Farewell to God

Why am I responding to 'Farewell to God' by Charles Templeton? The biggest reason is that as I started reading it, it sounded convincing. That scared me. My faith was somewhat shaken. During that time I made some serious efforts to better understand both the Christian faith, and life stuff. I dove into philosophy, I researched evolution, I read about other religions (mostly Mormonism), and I actually read my Bible front to back. Having done some research, I look at books like this and laugh because they DO sound completely convincing to someone who isn't familiar with some basic information about rules of logic and the discoveries of science (guess what, there's no scientific proof against God!!). That prompted me to respond, in part because it may help others who are going through the faith building experience of doubting, and in part because I understand best by writing, not by reading.

The next biggest reason is because, after doing some research on the criticisms of Christianity, I realize that this book has most of them. Supposed discrepencies between science and Christianity, the history of the church, the 'fabrication' of the New Testament, the role of women, the fact of Evil, and so forth, are all covered in this book. The problem is that they are all so poorly covered and Mr. Templeton betrayed the very flaws in each of the attacks on Christianity so well, that they are there for everyone to see. Many people have written many things that are so superior to this piece of drivel that finding the errors is difficult, as they are exceptionally well hidden. Mr. Templeton, I can only assume out of a lack of writing ability, has made the errors in reasoning so clear that I feel somewhat sheepish for having experienced any doubt because of this book. My doubt was based mostly on my previous lack of interest in the subject, a period of life I look back on with regret. Very little learning in critical reasoning skills, and even a brief overview of such subjects as history and science, reveal that Mr. Templeton's logic is founded entirely on quick-sand.

My response was originally intended to be in printed form, so I apologize for the lack of online resources in this section. Almost all of what is covered here is also covered in the apologetics section, with plenty of links to relevant internet resources.

One last note. This response was written assuming that you, the reader, have a copy of 'Farewell to God' in front of you. If you do not, some parts will have to be passed over, as I simply respond to questions without re-iterating what the question is, for example. My apologies.