Book Debate Guide: The Case for a Creator

From PhiloWiki

Lee Strobel is the author of several well-written books on Christianity. In "The Case for a Creator", he makes arguments for the existence of a personal, interactive Creator.

Contents 1 About this debate guide 2 General criticism 3 Chapter 1: White-Coated Scientists Versus Black-Robed Preachers 4 Chapter 2: The Images of Evolution 5 Chapter 3: Doubts About Darwinism 6 Chapter 4: Where Science Meets Faith 7 Chapter 5: The Evidence of Cosmology: Beginning with a Bang 8 Chapter 6: The Evidence of Physics: The Cosmos on a Razor's Edge 9 Chapter 7: The Evidence of Astronomy: The Privileged Planet 10 Chapter 8: The Evidence of Biochemistry: The Complexity of Molecular Machines 11 Chapter 9: The Evidence of Biological Information: The Challenge of DNA and the Origin of Life 12 Chapter 10: The Evidence of Consciousness: The Evidence of the Mind 13 Chapter 11: The Cumulative Case for a Creator

About this debate guide

PhiloWiki Debate Guides are designed to collect together the hardest and most challenging questions about the debate topics. These questions are selected in order to represent areas that should be addressed by proponents of these topics.

General criticism

• [Case Not Made: A Critique of Lee Strobel’s The Case for a Creator - Paul Jacobsen, Case Against Faith]

"[Strobel] goes on to explain that his approach would be to cross-examine authorities, doctorate-level professors. My, what an amazing coincidence that all the doctorate-level authorities that he picked happen to be Christian theists! ... If you really want to find out whether science confirms the 'God theory', you don't only pick people that you know ahead of time are going to say 'yes, Lee, that is exactly right.' That's like saying, 'I'm going to get to the bottom of this Buddhist stuff, I'm going to interview a bunch of Buddhist monks and see if they tell me that Buddhism is all its cracked up to be.'"

Chapter 1: White-Coated Scientists Versus Black-Robed Preachers

1. Scientists consider evolution a fact, not a theory [p 12, 16]
2. Darwinism means there is no evidence for God [p 16]
3. Darwinism means there is no free will [p 16]

Chapter 2: The Images of Evolution

1. Evolution means there is no God [pp 22-24]
2. The alternative to God is a cold, athiestic existence [p 25]
3. If God does not exist, then you are free from "those pesky rules of ethics and morality".

Chapter 3: Doubts About Darwinism

1. The Miller experiment to show the origin of life was proved false [p 37]
2. The cell is too complex to have evolved naturally [p 38]
3. Science has no explanation for the origin of life [p 42]
4. Darwin's tree of life does not reflect the fossil record [p 43]
5. The Cambrian explosion of new life forms could not have happened naturally [p 43]
6. Gaps in the fossil record indicate a lack of transitional forms, disproving evolution [p 44]
7. There is no evidence for macro-evolution [p 45]
8. Haeckel's embryos were faked, and school textbooks still discuss his erroneous images [p 47]
9. Embryology does not support evolution [p 50]
10. The homology of life forms (animals share similar bone structures) is not proof of common ancestry [p 52]
11. The highly-similar genetic coding is not evidence of common ancestry [p 54]
12. Archaeopteryx is a bird, not half-bird and half-reptile, and therefore not a transitional form [p 55]
13. Vestigal structures are not evidence of evolution [p 55]
14. Fake fossils discredit evolutionary theory [p 58]
15. Punctuated evolution has been 'roundly criticized' [p 65]
16. A belief in evolution makes belief in God impossible [p 66]

Chapter 4: Where Science Meets Faith

1. Science is not the only begetter of truth [p 73]
2. The universe had a first cause [p 74]
3. The universe is fine-tuned to permit life [p 74]
4. Information in the cell suggests a designer [p 74]
5. The origin of life suggests a designer [p 74]
6. The weight of scientific evidence points to God [p 77]
7. The universe could not have been created from nothing [p 77]
8. Complex biological systems could not have evolved naturally [p 79]
9. The Cambrian explosion could not have occurred naturally [p 80]
10. Consciousness is best explained by theism [p 80]
11. Pantheism is false because these gods would exist within the universe, not before [p 81]
12. Creationism disproves Deism [p 81]
13. Man was created in God's image, but is of flawed design due to original sin [p 88]
14. The Bible is a compelling narrative for faith [p 90]

Chapter 5: The Evidence of Cosmology: Beginning with a Bang

1. Whether the Earth is young or old is not germane to the case for a Creator [p 94]
2. Kalam argument: Everything with a beginning has a cause. The universe has a beginning. Therefore it has a cause. [p 97]
3. Things cannot come into being out of nothingness [p 99]
4. The universe is fine-tuned to permit intelligent life [p 106]
5. The theory of inflation is "suspect" and "appears to be motivated by a philosophical bias." [pp 106-107]
6. The multiverse does not exist because we do not see evidence of other universes.

Chapter 6: The Evidence of Physics: The Cosmos on a Razor's Edge

1. The fine-tuned universe is evidence of a Creator [p 127]

Chapter 7: The Evidence of Astronomy: The Privileged Planet

1. God did not create the universe for mankind. [p 162]
2. The Enlightenment did not denigrate mankind's role in the universe - it ennobled it. [p 162]
3. The Church's persecution of early scientists is exaggerated. [p 162]
4. Textbooks teach that the people of Columbus's time thought that the Earth was flat. [p 163]
5. God made the moon the perfect size for solar eclipses so that mankind could better conduct scientific experiments. [p 187]
6. The universe is vast because mankind needs something to discover [p 190]
7. God created the universe for mankind. [p 191]
8. Only one planet in the universe is likely to bear life. [p 191]

Chapter 8: The Evidence of Biochemistry: The Complexity of Molecular Machines

1. The evolution of complex structures is impossible because of irreducible complexity [p 197]
2. It is impossible for cilia to evolve naturally [p 201]
3. It is impossible for bacterial flagella to evolve naturally [p 204]
4. It is impossible for the cell to evolve naturally [p 207]
5. It is impossible for mechanisms for blood-clotting to evolve naturally [p 209]
6. Gene duplication does not contribute to evolution [p 210]
7. Self-organization does not contribute to evolution [p 213]

Chapter 9: The Evidence of Biological Information: The Challenge of DNA and the Origin of Life

1. Evolution cannot explain the rise of information within DNA [p 223]
2. There is no evidence for prebiotic soup [p 227]
3. The Miller experiment is not evidence for evolution [p 228]
4. The role of random chance in the origin of life is discredited by scientists [p 228]
5. Natural selection had no role in the origin of life [p 230]
6. Self-organization plays no role in the origin of life [p 231]
7. The Cambrian explosion did not result from evolution [p 238]

Chapter 10: The Evidence of Consciousness: The Evidence of the Mind

1. Artificial intelligence will never give rise to consciousness [p 248]
2. The mind is separate from the brain [p 249]
3. The soul contains the mind and is separate from the body [p 254]
4. A purely physical consciousness cannot view the world through the first-person [p 255]
5. A purely physical consciousness does not have free will [p 255]
6. Near-death experiences prove that consciousness is not purely physical [p 256]
7. Jesus is proof that an immortal soul exists and that Man can survive after death [p 257]
8. A person remains the same even if his consciousness changes [p 260]
9. Consciousness cannot evolve naturally [p 263]
10. A purely physical consciousness cannot be rational [p 265]
11. Consciousness cannot be explained naturally [p 268]

Chapter 11: The Cumulative Case for a Creator