Twentieth-century secular pronouncements about the imminent death of belief in God proved premature. But what about the arguments of the ‘new atheists’? In six short chapters, the reader is led to consider the bankruptcy of atheism from the viewpoints of cosmic origins, human reason, science, life, humanity and morality.
Succeeding chapters then show the corresponding superiority of a God-centred worldview. As with all Blanchard’s books, points are made in a highly readable and contemporary manner. He relates them to people and events that have been newsworthy in the last few years, be they scientific, historical, social or political.
All sorts of issues get an airing along the way, for instance, the Big Bang (‘an Alice in Wonderland idea’), the limits of science (contra the ‘nothing-buttery’ claims of scientists), finely tuned physics (allowing ‘life and consciousness to flower’), the ‘engineering marvel’ of the human body, our sense of dignity, and ‘how did atoms develop ethics?’ Throughout, the author deftly shows that atheism is merely ‘ignorance masquerading as intelligence’.
The God of the Bible makes so much more sense as the starting point to answering life’s big questions. Are humans, as atheists often assert, merely ‘a bit of slime on the planet’; merely gene-preserving, programmed ‘robot vehicles’? If so, whence came our aesthetic sense, personality or spiritual capacity? Atheism is destitute in the face of such questions, but the richness of the biblical worldview (once ‘very good’, but now broken by sin) comes up trumps every time.
A consideration of order, consistency, elegance, harmony, beauty, thought and so much else in the universe points to a stupendous super-intellect. Certainly, such a Being rightfully deserves our worship (Revelation 4:11).
The book’s final chapter reminds readers of the two appointments which no one will miss: with death; and then with judgment before the flawless justice of God. His zero-tolerance of things unclean and unholy make it imperative that all trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness and reconciliation with God.
Philip Bell
Leicester
