Show Me God: What the Message From Space is Telling Us About God

Show Me God: What the Message from Space is Telling Us About God

by Fred Heeren
Published by Day Star Publications, Wheeling, IL, 2000
393 pages, $14.95

reviewed by
Dan Simon
Innovatia Software
dansimon@innovatia.com

This is a revised version of the first edition which was published in 1995 and reviewed in the journal Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 48, no. 1 (March 1996) page 56. The revisions include new scientific findings and additional interviews with scientists. The author of the book is a science writer who is composing a four-book series, of which this is the first volume. The title of the book and the photograph of Einstein on the cover conspire to give the appearance of somewhat sensationalist pseudoscience. However, this is one situation where you should not judge a book by its cover. This book is a tremendous resource for the Intelligent Design (ID) argument for God – the best of its kind that I have seen. It is readable and substantial at the same time. It is chock-full of interviews with world-class scientists (including Alan Guth, Robert Jastrow, Stephen Hawking, Robert Wilson, and several others). Although almost all of Heeren’s interview subjects are atheists or agnostics, he uses their statements to support ID. The book is filled with references to scientific articles and books for those who want to dig deeper. There are also 98 photographs of subjects ranging from planets and galaxies to portraits of famous scientists. In addition, the book is sprinkled with humorous conversations between the author and his imaginary book editor designed to bring the scientific discussion “down to earth.”

The book is divided into four parts, which are further subdivided into 12 chapters. The first part deals with science’s search for extraterrestrial life. Heeren discusses humanity’s desperate desire to find extraterrestrial life, the scientific odds for and against its existence, and what its discovery or lack thereof might imply for theology. Heeren believes that the odds against the existence of extraterrestrial life are overwhelming, and that its discovery would only indicate that God create life on worlds other than Earth.

The second part of the book proposes that God is the best explanation for the existence of the universe. Heeren explores theories that indicate the universe is uncaused, including steady state cosmology, cyclic cosmology, and Stephen Hawking’s proposal that time never had a beginning (even though there was a big bang). He concludes that the universe is an effect that must have been caused by something like the God of the Bible. Heeren also discusses the second law of thermodynamics and its implication for a beginning. He details many scientific evidences for the big bang theory and also discusses the history of its development, including scientists’ initial opposition to it. He debunks young earth creationism (both scientifically and theologically) and explains its popularity in purely social and historical terms.

Part three delves into the ID argument. Heeren discusses nine evidences for fine tuning in natural laws and cosmological characteristics that allow for the existence of the universe, the earth, and life. He shows that the large size of the universe and the immense time since creation are not wasteful but are rather necessary for the existence of life anywhere in the cosmos. Heeren discusses various forms of the anthropic principle, which are attempts to exclude God from the fine tuning that we see in the universe. The last part of the book presents the gospel as a logical conclusion to the preceding chapters. Heeren also shows how many of the Biblical heroes of faith started out as great skeptics.

The book concludes with some “bonus sections,” the first of which is a humorous but poignant short story about the search for extraterrestrial life. The story is aimed at those who claim that they would believe in God if only he gave them a clear and indisputable sign. Another bonus section shows how the Judeo-Christian world view was instrumental in the lives of many great scientists. Heeren briefly looks at the lives of 50 scientists (from Agassiz to Whewell) and how their faith influenced their science.

This book is primarily intended to cause skeptics to question their naturalistic assumptions, but I suspect that it will be more valuable to Christians who are looking for scientific apologetic material (for their own sakes or for others) or common ground between science and Christianity. This book is a great resource for any of these purposes and I whole-heartedly recommend it.

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Last Revised: March 19, 2001