The Case for Christianity Answer Book: Concise Responses to Real Questions about Faith (Answer Book Series)

by Lee Strobel

But since something cannot just come out of nothing, there has to be a transcendent cause beyond space and time which brought the universe into being.”

[The universe] had to be fine-tuned to an incomprehensible precision for the existence of life like ourselves. That points in a very compelling way toward the existence of an Intelligent Designer.”

The scientifically supported evidence from the origin of the universe, the fine-tuning of the universe to support life, the inescapable existence of objective moral values that originate from beyond us, the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus, and our own experience with the living Savior—these combine to form a powerful case for the existence of God. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. ROMANS 1:20

my theory would absolutely break down.’ And that was the basis for my concept of irreducible complexity. “You see, a system or device is irreducibly complex if it has a number of different components that all work together to accomplish the task of the system, and if you were to remove one of the components, the system would no longer function. An irreducibly complex system is highly unlikely to be built piece-by-piece through Darwinian processes, because the system has to be fully present in order for it to function. The illustration I like to use is a mousetrap.”

“So the mousetrap does a good job of illustrating how irreducibly complex biological systems defy a Darwinian explanation,” he continued. “Evolution can’t produce an irreducibly complex biological machine suddenly, all at once, because it’s much too complicated. The odds against that would be prohibitive. And you can’t produce it directly by numerous, successive, slight modifications of a precursor system, because any precursor system would be missing a part and consequently couldn’t function. There would be no reason for it to exist.”

“And if the creation of a simple device like this requires intelligent design,” he said, “then we have to ask, ‘What about the finely tuned machines of the cellular world?’ If evolution can’t adequately explain them, then scientists should be free to consider other alternatives.” Behe had taken Darwin at his word and demonstrated how these interconnected biological systems could not have been created through the numerous, successive, slight modifications that his theory demands.

Dr. Stephen Meyer, author of Signature in the Cell, concurs. He told me, “Information is the hallmark of mind. And purely from the evidence of genetics and biology, we can infer the existence of a mind that’s far greater than our own—a conscious, purposeful, rational, intelligent designer who’s amazingly creative.”16

1. The formation of the universe itself, which Darwin’s theory assumes but doesn’t account for. But how did it get here, and how do we account for its incredible life-friendly design? 2. The origin of the first life—which, again, Darwin’s theory simply presupposes. In spite of his book’s title, The Origin of Species, Darwin doesn’t answer the question of where the original species came from. I asked Dr. Walter Bradley, coauthor of The Mystery of Life’s Origin, why Darwin ignored this. “Well,” he answered, “he didn’t really have a good idea of how life arose.”18 Even today scientists don’t have a credible naturalistic theory of how life began. 3. The encoding of information in the cell—which makes all organic life possible. This, of course, relates to the discussion we had earlier about the amazingly complex information in DNA—a topic nobody in Darwin’s day knew about.

added. “They think people are trying to get them. Again, we don’t see this in Jesus. He wasn’t paranoid. Or people with psychological difficulties may have thinking disorders—they can’t carry on a logical conversation. Jesus spoke clearly, powerfully and eloquently. He was brilliant and had absolutely amazing insights into human nature. “He was loving but didn’t let his compassion immobilize him,” Collins continued. “He didn’t have a bloated ego, even though he was often surrounded by adoring crowds; he maintained balance despite an often demanding lifestyle; he always knew what he was doing and where he was going; he cared deeply about people; he was able to accept people while not winking at their sin; he responded to individuals based on what they uniquely needed.”

That’s what Christianity is like. Which country club is being snobbish? Christians aren’t being exclusive; they’re being inclusive. They’re not being haughty; they’re being hospitable. They’re not pretending to be better or more accomplished than anyone else. Instead, they admit their own weakness and invite others who feel weak or needy to join them in order to find the help that they’ve found through Christ. Preacher D. T. Niles summed up genuine Christianity well when he explained that we are simply “one beggar telling another beggar where to find food.”1 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life. REVELATION 22:17

because real love always entails the ability to love or not to love.

Dr. William Lane Craig elaborates: “Objective moral values are valid and binding independently of whether anyone believes in them or not. For example, to label the Holocaust objectively wrong is to say it was wrong even though the Nazis thought it was right. Now, if God does not exist, then moral values are not objective in this way.”4 “We know that murder and rape and bigotry and racism are wrong—really, objectively wrong—regardless of traditions, customs, or preferences,” Mittelberg continues. “But where did we get this knowledge—this intrinsic sense of right and wrong? If we didn’t invent it, if it transcends the realms of culture and politics, if it’s something we can’t get away from, then what is its source?