The Battle for the Beginning (Paperback)

~ John MacArthur (Author) "IT'S HARD TO IMAGINE anything more absurd than the naturalist's formula for the origin of the universe: Nobody times nothing equals everything..." (more)
Key Phrases: herb that yields seed, battle for the beginning, holistic information, Lord God, God Himself, Spirit of God (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The battle for a true view of the beginning is not optional. Our faith and the future of our world hang on the truth about creation. Dr. MacArthur insists that when naturalistic and atheistic presuppositions are being aggressively peddled as if they were established scientific fact, Bible-believing Christians "ought to expose such lies for what they are and oppose them vigorously."

Do you know what you believe about creation? Could you defend your views to those who deny the Genesis account? Battle for the Beginning tackles the tough issues of creation versus evolution by taking an in-depth look at Genesis 1 and comparing it to scientific evidence. In this book find answers to the challenging questions. Learn what the Bible says about how our universe began.

From the Publisher

The battle for a true view of the beginning is not optional. Our faith and the future of our world hang on the truth about creation. Dr. MacArthur insists that when naturalistic and atheistic presuppositions are being aggressively peddled as if they were established scientific fact, Bible-believing Christians "ought to expose such lies for what they are and oppose them vigorously."

Do you know what you believe about creation? Could you defend your views to those who deny the Genesis account? In this book find answers to the tough questions. Learn what the Bible says about how our universe began. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (March 22, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785271597
• ISBN-13: 978-0785271598
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #320,071 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

119 of 158 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Profoundly Disappointing, February 12, 2002

By	Jonathan Clarke (Canberra Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Battle For The Beginning (Hardcover)

I have read a number of John MacArthur's other books and found them both challenging and encouraging. I therefore looked forward to this book as one I could perhaps recommend to friends as a practical book on the subject for non-technical people. It was a sad disappointment. I am reminded of God's words to Job "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?" (Job 38:2 KJV).

Firstly, in his very title, "The Battle for the Beginning", MacArthur has bought the whole conflict metaphor for the relationship between science and Christianity. Completely discredited by all historians and philosophers of science, this destructive metaphor first promulgated by Simpson, Draper, and White in the 19th century continues to muddy the waters of sensible discussion of science and Christianity in the 21st. Interaction, overlapping, and complementary paradigms are much more useful and accurate models than conflict.

Secondly, MacArthur makes a number of elementary confusions, equating scientific evidence for an old earth and universe with that for organic evolution and confusing organic evolution with philosophical naturalism. A familiarity with some basic philosophy of science and an understanding of the interaction of science and theology would have prevented this.

Thirdly, MacArthur is fundamentally ignorant on matters of general history. On page 16 he says: "The moral catastrophe that has disfigured modern western society is directly traceable to Darwinism and rejection of the early chapters of Genesis." All the moral failings in modern society had their precursors well before Darwin published "The Origin of Species" in 1859 and many were flourishing. Moral catastrophes are not the exclusive domain of the last 140 years.

Fourthly, MacArthur is ignorant of evangelical history. He writes "over the past couple of decades, large numbers of evangelicals have shown a surprising willingness to take a completely non-evangelical approach to interpreting the early chapters of Genesis. More and more are embracing the view known as "old-earth creationism..."" (pages 18-19). In fact, many of the founders of geology and established the fact that the earth was very old were not only devout Christians but often evangelicals. Men such as the Playfair, Fleming, Chambers, Buckland, Sedgwick, Miller, Silliman, and Dawson. The United States was introduced to organic evolution by the evangelical Asa Gray. Evangelical theologians such as Warfield (who defined the modern doctrine of Biblical inerrancy) and James Orr (who contributed to "The Fundamentals") were strong supporters of organic evolution.

Fifthly, MacArthur is inconsistent in his approach. He is convinced that Genesis 1-3 must be taken at face value and therefore the findings of cosmology, geology, and palaeontology must be rejected. But seems to accept the fact that the earth goes round the sun, the universe is very large, that the sky is not a solid dome, and modern genetics (see pages 69-135 in particular). These are all inconsistent with taking Scripture at face value. In these other areas MacArthur accepts scientific findings to interpret the Bible in a non-literal way. However he explicitly says on page 22: "Modern scientific opinion is not a valid hermeneutic for interpreting Genesis (or any other portion of Scripture..." So what criteria does he use to accept one scientific conclusion but not another?

Sixthly, MacArthur is not familiar with the literature. This may explain his mistakes, but it is tragic that such an influential Christian writer to pass judgement on an issue with so little knowledge of the field. The quotes only three theologians, Edward Young (three times, John Calvin (twice), and Augustine (once). MacArthur specifically discusses only one Christian in science who defends and old earth position, Hugh Ross, even though this represents the position of overwhelming majority of evangelical scientists in the relevant positions. He does not cite a single evangelical theologian (apart from disparaging passing reference to Meredith Kline) who takes a non-literal position on Genesis 1-3. Almost the only people he does quote with approval are young earth creationists, who theological, historical, philosophical, and scientific failings are too numerous to enumerate here. MacArthur quotes Michael Behe and C.S. Lewis with approval, apparently unaware that both accept an old earth, Behe one of the key tenets of organic evolution (descent with modification) and Lewis also cautiously accepted organic evolution. Apart from one Scientific American article, MacArthur does not cite a single scientific work. There is no reference to any study on the history and philosophy of science or the interaction science and Christianity, of which there are a great many excellent works readily available. This lack of familiarity with the basic literature explains, although does not excuse, the many fundamental errors in this book.

Finally, is there anything good to be said about this book? Yes, there is. MacArthur correctly identifies naturalism as anti-Christian. He is also correct in attacking the way that some philosophical naturalists use science to bolster their philosophical position. Unfortunately he picks the wrong target. Rather than attacking the weak link between science and naturalism, he chooses to attack science and naturalism, and tries to defend Christianity with the anti-science of young earth creationism. The baby gets thrown out with the bath water.

MacArthur's book is likely to have two sad consequences. Some will rightly reject his anti-science attitude and use this as an excuse to reject the Christian gospel. Others will correctly reject naturalism but also science, thereby missing out of something that, rightly understood, encourages faith, and is an essential tool in the understanding and care of God's world.

122 of 165 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars MacArthur Loses the Battle for the Beginning, September 15, 2006

By	Carl Flygare (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book places the creation of the universe 2,500 years after the Babylonians and Sumerians learned to brew beer. Does the author know that by the late Middle Ages the search for natural causes typified the work of Christian natural philosophers? Even a medieval Christian mindset could embrace methodological naturalism - the heart of the scientific method - because it works.

The University of Paris cleric Jean Buridan, described as "perhaps the most brilliant arts master of the Middle Ages," contrasted the philosopher's search for "appropriate natural causes" with the erroneous habit of attributing unusual phenomena to the supernatural.

Enthusiasm for the naturalist view and study of nature picked up in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as Christians turned their attention to discovering the so-called secondary causes that God employed in operating the world. Galileo Galilei, one of the foremost proponents of the new philosophy insisted that nature "never violates the terms of the laws imposed upon her."

Scientific naturalism retains strong Christian support down to the present - hardly surprising since the concept was largely developed in Christianized Europe. Unfortunately MacArthur embraces the retrograde cant of the worst Evangelical Christian ignoramuses, denies history and reality, and wants to set your watch and worldview back to the Dark Ages. Welcome to the lunatic asylum without walls world of Young Earth Creationism.

The mangy dogma enshrined in this obtuse apologetic - that everything "poofed" into existence over a literal six day period as described in Genesis - is pathetically untenable. Nobody, especially John MacArthur, even knows who penned this contradictory and farfetched fable. Norse, Egyptian, Yokut, Babylonian, and Lakota creation myths, among hundreds of others, are equally well documented.

In the Young Earth Creationist iconography of ignorance "The Battle for the Beginning" is just another small painting. Genesis is myth. Get over it.

For a reality-based view try Many Worlds in One: The Search for Other Universes by Alex Vilenkin or The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe by Steven Weinberg.

56 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Literal Approach, January 27, 2004

By	Tim Challies (Oakville, Ontario) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Battle For The Beginning (Hardcover)

John MacArthur wrote Battle For The Beginning primarily to address the world's origins from a Biblical viewpoint. The book is aimed at a Christian audience and is not so much a defense of creationism as it is a defense of a literal six-day creation. This is not a book that primarily focuses on convincing unbelieving evolutionists of creationism, but rather it focuses on convincing Christians who believe that in some form of evolution (such as old-earth creationism or the Gap Theory) that the only valid reading of Genesis one and two is a literal reading. MacArthur bases much of the book on the view that Evolution is itself a religion that is completely opposed to Christianity. Creationism and Evolution, therefore, can never be mixed. We must believe in either one or the other.

After giving many reasons why Evolutionism is antithetical to God and His design, the book spends a chapter on each of the days of creation. In each chapter the author shows why anything other than a literal six-day creation is impossible. In so doing he gives many wonderful examples of the wonders and marvels of creation. Much of the book is focused on refuting the arguments of Hugh Ross, the most prominent of the theistic evolutionists.

I would highly recommend this book to any believer that is struggling with the conflict between creationism and evolutionism. MacArthur's ability to accurately draw teaching from scripture and using God's word as the ultimate teaching tool makes this one of the best books I have read on the subject.