Summer Reading

This summer is like the summer of reading for me! I have fallen in love with reading in a new way this year. As I have noted in other entries, I read Carl Sandburg's biography of Abraham Lincoln and then picked up a copy of Michael Korda's book Ike, and finished it two nights ago. I am also reading two new text books for two college classes I teach.

This week I am reading a book for a book review. The book is a response to three other authors who have turned out to be the newest proponents of atheism. To really review the book I am quickly scanning the works of Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and Richard Dawkins. If you want to read some of the latest writing that argues against the existence of God these are three names that have had influence.

So, why is a Pastor telling people in his blog who to read if they want to know more about contemporary arguments against the existence of God? Because God made you with the ability to reason and think as well as the ability to feel and be emotional. Many who reject Christianity claim that it is all smoke and mirrors which effectively play on emotions and that faith extinguishes reason.

I believe that when we critically examine arguments against God we often find our own reasoning for his existence even more compelling. The bottom line is that to believe in God takes faith, and to not believe takes faith. Most of the time the decision is based on an individuals presuppositions regarding epistemology, that is, how or what can we know. If a person's epistemology only allows for rational evidence then material evidence is rejected. If a person only trusts empirical evidence then reason is ruled by the evidence of their senses. If a person presupposes philosophical naturalism and the evolution of all things biological and societal then that will rule what they believe they can possibly know and it will guide the leap of faith that they choose to take toward theism or atheism.

I encourage you to be a reader. Proverbs says to "get wisdom, get understanding though it costs you all you have..." A lot of information that you read needs to be previewed and discarded, but even the stuff you disagree with can help you gain understanding.