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Does God Exist?: The Question You Can't Ignore
If God doesn’t exist ...then what? The thought is both staggering and threatening. If what atheism and much of the media embraces is true, then life has no real meaning, value, or purpose. Without God, one day we all will simply cease to exist.
Acclaimed apologist William Lane Craig knows the battle for hearts and minds begins in our homes, schools and communities. This pocket-sized guide will help you articulate and defend your faith confidently—not just proving God’s existence, but showing why it matters more than anything else in life or history.
Acclaimed apologist William Lane Craig knows the battle for hearts and minds begins in our homes, schools and communities. This pocket-sized guide will help you articulate and defend your faith confidently—not just proving God’s existence, but showing why it matters more than anything else in life or history.
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First published August 8, 2014
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About the author
William Lane Craig
136 books847 followersWilliam Lane Craig is Research Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California. He and his wife Jan have two grown children.
At the age of sixteen as a junior in high school, he first heard the message of the Christian gospel and yielded his life to Christ. Dr. Craig pursued his undergraduate studies at Wheaton College (B.A. 1971) and graduate studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (M.A. 1974; M.A. 1975), the University of Birmingham (England) (Ph.D. 1977), and the University of Munich (Germany) (D.Theol. 1984). From 1980-86 he taught Philosophy of Religion at Trinity, during which time he and Jan started their family. In 1987 they moved to Brussels, Belgium, where Dr. Craig pursued research at the University of Louvain until assuming his position at Talbot in 1994.
He has authored or edited over thirty books, including The Kalam Cosmological Argument; Assessing the New Testament Evidence for the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus; Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom; Theism, Atheism and Big Bang Cosmology; and God, Time and Eternity, as well as over a hundred articles in professional journals of philosophy and theology, including The Journal of Philosophy, New Testament Studies, Journal for the Study of the New Testament, American Philosophical Quarterly, Philosophical Studies, Philosophy, and British Journal for Philosophy of Science.
At the age of sixteen as a junior in high school, he first heard the message of the Christian gospel and yielded his life to Christ. Dr. Craig pursued his undergraduate studies at Wheaton College (B.A. 1971) and graduate studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (M.A. 1974; M.A. 1975), the University of Birmingham (England) (Ph.D. 1977), and the University of Munich (Germany) (D.Theol. 1984). From 1980-86 he taught Philosophy of Religion at Trinity, during which time he and Jan started their family. In 1987 they moved to Brussels, Belgium, where Dr. Craig pursued research at the University of Louvain until assuming his position at Talbot in 1994.
He has authored or edited over thirty books, including The Kalam Cosmological Argument; Assessing the New Testament Evidence for the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus; Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom; Theism, Atheism and Big Bang Cosmology; and God, Time and Eternity, as well as over a hundred articles in professional journals of philosophy and theology, including The Journal of Philosophy, New Testament Studies, Journal for the Study of the New Testament, American Philosophical Quarterly, Philosophical Studies, Philosophy, and British Journal for Philosophy of Science.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 10, 2015
A concise, but good, book on the existence of a god. Craig does not argue for the existence of the God of the Bible, but rather gives the five biggest arguments for a monotheistic, perfect God. His arguments are very scientific, and so it can be a bit confusing at times if you aren't familiar with the language, but he seems to cover all of the basic arguments and the questions that arise with them.
January 21, 2016
This Book is Great arguments are very strong.
Prof , Dr destroy evolution. thank you dr
Prof , Dr destroy evolution. thank you dr
February 18, 2015
Does God Exist? by William Lane Craig
“Does God Exist?” is a solid narrative of five traditional arguments in defense of the existence of God. Prominent apologist, Dr. William Lane Craig takes the reader on a tour of the arguments and does his best to debunk the notion that belief in God is intellectually indefensible. So what is the opinion of this humble non-believer? This interesting 68-page eBook includes the following five chapters: 1. The Cosmological Argument, 2. The Kalam Cosmological Argument, 3. The Teleological Argument CHAPTER, 4. The Moral Argument, and 5: The Ontological Argument.
Positives:
1. A well-written book that is accessible to the masses.
2. Concise. No need to invest too much of your time to get through the traditional arguments.
3. Provocative. I don’t to agree with the conclusions but I do appreciate making use of good philosophy and science.
4. One of my favorite topics, a look at religion and its claims. “The conclusion that belief in God has become intellectually indefensible for thinking people today is false.”
5. Excellent format. Each chapter covers a traditional religious argument.
6. A wonderful job of explaining the topics and laying out each argument. “To be a good argument, an argument must meet three conditions: (1) it obeys the rules of logic; (2) its premises are true; and (3) its premises are more plausible than their opposites.”
7. A quality book. I don’t have to agree with the conclusions and for the record I don’t to appreciate its professional treatment. This is a well-written book that lays out clearly Dr. Craig’s positions.
8. I like the overall approach. Dr. Craig is not offensive, he doesn’t come across as holier than thou; he just takes lays out his case and proceeds to defend it.
9. Good explanation for the fallacy of composition. “This objection commits a logical fallacy called ‘the fallacy of composition.’ This is the fallacy of taking a property of a part to be a property of the whole.”
10. To the best as I can tell, Dr. Craig does not have any problems with well-known science theories such as the Big Bang and the grand theory of evolution.
11. I liked the explanation on the differences between values and duties. “Values have to do with whether something is good or bad. Duties have to do with whether something is right or wrong.”
12. A valiant attempt to defend faith.
13. Endnotes provided.
14. Formal bibliography provided.
Negatives:
1. No one or a combination of the traditional arguments compels me to believe in the existence of God.
2. In refutation of the cosmological argument. What’s the explanation for God’s existence? What’s in it for God? Why even bother creating humans? Why does God need to be worshipped and loved? Who created the creator? And if there is no need to create the creator couldn’t we apply that same logic to nature and leave God out of it? BTW why does it have to be one God, how about a committee of Gods, perhaps just a superior being but not with all the attributes traditionally associated with God?
3. Intellectually speaking infinity is a hard topic to grasp. It makes my head hurt. That stated wouldn’t the notion of eternal matter be more sensible that eternal mind since minds as far as we can tell today emerged from matter?
4. “It is therefore the Uncaused First Cause.” How do we know that? What if it was caused by another God, superior energy force, or a committee of super aliens? It’s best to be honest with one another and just admit we just don’t know.
5. We don’t have enough evidence to claim that supernatural causes are the reason for our existence. It’s best to remain humble and keep pursuing knowledge. One thing we do know for a fact is that every gap of knowledge that has ever been filled has been filled by science. It’s best not to fill these gaps with God because God is the question and as far as our knowledge can tell not the answer.
6. What does it even mean to exist outside of time? Do we have any evidence to make such a claim? BTW aren’t most philosophers in agreement that causation cannot occur outside the flow of time because a cause must precede it? It troubles me that we speculate beyond what know by claiming to know something we just don’t know. In short, how can I reasonably infer a supernatural cause when I have only observed material ones?
7. The fact that based on our own experiences that objects have a cause does not mean the universe has one as well. Fallacy of composition…No one has yet to discover an immaterial cause, EVER.
8. “We’ve come to discover that the universe is fine-tuned for the existence of intelligent life with a complexity and delicacy that literally defy human comprehension.” Really? As far as science can tell, the universe is not fine-tuned to us; we are fine-tuned to our particular universe.
9. “Maybe our belief in God isn’t based on arguments at all but is grounded in religious experience or in divine revelation.” Religious experience? Many people of various religious beliefs presume supernatural experiences; it’s not unique to Christian believers. Divine revelation to me goes along the lines of hearsay.
10. “Traditionally, moral values have been based in God, who is the highest Good.” I care to differ. The Biblical God endorses slavery and I’m not just talking about indentured servitude, I’m talking about physically beating your “property” and if said property doesn’t die within 48 hours of such punishment said master is not held accountable. On what objective basis does a Christian consider slavery immoral? This is the one issue that a book purporting to be a moral guide can’t afford to get wrong yet it does.
11. There are many views on morality. Sam Harris also believes in an objective moral code. “questions about values – about meaning, morality, and life’s larger purpose – are really questions about the well-being of conscious creatures. Values therefore translate into facts that can be scientifically understood.”
12. Regarding the ontological argument, no one should ever believe anything without sufficient evidence.
In summary, even as an atheist (agnostic atheistic if you want to be technical about it) this may be the first book I enjoyed in which I disagree with every conclusion. The book is lucid, direct and Dr. Craig does a wonderful job of laying out the strongest possible arguments in defense of the belief in the existence of God. Kudos aside this humble atheist is not compelled by the arguments. The truth you see can only be discovered; science is the best tool to make such discoveries, philosophy is the best tool to ask the right questions. God is not the answer; God is the question and to the best of our current knowledge the best we can do is admit we don’t know. Hence, my personal conclusion is that the believer has not met the burden of proof for the existence of God. I have more questions than I have answers for. That being said, this is a wonderful brief book that I encourage all to read with an open mind. I know what it would take for me to believe, what will it take for you NOT TO?
Further recommendations: “Religion Refuted: Debunking the Case for God” by Daniel K. Chaney, “The Atheist Universe” by David Mills, “A Manual for Creating Atheists” by Peter Boghossian, “Nonbeliever Nation” by David Niose, “The Dark Side of Christian History” by Helen Ellerbe, “Atheism for Dummies” by Dale McGowan, “The End of Christianity” by John Loftus, “Nailed” by David Fitzgerald, “The Portable Atheist” by Christopher Hitchens, “The God Argument” by A.C. Grayling, “50 popular beliefs that people think are true” by Guy P. Harrison, “The Moral Landscape” by Sam Harris, “Godless” by Dan Barker, “God is not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, “Freethinkers” by Susan Jacoby, “Moral Combat” by Sikivu Hutchinson, “The Religion Virus” Craig A. James, “American Fascists” by Chris Hedges, “Doubt” by Jennifer Michael Hecht, “Society Without God” by Phil Zuckerman, “Why I’m Not a Christian” by Richard Carrier, and “Why are you Atheists so Angry?” by Greta Christina.
“Does God Exist?” is a solid narrative of five traditional arguments in defense of the existence of God. Prominent apologist, Dr. William Lane Craig takes the reader on a tour of the arguments and does his best to debunk the notion that belief in God is intellectually indefensible. So what is the opinion of this humble non-believer? This interesting 68-page eBook includes the following five chapters: 1. The Cosmological Argument, 2. The Kalam Cosmological Argument, 3. The Teleological Argument CHAPTER, 4. The Moral Argument, and 5: The Ontological Argument.
Positives:
1. A well-written book that is accessible to the masses.
2. Concise. No need to invest too much of your time to get through the traditional arguments.
3. Provocative. I don’t to agree with the conclusions but I do appreciate making use of good philosophy and science.
4. One of my favorite topics, a look at religion and its claims. “The conclusion that belief in God has become intellectually indefensible for thinking people today is false.”
5. Excellent format. Each chapter covers a traditional religious argument.
6. A wonderful job of explaining the topics and laying out each argument. “To be a good argument, an argument must meet three conditions: (1) it obeys the rules of logic; (2) its premises are true; and (3) its premises are more plausible than their opposites.”
7. A quality book. I don’t have to agree with the conclusions and for the record I don’t to appreciate its professional treatment. This is a well-written book that lays out clearly Dr. Craig’s positions.
8. I like the overall approach. Dr. Craig is not offensive, he doesn’t come across as holier than thou; he just takes lays out his case and proceeds to defend it.
9. Good explanation for the fallacy of composition. “This objection commits a logical fallacy called ‘the fallacy of composition.’ This is the fallacy of taking a property of a part to be a property of the whole.”
10. To the best as I can tell, Dr. Craig does not have any problems with well-known science theories such as the Big Bang and the grand theory of evolution.
11. I liked the explanation on the differences between values and duties. “Values have to do with whether something is good or bad. Duties have to do with whether something is right or wrong.”
12. A valiant attempt to defend faith.
13. Endnotes provided.
14. Formal bibliography provided.
Negatives:
1. No one or a combination of the traditional arguments compels me to believe in the existence of God.
2. In refutation of the cosmological argument. What’s the explanation for God’s existence? What’s in it for God? Why even bother creating humans? Why does God need to be worshipped and loved? Who created the creator? And if there is no need to create the creator couldn’t we apply that same logic to nature and leave God out of it? BTW why does it have to be one God, how about a committee of Gods, perhaps just a superior being but not with all the attributes traditionally associated with God?
3. Intellectually speaking infinity is a hard topic to grasp. It makes my head hurt. That stated wouldn’t the notion of eternal matter be more sensible that eternal mind since minds as far as we can tell today emerged from matter?
4. “It is therefore the Uncaused First Cause.” How do we know that? What if it was caused by another God, superior energy force, or a committee of super aliens? It’s best to be honest with one another and just admit we just don’t know.
5. We don’t have enough evidence to claim that supernatural causes are the reason for our existence. It’s best to remain humble and keep pursuing knowledge. One thing we do know for a fact is that every gap of knowledge that has ever been filled has been filled by science. It’s best not to fill these gaps with God because God is the question and as far as our knowledge can tell not the answer.
6. What does it even mean to exist outside of time? Do we have any evidence to make such a claim? BTW aren’t most philosophers in agreement that causation cannot occur outside the flow of time because a cause must precede it? It troubles me that we speculate beyond what know by claiming to know something we just don’t know. In short, how can I reasonably infer a supernatural cause when I have only observed material ones?
7. The fact that based on our own experiences that objects have a cause does not mean the universe has one as well. Fallacy of composition…No one has yet to discover an immaterial cause, EVER.
8. “We’ve come to discover that the universe is fine-tuned for the existence of intelligent life with a complexity and delicacy that literally defy human comprehension.” Really? As far as science can tell, the universe is not fine-tuned to us; we are fine-tuned to our particular universe.
9. “Maybe our belief in God isn’t based on arguments at all but is grounded in religious experience or in divine revelation.” Religious experience? Many people of various religious beliefs presume supernatural experiences; it’s not unique to Christian believers. Divine revelation to me goes along the lines of hearsay.
10. “Traditionally, moral values have been based in God, who is the highest Good.” I care to differ. The Biblical God endorses slavery and I’m not just talking about indentured servitude, I’m talking about physically beating your “property” and if said property doesn’t die within 48 hours of such punishment said master is not held accountable. On what objective basis does a Christian consider slavery immoral? This is the one issue that a book purporting to be a moral guide can’t afford to get wrong yet it does.
11. There are many views on morality. Sam Harris also believes in an objective moral code. “questions about values – about meaning, morality, and life’s larger purpose – are really questions about the well-being of conscious creatures. Values therefore translate into facts that can be scientifically understood.”
12. Regarding the ontological argument, no one should ever believe anything without sufficient evidence.
In summary, even as an atheist (agnostic atheistic if you want to be technical about it) this may be the first book I enjoyed in which I disagree with every conclusion. The book is lucid, direct and Dr. Craig does a wonderful job of laying out the strongest possible arguments in defense of the belief in the existence of God. Kudos aside this humble atheist is not compelled by the arguments. The truth you see can only be discovered; science is the best tool to make such discoveries, philosophy is the best tool to ask the right questions. God is not the answer; God is the question and to the best of our current knowledge the best we can do is admit we don’t know. Hence, my personal conclusion is that the believer has not met the burden of proof for the existence of God. I have more questions than I have answers for. That being said, this is a wonderful brief book that I encourage all to read with an open mind. I know what it would take for me to believe, what will it take for you NOT TO?
Further recommendations: “Religion Refuted: Debunking the Case for God” by Daniel K. Chaney, “The Atheist Universe” by David Mills, “A Manual for Creating Atheists” by Peter Boghossian, “Nonbeliever Nation” by David Niose, “The Dark Side of Christian History” by Helen Ellerbe, “Atheism for Dummies” by Dale McGowan, “The End of Christianity” by John Loftus, “Nailed” by David Fitzgerald, “The Portable Atheist” by Christopher Hitchens, “The God Argument” by A.C. Grayling, “50 popular beliefs that people think are true” by Guy P. Harrison, “The Moral Landscape” by Sam Harris, “Godless” by Dan Barker, “God is not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, “Freethinkers” by Susan Jacoby, “Moral Combat” by Sikivu Hutchinson, “The Religion Virus” Craig A. James, “American Fascists” by Chris Hedges, “Doubt” by Jennifer Michael Hecht, “Society Without God” by Phil Zuckerman, “Why I’m Not a Christian” by Richard Carrier, and “Why are you Atheists so Angry?” by Greta Christina.
February 20, 2015
Goes directly to argument, slips past the the missing evidence for his alleged "god" ( classic apologetic move).
"Atheism, though perhaps the dominant viewpoint at the American University, is a philosophy in retreat" (loc 73 of 1039 ).
1- assertion, citation required.
2- red herring, in terms of veracity - it matters not whether atheism retreats or not.
Cosmological argument ( from chapter One)
1 Everything that exists has an explanation of its existence. ( except for things that we don't know exist and haven't explained.
2 If the universe has an explanation, that explanation is ... Santa Claus
3 The universe exists.
4 Therefore, the explanation of the universe's existence is Santa Claus.
Logically speaking this is an airtight argument. ( Yes Bill, and ... wrong ).
Chapter 3 "apparent" design. "apparent" fine tuning. Looks designer therefor it is. ...sigh.
Chapter4 . The moral argument. Possibly his biggest failing in the book. Claims that morals exist objectively - therefore God.
The Euthypro dilemma , it's just wrong because ...God.
Chapter 5 Ontological argument "discovered by " Anselm
It is possible that the biggest pizza exists - therefor it does, therefore God.
Conclusion, deeply indoctrinated delusions, religious superstition persists, therefor it's 'healthy and vibrant' ...
Bill says "I anticipate that natural theology will be an increasingly relevant and vital preparation for the reception of the Gospel by thinking people" .
Yes Bill, I'm sure you do.
"Atheism, though perhaps the dominant viewpoint at the American University, is a philosophy in retreat" (loc 73 of 1039 ).
1- assertion, citation required.
2- red herring, in terms of veracity - it matters not whether atheism retreats or not.
Cosmological argument ( from chapter One)
1 Everything that exists has an explanation of its existence. ( except for things that we don't know exist and haven't explained.
2 If the universe has an explanation, that explanation is ... Santa Claus
3 The universe exists.
4 Therefore, the explanation of the universe's existence is Santa Claus.
Logically speaking this is an airtight argument. ( Yes Bill, and ... wrong ).
Chapter 3 "apparent" design. "apparent" fine tuning. Looks designer therefor it is. ...sigh.
Chapter4 . The moral argument. Possibly his biggest failing in the book. Claims that morals exist objectively - therefore God.
The Euthypro dilemma , it's just wrong because ...God.
Chapter 5 Ontological argument "discovered by " Anselm
It is possible that the biggest pizza exists - therefor it does, therefore God.
Conclusion, deeply indoctrinated delusions, religious superstition persists, therefor it's 'healthy and vibrant' ...
Bill says "I anticipate that natural theology will be an increasingly relevant and vital preparation for the reception of the Gospel by thinking people" .
Yes Bill, I'm sure you do.
June 9, 2019
Excellent
This book, though quite short, is very deep in its teaching. It gives five strong arguments for the existence of God in short bites that anyone can comprehend. It is definitely worth one's time. I highly recommend r.
This book, though quite short, is very deep in its teaching. It gives five strong arguments for the existence of God in short bites that anyone can comprehend. It is definitely worth one's time. I highly recommend r.
January 22, 2024
Classical theistic arguments
Dr. Craig sets forth an excellent presentation of every idea Paul espoused at the Areopagus. His ability to show these ideas in understandable language is excellent and should be read by all.
Dr. Craig sets forth an excellent presentation of every idea Paul espoused at the Areopagus. His ability to show these ideas in understandable language is excellent and should be read by all.
December 16, 2019
A simple exposition of the classical arguments
May 24, 2015
Does god exist
A shortened review of arguments for belief in the existence of God. His watered down version would leave an unbeliever unconvinced.
A shortened review of arguments for belief in the existence of God. His watered down version would leave an unbeliever unconvinced.
March 8, 2017
Great
Good intellectual reading. If you're tired of the emotional cases for God and want one that is more thinking, this is for you. Presents the basic arguments for God clearly.
Good intellectual reading. If you're tired of the emotional cases for God and want one that is more thinking, this is for you. Presents the basic arguments for God clearly.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews