First Sunday of Lent (Cycle A)

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The Temptation of Jesus Lectionary:  22 Reading 1 -  Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7 Responsorial Psalm -  Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 17 Reading 2 -  Romans 5:12-19 Verse - Matthew 4:4b Gospel -  Matthew 4:1-11 One does not live on bread alone. Every year, we begin our Lenten journey in the same place: the desert.   The Gospel for this Sunday places Jesus in the wilderness, fasting and praying, confronted by temptation. In that stark setting we find the pattern of our own Lenten journey: a movement away from distraction toward the heart of God, a testing that reveals what truly sustains us, and a call to conversion that reshapes our lives.  Throughout our lives, we are frequently confronted with tests … and these tests generally reveal something about ourselves: In school, we demonstrate that we have mastered an academic subject with a test  in sports, we demonstrate our level of a particular skill with a contest  In life, we demonstrate the integri...
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Review: The Return of the God Hypothesis: Compelling Scientific Evidence for the Existence of God

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The Return of the God Hypothesis: Compelling Scientific Evidence for the Existence of God The Return of the God Hypothesis: Compelling Scientific Evidence for the Existence of God by Stephen C. Meyer

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book, albeit from the aspect of somebody that didn't need much convincing. It starts with a quick review of the "war" between science and faith, pointing out how religion (specifically Christianity) helped jump start what eventually becomes the scientific method, the foundation of modern science today. Then it moves into a discussion [in Part II] on the improbability of life anywhere in the universe if the conditions for life were not so finely tuned, suggesting the existence of intelligent design (very similar to Schroeder's Science of God, with more detail and better support). 

Unfortunately the bulk of the argument in support of the "God Hypothesis" realistically stops there ... without definitive proof of Divine Creator, the author then advances the idea that Intelligent Design is the most probable hypothesis ... and he does this by developing poorly constructed strawman arguments to undermine materialism/naturalism, pantheism, panspermia (aliens ... which IMHO was never a true contender for intelligent life on earth) in Part III. 

Seriously ... I am already a believer and even I wasn't convinced here and I really had a hard time pushing through this part. Unfortunately it just gets more incoherent as the books goes on. I may not have a PhD; however, I do have formal training in thermodynamics and information theory and I really don't think the author gets these right ... or else he just does an abysmal job with his explanation; either way this makes it difficult to trust his portrayal of the science as accurate. By the end it feels like the author is trying hard to insert a square peg into a round hole ...

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#TheReturnoftheGodHypothesis #NetGalley

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