Book Review: Evidence That Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell

 

 

[image error]Image taken from Christianbook.com for review purposes under Fair Use doctrine

Evidence by Josh McDowell is an apologetics book that provides evidence and counter evidence to uphold history as it’s documented in the Bible. Right about here some readers might be inclined to stop paying attention, but allow just to make this argument:

When you wen to school, you read a book that told you what happened and believed it. When the world presents a theory as fact, especially in schools, people accept those facts. I’m not actually arguing any of the information in the Bible in this post; I’m only presenting the observation that one reason why the historical record in the Bible is refuted is because it’s the Bible.

Evidence takes on questions such as: “Was Jesus a real person?” “How old is the Earth?” “Was Moses a historical figure?” “Is there evidence for the plagues of Egypt?”

This book took me a very long time to go over. For analytical thinkers, this book is packed with relevant scientific data presented for consideration. I typically consider myself an analytical thinker, but this book is currently miles ahead of where I am in terms of theory and analysis.

I’d be very interested if McDowell broke this book down into smaller parts and provided more context and analysis on those specific chapters.

As I study the Bible more and more, and look at history, I become more convinced of the historical accuracy of the Bible. This can create some inflammatory points of debate I’d rather not go off on.

[image error]Image of Josh McDowell taken from his Goodreads author account for review purposes under Fair Use doctrine.

I mention the above simply to provide context on what Evidence does. This book doesn’t just state what the Bible says. In fact, it provides detailed archeological information along with multiple plausible theories. The struggle is it’s like reading three different (and information-packed) textbooks.

I’ll probably read this again in a few years after I’ve done some lighter research. At this point, it feels like calculus, and I’m just learning to count with my fingers. For people with a higher knowledge base in science or a deeper understanding of the Bible, it’s probably perfect.

Any time someone studies and tries to learn more about God, it’s a good thing. There is a lot of valuable information here for readers, but for my part it feels more like a challenge to study more as opposed to the direct answers I wanted.  That’s more a problem with my expectations than what the book actually does.

I’m still studying up on my apologetics now, and as I grow, I’m confident more if this information will make even more sense.

Thanks for reading

Matt