How to Know God Exists

September 19, 2022
In this competent volume, evangelist McDowell (Evidence for the Historical Jesus) and artist Williams (Knowing Aslan) find evidence for God in the natural world. Using “reason, observation... and common sense” to dispute naturalist accounts of the universe, the authors posit that belief in God “is rationally defensible” and supported by empirical evidence. They discuss their doubts about evolutionary explanations for human behavior, contending that widespread disapproval of Nazis since WWII indicates a “universal moral sense” that conflicts with a “survival of the fittest” philosophy primarily concerned with protecting one’s progeny at any cost. The authors take issue with the big bang theory and argue that every variation of it struggles to explain how something (a singularity, energy, gravity) can emerge from nothing. Beauty only makes sense if understood as glimpses of the “supernatural,” they suggest, dismissing out of hand arguments about beauty’s subjective nature. McDowell and Williams pose some questions that will give skeptics pause, even if the authors’ shallow presentation of current scientific consensus undermines their persuasiveness. The result provides food for thought.

October 1, 2022

Evangelist McDowell (More Than a Carpenter) and writer/editor Williams posit that everyone ponders the following three questions: Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? They seek to provide the answers to those questions from a traditional, evangelical Christian point of view. They maintain that secularism has caused God to be banned from society and its institutions, a situation that makes answering these questions impossible unless readers abandon scientific rationality and make faith in a transcendent God the touchstone of reality. The book suggests that belief in gods was largely universal in ancient times. Moreover, it posits that "naturalists" (the authors' term for people who reject or question the existence of the supernatural) won't acknowledge the existence of God because that would mean that they'd have to adhere to moral values that might impinge on personal freedom, particularly sexual activity. McDowell and Williams argue, controversially, that naturalists cannot experience conscience, enjoy beauty, or find meaning in life because of their mechanistic way of thinking. VERDICT The audience for this book may prove to be narrow, perhaps mostly appealing to like-minded evangelical Christians.--Gail Eubanks

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.