Unshakable Foundations : Contemporary Answers to Crucial Questions about the Christian Faith

by Geisler, Norman L., and Peter Bocchino

• ISBN13: 9780764224089
• ISBN10: 0764224085
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-08-01
• Publisher: Bethany House

Summary

A comprehensive and readable survey of the central issues of Christianity that will help Christians to stand firm in a changing world. Covers the origins of life, good vs. evil, heaven and hell, the deity of Jesus, and more.

Author Biography

Dr. Norman L. Geisler is author or coauthor of some fifty books and hundreds of articles. He has taught at the university and graduate level for over forty years and has spoken, traveled, or debated in all fifty states and in twenty-five countries. He holds a B.A. and an M.A. from Wheaton College, a Th.B. from William Tyndale College and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Loyola University. He is cofounder and longtime dean of Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Table of Contents

Introduction	13	(6)
Questions About Logic	19	(12)
What are first principles?	19	(2)
Why begin with logic?	21	(1)
What is the first principle of logic?	22	(1)
Is the law of noncontradiction unavoidable?	23	(1)
What if all is nothing but an illusion?	24	(2)
What if logic doesn't apply to reality?	26	(1)
What about the use of Eastern logic?	26	(2)
Can the laws of logic be used as a rest for truth?	28	(3)
Questions About Truth	31	(24)
What is truth?	31	(2)
Is truth relative?	33	(2)
Is absolute truth intolerant?	35	(3)
What is pluralism?	38	(1)
Should pluralism be embraced in academics?	39	(3)
Agnosticism: What is that?	42	(1)
Do relativism and pluralism make sense?	43	(1)
Are agnosticism, relativism, and pluralism true?	44	(3)
Is it credible to hold to absolute truth?	47	(1)
How can we know the truth about reality?	48	(7)
Questions About Worldviews	55	(16)
What is a worldview?	55	(1)
Why are worldviews important?	55	(2)
How many worldviews are there?	57	(1)
How do worldviews differ?	58	(1)
What do atheists believe?	58	(1)
What do pantheists believe?	59	(1)
What do theists believe?	60	(1)
What is worldview confusion?	60	(1)
Why are questions so important?	61	(1)
How can we handle worldview questions?	62	(3)
How can we ask the right kinds of questions?	65	(6)
Questions About Science	71	(16)
Is Science a matter of faith?	71	(2)
What is the principle of causality?	73	(1)
Is the causality principle reliable?	74	(2)
Does quantum physics disprove causality?	76	(2)
Does causality apply to God?	78	(1)
Is God a self-caused Being?	78	(1)
Can science determine past causes?	79	(1)
Can origin science affirm the existence of God?	80	(4)
Does appealing to a Creator nullify the scientific method?	84	(3)
Questions About the Cosmos	87	(24)
Does the cosmos need a cause?	87	(2)
What's the difference between cosmology and cosmogony?	89	(1)
What is the foremost law of science?	90	(2)
Is the cosmos running out of usable energy?	92	(2)
Can scientists evade the second law of thermodynamics?	94	(1)
What evidence supports belief in a finite universe?	95	(6)
Which origin model best fits the cosmological evidence?	101	(2)
Why did the Superforce bring the cosmos into existence?	103	(1)
Why couldn't the cosmos be oscillating (or pulsating)?	104	(1)
Why couldn't the cosmos be in an eternal steady state?	105	(2)
What about quantum cosmology and Stephen Hawking's model?	107	(4)
Questions About the Origin of Life	111	(30)
Which came first, mind or matter?	111	(2)
What are the two competing origin-of-life models?	113	(2)
Did Darwin understand the complex nature of the cell?	115	(2)
How complex is a single cell, and how does it work?	117	(2)
What kind of coded information does a cell utilize?	119	(2)
How does the DNA molecular-information system work?	121	(2)
What kind of information is stored in the DNA molecule?	123	(3)
When does nonliving matter become a living organism?	126	(1)
What kind of cause produces highly specified complexity?	127	(4)
Why can't the forces of nature account for the origin of life?	131	(3)
How does information theory confirm an intelligent cause?	134	(2)
What kind of intelligent cause designed the genetic text?	136	(2)
What else can we know about this super-intelligent Being?	138	(1)
Which worldview is true (best corresponds to reality?)	139	(2)
Questions About Macroevolution	141	(28)
What is macroevolution?	141	(1)
Are there variations of macroevolution?	142	(1)
What is the design model?	143	(1)
Are there variations of the design model?	144	(2)
How should origin models be evaluated?	146	(1)
Doesn't natural selection support macroevolution?	147	(1)
What about the fruit fly experiments?	147	(3)
What about the use of computer models and analogies?	150	(5)
What about the fossil record (paleontological evidence)?	155	(4)
Isn't the fossil record complete except for a few missing links?	159	(4)
What is the ``punctuated equilibria'' model, and is it valid?	163	(6)
Questions About Intelligent Design	169	(20)
What about the theistic macroevolutionary model of origins?	169	(3)
Which design model best matches all the scientific evidence?	172	(3)
Why does the progressive view best fit all the evidence?	175	(2)
Does the progressive view fit all the evidence?	177	(8)
Does the biblical age of humanity conflict with modern science?	185	(4)
Questions About Law	189	(20)
What is law?	190	(2)
What caused the rise of positive law theory?	192	(3)
Does positive law jeopardize criminal justice?	195	(1)
How can lawmakers pass good laws?	196	(5)
How does positive law theory threaten basic human rights?	201	(2)
How does education influence law and human rights?	203	(6)
Questions About Justice	209	(20)
Is it wrong to pass laws that deny basic human rights?	209	(2)
Do governments create human rights or discover them?	211	(3)
Are the concepts of legal theory and personal morality related?	214	(13)
Which worldview is true (best corresponds to reality)?	227	(2)
Questions About God and Evil	229	(22)
Why evil?	229	(1)
Where is God?	230	(1)
Who can answer?	231	(1)
What is evil?	232	(2)
Did God create evil?	234	(3)
Why doesn't God stop evil?	237	(1)
What is the purpose of evil and suffering?	238	(3)
Why is there so much evil and suffering?	241	(1)
What about floods, tornadoes, cancer, AIDS, etc.?	242	(3)
Can God be sovereign and still allow for human freedom?	245	(6)
Questions About History and Jesus	251	(32)
What is history?	251	(1)
Are miracles possible?	252	(1)
How can we test the reliability of ancient documents?	253	(2)
Does the New Testament pass the bibliographical test?	255	(4)
Does the New Testament pass the internal test?	259	(5)
Does the New Testament pass the external test?	264	(13)
Are the New Testament authors reliable eyewitnesses?	277	(4)
What can we conclude about the New Testament documents?	281	(2)
Questions About the Deity of Jesus Christ	283	(26)
Who is Jesus Christ?	283	(1)
Who did Jesus Christ claim to be?	284	(3)
What did the apostles say about Jesus Christ?	287	(3)
What about you---who do you say Jesus Christ is?	290	(6)
How can Jesus Christ be both God and man?	296	(3)
Is there any way to illustrate this divine mystery?	299	(2)
How did Jesus Christ substantiate His claim to be God?	301	(8)
Questions About Ethics and Morals	309	(32)
What are ethics and morals?	309	(2)
Do absolute moral laws exist?	311	(2)
Isn't ethics just human instincts?	313	(2)
Isn't ethics just a matter of evincing one's feelings?	315	(9)
What is Jesus' first principle of ethics?	324	(1)
What did Jesus say about moral goodness?	325	(4)
What are Jesus' observations about human nature?	329	(2)
What is Jesus' diagnosis of the condition of humanity?	331	(3)
What is Jesus' prognosis of and prescription for humanity?	334	(7)
Questions About True Meaning and Heaven	341	(22)
What gives ultimate meaning to life?	341	(3)
Why can't true meaning be found apart from God?	344	(5)
Why can't true happiness be found in this world alone?	349	(2)
What does the future hold for someone who accepts Jesus?	351	(3)
What are the temporal consequences of refusing God?	354	(9)
Questions About True Misery and Hell	363	(8)
What are the permanent consequences of refusing God?	363	(1)
Why do ``decent'' people go to hell?	364	(3)
Why does anyone go to hell?	367	(4)
Appendix: First Principle Responses to Ethical Questions	371	(26)
What about abortion?	372	(8)
What about euthanasia?	380	(4)
What about biomedical issues?	384	(6)
What about human cloning?	390	(7)
Bibliography	397	(6)
Indices	403