I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist

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“Clear, complete, compelling—this terrific resource will help both Christians and seekers understand the rational basis for Christianity. I wish it had been available when I was an atheist—it would have saved a lot of time in my spiritual journey toward God!”

—LEE STROBEL
author of
The Case for Christ
and
The Case for Faith

“This extremely readable book brilliantly builds the case for Christianity from the question of truth all the way to the inspiration of the Bible. And the verdict is in: Christians stand on mounds of solid evidence while skeptics cling to nothing but their blind, dogmatic faith. If you’re still a skeptic after reading
I Don’t
Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist,
then I suspect you’re living in denial!”

—JOSH MCDOWELL
speaker and author of
Evidence That Demands a Verdict

“It is really true that atheism requires gobs of blind faith while the path of logic and reason leads straight to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Norman Geisler and Frank Turek convincingly show why.”

—PHILLIP E. JOHNSON
author,
Darwin on Trial, Reason in the Balance,
and
The Wedge of Truth

“I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist
will equip, exhort, and encourage you ‘to give the reason for the hope that you have . . . with gentleness and respect.’”

—HANK HANEGRAAFF
President, The Christian Research Institute, and host of the
Bible Answer Man
broadcast

“No amount of evidence can convert an unbeliever to belief. That is solely the work of God. But what Norm Geisler and Frank Turek have done in this book should disturb anyone claiming to be an atheist . . . perhaps enough to persuade them to begin a search for the God who has been there all along.”

—CAL THOMAS
Syndicated columnist and host of
After Hours
on the Fox News Channel

“False ideas aimed at undermining and destroying the Christian faith constantly bombard high school and college students. This book provides an exceptionally good antidote to these false ideas. Geisler and Turek present the crucial information needed to avoid being swept away by the onslaughts of secular ideologies that cast science, philosophy, and biblical studies as enemies of the Christian faith.”

—WILLIAM A. DEMBSKI
author,
The Design Revolution

“Geisler and Turek have pulled together a wide array of thorny questions and, as always, have responded with skill and insight. This is a valuable addition to the contemporary writings on Christian apologetics.”

—RAVI K. ZACHARIAS
President, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries

“
I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist
is vintage Norman Geisler—a logical, rational, and intellectual defense of the Christian faith. This collaboration with Frank Turek is ‘must reading’ for every professional or armchair philosopher.”

—JOHN ANKERBERG
author and host of
The John Ankerberg Show

“Anyone can understand this book’s crystal-clear explanation of how morality itself points to God. Atheists may believe in moral law, but without God they have no way to justify their belief.”

—J. BUDZISZEWSKI
former atheist, professor of government and philosophy, University of Texas at Austin, author,
What We Can’t Not Know

I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist

Copyright © 2004 Norman L. Geisler and Frank Turek

Published by Crossway Books
            a division of Good News Publishers
            1300 Crescent Street
            Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by USA copyright law.

Cover design: Josh Dennis

Cover photo: Getty Images

First printing 2004

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture references are from the
Holy Bible: New
International Version.
^®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

The “NIV” and “New International Version” trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.

Scripture references marked NASB are from the
New American Standard
Bible
^®
Copyright © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.

Scripture references marked NKJV are from the
New King James Version.
Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.

Scripture references marked KJV are from the
King James Version
of the Bible.

Contents

Foreword
by David Limbaugh

Preface: How Much Faith Do You Need to Believe This Book?

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Finding the Box Top to the Puzzle of Life

1 Can We Handle the Truth?

2 Why Should Anyone Believe Anything At All?

3 In the Beginning There Was a Great SURGE

4 Divine Design

5 The First Life: Natural Law or Divine Awe?

6 New Life Forms: From the Goo to You via the Zoo?

7 Mother Teresa vs. Hitler

8 Miracles: Signs of God or Gullibility?

9 Do We Have Early Testimony About Jesus?

10 Do We Have Eyewitness Testimony About Jesus?

11 The Top Ten Reasons We Know the New Testament Writers Told the Truth

12 Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?

13 Who Is Jesus: God? Or Just a Great Moral Teacher?

14 What Did Jesus Teach About the Bible?

15 Conclusion: The Judge, the Servant King, and the Box Top

Appendix 1: If God, Why Evil?

Appendix 2: Isn’t That Just Your Interpretation?

Appendix 3: Why the Jesus Seminar Doesn’t Speak for Jesus

Notes

Foreword

AS ONE WHO CAME TO Christ after years of skepticism, I have a particular affection for Christian apologetics. It is one of my passions. There is an abundance of evidence for the reliability of Scripture, for the authority of the Bible as the inspired Word of God, and that the Bible accurately portrays the historical events it covers, including the earthly life of Jesus Christ. Indeed, powerful and convincing proof exists that Christianity is the one true religion, that the triune God who reveals himself in its pages is the one and only God of the universe, and that Christ died for our sins so that we may live.

Proof, of course, is no substitute for faith, which is essential to our salvation and for our communion with God. Nor is the study of apologetics disrespectful to our faith. Rather, it augments it, informs it, bolsters it, and reinvigorates it. Were it otherwise, the Bible would not say, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Pet. 3:15).

I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist
is the best single book I’ve seen to prepare believers to give the reasons for their faith, and for skeptics who are open to the truth. This book will serve as an indispensable evangelism tool, especially when dealing with nonbelievers with “intellectual” obstacles to the faith. As we know, the intellectual obstacles are usually just an excuse for nonbelievers, but when you remove the substance of their excuse they are left naked to confront their real obstacles, their real demons.

But I believe there’s another important reason for the scriptural mandate to “be prepared to give an answer.” It’s not just to help us effectively communicate the gospel. Being prepared will also arm us with the tools to resist certain nagging doubts that we encounter in moments of weakness. It will—because it marshals the evidence for Christianity—fortify our faith.

Who can doubt that we need to be better equipped with the evi- dence, whether to help us better evangelize or to strengthen our own faith? As if the temptations of the flesh weren’t enough for us to contend with, we are also confronted daily with negative external influences. In modern times these influences have grown increasingly sinister and insidious, as the Bible warned they would.

In times past nonbelievers had to decide whether Christianity was the one true religion, whether any of them were true, or whether God existed at all. But they generally were not saddled with the burden of determining whether there was such a thing as truth.

Our postmodern culture has done a number on the idea of truth. It teaches that truth and morality are relative, that there is no such thing as absolute truth. To the intellectual elite dominating our universities and the mainstream media, these ideas are considered enlightened and progressive, even though we all intuitively understand that absolute truth exists, and more importantly, we all conduct our lives with that recognition.

If you encounter one of these geniuses who is so certain that truth is a social construct defined by the powerful to remain in power, ask him if he would be willing to test his theory by leaping from the tallest building around. You might also want to quiz him on the Law of Noncontradiction. Ask him whether he believes that two contradictory things can be true at the same time. If he has the intellectual dishonesty to say “yes,” ask him how certain he is that absolute truth does not exist. Is he absolutely certain?