What are the best books you've ever read on PROOFS FOR GOD?

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MindOverMatter

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What book or books have inspired you the most to believe in God. You don’t have to be a theist to answer this, since it is quite possible for somebody to be inspired or influenced and yet fail to believe. You could be an agnostic for instance, but enjoy certain books about God.

I have been collecting electronic books off the internet in an attempt to stock pile a library on my computor, but i’m wondering if there are any gems out their that i don’t know of.

peace.
 
Starwynd said:
The Case For Christ by Lee Strobel.
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This is quite a good book. I like Lee’s journalistic stlye. Rather then him just telling you whats what, he brings you along with the investigation so you can see it for yourself. What could have turned out to be the run of the mill book about God, is actually a unique adventure narrated by an honest and humble person.
I’ve Got three of his books in pdf. In fact i’m just starting to read “A Case For Faith”, which challenges the acusation that the God of the old testament is evil. Its good. You should read it.

So what did you like about his book in particulor?
 
blessedtoo said:
Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis
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I have his book, but i haven’t got around to reading it. I keep thinking that i’m going to be dissapointed.

I’ve heard alot of big-ups for C.S. Lewis, especailly from Peter Kreeft. Why did this book inspire you?
 
I can’t imagine how you could be disappointed. It is my “go-to” book for all things apologetics - especially when conversing with those who have little or no belief whatsoever. There is no lack of inspiring words in this book - mine is highlighted almost throughout.

I loved it because it makes sense. It’s a revelation of logic that proceeds in a linear fashion. It takes the reader along on a ride and presumes the questions and objections the reader is going to have and make. Each time I thought “gotcha”, he squelched the argument. And, of course, the writing style is gorgeous and lyrical - like poetry.

Stroebel, to me, was a tad trite. I really disliked his writing style and I felt the “objections” to which the book responds were banal. Lewis goes beyond that level and speaks from a more philosophical perspective. His “proofs” are not based on archaeological finds or expert testimonies. They are based on common sense.
 
The book that heavily influenced Lewis was G. K. Chesterton’s The Everlasting Man. Lewis boiled it down to “Mere Christianity”, which is okay, but in order to get the whole thought behind MC one really needs to read TEM.
 
blessedtoo said:
Stroebel, to me, was a tad trite. I really disliked his writing style and I felt the “objections” to which the book responds were banal.
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Different tastes behind a different face. Thats cool, but i think the objections against biblical-based-theism (evil Old Testament God) are quite servere. The Case For Faith is the first book that i have come across that really does try to solve the emotional conflict that comes from reading about God giving orders to kill children. His book has helped me in some ways to reconcile the Old testament God with the New; but to be honest, its an issue that i am still struggling with. Perhaps I’m reading the wrong books. Any suggestions?
 
Della said:
The book that heavily influenced Lewis was G. K. Chesterton’s The Everlasting Man. Lewis boiled it down to “Mere Christianity”, which is okay, but in order to get the whole thought behind MC one really needs to read TEM.
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Ive got this book too. I haven’t read it. But i have just bought a NAB-Study-Edition Catholic Bible for £30. Its brilliant. I’ve decide to put the philosophy books aside for now. I haven’t read a bible for 2 years now; been cuaght up in to much philosophical reading!!!

Peace.
 
MindOverMatter said:
Different tastes behind a different face. Thats cool, but i think the objections against biblical-based-theism (evil Old Testament God) are quite servere. The Case For Faith is the first book that i have come across that really does try to solve the emotional conflict that comes from reading about God giving orders to kill children. His book has helped me in some ways to reconcile the Old testament God with the New; but to be honest, its an issue that i am still struggling with. Perhaps I’m reading the wrong books. Any suggestions?
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You know, I haven’t read The Case For Faith. I read The Case For Christ many years ago. I didn’t try any of his other books.

I think the best thing I have read regarding OT God comes from J. Aikin. I keep this in my bookmarks because, for me, it answers nearly all my questions.
jimmyakin.typepad.com/defensor_fidei/2007/02/hard_sayings_of.html
 
MindOverMatter said:
Different tastes behind a different face. Thats cool, but i think the objections against biblical-based-theism (evil Old Testament God) are quite servere. The Case For Faith is the first book that i have come across that really does try to solve the emotional conflict that comes from reading about God giving orders to kill children. His book has helped me in some ways to reconcile the Old testament God with the New; but to be honest, its an issue that i am still struggling with. Perhaps I’m reading the wrong books. Any suggestions?
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I disagree with this, because in the book of Exodus God actually commands this act because the extremes of Pharoah’s(Probally Ramses the Second as Historians still predominantly believe) pride force God to act in such a way in order to free Israel.

God allows pharoah’s heart to be hardened. He knows what pharoah will do and allows it to happen, because of Free Will. What God does is withdraw his providencial grace from Pharoah because of Pharoah’s own decision(as the notes in my Douay correctly state for Exodus 4:21) allowing pharoah’s pride to go unabated.

He tries 9 times to change Pharoah’s mind(Knowing Pharoah and knowing it likely wont happen) and only then is forced to use the tenth. It is literally the only way that God’s divine will of Salvation(Climaxing with Jesus’ Ressurection) for the Israelite people was going to continue to come to frutition. It is actually a terrible but nessecery event, with the blame actually laying on Pharoah’s head, because of his pride.
 
Pierced By a Sword by Bud Macfarlane…I am not intellectuial at all but I love this book… it is a fictional tale of different charectors some with no faith and some with a glorious faith in God and our Blessed Mother.
 
MindOverMatter said:
This is quite a good book. I like Lee’s journalistic stlye. Rather then him just telling you whats what, he brings you along with the investigation so you can see it for yourself. What could have turned out to be the run of the mill book about God, is actually a unique adventure narrated by an honest and humble person.
I’ve Got three of his books in pdf. In fact i’m just starting to read “A Case For Faith”, which challenges the acusation that the God of the old testament is evil. Its good. You should read it.

So what did you like about his book in particulor?
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The open mindedness and rationality behind it.
 
MindOverMatter said:
I have his book, but i haven’t got around to reading it. I keep thinking that i’m going to be dissapointed.
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You will be.

I read it when I was still fairly Catholic trying to fight off doubts about God’s existence. His reasoning is shallow and embarrassingly bad. The works as a whole hasn’t aged well, but the biggest flaw is that he never seriously considers any of the real alternatives to his arguments.
 
None of the books that have influenced me toward believing were apologetics books. I find Strobel, Lewis, Chesterton, Kreeft, and just about every other apologist I’ve read, seem to be living in a vacuum. Their arguments are persuasive unless you actually use your imagination and question what they are saying.

I can’t figure out who it is that I hate more, Kreeft or Strobel. I read a book by each of them as a favour to a former friend. It not only didn’t convert me (which really annoyed my friend), but made me loose respect for Christianity as a whole.

The books that did lead me consider believing in God weren’t apologetics books at all:

Moby D|ck by Herman Melville
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Source by James Michener
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maude Montgomery
Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton

And even more strangely because it doesn’t mention God at all…

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Some how, all of these books made me reconsider my lack of faith.
 
Sideline said:
The books that did lead me consider believing in God weren’t apologetics books at all:

Moby D|ck by Herman Melville
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Source by James Michener
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maude Montgomery
Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton

And even more strangely because it doesn’t mention God at all…

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Some how, all of these books made me reconsider my lack of faith.
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Interesting choice of books. I wonder what it is that inspired you about those books? Why Chrismas Carol?
 
Benedictus said:
You will be.

I read it when I was still fairly Catholic trying to fight off doubts about God’s existence. His reasoning is shallow and embarrassingly bad. The works as a whole hasn’t aged well, but the biggest flaw is that he never seriously considers any of the real alternatives to his arguments.
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I don’t know. I saw shadowlands the other day on Tv; I think his arguement was okay, maybe not the best. Which arguements in particulor do you find embarassing?

Are you an Atheist?
 
MindOverMatter said:
Interesting choice of books. I wonder what it is that inspired you about those books? Why Chrismas Carol?
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It wasn’t that these books proved anything to me. They didn’t win me over with an argument. What they did was to paint a picture of the world that I either respected or accepted.

I would adore a God who acted in the same way as the Ghost of Christmas Past. I could accept that the world really was the way it is portrayed in Moby D|ck. I loved the rich sense of struggle and tradition in The Source.

They created a longing for something more in me. There was the ring of truth about them. They lack the arrogance and conceit of books on apologetics.
 
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