About The Possibility of Belief

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The secular story of where life comes from, who we are, and what it all means, goes something like this:

“The Universe came from a Big Bang a very long time ago. Somehow by Random Chance life started and evolved, ending up with us. There is no real meaning to life other than the meaning we make for ourselves. The Bible is made up stories. Jesus was no more than a good teacher with some interesting insights on ethics. There is no absolute right or wrong. Anyone who has faith in God is basically involved in wishful thinking, which most of the time is fairly harmless, but is not based on anything reliable, or any on any kind of solid evidence.” (The Possibility of Belief, page 24)

The aim of The Possibility of Belief is to show how each element of that secular view of life can be challenged by solid evidence and found to be wanting. We can know who we are, where we have come from, and why we are here. We can also be confident of the validity of the answers we find that form the framework of Christian belief or faith. And from those answers we can find hope, meaning and purpose. Christian belief is both plausible and reasonable.

Secular people typically raise several objections to Christian belief, including the following:

– Evolution is a major obstacle for many people because it appears to offer an explanation of life without any need for God. So, we must see whether evolution provides any such basis for rejecting belief in God, and consider how all encompassing evolutionary explanations are actually able to be.

– The Bible is not considered to be in any way authoritative or reliable. So we must look at its historical reliability and its historical and metaphysical claims. Let’s take it on its own terms and see what it says, but also check it against testable history and reality and see how it measures up.

– Faith is taken to be a leap away from the world of solid reliable facts to something untestable and unprovable. So we must consider carefully the nature of faith as well as its role in science not just Christianity.

The Possibility of Belief sets out a journey of discovery starting from the observable facts of our existence, and explores questions such as whether design or random chance is the more convincing explanation for life. It shows how Christian faith is reasonable and leads on to knowing God and peace of mind and hope.

This website also has other material and links supporting the themes of the book to allow you to explore Christian belief. I hope you will find it helpful.

Duncan Bayliss 

Available from Amazon as Paperback and Kindle e-book

You can Look Inside and read the First Chapter for free on this website