Review: God Forsaken by Dinesh D'Souza

Dinesh D'Souza presents an incredible amount of evidence in his book "God Forsaken" with the goal of disproving the atheist's argument that a loving God is not compatible with the God in the Bible or the world full of evils that we live in. In fact, D'Souza does such a good job of presenting the various arguments against Christianity and God that, until he begins to refute them with just as much articulation and persuasion, you almost begin to believe that he is an atheist. But then again, he does hang out a lot with atheists, and he debates with them often.

D'Souza presents a clear and scientifically supported argument for the fine-tuned universe, a universe in which human beings could not exist at all (or exist with free will) without the perceived moral and natural (disasters) evil in the world. In addition to this, he explains pieces of the Bible that are easily misunderstood and shows how the Christian God can be both loving and allow evil to exist. I will not go into detail summarizing his arguments here. There are long, but they are extremely convincing.

My one problem with D'Souza's book is that he talks about evolution in his discussion of the fine-tuned universe, and he clearly believes in evolution - maybe even the big bang (which he also references a few times). The way he presents evolution in his book makes sense, and it does not conflict with the Biblical account. But it does leave me with questions. He explains how death could exist before man (such as with the dinosaurs), but not how that is compatible with the perfect world of the Garden of Eden. He talks about the evolution of man, of consciousness and intelligence, but never points out how that works with what is presented in the Bible - how man could be unique and made in God's image if he evolves in the same way as all the other creatures out there, albeit a bit more conscious, moral and intelligent. It's great to see how even the atheist's scientific arguments of Darwinism can actually work with the Bible and not against it, but I wanted more from D'Souza on this topic. Maybe there wasn't enough room for it in this book, but it left me hanging and I hope he expands on it more in another book.

Another thought: While the evidence seems to point to the world we live in as necessary for our existence, clearly the Bible indicates that originally those evils did not exist in the Garden of Eden before the fall. So if God created a world free of moral evil and crimes of nature then, why can't we live in such a world now? At least when it comes to crimes of nature (Moral evil is easily explained by the fall.). Was the Garden of Eden then on a different planet? I'm not saying the fall could not have affected the way the world operates, but why did the fall compel the universe to work in this way with no other way possible for human beings to live? When did the necessary laws for human beings to exist and for our fine-tuned universe to exist change? I'm quite certain there's an explanation there, but D'Souza does not give it.

That said, I could not put this book down. I gobbled it up. D'Souza writes with such clarity, he easily persuades. A person would have to be blind, ignorant and hard hearted to not take something away from this book. I highly recommend it. And there are plenty of gems to be found in it that I have not mentioned here.

*Disclaimer: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for my honest review of it.