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Compelling Evidence for God and the Bible: Finding Truth in an Age of Doubt
In an age of doubt, it’ s rare to find Christians who can speak clearly and boldly about the reasons for their faith. Douglas Jacoby is one of those rare Christians. As an international teacher for over 25 years, he has shared the vital truths found in Compelling Evidence for God and the Bible with thousands of people in all walks of life and in dozens of cultures. Jacoby’ s book is an easy-to-read apologetics work that will show readers the evidence that there is a Godhelp readers see the unique role of the Bible as the Word of Godencourage readers to make an informed decision about whether to follow Jesus Compelling Evidence for God and the Bible is especially suited for nonbelievers, anyone new to the faith, and believers who want a better understanding of their faith and how to explain it to others. For readers who want solid reasons why the Christian faith is not only true but also reasonable, this book is the place to begin.
272 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2010
19 people are currently reading
69 people want to read
About the author
Douglas Jacoby
67 books33 followersDouglas Jacoby
Since 2003, Douglas has been a freelance teacher and consultant. With degrees from Drew, Harvard, and Duke, Douglas has written 25 books, recorded 300 podcasts, and spoken in 500 cities in 111 nations around the world. He leads tours annually to sites of biblical interest (like Rome, Athens, and Jerusalem). He is also professor of theology at Lincoln Christian University.
His website, douglasjacoby.com (free), has nearly 10,000 pages of Christian resources. Website membership, affording unrestricted access to the site, including weekly podcasts, funds his travels in the developing world. The Jacobys have three adult children. They reside in the Atlanta area.
Since 2003, Douglas has been a freelance teacher and consultant. With degrees from Drew, Harvard, and Duke, Douglas has written 25 books, recorded 300 podcasts, and spoken in 500 cities in 111 nations around the world. He leads tours annually to sites of biblical interest (like Rome, Athens, and Jerusalem). He is also professor of theology at Lincoln Christian University.
His website, douglasjacoby.com (free), has nearly 10,000 pages of Christian resources. Website membership, affording unrestricted access to the site, including weekly podcasts, funds his travels in the developing world. The Jacobys have three adult children. They reside in the Atlanta area.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 11, 2020
Perhaps it’s because I’ve read the same arguments over and over as I’ve explored the world of Christian apologetic writing or that the information here doesn’t go deep enough but I found myself less engaged with the material of Compelling Evidence than I have with other books of its kind. I do wonder what the reaction to the book would be if I read it when first exploring the arguments for Christianity, as the information presented here is very easy to read and understand and would probably be of significant help to someone weighing the arguments for and against Christianity for the first time. Dr. Jacoby clearly has a deep well of knowledge to pull from in how he crafts his argumentation but I think that it suffers from an over-reliance on the Bible to prove his points.
If the goal of this book is to provide a convincing argument for a religious system then it would be wise of the author to make those arguments without using the foundational text for that religious system. All of Dr. Jacoby’s points are cogent and well said but they rely on the other person believing that the Bible is a source of truth, which an atheist or agnostic doesn’t believe. As a result, any arguments here have been defeated before a counterpoint can even be made, and thus the effort expended by the author has been wasted. He goes about establishing the reliability for the Bible but that’s all the work that he puts in to try and convince his reader that the Bible is a source of truth, if the atheist believes that the text of the book is a lie or doesn’t contain an accurate picture of the world then telling that atheist that we know the words are the same now as they were two thousand years ago doesn’t address their main point.
I think it’s very funny that Dr. Jacoby even includes a mock “debate” between himself and an atheist about halfway through the book in which he provides the simplest explanations of the reliability of the Bible and the truth of the scriptures to convince his straw man opponent to come out to his next Bible study. If you read this book and can get through that section without laughing, or at least acknowledging the absurdity of it, then you’re a better man than me. Speaking of, its pretty clear that Dr. Jacoby thinks he’s quite the better man as he uses every available opportunity to tell you how great he is, and it was so irritating every time it came up.
I understand that he’s smart, and has a deep well of knowledge, but how many times does he have to tell the reader that he went to Harvard? Why does he always have to tell us how many places he’s lived? Why is it important to know that he and his family have lived in Europe? Why does your deep experience with scuba diving matter? Why are you telling us all of the exotic locations you’re writing chapters from? Why do I need to know that you’ve been to the Himalayas? Why in the world do you keep bringing up how widely you’ve traveled? Who cares how many TV debates you’ve done? Why is it relevant that you’ve attracted so many crowds?
He literally puts some sort of exciting fact or piece of information about himself into any space that he possibly can, and I simply don’t understand what he hopes to accomplish. Is the reader supposed to be so impressed by his globetrotting adventures in lecturing that they’ll suddenly believe there is no way he couldn’t be telling the truth? It seriously comes off like he’s trying to impress the reader with how awesome he is and that it should be so stunning that a man as well versed in global culture and politics is taking the time to talk to you. He did shake hands with the president of India, you know.
This problem is ultimately what makes this book unpalatable to me, because while he does make some good arguments that are exterior to the Bible, his attitude is just so weirdly high and mighty that I don’t want to read this book again, or any of the rest of his writing. His best material is when he breaks down the arguments from skepticism through charts, he takes a claim against what Biblical beliefs would argue and takes that claim to its logical conclusion and explains what that conclusion would indicate about the early church. These sections, and his explanations of why some modern theories against the existence of Jesus or the reliability of the Bible are flawed are where he should have spent his time with this book. I get that you’ve been all over the world, but that has nothing to do with whether or not I’m going to believe in the message that you’re preaching.
It’s clear to me that Christianity needs a better class of apologist if it has any chance to convince skeptics that its beliefs are true because the efforts that I’ve seen so far have been remarkably lazy. There is such a disconnect between this writer and his intended audience that I seriously question his sanity in thinking that this book would do what he hoped it would. I’m sure that there are people who have been affected by this book in a positive way, and have even been converted by it, but for any serious intellectual debate it offers little to no argument worth defending.
If the goal of this book is to provide a convincing argument for a religious system then it would be wise of the author to make those arguments without using the foundational text for that religious system. All of Dr. Jacoby’s points are cogent and well said but they rely on the other person believing that the Bible is a source of truth, which an atheist or agnostic doesn’t believe. As a result, any arguments here have been defeated before a counterpoint can even be made, and thus the effort expended by the author has been wasted. He goes about establishing the reliability for the Bible but that’s all the work that he puts in to try and convince his reader that the Bible is a source of truth, if the atheist believes that the text of the book is a lie or doesn’t contain an accurate picture of the world then telling that atheist that we know the words are the same now as they were two thousand years ago doesn’t address their main point.
I think it’s very funny that Dr. Jacoby even includes a mock “debate” between himself and an atheist about halfway through the book in which he provides the simplest explanations of the reliability of the Bible and the truth of the scriptures to convince his straw man opponent to come out to his next Bible study. If you read this book and can get through that section without laughing, or at least acknowledging the absurdity of it, then you’re a better man than me. Speaking of, its pretty clear that Dr. Jacoby thinks he’s quite the better man as he uses every available opportunity to tell you how great he is, and it was so irritating every time it came up.
I understand that he’s smart, and has a deep well of knowledge, but how many times does he have to tell the reader that he went to Harvard? Why does he always have to tell us how many places he’s lived? Why is it important to know that he and his family have lived in Europe? Why does your deep experience with scuba diving matter? Why are you telling us all of the exotic locations you’re writing chapters from? Why do I need to know that you’ve been to the Himalayas? Why in the world do you keep bringing up how widely you’ve traveled? Who cares how many TV debates you’ve done? Why is it relevant that you’ve attracted so many crowds?
He literally puts some sort of exciting fact or piece of information about himself into any space that he possibly can, and I simply don’t understand what he hopes to accomplish. Is the reader supposed to be so impressed by his globetrotting adventures in lecturing that they’ll suddenly believe there is no way he couldn’t be telling the truth? It seriously comes off like he’s trying to impress the reader with how awesome he is and that it should be so stunning that a man as well versed in global culture and politics is taking the time to talk to you. He did shake hands with the president of India, you know.
This problem is ultimately what makes this book unpalatable to me, because while he does make some good arguments that are exterior to the Bible, his attitude is just so weirdly high and mighty that I don’t want to read this book again, or any of the rest of his writing. His best material is when he breaks down the arguments from skepticism through charts, he takes a claim against what Biblical beliefs would argue and takes that claim to its logical conclusion and explains what that conclusion would indicate about the early church. These sections, and his explanations of why some modern theories against the existence of Jesus or the reliability of the Bible are flawed are where he should have spent his time with this book. I get that you’ve been all over the world, but that has nothing to do with whether or not I’m going to believe in the message that you’re preaching.
It’s clear to me that Christianity needs a better class of apologist if it has any chance to convince skeptics that its beliefs are true because the efforts that I’ve seen so far have been remarkably lazy. There is such a disconnect between this writer and his intended audience that I seriously question his sanity in thinking that this book would do what he hoped it would. I’m sure that there are people who have been affected by this book in a positive way, and have even been converted by it, but for any serious intellectual debate it offers little to no argument worth defending.
November 10, 2017
Dr. Jacoby remains one of my favorite authors. He is consistently thoughtful, thorough, intriguing, and inspiring. "Compelling Evidence" does a fantastic job of summarizing volumes of apologetic research into an accessible book that truly is compelling. I'd recommend any of Dr. Jacoby's works to a person that is striving to advance and defend their faith.
Glenn K. Geeting, MD
Glenn K. Geeting, MD
May 17, 2022
A decent entry-level Christian apologetics book. No particularly deep or overly technical arguments; this is an accessible read with some appendixes for those who have perhaps begun to walk towards faith.
January 6, 2022
A very fine book on basic Apologetics for the Christian faith...easy to follow and good for the beginner and the more serious student.
November 25, 2023
Agreed with some arguments, disagreed with others. Overall a good general look at Christianity
May 9, 2011
I'm only in the first half of the book still, but I find it very insightful and useful to reinforcing my faith. Doug is very thorough in his explanations and evidence for believing in God and how atheism is illogical and doesn't stand soundly. So far, so good :)
July 26, 2018
An Excellent Apologetics Primer
Dr Jacoby does an excellent job of covering the many wide and varied topics in the discipline of apologetics. There is much here that would be useful for the advanced learner as well as the new student.
Dr Jacoby does an excellent job of covering the many wide and varied topics in the discipline of apologetics. There is much here that would be useful for the advanced learner as well as the new student.
November 17, 2010
Personally I find "More Than A Carpenter" more readable.. some of the things that Douglas mentions isn't as easy to comprehend .. and some of his logic I actually disagree. :|
November 14, 2011
A good opportunity to flex some critical thinking muscles, but really no knew or challenging information here. Certainly not "compelling."
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews