Who Made God?: and Answers to Over 100 Other Tough Questions Of
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WHO MADE GOD? Also by Ravi Zacharias and Norman Geisler Is Your Church Ready? Motivating Leaders to Live an Apologetic Life ZONDERVAN Who Made God? Copyright © 2003 by Ravi Zacharias and Norman Geisler All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan. ePub Edition JULY 2009 ISBN: 978-0-310-31530-8 Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Who made God? : and answers to over 100 other tough questions of faith / Ravi Zacharias and Norman Geisler, general editors.—1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Apologetics. 2. Christianity—Miscellanea. I. Zacharias, Ravi K. II. Geisler, Norman L. BT1103.W48 2003 239—dc21 2003008436 All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scriptures marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible. Scriptures marked NASB are from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®. Copyright © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. Scriptures marked NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scriptures marked RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1946, 1952, 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy,recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Published in association with the literary agency of Wolgemuth & Associates, Inc. CONTENTS Also by Ravi Zacharias and Norman Geisler Title Page Copyright Page Preface Acknowledgments Contributors PART 1: QUESTION ABOUT THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 1. Tough Questions about God NORMAN GEISLER Who Made God? Why Couldn’t the World Always Have Existed? How Can God Make Something out of Nothing? What Was God Doing before He Made the World? How Can There Be Three Persons in One God? How Can a Good God Send People to Hell? How Can God Be Both Loving and Just? 2. Tough Questions about Evil RONALD RHODES What Is the Origin of Evil? What Is God’s Ultimate Purpose in Allowing Evil? Wouldn’t It Be Better If God Did Away with All Evil Immediately? Does the Existence of Evil Prove That God Is Finite? Is Evil Just an Illusion? Can New Age Pantheism Account for Evil? Do We Create Our Own Realities? Does Reincarnation Explain the Existence of Evil? 3. Tough Questions about Science WILLIAM LANE CRAIG Are Science and Christianity Allies or Adversaries? How Should Theology and Science Relate? How Does Modern Science Describe the World? Where Did the Universe Come From? What Does the Fine-Tuning of the Universe Mean? What Does the “Many Worlds” Hypothesis Mean? What Explains the Actual Origin of Life? How Long Are the Days of Creation in Genesis? Is the Neo-Darwinian Theory of Evolution True? 4. Tough Questions about Christ LEE STROBEL Are the Records of Jesus’ Life Reliable? Did Jesus Ever Claim to Be God? 5. More Tough Questions about Christ LEE STROBEL Did Jesus Really Perform Miracles? Did Jesus Fulfill the Messianic Prophecies? Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? 6. Tough Questions about the Bible NORMAN GEISLER Where Did the Bible Come From? Who Wrote the Bible? Were the Biblical Authors Mere Secretaries of the Holy Spirit? What Was a Prophet in Bible Times? Could Prophets Add Their Personal Thoughts to God’s Message? How Did the Prophets Get Their Messages from God? Were the Prophets Permitted to Change the Words God Gave? What Do You Mean When You Say “The Bible Is the Word of God”? How Else Does the Bible Claim to Be the Word of God? Does the Bible Actually Claim to Be the “Word of God” in So Many Words? Does the Bible Claim to Have Divine Authority? How Far Does This Divine Authority Extend? What Do You Mean When You Say That the Bible Is Inspired? Are the Very Words of the Bible Inspired by God, or Only the Ideas? Does the Bible Claim to Be Inspired on All Topics or Just Spiritual Ones? How Do Some People Misunderstand What Is Meant by the Inspiration of the Bible? How Do We Know These Misunderstandings Aren’t Part of What Inspiration Covers? Isn’t the Bible Also a Human Book? Does the Bible Have Errors in It? Are There Errors in Bible Manuscripts and Translations? How Can the Bible Be Both God’s Words and Man’s Words? Were the Biblical Witnesses Reliable? Why Does the Jesus Seminar Reject the Reliability of the New Testament Witnesses? Would the New Testament Witnesses Have Stood Up in a Court of Law? Are the Copies of the Bible Reliable? PART 2: QUESTIONS ABOUT OTHER FAITHS 7. Tough Questions about the Bible, False Prophets, and the Holy Books of Other Religions NORMAN GEISLER What Evidence Is There That the Bible Is Inspired by God as It Claims to Be? Is There Any Other Evidence That the Bible Is God’s Word? Haven’t Psychics Made Successful Predictions Like Those Found in the Bible? Didn’t Nostradamus Make Supernatural Predictions? Do Nostradamus’s Predictions Fail the Test of a True Prophet? What Are the Tests for a False Prophet? Did the Biblical Authors Measure Up to These Tests? Why Can’t the Holy Books of Other Religions Also Be from God? Isn’t It Narrow-Minded to Claim That Only One Religion Has the Truth? Is the Old Testament Complete? What Is the Testimony of Judaism about the Completeness of the Old Testament? What Did Jesus Say about the Completeness of the Old Testament? What Did the Early Christians Say about the Completeness of the Old Testament? Did the Roman Catholic Church Add Books to the Jewish Old Testament? How Do We Know the New Testament Is Complete? What Did Jesus Promise about the Formation of the New Testament? What Did Jesus’ Apostles Say about the New Testament? What Evidence Did the Apostles Show for Their Authority? Were All the Apostolic and Prophetic Writings Preserved in the New Testament? How Does the Character of God Guarantee the Completeness of the New Testament? Did the Church Carefully Preserve the Whole New Testament? Is the Whole Bible Complete? Why Are Noninspired Books Mentioned in the Bible? Do Mormons Believe That the Bible Is Inspired by God? Is There Confirmation That Mormon Scriptures Are from God? Are There Evidences That The Book of Mormon Is Inspired? Is the Qur’an the Word of God? 8. Tough Questions about Hinduism and Transcendental Meditation L. T. JEYACHANDRAN Why Is There Such a High Degree of Interest in Eastern Religions among Westerners? What Are the Main Tenets of Hinduism? What Is Transcendental Meditation? 9. Tough Questions about Yoga, Reincarnation, and Buddhism L. T. JEYACHANDRAN What Does Yoga Mean and What Is the Teaching Behind It? What Is Reincarnation? What Are the Beliefs of Buddhism? 10. Tough Questions about Black Islam ROBERT WHITE What Is the Current Climate of the Church? What Makes Religion “Black”? Who Founded the Black Islamic Movement? Who Was Responsible for Bringing the Message of Black Islam to the Forefront? What Social Factors Led to the Emergence of the Black Islam Movement? What Is the Unique Appeal of Islam for Blacks? Why Is the Message of Islam Appealing to African-American Males in Particular? Who Was Malcolm X? Is Islam Becoming the True Religion of the Black Man? Do Black Muslims Have Misperceptions about the Christian Faith? Does Black Islam Recognize the Deity of Jesus Christ? Should Black Muslims Be Allowed to Speak in Black Churches? How Might the Church Reach Out to Black Muslims? Resources for Digging Deeper Notes Scripture Index Subject Index About the Publisher Share Your Thoughts PREFACE I all too clearly remember the day when, as a lad growing up in India, my mother had put a delicious treat into my hand. Happily, I walked outside, enjoying every juicy bite and wishing it would never come to an end. Suddenly, out of nowhere, an eagle swooped down upon me, and faster than the eye could see or the mind could react, the food was gone from my hand and the side of my face was clawed. I stood there completely shaken by the experience. My instinctive reaction was to run home, crying and calling for my mother’s comfort and hoping for help and replenishment. What I got was a stiff warning to always be mindful of such ever-circling predators that could in a moment leave you empty-handed. This experience came to mind as I thought of the losses our culture has suffered over the last three decades. As Christians we happily wandered throughout the land with the Bible in our hands, preaching it yet leaving it unprotected from the vandals who sought to snatch it and leave us somewhat disoriented.