Without God

Science, Belief, Morality, and the Meaning of Life

De: Zachary Broom

Narrado por: Zachary Broom

Duración: 7 h y 38 m

Resumen del Editor

Without God, how can we have hope or make sense of such a broken world?

Skeptics believe we don’t need God to understand reality, and that science and reason hold the keys to building a better world. Faith is blind, and there is no credible evidence for God’s existence - especially the God of the Bible. Therefore, science and religious belief are deeply incompatible, and God is no longer relevant to our modern world.

But if there is no God, how can our lives have any meaning? How can we make sense of good and evil, truth, justice, beauty, rationality, or even science itself? By engaging with popular atheists and skeptics, both new and old, as well as many of Christianity’s most brilliant writers, pastor and author Zachary Broom demonstrates how not only is there powerful evidence for God’s existence, but without him, everything begins to unravel.

Instead of setting out to “prove” God’s existence, Without God carefully and seriously engages skeptic’s doubts and common arguments against God, making use of philosophy, science, literature, and real-life conversations, as well as the author's own struggles and doubts.

Whether you believe in God or not, you will be challenged to wrestle carefully with life’s most important questions in a way that will lead you to a greater respect for the beliefs of others.

©2019 Jordan K. Lane (P)2019 Krishna Ghji Publishing

Object of faith more vital than certainty of faith

The author clearly has read from a number of different sources in working on this book. He frequently references and quotes a variety of people from various backgrounds. I always appreciate when people take time share their faith and could clearly see that the author desires for people to come to know Jesus. Sometimes he sounded too much like William Lane Craig or the Intelligent Design proponents from the Discovery Institute. I wished he had defined several of his terms more precisely, some were used differently than how I often see them defined. My favorite chapter in the book was the chapter on pain and suffering. The arguments for the existence of God were weaker arguments than some that I have heard and I didn’t find them very compelling. For example, the argument for irreducible complexity is a God of the gaps argument and has been debunked. I did like how the author emphasized that it is the object of our faith rather than the certainty of our faith that matters most. It’s a good book and similar to others I have read on this topic.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of the audio version of this book. I was asked (but not required) to give my honest review. I do not know the author.

Thought, reason and all creation declare the Glory and nature of God

“Without God” is an excellent, instructive and moving work in Christian apologetics. The work is concise yet thorough and approachable with each topic and chapter.

Extensive and relevant quotes from those who support and oppose the Christian faith and worldview are throughout out each chapter, providing support for the author’s thesis. This, being accomplished, either directly through agreement or through rebuttal. Intentional care is provided to fairly and graciously represent those quoted authors who stand in opposition.

The heavens declare the Glory Of God. “Without God” is a clear and beautiful presentation of how God’s very character and nature are seen with the existence of morality, logic, and science. That to deny the God of the Bible is to undercut the foundations of morality, logic and science.

The skeptic may take intellectual issue with the arguments raise by the Christian apologist. However, in the final analysis, his ultimate reason for refusal to have faith is a moral issue, rather than a intellectual issue. The issue is rebellion. And the rebel must repent. Repentance and faith is the pathway to understanding and intellectually inquiry. One must believe in order to understand. Not the other way around. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

With this, the apologist is to be the evangelist, the bearer of the good news: Sinners need a new standing before God and a new heart to understand God and His works. Jesus Christ provides both. Good news indeed. This is what every believer in Jesus Christ is called to proclaim.

Ephesians 4 reads that God has provided teachers “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.”
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“Without God” is a very commendable work to so equip and build up the body of Christ, that believers “honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter‬ ‭3:15‬).

Great Tool for Defending Faith

I received this audiobook free at my request and am leaving this review voluntarily.

Without God is a great book of Christian apologetics that one could use to defend their already held belief in the existence of God, or for those questioning to seek answers. The book is well written and easy to understand. Definitely recommend!

Facing Your Doubts

I received this audiobook in exchange for an honest review,

Without God: Science, Belief, Morality, and the Meaning of Life is written and narrated by Zachary Broom. In this work, Broom poses arguments that individuals have with the Christian faith, and he refutes them with Biblical passages, expert sources and personal reasoning. These resources come together to create a strong argument for belief in the Christian God. He narrates the book with a passion and articulation that's not always present among authors who narrate their work.

Zachary Broom breaks down the most popular anti-Christian arguments by chapter. These topics include the problem of evil, self-evident truths, the credibility of the Bible and the basis for morality. He refutes each issue with a generous number of quotes and arguments from atheists, agnostics and humanists, including Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins. He also includes citations from Christian apologetics, like Josh McDowell and Timothy Keller, and famed authors, like Fyodor Dostoevsky and C.S. Lewis, These sources all lend credibility to his work; it's clear he took the time and effort to thoroughly research arguments both for and against Christianity. And although he uses some personal beliefs and experiences to back up his claims, he never relies on them too heavily.

A quality author is not always the best individual to narrate their work, but Broom does an excellent job here. His narration is precise, articulate and clear. He flows smoothly through each sentence, while never stuttering or hesitating through difficult passages. He brings a high level of enthusiasm and commitment to this work, It's obvious that he cares deeply about the subject matter. Pronunciation of some words and names is one of the only areas where he could improve (fyodor dostoevsky and The Brothers Karamazov, for example). Nonetheless, he's a solid narrator for this book.

If you're a Christian, Without God is an excellent way for you to dig into the depths of your beliefs and alleviate your doubts. If you're an atheist, humanist or agnostic, or if you don't believe that the Christian faith has any basis, this book will open your mind to new arguments and beliefs. I strongly believe it's in everyone's best interest to test your beliefs and face your doubts, and this book is a great way of doing that. Broom includes numerous sources, arguments and quotes that lend to excellent discussion and contemplation. And he keeps things interesting with his compelling narration. I highly recommend Without God.

Really good!

Very informative particularly if you are looking for ideas
to defend Christianty to non-believers. Will listen again as so much to learn.

Best apologetics book I've read yet!

As an atheist, although it failed to be convincing in the end, was the best apologetics book I've read so far. Unlike the others, there isn't any straw-manning or intellectually dishonest arguments.

A Christians Logical

A logical defense of Christianity while also presenting Atheistic viewpoints. Great for the examined life!

Philosophically rigorous and intellectually honest

I've consumed several apologetics and Christian philosophy books along with many videos/lectures/etc. This book is a total stand out from others in the genre and is philosophically vigorous and well reasoned.

In each section, Zach examines Christianity and other worldviews through a specific lens, such as:

* Bias
* Presuppositions
* Morality
* The problem of evil

and so on.

The book is obviously very thoroughly researched. the author cites and directly addresses opposing views from the likes of Dawkins, Harris, Dennet, Ruse, and many others. He treats opposing arguments with tact and fairness, thoroughly working through the problems with both sides of the argument.

Overall, this has been a very refreshing listen.

In just about any Christian philosophy book review section, you will see atheists giving poor reviews. sometimes these are intellectually honest about the contents of the book, and sometimes they are vague dismissals. The content of this book leaves no room for accusations of the author reusing arguments or ignoring opposing views. I hope that some atheists/agnostics will give this book an honest listen and really think about the contents.

Well researched manuscript

You can tell the author did his homework. He often cites work that has been done on religion and without bias quotes both atheist and theist. Given the heavy content, I am buying the hard copy so that I can go at a slower pace to fully assimilate the rich content.

Interesting

The author does little to convince us agnostics who do want a good reason to pick a set of religious beliefs that we can genuinely believe. I found the philosophical discussion to be interesting, however there could’ve been more discussion around the enlightenment philosophers that discussed the state of nature and the reasons why humans developed rules. Ultimately the author arrives at the conclusion that neither atheist or theist can logically explain our existence, so just go with the one that makes you feel good. His conclusion is that we have a god shaped hole in our heart and Christianity will fill it. This is probably true, but it doesn’t prove anything. After all, there are billions of non-Christians that have been able to fill the god shaped hole with other gods. The author makes a compelling argument to believe in god, but not which god to believe in.