Defending Your Faith: An Introduction to Apologetics (Redesign)

Purchased for my husband and he loves the book. We are both very pleased.

Great book and delivered as promised.

Everyone ought to examine the question, Does God exist? The next question to ask is, Why do you believe God exists or why do you believe God doesn't exist? Chapter after chapter, this book has impressive information on proving that God does exist; this book also has incredible information on proving that it is absurd to conclude that God does not exist. Creation screams out the existence of an Intelligent Designer by the powerful and eternal Lord God Almighty. The belief that creation came from something is simply a rational conclusion. After reading this book, Atheists will come to realize that there are many reasons to believe that God exists; atheists will also come to realize that there are many reasons to reject a disbelief in God. When a person is honest and truly examines creation with rational thinking, the most logical conclusion is to say that an eternal God is the Creator. Once a person searches out the reliability of the Holy Bible, both the Old Testament and the New Testament, as well examine the life of Jesus Christ from the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, it will be discovered that people can get to know more about the eternal God and even have a personal relationship with Him through the power of the Holy Spirit. Most of this book has information to equip a person to engage in a meaningful discussion about whether or not God exists. This book presents excellent rationality by examining historical records and the credibility of historical records. This book also provides simple analogies such as, There is (no) gold in Alaska.It is possible for a person to read this book and still walk away disbelieving that God exists, but it is equally ridiculous to walk away and conclude that Mars doesn't exist. Most people will say that Mars does exist. Some people read about Mars. Some people have seen pictures of Mars. Some people don't care about Mars. But for anyone to say that Mars doesn't exist, it would simply be absurd. The wise reader will correctly conclude, based on evidence and rational thinking, that God exists, the Holy Bible is reliable, and Jesus Christ reflects the very character of God himself.

This review is written towards potential buyers who do not already agree with the Christian outlook, or even firmly disagree; whether the reader is completely ignorant of philosophy or an experienced logician.The book sets out to achieve two main goals: demonstrate that one does not have to be irrational to believe in a powerful, supernatural, and invisible entity, and that the Bible is an accurate source of knowledge on matters both historical, spiritual, and cosmic, including the specific characteristics of this higher being.Sproul lays outs a solid case for the existence of a being of immense power with attributes far beyond our own and shows how one can reach this belief through observation of the real world and logic. I found a few parts of this argument to be either incomplete, incorrect, or simply too confusing for me to understand (I wish I could list examples, but I'd have to repeat the entire argument here to meaningfully explain my issue with it, and this review is far too long as is), and therefor don't agree that the purely logical argument presented in this book is firm proof that an omnipotent God MUST exist. He certainly demonstrates that something like the Christian god is logically POSSIBLE, but as far as I can comprehend he does not rule out that an unthinking force most people would be justified as labeling "higher physics" is the highest power in reality; yet neither of these two choices is more inherently rational or supported by modern knowledge and observations than the other. He is NOT saying that anybody who believes in god is rational or that their arguments are solid, and in fact points out the irrationality of some common pro-god arguments or beliefs.What most reviewers will likely have trouble with is Sproul's continual assertion that all non-theists (not simply atheists) are inherently biased AGAINST the existence of a perfect higher being, and therefor anyone who does not agree with Christianity is intellectually dishonest. Thankfully his core arguments exist independently from this belief; if theists are expected to endure Richard Dawkins' condescending tone in The God Delusion, non-theists should be able to see past this claim to the relevant points.In short, he succeeds in backing the claim that one does not have to be ignorant, foolish, or divorced from Science and Reason to believe in God with a capital G.As for his second goal, his logic is much tighter and easier to follow, with the significant caveat that he does not prove the collection of writings known as the Christian Bible are historically accurate and authoritative, but uses it as an opening premise. He makes occasional references to other sources when explaining how accurate Scripture is, but still one has to mostly take his word for it if this book is the only information a person has available. Admittedly, there is no easy and succinct way to verifiably state archeology as a whole confirms or denies Biblical claims, or whether modern texts are the same as the original writings. Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell is likely the closest one can get on EITHER side of the argument, and that book is essentially a massive bibliography with summaries. So in this particular case while I do not hold this missing link in Sproul's argument against his rationality, I cannot honestly say that, strictly within the bounds of this book, he completes an airtight argument. IF the Bible is as accurate as he claims, THEN his logic very powerfully argues that a higher entity not only exists, but that it is in line with the central tenets of modern conservative Christianity.Overall, while there are holes in his arguments, I still give this book 4 stars for anybody who is interested in philosophy, rationality or metaphysics. Even if one disagrees with all of his end conclusions, the 4 Principles of Knowledge in section 2 in of themselves are worth a read.

Sproul's "Defending Your Faith" is the book I most frequently refer to when a student wishes to learn more about Apologetics when that is not his/her primary discipline."Start here," I recommend, "then come back if you want to know more and I'll direct you to other writers."Simply put, this is a great book for introducing people to the study of Apologetics. The writing is of a level that it does not insult the reader's intelligence yet it also looks at the subject from a high enough point of view that the reader avoids getting overwhelmed. Sproul's trademark "western civilization lens" and Reformed Theology is of course at work, but for this teacher who usually deals with students coming from a western civilization-influenced background, that's fine, and the Reformed Theology background is easily covered by letting the student know what he/she is going to be reading on the front end.Is this the definitive, end-all authoritatively detailed textbook on Apologetics? Of course not, and one should not expect to purchase that type of book for the price one spends on "Defending Your Faith." But it IS a very valuable addition to Apologetics studies and I recommend it.