FIVE STARS REVIEW: GODforsaken by Dinesh D’Souza
This book is compelling! It offers a Christian solution to why evil and suffering happen in the world. The happenstance of me reading this was an ordained “such-a-time-as-this” event given the recent tornadoes and destruction that occurred not too far from my home in Indiana.
D’Souza is a masterful writer and superb debater. Throughout the book he shows the case and arguments atheists have given for evil and suffering in the world, then flips their reasoning on its heads and offers biblical teaching of why things are like they are. One of my favorite chapters is “Acts of God: The Reason for Earthquakes.” In this chapter he talks about how we owe our existence to plate tectonic and how earthquakes are actually vital to enable and sustain life on earth. One geochemist he quotes as saying: “They type of geological process that caused the earthquakes and the tsunami is an essential characteristic of earth.” Looking at the facts like this was amazing and eye-opening. Thus, D’Souza said complaining about earthquakes would be like complaining about the sun. While the sun can cause heat stroke and cancer, we couldn't survive without it.
This isn’t the same old book on evil and suffering. D’Souza has taken the Christian apology to a whole new level. I have highlighted many sections throughout the book. It is a resource I plan to use again and again when someone asks why bad things happen. I agree with most everything in the book, and I enjoyed when he used John Wesley as an example a few times (kudos!). But there are a few areas I disagree with. D’Souza believes in a very old earth and was a bit too Calvinistic on his view of heaven. The benefits of the book, however, outweigh the critique, and I would highly recommend the book to pastors and other ministry leaders.
*Tyndale House Publishers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.
You can download the first chapter at http://files.tyndale.com/thpdata/FirstChapters/978-1-4143-2485-2.pdf
Visit the author’s website - http://www.dineshdsouza.com/
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