers a definite "Yes." (p.ii)


God? has the look and feel of a self-published labor of love. It is typeset in large sanserif type with small margins, which turned out to be excellent for on-screen reading. I read the entire thing in only a few sessions in front of my laptop's small LCD monitor, and experienced far less pain than I usually do trying to read PDFs on-screen.

I would have liked if the author put in a few notes about his background and how he came to be interested in the question of God. The only place his name even appears is in the copyright notice.

Despite its early claims to offer two points of view, the book quickly becomes an apology for a peculiar sort of limited-God Christianity and a polemic against atheism and natural selection. Its tone, from the rant against secular society at the beginning of the first chapter, is raw and personal. This is not the polished, objective work of apologetics you might expect from reading the synopsis on its amazon.com page. It is rather a passionate plea for anyone who reads it to at least consider the possibility of God. Its tone and lack of definition of scope don't lend to its convinciblility, but they do give it character.

I was glad of the one-sidedness, as it surely made for a quicker and more entertaining read than a more even-handed approach would have. Readers expecting a bias-free summary and comparison of good arguments for and against God's existence, however, will be disappointed.

The book's cover boldly claims that it "reviews all major evidence and arguments for and against God." The introductory material makes similar claims for the book's breadth, such as that it "diligently tries to describe all pertinent evidence and arguments on both sides of the God issue". Of course all pertinent evidence and arguments of the God issue could not fit into 287 pages. But, again, the broken promise is a relief to the reader. And though you won't find *all* arguments examined, or even many, the book does cover an eclectic and broad collection of topics, from an overview of cellular biology and modern physics to the Shroud of Turin.

In fact, the book is encyclopedic in nature, with its topics and scope apparently chosen as whatever the author happened to find interesting to research and then summarize. There is little in way of a unifying thesis.

The book's contents can be divided into four general topics:

* Overview (chapters 1-3)
* Biology (chapters 4-7)
* Physics (chapters 8-12)
* Religion (chapters 13-23)

Overview

The first three chapters form an overview of DeSalvo's idea of what the major issues are on both sides of the question in a point-counterpoint format, and also sketch his idea (or his suspicions) of God as being non-omnipotent, non-prescient, and not-entirely-benevolent. That last attribute, God not being all-good, he derives from a dichotomy between Goodness and Justice that I didn't fully understand. The other attributes of a limited God who doesn't know the future perfectly serve to explain the existence of evil, other possible imperfections in this world, and why processes like evolution appear to be natural.

In these first chapters, and throughout the book, he jumps from defending his version of monotheism to defending the divinity of Jesus and the authority of the Christian Bible without warning or explanation. This is always frustrating.

Biology

The next four chapters consider evidence and arguments for and against God which are based in the study of biology. He gives an overview of genetic expression and division of cells. With a total of one illustration. Readers with no prior knowledge of cellular biology might have trouble following his explanations. These chapters contain the most complete arguments in the book, and also the most interesting theology.

The main thrust of these chapters is that life is too complex, and with too few intermediate species, to be adequately explained by Darwin's theory of natural selection. As an alternative, DeSalvo offers a theory of evolution and speciation driven by a creative, but not completely powerful, God who is experimenting with various designs. Here are some excerpts which summarize his ideas of how this Creator might operate:

Quote:
Homologies are sometimes considered evidence against a designer who "just can't get it right the first time. Nothing he designs is able to make it over the long term." That quote may be exactly right. The "designer" may not have been omnipotent, and therefore the designer's first designs were not perfect. Of course, if the "designer" had been omnipotent then the whole universe, including earth and all current inhabitants, could have been created in one instant, not the fifteen billion years actually required. (p.82)

Quote:
Design by intelligence follows a common pattern. First the inventor or designer builds a crude initial object. After testing and experimenting with the initial object, the inventor learns and builds another object that better fulfills the inventor's objectives. Then that cycle is repeated over and over. At each stage the object becomes more suitable for its intended purpose. Isn't that the pattern of life on earth? (pp.94-95)


I don't, however, remember any argument as to why a divine mechanism of speciation is a more convincing explanation than natural selection. DeSalvo criticizes abiogenesis -- the idea that life formed from inanimate matter -- for being improbable, and he criticizes natural selection for not being confirmed or scientifically falsifiable; yet he seems to not have a problem accepting an invisible, supernatural designer as a viable explanation.

A creative God would explain many of the things he claims evolution can't, at this time, adequately explain. Faith in such a God of the Gaps, though, is always only one scientific discovery away from collapse.

DeSalvo alludes a few times to the idea that God's motive for creating and evolving life was to end up with creatures such as ourselves who have souls which can live with Him in Heaven in an afterlife. But it seems that in his scheme it is likely that we are just another intermediary to God's real end-goal, and our lives are no more purposeful than any other animal. How can DeSalvo be sure that humans have souls and are what God desires?

Physics

The next five chapters are an 80-page crash course in modern physics, from the Standard Model of elementary particles to quantum mechanics and Einstein's theories of relativity. It's a lot to take in. Lots of facts and figures; very few illustrations or in-text references.

The thing that might confound the reader most about these chapters is not the various elementary particles and their funny names and attributes, or the wave-particle duality of matter and energy, or time- and space-dilation, but how in this mysterious universe of ours any of it has anything to do with the question of "God?"

There is one short section (9.2) in which DeSalvo presents a summary of Gerald L. Schroeder's reconciliation of the time line of Genesis with the scientifically derived estimates of the age of the universe. There is also the implied notion throughout these chapters (and the rest of the book) that the universe is mysterious and incomprehensible, but is still real; so, perhaps, is God.

Other than those two minor points, almost nothing in these chapters is ever related back to the question of whether or not God exists. No arguments are presented or derived. These chapters would serve a much better purpose if they were removed from this volume, expanded with some examples and illustrations, and published as a standalone introduction to physics booklet.

Religion

Most of the remaining chapters discuss various points of Christianity, and brief descriptions of other religions, that the author apparently finds interesting. Like the chapters on physics, there is very little in way of argument or any further discussion of whether or not God exists. It's a strange development, considering the title of the book.

Chapters 13 through 15 give a summary of the gospels with the disclaimer that it "assumes that the gospels are accurate," and with no attempt to explain why Jesus' life is important to the question, "God?"

DeSalvo then goes into some length discussing two Christian relics: the Shroud of Turin and the Sudarium, which are claimed to be the linens that Jesus was wrapped in when he was buried. The Shroud is an especially impressive artifact. It is a cloth with an image of a man visible on it, which believers claim was "burned" into his burial cloth when Jesus' body was resurrected. The implications of the Shroud and Sudarium being genuine is that they are evidence that Jesus was actually killed and resurrected, which in turn, somehow, demonstrate the existence of a God. This jump in reasoning, from resurrection of dead to the existence of God, is stated explicitly on page 227: "The Shroud is existing, hard evidence that the Resurrection actually occurred. It is devastating evidence that atheism is false!"

The remaining sections in these chapters jump all over the place, giving the author's thoughts on prayer, Jesus' parables, pacifism, church history, and other miscellaneous religious topics. Several sections in Chapter 20 attempt a moral argument against atheism. An example of his idea of atheism from page 254: "To atheists, theology, philosophy and ethics are a waste of time. Everything is relative. There is no such thing as good and evil." The understatement of the book is found on that same page: "Many atheists do not believe in God, but believe that humans are only intelligent animals."

The Rest

Chapter 24 offers a short conclusion. Chapter 25 is a list of reference books so the reader can find further resources on the topics covered in the main text. The references are listed both by topic and by title. The remaining pages contain an index which looks complete, though I never had occasion to use it.

Conclusion

DeSalvo successfully points out the complexity and mystery of the natural universe, but he never succeeds in being convincing that God is a likely explanation for its existence. In his own words:

Quote:
Apparently there are things in the universe that, prior to careful examination, appear to be incredible, but closer examination indicates they are true. Believers make the same claim for God, but unfortunately we can't observe God closely, therefore there is no experimental evidence for God. (p.184)

The book "God" by De Salvo is a worthwhile journey that takes a difficult, rocky journey to find the answer to whether God exists.

The author makes it clear from the beginning he "believes" -but he gives both:" sides" of the story for believers and skeptics alike.

The book takes the reader from the bible to physics, biology, astronomy and back again.

He is particularly clear and convincing when talking about Evolution and all the inconsistencies that are even recognized today by most scientist: ex: The lack of "transitional fossil" evidence by any scientist.

Not that he does not believe in Evolution -he does -but on a "micro" scale of small changes and environmental influences but on a "macro" scale he makes his point cogently that almost all species appeared "full blown" from the beginning and there is much, much more on that subject.

He is the first author I have seen that looks at this difficult subject both "scientifically" and "spiritually" and doesn't flinch in either area.

I highly recommend this book. It is a fascinating "read".



Gary Visconti