Charles Colson’s “The Faith”
May 29, 2008 by TJM Admin
As some of you already know, I have been approached by Zondervan books and asked to read Charles Colson’s book, “The Faith: What Christians Believe, Why they Believe it and Why it Matters.” First of all, let me start of that I think that it is pretty presumptive for Mr. Colson to try to encompass all Christians within the title. Not all Christians have the same beliefs, even when it comes down to core beliefs such as the role that the “Holy Spirit” plays in todays’ society.
Within the first chapter of the book, you get the feeling that Mr. Colson wrote this book as a direct response to the more popular salvos that have been shot across the bow of organized religion over the past few years; “The God Delusion,” “God is Not Great” and so on.
By the time you get about halfway through the second chapter, you realize that Mr. Colson has a very limited grasp on what atheism actually is and an even lesser understanding of modern thoughts on astrophysics and theoretical physics. Example: He puts forth the notion that there are only three schools of thought when it comes to the origin of the universe. These would be as follows: a) Poof, out of nothing something, b) a non-personal god or a “universal Mind” approach and finally c) the personal God of the Bible created it all. Uh, Mr Colson… What about the umpteen thousand other “gods” that have their claims to the foundation of the universe? Why must you so quickly dismiss them? And what of the Emergence theory? What of the mathematical certainty that there may well be parallel universes? What about other universes? Should we find that there was indeed life on Mars, what then happens to your argument about how “special” life is?
All of this is mute moot. You see, Charles gives away his hand while considering the three choices. He relates to the reader a personal story of how he met someone at an exclusive dinner party. Apparently, the individual warns Charles that he is an atheist. His retort was that he had never really met an atheist. Then he explains, “An atheist believes that the existence of God can be disproved.” No, Charles. You see, it is impossible to prove an absolute negative. He knows this which is why he crafted his explanation in the positive vein.
At the end of Chapter 2, I am well aware of what I am up against. After all, Chapter 2 ends on Pascals’ Wager. Really? Is that the best that you have?
"All of this is mute."
Moot, not mute.
[Reply]
Yes, yes. A thousand pardons as I was trying to get this done with a 3 year old clinging to my leg and wanting to play. Please excuse me as I make the necessary corrections. Other than that, have you anything substantial to add?
[Reply]
“All of this is mute.”
Moot, not mute.
[Reply]
TJM Admin reply on May 29th, 2008 7:32 pm:
Yes, yes. A thousand pardons as I was trying to get this done with a 3 year old clinging to my leg and wanting to play. Please excuse me as I make the necessary corrections. Other than that, have you anything substantial to add?
[Reply]
Hi Brian,
I'm one of the other atheist bloggers whom Zondervan asked to talk with Chuck Colson. I picked up on that story in chapter 2 also, although I decided not to write about it. What struck me about that story is that the guy at the party is supposed to be a totally staunch atheist, yet he folds after just two brief statements by Colson which boil down to semantic nitpicking.
By contrast, I wonder what Colson would think if I told him the following story:
I met a Christian at a party. I said "You know, Christianity has no basis in reality." The Christian responded, "Well, I'm really just a semi-regular church-goer." I said "But church is ridiculous!" Two weeks later, the Christian abandoned his faith.
Would Colson take that as proof that Christianity has no foundation? Or would he just dismiss it by observing that this particular Christian I happened to meet had no idea what he was talking about?
If you're interested, my entire response to the book is here:
“>http://atheistexperience.blogspot.com/2008/06/let...
However, if you're still working on your own reply, then you may want to hold off a bit before reading it. I wouldn't want to influence your response to the book unduly, as I'd like to see as many diverse replies as possible.
[Reply]
Hi Brian,
I'm one of the other atheist bloggers whom Zondervan asked to talk with Chuck Colson. I picked up on that story in chapter 2 also, although I decided not to write about it. What struck me about that story is that the guy at the party is supposed to be a totally staunch atheist, yet he folds after just two brief statements by Colson which boil down to semantic nitpicking.
By contrast, I wonder what Colson would think if I told him the following story:
I met a Christian at a party. I said "You know, Christianity has no basis in reality." The Christian responded, "Well, I'm really just a semi-regular church-goer." I said "But church is ridiculous!" Two weeks later, the Christian abandoned his faith.
Would Colson take that as proof that Christianity has no foundation? Or would he just dismiss it by observing that this particular Christian I happened to meet had no idea what he was talking about?
If you're interested, my entire response to the book is here:
“>http://atheistexperience.blogspot.com/2008/06/let...
However, if you're still working on your own reply, then you may want to hold off a bit before reading it. I wouldn't want to influence your response to the book unduly, as I'd like to see as many diverse replies as possible.
[Reply]
Hi Brian,
I'm one of the other atheist bloggers whom Zondervan asked to talk with Chuck Colson. I picked up on that story in chapter 2 also, although I decided not to write about it. What struck me about that story is that the guy at the party is supposed to be a totally staunch atheist, yet he folds after just two brief statements by Colson which boil down to semantic nitpicking.
By contrast, I wonder what Colson would think if I told him the following story:
I met a Christian at a party. I said "You know, Christianity has no basis in reality." The Christian responded, "Well, I'm really just a semi-regular church-goer." I said "But church is ridiculous!" Two weeks later, the Christian abandoned his faith.
Would Colson take that as proof that Christianity has no foundation? Or would he just dismiss it by observing that this particular Christian I happened to meet had no idea what he was talking about?
If you're interested, my entire response to the book is here:
“>http://atheistexperience.blogspot.com/2008/06/let...
However, if you're still working on your own reply, then you may want to hold off a bit before reading it. I wouldn't want to influence your response to the book unduly, as I'd like to see as many diverse replies as possible.
[Reply]
Hi Brian,
I'm one of the other atheist bloggers whom Zondervan asked to talk with Chuck Colson. I picked up on that story in chapter 2 also, although I decided not to write about it. What struck me about that story is that the guy at the party is supposed to be a totally staunch atheist, yet he folds after just two brief statements by Colson which boil down to semantic nitpicking.
By contrast, I wonder what Colson would think if I told him the following story:
I met a Christian at a party. I said "You know, Christianity has no basis in reality." The Christian responded, "Well, I'm really just a semi-regular church-goer." I said "But church is ridiculous!" Two weeks later, the Christian abandoned his faith.
Would Colson take that as proof that Christianity has no foundation? Or would he just dismiss it by observing that this particular Christian I happened to meet had no idea what he was talking about?
If you're interested, my entire response to the book is here:
“>http://atheistexperience.blogspot.com/2008/06/let...
However, if you're still working on your own reply, then you may want to hold off a bit before reading it. I wouldn't want to influence your response to the book unduly, as I'd like to see as many diverse replies as possible.
[Reply]
Hi Brian,
I’m one of the other atheist bloggers whom Zondervan asked to talk with Chuck Colson. I picked up on that story in chapter 2 also, although I decided not to write about it. What struck me about that story is that the guy at the party is supposed to be a totally staunch atheist, yet he folds after just two brief statements by Colson which boil down to semantic nitpicking.
By contrast, I wonder what Colson would think if I told him the following story:
I met a Christian at a party. I said “You know, Christianity has no basis in reality.” The Christian responded, “Well, I’m really just a semi-regular church-goer.” I said “But church is ridiculous!” Two weeks later, the Christian abandoned his faith.
Would Colson take that as proof that Christianity has no foundation? Or would he just dismiss it by observing that this particular Christian I happened to meet had no idea what he was talking about?
If you’re interested, my entire response to the book is here:
http://atheistexperience.blogspot.com/2008/06/letter-to-chuck-colson-on-faith.html
However, if you’re still working on your own reply, then you may want to hold off a bit before reading it. I wouldn’t want to influence your response to the book unduly, as I’d like to see as many diverse replies as possible.
[Reply]