Book Review — Defending Genesis: How We Got Here & Why It Matters

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen

When I was pondering which horse to saddle up and ride for Question Evolution Day (since every day is QED for me), Tony Breeden came along at the right time and said that he had a new book coming out, Defending Genesis: How We Got Here & Why It Matters. That title is singing my song.

"But Cowboy Bob, he writes science fiction and stuff!"

Yeah, well, so did C.S. Lewis and others. Tony has been writing nonfiction for years, and my favorite of his sites is "Defending Genesis" (no surprise that I like that one). He spearheads "Creation Sunday", a response to the efforts of deceptive atheist Michael Zimmerman to get Christians to compromise with evolution. Breeden has interacted with a variety of people, from obstreperous atheist stalkers to enthusiastic supporters and those in between.

Defending Genesis is written in a conversational style for the most part, and has some humor throughout. There are 22 chapters plus an appendix, so it's not too difficult to get through a chapter if you're pressed for time. Breeden tells his personal story of being a false Christian, toying with other beliefs, accepting evolution, questioning it, eventually becoming a committed Christian and ordained pastor. This account is not filler, but is there to make a point.

There is strong material presented on how Darwinian evolution is weak both scientifically and philosophically. In addition, Old Earth creationism, Theistic Evolution, and other compromising viewpoints are incompatible with biblical values, have to impose extra-biblical material so they can pretend that the Bible supports their views. Unlike many of those people, he believes in the Genesis Flood, Noah's Ark and dinosaurs exiting with humans.

This picture is not in the book, but it fits here nicely.

If you want science and how evolutionists will play fast and loose with it as well as giving inaccurate presentations as "evidence" for microbes-to-microbiologist evolution, you'll get that as well. Tony Breeden shows that he's informed about science and philosophy, and shows how abiogenesis fails. There's a section on aliens and directed panspermia, and I hope if he reads this, I hope he'll check out this article on the subject. Whale and horse evolution are also effectively dealt with. He discusses the philosophy of science, and how someone's worldview will dictate how s/he interprets evidence.

I told Mr. Breeden that I would give a fair review, but the only problems I have with his book are more along the lines of personal preference than anything else. For instance, I didn't care for his use of capitalization. Another thing is that although he made a strong presentation on how our worldview determines how we interpret the evidence, I'd prefer just a bit more of a presuppositional approach — but he does not divorce Scripture from science so the unbeliever can decide through his own mighty intellect to decide that God exists. Not hardly. My other quibble is that the appendix seemed a bit awkward at first. It has good material in it, though, so don't take out, the appendix is not vestigial. Like I said, the negatives are pretty much my own preferences, and they do not detract from the strong content of the book.

Regular readers may have noticed that I am not in a habit of reviewing books that I dislike or think are harmful, I ain't got time for that, and will link to other writers for such things. You can cognate correctly that Defending Genesis: How We Got Here & Why It Matters is a recommended resource. This book gives an excellent overeview, so if someone is rather new to the origins controversy or wants to honestly learn a biblical creationist perspective, s/he should read this book. It is also good for someone who knows about creation science and can use a review — and will probably learn some new things.

I got my e-book as a promotion, and told Tony that I was going to review it. Not that I'm special, it was available to anyone who signed up for his newsletter through the end of February 2015. Although atheopaths will call me a liar, his mention of my name and his promotion of Question Evolution Day in chapter 22 did not influence this review.