One of the goals of R3 is to present an intellectual side to faith. So often people have the idea that you must have “blind faith” to follow God. But that’s not the case. God never asks us to stop using our minds or to stop thinking. He asks us to trust him, not become brain-dead.
But not everyone sees Christianity this way. Some people question the reliability of the Bible. Others question the sanity of believing. Not long ago Sam Harris, an atheist, challenged the existence of God, and therefore the validity of believing. In his book The End of Faith, Harris argued that since there is suffering, there can be no God, because God would never allow suffering. And if he did, he’d be a horrible God, and therefore unworthy of belief.
Those are pretty heavy charges. And to be honest, on the surface they seem very compelling.
That’s where The End of Reason comes in. Ravi Zacharias responds to those challenges and lays down an intellectual and philosophical argument for the existence of God.
Somewhere along the line, we’ve decided that people who have faith can’t use their mind. That’s probably the polite way of saying it. But that’s not what I’ve discovered. I’ve found that the more I use my mind, the more I work at problems, the more I study the issue, the stronger my faith, the more I believe. That’s the value of The End of Reason. In one short (it’s only 128 pages long) book, Ravi Zacharias lays out a strong argument for not only the existence of God, but for the existence of the Christian God.
He starts by arguing for a Christian worldview based on the ideas of origin (where do we all come from), meaning (what’s the point?), morality, and hope that assures a destiny. Zacharias argues that when atheism is challenged on those points, it can’t come up with logical and consistent answers.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t find everything in this book convincing. But I don’t think that’s the point. If you talk to any scientist, he or she will tell you that no theory gets 100% of the evidence. It’s not always about certainty, it’s about which side has more evidence.
That’s where faith comes in. There will never be a way to prove with 100% certainty that God exists. We just need to take the evidence we have, use our minds, and allow faith to take us the last bit.
In that regard The End of Reason is an excellent start. Ravi Zacharias presents a compelling argument that counters the general arguments of atheism, and Sam Harris’s specific arguments. Living out a life of faith is about being willing to ask tough questions, and listen for hard answers. It’s about not shying away from the unknown.
