Evidence for God in an Age of Uncertainty God's Not Dead (Paperback) - Common

by Rice Broocks

The goal of God s Not Evidence for God in an Age of Uncertainty is to help readers develop a faith that is real and credible and strong enough to help others find faith in God. To that end, Rice Broocks outlines a roadmap that guides seekers to acknowledge the most basic truths of There is overwhelming and exciting evidence for God s existence The God who exists is indeed the God of the Bible God has revealed his nature through his Son, Jesus Christ As shown during the movie, this is the original book on which the main character bases much of his debate points with the atheistic professor. Persuasive arguments crafted with tools borrowed from logic, science, and philosophy, as well as scripture, solidify the faith of the Christian reader and provide starting points for discussions with skeptics. With clear, easy-to-follow explanations of key concepts and controversies, God s Not Dead is apologetics for the twenty-first century, presented in layman s terms. Readers will be empowered not only to talk about their own faith with confidence but to lead others to a relationship with Jesus.

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction, Religion, Christianity, Theology, Spirituality, Faith

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Soon after Rice Broocks became a Christian as a third year university student, he discussed his faith with his brother Ben, an atheist, who was a third year law student. Though Rice was young in his faith, his simple answers to his brother’s questions led to Ben’s acceptance of Christ, and he baptized Ben later that day.

“Since that day I’ve devoted my life to reaching out to an unbelieving, skeptical world with the message that God is indeed real and has revealed Himself in nature, as well as in history,’” said Broocks.

In his new book, God’s Not Dead: Evidence for God in an Age of Uncertainty (Thomas Nelson, March 2013), Broocks offers a clear, understandable overview of the evidence for God as well as the credibility of the Christian faith, while responding directly to many skeptical claims.

Broocks is the co-founder of the Every Nation family of churches, which currently includes more than 1,000 churches in more than 60 countries. Present on hundreds of college campuses, Broocks has spent the last 30 years with Every Nation focusing on equipping college students around the world to defend their faith.

Broocks also serves as the senior minister of Bethel World Outreach Church in Nashville, Tenn., where he provides oversight for this multi-ethnic, multisite church, currently meeting in locations in Middle Tennessee, Texas, and Arizona.

He is the author of several books, including his upcoming release, God’s Not Dead, Every Nation In Our Generation and the Purple Book (Biblical Foundations).

Broocks holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Mississippi State University, a master’s degree from Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Miss., as well as a doctorate in missiology from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif.

Broocks lives in Franklin, Tenn., with his wife, Jody, and their five children.

Reviews

[Jonathan Terrington · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't post a review for this work when I first read it because I was taking time to consider how best to review this book. I must first explain the bias I have in reading this work: Firstly, I am Christian as I clearly explain to anyone regularly. Secondly, I belong to the Church movement co-founded by the author of this text. Thirdly, Rice Broocks clearly thinks with a similar logic to myself as I found when reading God's Not Dead. This bias thus explained early on, I shall endeavor to express how much I both enjoyed and learned from this work.

The title of this work stems from the philosophical statement of Nietzsche that 'God is dead.' It's a concept often misinterpreted to be Nietzsche arrogantly stating that there is no need for God, that God is dead because we have removed his necessity. However, as I understand it, Nietzsche's claim was more that God only exists in the mind of those who believe in him and that the actions of modern man, modern believers, do not reflect a belief in God truly. To that extent Nietzsche was right - too many believers do not live out a faith which reflects a belief in a living God. But I want to write this review to express that I do not believe God is dead, although Nietzsche now certainly is.

Rice Broocks writes this book for this very purpose: to challenge believers to live lives which reflect truly that God is alive, not dead. He makes the point that belief is often claimed to be something related to fairytales, but argues that true belief should stem from rationality and logic. Belief should be, essentially, a response to rational values. However, too many Christians do not live like that, and their 'beliefs' just become weird and religious rather than truthful reflections of what they believe.

If you are looking for a clear and concise apologetics work (nothing overly complex however) then give this a read. It will encourage you if you are a believer, to look into your own faith a little more deeply. If you are not, but are fascinated by religious discussion then this might interest you nonetheless for that very reason.

[Dana Probert · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've felt God's presence in my life, so I was not reading this book for validation. It was a curiosity about the book behind the new movie. I was a bit disappointed in the book because I often found his process of deriving a "proof" as illogical. Many times it would be "since no other explanation makes sense, it must be God." This bothers me for many reasons. One small example is that 200 years ago we would have said the same thing about viruses. (Viruses themselves may be God's work but I dont believe you are damned to measles.) I don't believe God finished telling us his story with the Bible. I believe that biology, paleontology, mathematics, cosmology, physics, etc etc etc are ways to understand our world and build on what we know about where it came from and how it works.

[Amora · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great book if you’re new to Christian apologetics. Arguments presented here are easily accessible if you’re new to Christian apologetics. This was my second Rice Brooks book and I enjoyed it, but personally I found Brook’s follow-up book to better because the arguments were more robust

[Jeremy Eackles · Rating 4 out of 5]

We live in a time where Christianity has never been more prevalent throughout the world, but yet, it is still an age of uncertainty where some do not know of God or highly doubt his existence. This is the perfect book for the believer or skeptic. If you're a believer in Christ, it's inevitable that you will have to explain your belief in God to an unbeliever. For the skeptic, science has been the main reasoning for why atheist believe there is no God. But science shows how things work, but does not explain why things work. This book explains all of the evidence of an Intelligent Creator through science, old biblical doctrines and testimonies of Atheist who turned Christians. The evidence is insurmountable, and it all leads to the actual existence of a savior who walked this earth over 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ. I enjoyed reading this book. I am Christian, but I still struggle explaining my faith to others who may not believe or have doubt. I highly recommend this book to all. It opened my eyes!

But only those who seek him, will truly find him.(Jeremiah 29:13)

[Shelby Welsch · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book did a really good job of giving ways to prove God's existence through the big bang, the unlikelihood of macro evolution, and the grand design including the eye. It looks at how science proves the existence of God, not disproves Him.

[Jon Stephens · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s ironic, but I was skeptical about this book which addresses the questions of those who are skeptical about the existence of God. I think the discussion of the existence of God is incredibly important for both those who believe in God and those who don’t, but when the subject is approached by Christians in a flippant and/or unprepared manner, I think it does far more damage than good.

With that said, I was pleased to read Broocks book God’s Not Dead and found that he did a great job approaching this subject from numerous angles and with reasonable care.

As someone who already believes in God, I found this book to be an encouragement and a reaffirmation of truths I hold dear. I also learned some things I didn’t know and feel it definitely does a good job in helping Christians articulate why it is we believe in the existence of God. If I was reading this book as someone who didn’t believe in God, I think it would be a great starting point, and resource for asking strong questions.

What I liked most about this book was how it uses science, philosophy, logic, and history as the foundation of most of it’s propositions. Broocks absolutely talks about faith, but he also does a good job of hilighting the evidence for God that is all around us. Another thing I liked was how Broocks discussed many of Richard Dawkins & Christopher Hitchens positions on God (two of our generations most regarded atheists).

Probably one of the most encouraging and profound parts of the book for me was the story of Ming Wang, MD, PhD. Wang is a Harvard and MIT honors graduate and one of very few cataract and LASIK surgeons in the world who holds a doctorate in laser physics. He performed the world’s first 3-D LASIK and was one of the first surgeons in the US to perform laser cataract surgery (has now performed over 55,000). This highly educated man of science also went from being an atheist to being a follower of Jesus while he was a student. Wang said: “Actually, the more I learned about science, the more – not less – evidence that I saw of God’s creation and design…I realized that there is absolutely no way that an intricate structure such as a human eye could ever evolve from a random compilation of cells. The very complexity of a human eye is, in fact, the most powerful evidence of the existence of God” (p. 220).

One of the things I didn’t like about the book was on p. 11 & 15 when it mentions those who have died at the hands of people who held Islamic, atheist, or naturalistic belief systems as an argument for the God of the Bible. In my opinion this is always a weak argument due to the fact that “Christians” throughout history have done disgusting and horrible things in the name of God. Extremists from any belief system can never be used to represent the whole. Thankfully this was only a brief mention in the book and in no way is the book built on this argument.

Although some of the book is a little heady, I would highly recommend it to anyone, but especially to Christian’s who are moving from high school to college and may find themselves in a sea of questions regarding their faith in God.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

www.jonathanstephens.wordpress.com

@jonstephensNY

[Karie Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Rick Brooks wrote God's Not Dead, he wrote it with three kinds of readers in mind.



First is the seeker, who "is attempting to believe but faces doubts about whether God is real" (pg. xviii).

Second there is the believer, who "knows God is real subjectively but cannot easily articulate this faith to unbelievers" (pg. xix).

Finally, there is the skeptic, who will pick up this book and read from a "critical point of view and a predetermined mind-set that there is no God" (pg. xix).

This book talks about the existence of God which is not a blind faith but based on evidence. Also that was all have a purpose on this earth which why we exist and not just floating around waiting for something to happen. Brooks addresses the problem of good and evil which is a stumbling block for many non-believers. One of my favorite quotes from that chapter says, "To be angry with God for allowing evil is to be angry with Him for allowing you to be born and live" (pg. 55).





To be honest, I have never thought of it that way before. We question God on our own existence when we get ticked off at Him because of the pain and suffering we experience.



Brooks continues on with writing about creation and even ourselves as created beings.



Brooks even discussed the Resurrection of Christ which is one of the biggest piece of evidence for the existence of God. Before he had to go on the resurrection, Brooks used non-biblical sources to prove the existence of Jesus indicating that Jesus was no myth.



The last chapter of the book delivers a interesting twist. The reason for saying that is Brooks talks about the living proof for the existence of God.



What is that living proof? It is the activity of God in our world. Brooks uses stories from North American, Europe, Africa, and Asia to talk about what God is doing in and through the lives of people all over the world.

[Pastor Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have such mixed feelings about books like this. It actually is a very good book most of the time. How can it not be? It is a defense of Christian Theism. It is very well written and understandable. It is chock full of great quotations. And yet, I can only muster three stars. Why?

Two stars are yanked because:

1. This book promotes the charismatic (I call "crazymatic") notion of God speaking in a not-quite-audible but "heard-by-me" voice to unsaved people as a way to draw them in to be saved. Several times the conversion story is of a skeptic wrestling with the evidence for God only to get a personal wireless call from the Deity.

So, does God do that all the time? According to this book, you would think so. But does that mean God called Harris, Hitchens and Dawkins and they hung up the phone on Him??? Or is this a charismatic version of Calvinism and Harris, Hitchens and Dawkins are not the elect??

The power of God unto salvation isn't personal visitation, dreams, visions, etc. Romans 1:16 (KJV) "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."

The fact is, God is SILENT outside of His written word. It is natural and fair to struggle with this issue and books like Sir Robert Andersons, "The Silence of God," wrestle with this REALITY. But that is the point: REALITY. Checking out and inventing voices and other assorted ghost stories HURTS the cause. It is not helpful. At all.

Yes, when Jesus Christ called Saul, to become known as the Apostle Paul, as the replacement for Judas Iscariot (read Acts 9) and the apostle of the Gentiles (Romans 11:13, 2 Timothy 1:11), He did speak audibly. He also appeared visibly, blinded him for three days and gave him power to work miracles for three decades while he wrote the majority of New Testament Epistles (14 including Hebrews) and became THE most influential Christian in the 2,000 year history of the Church. And this all happened during the transition from Mosaic Law to the Gospel of the Grace of God, which is the whole point of the Book of Acts, in the first century AD.

This is NOT typical. This was an extraordinary event making the most major transition of God's dealings with mankind in all of human history before the second coming of Christ. Scripture is clear that authentic conversions are more like the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8) and NOT the ridiculous claims of people like Augustine (who heard the voice of a little boy say, "Pick up and READ!") or Oral Roberts (who was threatened with death by a 900 foot Jesus if he didn't raise enough money to build a hospital that later went defunct).

Fast forward to the 21st century and last days before the fulfillment of the great "falling away" (2 Thessalonians 2:3), the coming Beast with his false prophet, the mark of the beast, etc., and we are now being told NOT to take Bible prophecy literally (like it has always been understood unless you're a Christ-rejecting Pharisee or Sadducee IN that first century who MISSED their Messiah by allegorizing Bible prophecy) and to, instead, listen to voices in our head and conquer the world!?!?

Which brings us to the second star being yanked because:

2. My fears were realized in the final chapter when Broocks goes off on a tear embracing anything that calls itself "Christian" as evidence that we are smothering the world with the Gospel... there is a massive revival swarming the continents... and the evidence appears to confirm the New Apostolic Reformation doctrine of Dominion Theology! Woo-hoo!! We will rule the WORLD!!

Hogwash.

He applauds the "mega church" movement even as it waters down Christianity into a psychology cult and produces mindless, ignorant, undiscerning tools for the ecumenical (Antichrist) apostasy taking place. He lauds and applauds any poll or "evidence" that Christianity is experiencing "phenomenal growth". But these sources are undiscerning and indiscriminate, fudging their numbers by including unregenerate religionists in those numbers.

I can't go into great detail or I'd turn this review into a book itself, but just investigate Broocks claim that Africa is now 45% Christian (and growing!). If you throw in Roman Catholics, Orthodox, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses and the huge swath of "christians" who follow the fake signs and wonders charlatans without having any faith in the Gospel... and so forth, then you could come up with a percentage like that. Maybe.

Are there people being saved in Africa, China, South America, South Korea? Yes. But the numbers are inflated for fund-raising and propaganda reasons. Meanwhile, the mass majority of the world population is growing more Sodomite and Globalist in preparation for the LITERAL fulfillment of Bible prophecy.

And, by the way, appealing to "the Reformers" is no excuse for rejecting the Bible. We thank God for the Reformers. They were coming out of the DARK AGE that included the horrible allegorizing of Scholasticism. They made great strides in the major issues of Sola Fide (salvation by faith apart from human works) and Sola Scriptura (Scripture is the supreme, final and only divine authority not to be subjected to or on equal grounds with Church teachings, traditions, church fathers, etc.). But they were AWOL on Bible prophecy in fulfillment of Daniel 12:4. But in these last days, God is allowing His people to see the "handwriting on the wall".

The reader of this book will have great reasons provided for believing in God and, specifically, for believing the God of the Bible and believing on Jesus Christ and His death, burial and resurrection. For that, we are thankful (see Philippians 1:15-18). But this is not the version of that apologetic that we would recommend or distribute as he praise things like the "Alpha Course" and "theological liberals... with clear messages and convictions", etc., and a DELUSION of Dominion by Christians in the world being prepped for the Antichrist.

[Taylor Vegge · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Discusses different atheist type sects like naturalism, big bang theory, science based arguments, and other arguments as to why God doesn’t exist or why it doesn’t matter if He does.

CS Lewis says there are two evidence of Gods existence: creation around us and the moral law written in our hearts. The book talks about this general idea that someone could not have read a single word of the Bible but still know it’s wrong to murder, lie, etc. How? Maybe their parents told them so. How do they know? So on so forth. All cultures borrow from the laws of the Bible whether they mean to or not, but regardless we are all born with the basic understanding of good and bad. How can we know something is bad without having an idea of what it means to be good?
Personally, I think the other main evidence is the experience of emptiness we all feel/have felt. We are created in Gods image and when we live outside of Him, there will always be that feeling of longing like something is missing, but we don’t know what. After we come to God, we realize that it was God. That we were made for God and will never be complete until we live for what we were created for. As Augustine says, “our hearts are restless until they find rest in thee”.

[Matthew · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you are a believer who knows little about logical and debate fallacies you will likely love this book. If you know and understand the fallacies your head will explode if you read this book too fast.

Before you begin this book read up on the fallacies (ad populam, appeal to authority, ad antiquitatum, etc). Go slowly and save yourself the medical bills (from the eye cancer or whatever).

The author doesn't actually make a case for the biblical god as is his goal; instead if any argument is made it is only for a deistic stance at best and could easily be used for EVERY other religion wanting to prove their god existed.

I was given this book as a gift no doubt intended to change my views but regretfully the arguments presented are completely lack luster. Numbers and stats are thrown out several times with no reference even though the notes section is impressively large.

I would never tell someone to not read a book, in fact, I want many people to read this one but you must make yourself aware of the fallacies beforehand to prepare. I will gladly lend you my copy though I have commented extensively in the margins to make my thoughts known to future readers.

[Kyle Talbot · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing to say the least. This book relies too much on straw man arguments, appeals to authority and personal observations/testimonies to attempt to provide evidence for the existence of God. Specifically just the Judeo Christian God. There were also far too many moments where facts were skewed or presented in a way that seemed to support the existence of a primary, monotheistic, god. For instance, there was a point where it was asserted that "90% of the planet believes in God" I can only assume this refers to the statistic of how many people in the world identify as religious (which is actually closer to 85%). The context of this fact was presented in a way to suggest that the majority of the world's population believes in the same god. Outrightly exluding the polytheistic religions, such as Hinduism, and those who may state they believe in a higher power, but that doesn't necessarily equate to God. Overall this book doesn't lend anything that would be precieved as new or enlightening to the ongoing debate of the existence of God, but rather spends far too much time criticizing a skeptical worldview.

[Jaci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este libro hace que quiera gritar a todo el mundo: ¡Dios no está muerto!
Los puntos que se tratan en este libro confirman la existencia de Dios. Además la narración es amena y didáctica de manera que cualquier persona (creyente o no) pueda entenderla.
La ciencia parece estar muy lejos de Dios, pero en realidad está más cerca de lo que uno puede imaginar. De hecho, sin Dios no habría ciencia.
Sin duda, este libro me ha abierto los ojos. Siendo yo una persona que estudia una ciencia pura, debo ayudar a otros a que crean en quien los creó.

[Kathleen Sabillano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome! God is real.

[Paoperezn · Rating 5 out of 5]

¡¡Maravilloso!! Me encanta el autor, quien también produjo y dirigió la película. Es un libro que nos da argumentos para compartir con otras personas sobre Dios. Este libro se basa en la FE ❣️

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

The chapters “Jesus and the Resurrection” and “The Witness of Scripture” are so important!!! Everyone wrestles with the meaning of life and the existence of God, and the truth is that there is a definitive answer. Those who seek God earnestly will find Him. He is revealed through the intricacies of creation, the beauty of human life, the heart that yearns for righteousness, and the written scriptures that make known the fulfillment of prophecy and redemption of man through Jesus Christ. This book clearly works through all the evidence for the truth of Christianity, showing that ours is a rational faith and Jesus truly is the way, the truth, and the life.

[Tim Franks · Rating 4 out of 5]

We are living deeply in a skeptical world where the existence or belief in God is lacking. Rice Broocks provides us with a strong primer on the defense for believing and knowing God. There are certainly arguments against what is written here, but they are not compelling or back up the evidence we see in the world around us. One major strength in this work is the author's willingness to address some hard issues and arguments from atheists/agnostics. Christians have nothing to fear in digging deep into issues and debating the issues with charity. Really enjoyed this book that goes along with the movie that came out around the same time.

[Craig Childs · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a useful book of Christian apologetics--I think of it as a sort of revised and updated version of Mere Christianity--that addresses many of the arguments from today's "new atheist" movement. Broocks cites not only famous theologians, scientists, and philosophers from history (Lewis, Nietzsche, Einstein, Newton) but also engages with the ideas and writings of modern physicists and biologists including Richard Dawkins and Stephen Hawking.

The goal of the book is to convince seekers who are skeptical of God as well as to arm Christians who already believe with a coherent set of arguments to combat the twin world views of naturalism (belief that the universe is solely the result of natural processes and laws) and scientism (belief that science is equipped to answer all of life's questions).

The focus changes in the last few chapters as Broocks also presents evidence for the historicity of the resurrection and the accuracy of the Bible as a whole. The best chapter in the entire book talks about the overwhelmingly positive impact of the church through history.

Very few of the ideas presented are new, but this is the first book in a generation to assemble a cohesive, easily accessible framework for the defense of the Christian faith. It recycles many of Lewis' classic arguments for the existence of a personal deity (such as the cosmological argument and No God=No Evil) as well as pro-Intelligent Design theories (irreducible complexity, fine-tuning of the universe, etc.)

I am glad this book exists. Many of the arguments were convincing, all were informative. However, I wanted to like it more. I was often frustrated with how the material was presented. Some examples:

1) Irreducible complexity is one of the most significant hurdles evolution theory has to overcome. Unfortunately, Broocks devotes only a few paragraphs to this topic. He offers two examples of things found in nature that could not have evolved because no intermediate, less-than fully-functional form could possibly provide any survival benefit to its owner. However, he uses mostly non-biological analogies rather than delve into the specifics of the science. (I would refer readers to author Jonathan Sarfati's books for excellent discourses on this subject.)

2) Broocks at times fails to support his assumptions. He says, "Natural selection could never result in higher reasoning.. The fact humans have higher reasoning is proof of God." His offers no scientific support for this premise. Even worse, he implies higher reasoning may be a byproduct of an immortal soul, instead of something that has a biological explanation. This really is God-of-the-gaps thinking that scientists (rightly) scoff at. I recently read David Eagleman's The Brain: The Story of You. He admits scientists do not know how sentience results from the interactions of neurons in the brain, nor do they understand how evolution could create such a sophisticated organ through natural selection. (He takes natural selection as an article of faith.) He proffers an as-yet unproven hypothesis that the brain functions similar to an ant colony. Each neuron is by itself just acting on blind unthinking instinct, but in unison the brain network acts as a collective hive that achieves amazing results greater than the sum of its parts. (I think this theory could be true without at all disproving the existence of a soul.)

3) Some arguments were a slightly self-contradicting. For example, Broocks presents one of the classic arguments against atheism, to wit the atheist has to convince himself that 90% of the living population--and nearly 100% of the population throughout history--has been wrong about the existence of a Supreme Being. The atheist must have the arrogant audacity to believe he one of only a tiny minority of humans that ever lived "who got it right". At first blush, this seems like a strong argument, but it relies on an underlying fallacy--the majority must be correct. A few pages later, Broocks makes the assertion that if one simply observes the world around you, the existence of a Creator is self-evident. But is it really self-evident? Nearly all of the established community of scientists and a majority of the population of the Western world now believes the universe was formed through naturalistic means without design. So, Broocks' argument could logically be flipped to say "Those who believe God created the world must first delude themselves into believing they are right while all the scientists are wrong."

4) Broocks also has a few puzzling gaps in his own beliefs. For example, he respects the position of theistic evolutionists (those who believe in that a Designer guided the creation of the cosmos through the physical processes of natural selection), yet the theory of natural selection itself excludes the possibility of a Designer and few interpretations of the Bible allow for death prior to original sin. So, if there is one thing both sides of the Creation/Evolution debate should agree on, it is that theistic evolution certainly did not happen. It does not make sense scientifically or theologically.

Broocks' heart is in the right place. I liked the book--I really did!-- but he is no C.S. Lewis or Josh McDowell.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done. The title is a bit misleading as many of us assume it’s a narrative retelling of the movie. But the subtitle Evidence for God in an Age of Uncertainty is accurate. Great book.

[Brayan Polanco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este libro te evidencia la existencia de Dios, Rice Brooks nos cuenta su experiencia de como ha llevado el mensaje de la fe y como ha tenido que lidiar con las personas que no creen en la existencia de Dios.

[Jessica Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard read.

[Nikole Hahn · Rating 5 out of 5]

“God must necessarily exist in order for atheists not to believe in Him. There is no other explanation for the capacity to reason (even poorly). Atheism and naturalism can’t account for reason. To say that reason came into being for no reason is unreasonable. The logical processes of reason and deduction in the scientific method must be assumed in order for scientific inquiry to take place; therefore, science can’t verify itself in the strict sense.” - Pg. 36, God’s Not Dead: Evidence For God in an Age of Uncertainty; Thomas Nelson

Unbelievers consider faith and science different as if faith takes an instant dislike to science. God’s Not Dead: Evidence for God in an Age of Uncertainty by Rice Broocks reads like a history and science book combined as Rice shows how both science and faith are connected.

Rice has spent thirty years focusing on university campuses around the world. He is the co-founder of Every Nation family of churches. He is the senior minister to Bethel World Outreach Church in Nashville, Tennessee and has a master’s degree from Reformed Theological Seminary with a doctorate from Fuller Theological Seminary. Rice writes directly to the atheist and humanist. Perhaps because he hated church? “The notion of being religious was repulsive. Church was just a place to have weddings and funerals.” Rice says.

“Skeptics (and atheists),” Rice writes, “Use ridicule and mockery to label people of faith as anti-intellectual or irrational. Set up a false dichotomy between science and faith, telling people to choose one or the other. Keep the debate one-sided by not allowing a dissenting opinion in the public arena, making sure the only places where expressions of faith are allowed are in strictly religious settings.”

So this book is written for them. It is also written for the believer. Rice believes every believer can and should engage the non-believer in constructive discussion. People who don’t educate themselves in what they believe are exercising blind faith. Blind faith, Rice says, is wrong. Rice dissects the arguments of Dawkins and Hawkings, referring to debates and examining the details.

There are lots of scientific details as he goes into Darwinism and other theories. Rice should be considered a formidable foe when considering a debate with him. I would love to have him on my team if debate were a competition between believers and atheists or humanists. He demonstrates a thorough knowledge of atheism and humanists, of science and history.

I especially love reading how our belief in God is so confirmed in science and history. Rice goes into the historicity of Jesus and how non-Christian artifacts confirm, not just that Jesus existed, but third-century historian Julius Africanus cited the first-century historian Thallus, who witnessed the darkness which occurred on the day of crucifixion.

Rice quotes Africanus as saying, “On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the 263 book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun. For the Hebrews celebrate the passover on the 14th day according to the moon, and the passion of our Savior fails on the day before the passover (see Phlegon); but an eclipse of the sun takes place only when the moon comes under the sun. And it cannot happen at any other time but in the interval between the first day of the new moon and the last of the old, that is at their junction: how then should an eclipse be supposed to happen when the moon is almost diametrically opposite of the sun?”

God’s Not Dead runs through archeological, reliable manuscripts, prophetic, and extraordinary impact as the book sets out to prove the evidence of God through science and historical evidence. Overall, I enjoyed this book. It really affirmed my faith, helped me to learn more about it, and I agree with Rice Broocks that Christians need to learn about their faith rather than walk blindly. I gave this book five stars.

*Book given by the publisher to review.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was surprised at the depth in this book. I had watched the movie God's Not Dead, and it is pretty obvious that this book was the inspiration for it. But this book is an apologetics work, and presented a great deal of discussion about the authenticity of Scripture and the support for a Creator God. I enjoyed it very much, but it had too much information, in particular scientific information that supports the possibility of creation by an Intelligent Designer, that I would have to read it several times to get it all. I particularly enjoyed the chapter that gave all the reasons why Jesus Christ remains the most influential human being in history. (I have to agree). I would recommend that this book be used in a middle school , high school, or college student Bible study / discussion group. I think it is thought provoking and in a world that thinks anyone that believes the Bible could possibly be true must be insane or a rambling baffoon, it supports some real information that should make you think!

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

God's Not Dead
Introduction- Ground zero of faith
•1 Peter 3:15 (NIV) Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have
•"To say there is no evidence for this Creator is like saying the thousands of paintings in an art museum couldn't have been painted because there are no artists visible in the gallery."
•The first step of faith is to believe God exists
•God became man through Jesus Christ. He lived the life we should have lived. He died the death we should have died. He rose from the dead. He offers salvation to those who will repent and believe.
•John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He have His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Chapter 1- God's not dead
•"When a man stops believing in God he doesn't then believe in nothing, he believes anything."
•The truth is that God created a world where free moral agents are able to have real choices to do good or evil.
•"If you have all your questions answered and still don't believe, then your real problem is spiritual, not intellectual."
•God's idea to come to the earth ass human, undeniably demonstrating the power of truth, had given the ultimate message of hope, called the gospel or good news.
•Christ didn't call us into religion but into relationship with Him and each other

Chapter 2- Real faith isn't blind
•Faith involves reasoning, remembering, and researching
•Knowledge: the specific details of the agreement. "God chose to communicate with us through words."
•Assent: willingness to enter into a contract. "You must desire to know Him and have a relationship with Him."
•Trust: belief that both parties will do what they say they'll do. "Trust is probably the most important ingredient in building a relationship."

Chapter 3- Good and Evil are no illusions
•People who merely believe God exists and don't follow His commands receive the highest condemnation from Jesus Himself.
•By allowing free will into the universe, God knew He would give these creatures the option to comment evil, but He prepared us with spiritual weapons, insight, and prayer to combat the evil
•God defines evil. God denounces evil. God defeats evil. God destroys evil.

Chapter 4- There was a beginning
•The entire universe along with all matter, energy, space, and time had a beginning
•One of the most astonishing pieces of evidence for the existence of God is called the fine-tuning of the universe
•The multiverse theory is not testable or observable; it must simply be assumed without any evidence of it
•Therefore, before matter there was reason, logic, and intelligence
•The naturalists asserts that the universe came into being from nothing, by nothing, for nothing

Chapter 5- Life is no accident
•As Bill Gates said, "Human DNA is like a computer program but far, far more advanced than any software ever created."
•The most accurate statement about us as humans is, we are "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14).
•Believing God designed life causes us to seek to understand how He did it, not lazily turn off our minds
•Life appears to be not only designed but also undoubtedly engineered at the smallest scale

Chapter 6- Life has meaning and purpose
•In essence, God is the foundation, and the meaning, purpose, and values are the building blocks set on that foundation
•When you really believe God exists, your view of yourself should change dramatically
•'Speciesism' is the idea that being human is a good enough reason for human animals to have greater moral rights than non-human animals
•Differences between humans and animals: thinking about thinking, aesthetic recognition, language, creativity and scientific exploration, morality, higher intelligence, personhood, culture, beyond the physical, spiritual hunger

Chapter 7- Jesus and the Resurrection
•God gave the ultimate evidence for His existence by entering His own creation as a human
•The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ demonstrated that God exists and give a vivid picture of His nature and character
•Christ's story is unique and rooted in history, not mythology
•Evidence for the Resurrection (Lee Strobel's five Es): execution, empty tomb, eyewitness, early records, emergence of the church
•What does the Resurrection mean?: Jesus is the son of God, His words are true, our sins are forgiven, God exists, certainty is possible

Chapter 8- The witness of scripture
•The original writings of the New Testament are called the autographs
•With the abundance of New Testament sources, modern scholars are able to reconstruct 99% of the New Testament with extreme confidence
•God doesn't give commandments He knows we cannot keep, but we cannot keep them without His help.
•The Bible, in a real sense, is the instruction manual for life
•SHARPER: Same, Historically accurate, Archaeologically verified, Reliable manuscript, Prophetic, Extraordinary impact, Relevant

Chapter 9- The Grace Effect
•That life is demonstrably better where authentic Christianity flourishes
•Grace is the result of God's spirit acting on the human heart and empowering us to overcome evil
•The only being in the universe who is wise enough to judge rightly and truly and knows the whole story is God
•God's mercy is more abundant than His judgment
•Christ brought value to children by giving them honor and dignity and commanding that they be protected by the strong and not harmed
•It is only when we are free internally from the bondage of sin that we are free indeed
•The very idea of the university is the concepts of unity and diversity being combined

Chapter 10- Living Proof
•The growth of Christianity is particularly explosive overseas
•"In the years to come, evangelical Christianity will continue to be marked with committed Christians."

Conclusion- Seeking God
•The power of God is freely given to those who are humble enough to ask, desperate enough to seek, and bold enough to knock

[Adam Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great explanation and shows major evidence to proving the existence of God. The world we live in now is very doubtful of the presence of the Lord and this book gives many explanations and stories of Atheist turned to Christians. It has given me a different look on God and reminded me of how great God truly is. The book has also explained that life is no accident and we are here for a reason. The book also settles arguments such as, if there really is a God, then how is there evil. The answer I got out of the book is because of free will, the book goes more into depth and provides other reasoning why there is evil in this world. It truly is an eye opening read.

[Martha · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's hard for me to rate this book accurately. I don't read (or enjoy) reading non-fiction. It doesn't appeal to me (no matter how many people rave or recommend a book).

However, I attended a book study based on God's not Dead. I thought it would be "good for me" and expand the genre of books I read. That didn't happen. I felt like I was back in college and reading a textbook! Bottom line....I'm glad to be finished reading it and the study ended! Now, I can read something fun. :-)

[John Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provides a great overview of the propfs of God as well as reasons to believe in Him. Skeptic or believer should pick this up. It will provide great insight into a world few people truly understand

[Kylee]

i loved that book i read it a month and a half ago when i was going through a hard time and i loved it for someone to beleive in something that much and not care what people think and for him to turn that many heads to christianity was amazing

[Noel Burke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the book. If you are looking for a book that will help you contend for the faith with atheists, I think a better book is "I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist" by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek. But this book does do a good job of presenting a case for Christianity.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good! Can rival any atheist rant for those who are truly willing to do the research. Very thought provoking, sensitive, and offers logical evidence for the existence of God and the Scriptures.

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the more unintellectual books advocating Christianity. Even goes as far as denying evolution. A frustrating read with many unsupported assertions.