Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A powerful argument for belief in God's existence., 13 April 2007
A very extensive work, which presents a powerful case for belief in God. In it, Blanchard traces the developments of atheistic and agnostic thoughts down through the ages. He examines the rise and development of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, and exposes the flaws of such thinking. He shows the weaknesses associated with different worldviews, such as existentialism and secular humanism, and also highlights errors in various world religions and cults. In addition, he deals with another two issues which people have used as arguments against God's existence. He shows that modern science does not contradict religion, but rather, complements it. He also presents his case that God can still be a God of love, although evil and suffering still exist.
Blanchard concludes, by asserting his belief, that not only does God exist, but that He has revealed Himself to mankind. Further, mankind can know and live in a right relationship with this God, through faith in Jesus Christ - the man who fully reveals God to us.
Here is a book that is full of fascinating information, well presented arguments and shows extensive research on the subject. However, the problem is that it is arguably too exhaustive and not always accessible for the common reader. It can certainly be useful for preachers and theologians in particular, and is also a useful reference book. However, I'm not sure that this book is appropriate for the type of person that Blanchard originally had in mind as he wrote the book. For such people, I would recommend some of his (very good) shorter works, such as `Is God Past His Sell-By Date?' `Evolution: Fact or Fiction?' or `Has Science got rid of God?' What we have here, however, is undoubtedly a good, comprehensive and carefully prepared book.
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25 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not well balanced, 25 Oct 2005
I tried to read this book with an open mind. Its is certainly a weighty tomb. He covers a large amount of ground and and large number of topics and is obviously well read. That said, his arguments are not well presented or done correctly. He uses a number of well known techniques for getting his point of view across, and I find some of them dishonest. He has a habit of introducing a topic with a pun or off hand remark that immediately shows which way the conclusion is going, sometimes even the title of the section gives away what his view will be. THis is pretty much the "poisoning the well" argument technique. It is not the way to present a balanced argument. I'm not able to judge all the arguments he presents, some of the philosophical stuff is not familiar to me. However the "scientific" ground he fights on it is clear he picks and chooses the evidence to present. His arguments against evolution for instance focus on Neaderthals (who he dismisses as not ancestors of humans anyway), Java man - focusing mainly on the gibbon remarks, Lucy (who he suggests the evidence for erect stature is thin) piltdown man and Nebraska man. So principally on two well know problems and a gibbon remark taken out of context. He fails to mention the vast quantity of other homonids like Cro-Magnon, Australopithecus, Homo Erectus and about 40 other examples.
It appears he has severe issues with Richard Dawkins views of the world - one wonders at times if there is a personal vendetta! Similar problems are given against the age of the earth, implying that geologists only use fossils to date rocks, and archeologists use rocks to date fossils. Has he not read about Argon dating and any number of other techniques! This is a shame as some of his arguments do make sense, but after reading a number badly argued cases you feel tainted. If you already believe, I'm sure you will find comfort in the arguments presented here. As a balanced work, I feel it is severely lacking in balance.
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36 of 63 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
NOT LIVING UP TO EXPECTATIONS, 31 May 2001
By A Customer
I bought this book after a radio interview with the author. I expected a good book with valid arguments .Mr Blanchard is a talented author taking on the most controversal subject. After reading books by George Smith, Dan Barker and Thomas Paine (Pro atheist books), I expected this book to deal with their criticism. It does, but only to the extent that it quotes those points Mr Blanchard is conveniently able to build a straw man of, and slash it to pieces. He also overuse quotes by christian authors trying to enforce a weak point. He is also keen on ad hominem arguments - When criticizing Evolution, he goes to great lengths to show that Darwin at one stage was a failing student. Then the lack of conclusive evidence in support of theory of evolution is criticized and the Genesis story wins by default. He also makes a caracature of Richard Dawkins for thinking up the odd-sounding word "meme" and criticise it without explaining the term properly. Since Mr Blanchard quotes from works of George Smith and Paine, I believe he read those books. I don't think he is stupid, but purposefully misrepresents (and refutes) their arguments... This book will give great comfort to Christians that is ignorant of the real issues of atheism. (On the inner sleave and back cover, there are numerous comments about how good this book is, not surprisingly every single comment was made by pastors, ministers, reverends or theologians) To someone familiar with atheism, this book and the author's claims will be a joke.
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