Cogito, ergo Deus est (I think, therefore God is)

I finished another book tonight... this one took quite a bit longer than most. It's called The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel. I saw this in the book store a couple months ago and it intrigued me. The author of the book renounced Christianity in college after learning about Darwin's theory of evolution and all the "proof" science had built up against the possibility of the world being created by intelligent design. Then several years later, more recent scientific findings brought him back to Christianity and have led him to believe that the world was indeed created by a Supreme Being, and to a belief that science is starting to show it.

Interesting as the premise was, it was slow going. The original findings were absolutely fascinating, and I have to admit that the author made a good case as he interviewed respected expert after respected expert in various scientific fields. My mind was astounded time after time by the "proof" that there is a creator of this earth. One explanation he gave in the book was regarding the cosmic perfection of physics, specifically the fine-tuning of gravity to allow life to thrive in the universe. "... gravity is fine-tuned to one part in a hundred million billion billion billion billion billion." (yeah, that's 5 billions preceded by a million, or 51 zeros). It was also very easy to overlook the differences in this man's belief and understanding as a mainstream Christian (I don't recall him mentioning his specific denomination) from my own beliefs and understanding as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

So where did the book go wrong... well, I told Erin that this is the only book I've ever read that could be improved by a Reader's Digest abridgment. The author is repetitive to a serious fault. I have a bit of a tendency to repeat myself and go into too much detail when explaining things; this guy made me look like a 3-second bottle rocket.

Despite his apparent need to repeat and repeat and repeat, there was one thing that bothered me more. I sat there reading, thinking "so if man's scientific reasoning ever starts moving back away from a creator... will this guy's belief move away too?" Don't get me wrong, I love a good scientific explanation for things, but my faith in God is built on a lot more than the most recent scientific journal article. Despite what scientists may say, despite what critics may say, I believe in God. I don't care if all scientific evidence points away from a creator, I will still believe for one simple reason... men are flawed. Our scientific processes/theories/methods are far from perfect, but the testimony in your heart from the spirit is perfect, definitively so.

There are very few people I'd actually recommend this book to. Anyone who is really into science and modern creationism discoveries would probably at least find it interesting... anyone who still touts Darwinism as a "proven" theory would probably not like this book much so I'd want them to read it. But unless you fall within one of those two groups... and chances are if you're reading my blog you at least don't fall into the second category... then you'll probably be happier ignoring this brightly colored book, and moving on to something else that catches your eye.

I, for one, am going to get back to reading the other three books I'm in the middle of... The Historian, The Fourth Thousand Years, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. All considerably better reads than The Case for a Creator.

- Brett

Labels: books, evolution, religion

posted by Erin at 9:46 PM