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filled with evidence of his existence, but without his direct presence—a presence so powerful that it could overwhelm our freedom and thus negate our ability to reject him. In other words, God has provided enough evidence in this life to convince anyone willing to believe, yet he has also left some ambiguity so as not to compel the unwilling. In this way, God gives us the opportunity either to love him or to reject him without violating our freedom. In fact, the purpose of this life is to make that choice freely and without coercion. For love, by definition, must be freely given. It cannot be coerced. That’s why C. S. Lewis wrote, “the Irresistible and the Indisputable are the two weapons which the very nature of [God’s] scheme forbids Him to use. Merely to over-ride a human will (as His felt presence in any but the faintest and most mitigated degree would certainly do) would be for Him useless. He cannot ravish. He can only woo.” 7
    We hope the evidence we present in this book will, in some small way, woo you to God. Keep in mind that it’s not our evidence, it’s his. We are simply compiling it in a logical order. By using real-world stories and illustrations as often as possible, we intend to make this book readable and its reasoning easily accessible.
    SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
    As we have seen, many religious truth claims can be investigated and their plausibility determined. Since all conclusions about such claims are based on probability rather than absolute certainty, they all—including atheistic claims—require some amount of faith. As we look at the evidence in the ensuing chapters, we’ll see that conclusions such as “God exists” and “the Bible is true” are certain beyond reasonable doubt. Therefore, it takes a lot more faith to be a non-Christian than it does to be a Christian.
    However, we have also acknowledged that evidence alone cannot convince someone to become a Christian. Some atheists and nonChristians may reject Christianity not because the evidence is inadequate but because they don’t want to accept it. Some people choose to suppress the truth rather than live by it. In fact, we humans have a fatal tendency to try to adjust the truth to fit our desires rather than adjusting our desires to fit the truth.
    But wait. Isn’t there a third alternative? What about remaining agnostic like the Old Testament professor at the beginning of this chapter? He said he didn’t know if God exists. Some may think that such a person is open-minded. Perhaps. But there’s a big difference between being open-minded and being empty-minded. In light of the evidence, we think agnosticism is a decision to be empty-minded. After all, isn’t the reason we should be open-minded so that we can recognize truth when we see it? Yes. So what are we to do when there’s enough evidence to point us to the truth? For example, what should we do when we see evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that George Washington was the first president of the United States? Should we remain “open-minded” as to who the first president was? No, that would be empty -minded. Some questions are closed. As we’ll see, there’s enough evidence regarding Christianity to draw a reasonably certain conclusion.
    As Mortimer Adler observed, our conclusion about God impacts every area of our lives. It is the key to finding unity and diversity and ultimate meaning in life. It is literally the most important question for every human being to address. Fortunately, if our reasoning is correct, we will discover the box top to life’s puzzle at the end of our journey. So let’s take the first step on that journey. It begins with the question of truth.

Chapters 1–2
will cover:
    1. Truth about reality is knowable. .
    2. The opposite of true is false.
    3. It is true that the theistic God exists. This is evidenced by the:
    a. Beginning of the universe (Cosmological Argument)
    b. Design of the universe (Teleological Argument/ Anthropic