The Case for a Creator - Book Review

To finally finish off my trilogy of Lee Strobel book reviews, here is my review of The Case for a Creator.

I wasn't expecting much from this book - I was expecting a rehash of tired old design arguments and intelligent design bullshit. In many aspects it was just as I expected - Lee Strobel interviewed only people who agreed with what he was setting out to prove (meaning he ignored the fact that the vast majority of scientists would disagree with much of what the interviewees were saying). He interviewed people like Mike Behe and Stephen Meyer of the intelligent design movement. This was all quite boring and old, making the majority of the book just difficult to get through.

However, there were a couple of bits which perked my interest.

The first of these interesting bits was in chapter 5, where William Lane Craig is interviewed. I knew that Craig was a big proponent of the first cause argument, but I never really understood how he could possibly make it a sound argument. Even if you grant that everything that came to exist has a cause, and the universe came to exist, all that leaves you with is some unnamed cause which you know nothing about. How could anyone possibly use this to argue for the existence of a personal, intelligent, eternal cosmic mind?

Imagine you walked into the kitchen and saw the kettle boiling on the stove. You ask, 'why is the kettle boiling?' Your wife might say 'Well, because the kinetic energy of the flame is conducted by the metal bottom of the kettle to the water, causing the water molecules to vibrate faster and faster until they're thrown off in the form of steam.' That would be a scientific explanation. Or she might say 'I put it on to make a cup of tea.' That would be a personal explanation. (page 135)

Craig goes on to explain that since whatever caused the universe can't be given a scientific explanation in the terms of the events leading up to it, the explanation for the universe must be a personal one (i.e. the cause must be a personal being).

Craig also argues that there are two types of things which are timeless and immaterial: abstract objects like mathematical entities, and minds. Since the cause of the universe must be immaterial and timeless, and mathematical entities cannot create the universe, a mind must have.

Finally, he argues that if there was a mechanistic cause for the universe, there would be no reason for the universe to be finite - the sufficient condition for the universe to be created would be eternally fulfilled, meaning the universe should have been created an eternity ago. Only an agent with freedom of will could choose when to create the universe.

I was pretty amazed to read these arguments. I imagine even most theists reading them would cringe. The first argument relies entirely on a strange dichotomy. What exactly are "personal explanations"? Explanations at the level of a person's desires and preferences. This doesn't make them magical entities to be set aside from scientific explanations. Psychology is in the business of trying to understand how people work, and so this science's explanations would be personal explanations. We could make a dichotomy between baking explanations ("baking soda makes baked things fluffier, so that is why this cake came out so fluffy") and scientific explanations ("The chemical reaction between baking soda and the acids in the other ingredients are catalyzed by the heat of the oven..." etc). This would not mean that the ultimate cause of the universe must be a baking explanation, and thus the universe was created by an eternal oven.

The second argument is just silly - it first begs the question by assuming dualism. Second, it assumes this dichotomy that timeless and immaterial things must either be minds or mathematical entities.

The final argument seems pretty much incoherent, but I suppose the response to it would be that as far as we know, time started when the universe did, so in no sense would there have been conditions which were satisfied for a time before the universe. I won't touch Craig's childish notion of free-will, in order to keep things concise.

The second thing which surprised me about this book was chapter 10: Evidence of Consciousness. The chapter is full of bad arguments, doesn't bother to define what the soul is (even though it is touted as the solution to all the philosophical problems of consciousness) or how it works, and doesn't tackle any of the traditional problems with dualism. There is an appeal to near death experiences (which reminds me of The Spiritual Brain), but the real argument is that if the universe didn't start with any minds, a mindless universe couldn't create them. Consider the analogous argument: if the universe didn't start with snowflakes, there is no way it could have created them.

Well, that's it. This is probably the last Strobel book I'll read. I have now read all of the books which our local Campus for Christ group hands out. I hope they start giving out different ones - reading these Christian books can be quite fun, but I would never want to support the author.

The Case for Faith - Book Review

I meant to write this post much earlier, but somehow it got put off until now despite my having finished reading The Case for Faith days after my last post. On to the review.

Like Strobel's The Case for Christ, each chapter of the book deals with a different issue in an interview with a different "expert". The Case for Faith is written specifically for people who on their way to Jesus "are faced with intellectual barriers standing squarely in their path" (from the back of the book summary).

Overall, The Case for Faith was a much more enjoyable read than The Case for Christ. It serves as an interesting example of how Christian apologetics deal with different theological issues. I found it a fun (though frustrating) read. I would recommend it if someone was looking for an example of popular apologetics, but not for anyone looking for a serious look at philosophy of religion or theology. Most of the arguments are either what you would expect to hear from students in a first year philosophy course, or worse.

A quick look at each chapter:

Objection #1: Suffering Disproves God (interviewee: Peter John Kreeft)

Of course, one of the first issues the book seeks to deal with is the issue of suffering. The chapter can be summed up as follows: Free will leads to evil (what about natural disasters?), and the experience of evil often leads people to a strengthened faith. Therefore evil isn't such a bad thing, since it brings people closer to God! One could question why an omniscient being can't come up with a slightly better way of doing things, and this brings up all sorts of questions about what the interaction between free will and human psychology is (why do people become more faithful after experiencing suffering? Due to some psychological fact about humans. Why couldn't God change human psychology so that the experience of eating ice cream brought us closer to him? This no more takes away our freedom than the way things currently are.)

The best part of the chapter, or perhaps the book, occurs on page 47. I will quote it in full so I can't be accused of taking it out of context (I assume it will be hard to believe that this quote occurs in the book):

"Are there any other ways in which you believe evil works against atheism?" [Strobel] asked.
"Yes, there are," [Kreeft] replied. "If there is no Creator and therefore no moment of creation, then everything is the result of evolution. If there was no beginning or first cause, then the universe must have always existed. That means the universe has been evolving for an infinite amount of time-and, by now, everything should already be perfect. There would have been plenty of time for evolution to have finished and evil to have been vanquished. But there still is evil and suffering and imperfection-and that proves the atheist wrong about the universe."

Wow. This is an amazing quote. Kreeft should get some kind of an award for this. I've tried counting the number of errors/misconceptions present in this passage, but sometimes something is so far from making any sense that it isn't possible to sort out the tangled mess of assumptions being used. Here is my attempt at a short (not exhaustive) list of all of the major errors/misconceptions (if you are bored, try finding more and writing them in a comment).

1. Atheism does not imply that the universe has existed in its present form for eternity. There is simply no reason to think that if there is not a god, the universe must have existed forever.
2. Even if the universe did exist forever, biological evolution is not progressive. Species tend to evolve to fit their environment, not to become "perfect". Even if a species is a perfect fit for their evironment, when that environment changes, so will they.
   
3. Even if the universe existed forever AND evolution was progressive, there is no reason to think the end result would be perfection. The function could asymptote off at some point due to a physical restraint (i.e. there may be no physical way that organisms could evolve to not be completely prone to cancer). There is also the issue of "arms races" between species, which could go on forever, and whenever one species is ahead of the other, members of the other species suffer.
   
4. Finally, even if the universe existed forever, evolution was progressive, and there were no physical restraints keeping organisms from reaching perfection, the universe could be cyclic. That is, it could be the case that every 20 billion years or so, the universe goes through a "big crunch", and begins in a new big bang event. There would be an eternal universe, but only a finite time for organisms to evolve.

Objection #2: Since Miracles Contradict Science, They Cannot Be True (interviewee: William Lane Craig)

This chapter is not as interesting as the first. It can be summarized simply as: No, miracles don't contradict science, because God can do anything. That's fine with me (is this objection really supposed to be a serious one, or is this chapter just filler?). If you assume an omnipotent being that can do anything, including break natural laws, then miracles aren't too big of a problem. The problem is providing evidence that shows the assumption is warranted.

Objection #3: Evolution Explains Life, So God Isn't Needed (interviewee: Walter L. Bradley)

Oh boy. Creationism time. This chapter isn't too fun - it is just a rehash of intelligent design propaganda without anything new. I assume that the next book, The Case for a Creator, will deal with this in depth. Since I will likely be reviewing that book next, I'll leave this stuff until then.

Objection #4: God Isn't Worthy of Worship If He Kills Innocent Children (interviewee: Norman L. Geisler)

This chapter brings us back to some fun stuff. The bible describes (in numerous instances) God killing or ordering the killing of many children. Some instances: the great flood, the curse of Egypt, genocide of the Amalekites, destruction of the Canaanites, bears mauling 42 kids for calling Elisha a baldhead, etc.

This chapter deals with the genocides in the following way:
1. Children aren't innocent, because they have original sin.
2. Children who die while young get to go to heaven, so it's a good thing if they die (but don't you go kill them unless God tells you to!)
3. Children growing up in these corrupt societies (God was ordering their destruction because they were corrupt) will grow up to be corrupt, so it's really best if they die (what happened to free will?).
Somehow, I doubt many people find this sort of reasoning convincing.

Better yet is the way it deals with the story of Elisha and the bears. It is claimed that the people mauled to death were "youths", which probably means young adults. They also probably had violent intentions. Therefore, obviously, it is justifiable that God sent down bears to maul them.

Objection #5: It's Offensive to Claim Jesus Is the Only Way to God (interviewee: Ravi Zacharias)

This seems to be another filler chapter. Summary: There is no way for a faith to include everyone, and it isn't offensive if it's the truth.

Objection #6: A Loving God Would Never Torture People in Hell (interviewee: J.P. Moreland)

Basically, it is claimed that God doesn't torture people in hell. At least, not actively. Hell is actually just separation from God, and this is extremely painful. But the big claim is this: everyone chooses to be separated from God. The audacious claim is made that actually, all atheists know deep down that there is a god. God gave us just enough evidence to let us know he exists but not so much that it isn't possible to claim he doesn't, so atheists have a way out. Atheists actually all disbelieve for other underlying reasons (i.e. they are being rebellious, don't want it to be true, or have a bad relationship with their father). Quite simply, no satisfactory rebuttal of the objection presented in this chapter was given.

Objection #7: Church History is Littered with Oppression and Violence (interviewee: John Woodbridge)

This chapter is about what you would expect. The evils done by Christianity were done by misguided people, and Christianity leads people to do many good things. It's just a No True Scotsman fallacy coupled with cherry-picking the good things Christians have done or do.

Objection #8: I Still Have Doubts, So I Can't Be Christian (interviewee: Lynn Anderson)

It is claimed that it is natural to have doubts, but this is okay. This chapter doesn't really have any argumentation, it is just trying to give Christians a "stick-with-it" attitude towards their faith.

That's all. As I said, it is an interesting example of Christian apologetics. However, it seems all of the issues are either not dealt with very well, or not very serious objections to begin with.

The Case for Christ - Book Review

Campus for Christ, a club on campus here at UW, frequently hands out packages with free books by Christian apologists. These free books include The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith, and The Case for a Creator all by Lee Strobel. I've collected all of them and am now making my way through them. I plan to post reviews of each of them as I read them.

The first of them, The Case for Christ, argues that there is historical evidence that Christ existed and was the son of God. Quite frankly, the book is excessively dull and there isn't much in it that I feel the need to review in detail (for reasons which will become apparent).

In each chapter of the book, an expert is interviewed, with Strobel posing questions and arguments which challenge the idea that Jesus was the son of God. Each chapter has a question for a subtitle, for example chapter 5: "Does Archeology Confirm or Contradict Jesus' Biographies?" You can guess what the answer given to each of the questions is going to be just based on the author of the book. Since most of the claims rely entirely upon appeals to authority, you won't get much more out of reading the chapter than you would if asking for a one word answer to the questions.

Of course, appeal to authority can be necessary on many subjects, and this just happens to be one of those subjects, so the book shouldn't be criticized for relying on authorities. However, it can be criticized severely on the choice of authorities. Not a single person skeptical of the claim that Jesus is the son of God is interviewed in this book. For comparison, look at (the admittedly biased) Bullshit!'s episode on the Bible, in which the Bible is claimed to be bullshit. In this 30 minute (minus commercials) show, Penn and Teller not only interview Shermer as their skeptic, but also a Christian biblical scholar (i.e. someone who does not agree with the conclusion of the show). Bullshit! is able to do it, so why didn't Strobel? One can only conclude that the book is biased to the extreme. I'm sure there are scholars (like Bart Ehrman) who would certainly disagree with many things in that book, and so I don't see any reason to take a certain biased sampling of scholars seriously.

One of the arguments which comes up several time in the book is that the New Testament was written at a time when many eyewitnesses of the event would still be around, thus if it contained any errors, someone would have pointed it out. I am certainly not a historian and don't know what methods are acceptable in a historical analysis, but this seems to me an extremely poor argument. These books were written at a time before mass communication - even if eyewitnesses did disagree with the written accounts and even tried correcting them, it would be pretty damn hard after the writings spread beyond their immediate area. Not to mention that even eyewitnesses might believe the event happened differently than it actually did, due psychological phenomena like false memories.

One damning point of the book is in the twelth chapter, the interview with William Craig. Craig is quoted as saying, "...the hypothesis that God raised Jesus from the dead doesn't contradict science or any known facts of experience. All it requires is the hypothesis that God exists" page 300. While I agree that magic isn't too unlikely when you believe in a magic generator (a god) who has a particular queer fancy to fulfill a particular set of prophecies, this is much like saying it is likely little gremlins stole my keys because I can't find my keys, and I believe there to be key-eating gremlins. It comes down to requiring belief in a Judeo-Christian god to even get Craig's argument off the ground.

Overall, I don't think I could recommend this book to anyone. This isn't because I just disagree with it - I would and have recommended books which I disagree a great deal with. It's just because this particular book is boring and I really don't think many people would gain anything from reading it.

Put it where all can see...

Now you can declare your ignorance with your very own Laminin t-shirt!



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