God's Not Dead overview

I chose to do my book report on God’s Not Dead by Rice Broocks. I’ve had this book sitting on my book case for almost a year now, and I had never read it until now. The subtitle Evidence For God in An Age Of Uncertainty is the perfect description of this book. I honestly didn’t know what to expect, but I was blown away by the end of the book. This is a great book on apologetics, but it was written in a very relevant way for the anti-Christian age of uncertainty culture we’re living in. The book gave some very practical ways for Christians to defend their faith, and provided answers for why they believed what they believed. After reading this book, I feel better equipped to share my faith and have more productive conversations with someone who doesn’t believe in God no matter their background. I know this is book 1 of a series Ps Rice is doing, and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of them. Apologetics of this kind is what our world needs, but more importantly what the body of Christ needs today! As Paul says, We have to fight the good fight of faith. The fight we are in is for our faith, and this book is serves a three-fold purpose. This book is likes a training ground to prepare for battle, a weapon to help us fight and be victorious, and an anvil to sharpen our sword-which is the Word of God in our hearts. I feel like my spiritual armor and weapons are stronger and sharper than before. Now, let’s get into the book itself and I can tell you some of my favorite insights from the text. In Chapter 1, I love the first two quotes “What divides us is not science, we are both committed to science, but our worldviews. No one wants to base their life on a delusion, but which is a delusion? Christianity or athesism? John Lennox, and “When a man stops believing in God he doesn’t then believe in nothing, he believes in anything. G.K. Chesterton. These two quotes sum up a large part of the book. The debates between different Christian scholars and prominent atheists in our culture today are prevalent in the book. All of the men in the debates are extremely brilliant men, but with differing world views. It seemed to me that atheists relied heavily on demeaning, snide, proud, and put downs of their opposition instead of the evidence. I believe I remember reading about one of Dawkins comments when he was asked, “How much evidence would it take for you to believe God existed? And if I proved to you from the evidence God did exist, would you believe in Him? I believe his reply was something like, I probably still wouldn’t believe if you proved it to me. I think this is where prayer and the Holy Spirit will play a key role in our evangelism approach. Dawkins heart is so hard that even if all the evidence pointed to God he still wouldn’t believe. I’m reminded in the Bible when people sought after him to perform a sign, but he wouldn’t give them one because He knew that even if they saw a sign they still wouldn’t change. Unchurched, skeptics, atheists, Buddhists, Muslims, or whatever false religion a person may be, apart from the Holy Spirit’s conviction, and softening of the heart there can be not change. I recently performed a funeral for a young man age 21 who passed away on a tragic motorcycle accident. The funeral home was packed with close to 500 people of all backgrounds, young and old alike. It was standing room only, and I wanted to go over and lay my hands on him and pray the prayer of faith to raise him from the dead. I didn’t do it, and I was telling my pastor the story and imagining the great revival that would ensue if God so chose to raise him up. My Pastor said something that I wasn’t expecting. He said, “Chris even if God used you to raise that young man from the dead, and people saw that sign there is no guarantee they would change their lives, repent of their sins, and start following Jesus. It’s only through the Holy Spirit drawing and convicting that someone will change with the Gospel.

I loved the title of Chapter 2 Real Faith Isn’t Blind. I grew up in the Faith movement with Kenneth Haggin, and my parents attending Rhema Bible College back in the mid 1980’s. I’ve been raised in charismatic, Pentecostal churches all my life. I’ve seen and done some crazy things based on “BLIND FAITH”.  Just to read this book and chapter, it’s so refreshing to hear someone in spiritual authority say, “real faith isn’t blind”. The quote at the beginning by Craig that said, “Reason is a tool to help us better understand and defend our faith; as Anselm put it, ours is a faith that seeks understanding.” We need reason. I read a book a few years ago, called Loving Your God With All Your Mind by Mooreland. In that book, Mooreland may me see reason and loving God with your mind in a whole new light. God gave us our mind. He created the human mind, and the more I study about the mind the more incredible it is. God doesn’t ask us to throw away all our reason. Real faith is based on reason, and serving Jesus is very reasonable. In Chapter 3, Good and Evil Are No Illusions is such a key chapter. Over the course of my life, I can’t tell you how many people I’ve heard say if there was a God then why is there so much evil in the world? Or why do bad things happen to good people? The explanation of Ps Rice to the man on the plane where he wrote on the motion sickness bag No God-No Evil was such a great explanation. The section on the Origins of Evil was very eye opening. The fact that we have the right to choose is priceless. The example he used concerning Christopher Hitchens comparing God to the Supreme Ruler of North Korea and being a cruel dictator and the irony that if that was the case he never would have been able to voice that opinion of God. On page 57, Ps Rice says, “God gave us this right to choose, realizing that we would make the wrong choice. This started with the angels and spread to men. The fact that God didn’t create a species of robots that had to obey Him blindly underscores the awesome privilege and responsibility we have for making choices. God created a world that runs by laws, He allows real decisions to be made by men and angels. The ability to make good choices and to perform heroic acts also gives opportunity to do the opposite, which is evil.” Ps Rice brings it all home in the summary, and this statement is just too good not too quote, “The existence of evil is not evidence of God’s absence from the universe but evidence of His absence from our lives.” Wow! What a paradigm shift into the hearts and minds of people who are truly seeking God, and wondering the answer to some of life’s toughest questions. In Chapter 4, the book dove into the science behind the evidence for God which I thought was awesome. I’ve always believed that science doesn’t contradict scripture, but confirms it although I’ve never been able to really articulate it-until now. Now, I have a tool in my belt. The Fine-Tuning Of The Universe section was probably one of my favorite parts of the whole book. When he compares the universe to fine tuning a sound board with one to one trillion knobs and each one has to be precisely set to sustain life. That is just incredible and demands attention for a creator. Also, when it mentions of the recent discovery that science can not deny that the universe had a beginning in a moment is also incredible evidence. In Chapter 5, the story of Anthony Flew about this notorious atheist changed his mind due DNA investigations was incredible. I think if more atheists had his view that they would resolve to follow the evidence wherever it would lead more would come to faith. Later in this chapter is talks about the chance of life starting on earth from nothing would be like a tornado going through a scrapyard and assembling a Boeing 747, but not only that it’s be full of gas, and ready to fly. Then they went on to say that naturalists are willing to go as far as say extraterrestrials planted life here on earth before they acknowledge a designer. The story of the conversion of Ming Wang was a very powerful example of God using His creation to speak His name. I had never really thought about the intricacies of the human eye before this story. I mean, who would naturally think the human eye would lead someone to Jesus. In Chapter 6, there is statement to the fact that if happiness and material things were the meaning and purpose of life then logically stands to reason that Americans and other Westerners should be the happiest people on the earth. That just isn’t the case. People are searching for meaning and purpose, and the example of how the best selling book of our time besides the Bible is the Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren. Ps Rice says in his summary that if we believe we have a pointless beginning then that will point us to a pointless existence. In Chapter 7, we get into the what the previous 6 have been leading up to-Jesus Christ. This chapter was probably my favorite of the entire book giving practical evidence for the personhood of Jesus. The 5 E’s from Lee Strobel were really eye-opening. 1. Execution-how explained the Roman soldiers being experts at crucifixion and being charged under penalty of death to make sure the person was dead. It’s a fact that he was dead before he came down off the cross. 2. Empty Tomb-He was buried in a tomb by Joseph of Arimathea, and the tomb was empty after 3 days. I never really thought about the disciples not fabricating this story because the first witnesses were women since their testimony wasn’t considered reliable. 3. Eyewitnesses-Jesus was seen by over 500 people after his resurrection. 4. Early Records-Meaning that the written accounts of the resurrection originated immediately after the crucifixion, and not many years later. 5. Emergence of the Church. I had never thought about this before, but why would all the disciples who after the crucifixion who abandoned Jesus all of a sudden come back, and start the church that is thriving today. Why would they all give their lives in martyrdom besides John for a savior who had not risen from the dead. In chapter 8, and the witness of scripture it was very incredible to see how scripture validated scripture through the ages, and how it’s true that not one jot or tittle will be changed forever. The Grace Effect chapter was really incredible when it began to speak on how life was really cheap around 2000 years ago, and Christianity began to shape the dignity of life from the protection of children, women, abolishing slavery, education, charity, caring for the sick, and racism from the ancient world until now. It was really quite staggering to see the impact of Jesus Christ on humanity through His Amazing Grace. In Chapter 10 Ps Rice begins to go on a Holy Ghost slug fest against the enemy testifying of all God is doing around the world and in the lives of atheists who gave their lives to Jesus. As I prepare to close, there are some statements that really struck me in Chapter 10 that I’d like to point out. “Though many throughout history have turned their backs on God, many more have turned to Him. The majority of those who turn to Christ do so not because of lack of evidence, but because of lack of effort. They simply quit trying, or others stop trying to reach them. Living in darkness is easier than living in the light; so are apathy and indifference toward others. That’s why nominal Christianity is diminishing, but the real faith is growing.” I love it. REAL FAITH IS GROWING! Dr. Miller I know you had a huge part to play in this book, and I want to acknowledge that you are a gift from God to the body of Christ. Capital C Church! Thank you for teaching this class, and wish you all the best in Seattle. I thoroughly enjoyed God’s Not Dead. Read the whole thing in 2 days, and I’m looking forward to Man Myth Messiah.