ANSWERS
NEED SOME ANSWERS?
A Review of ANSWERS
by William T. Yates
For centuries Christians have sought to provide answers to an unbelieving world about why they believe the way they do, to persuade the doubter that belief in God, Christ, and the Bible is not only a matter of faith, but also reason. Thomas Aquinas wrote his famed Summa Theologica for this purpose. And following in his footsteps, Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli, professors of Philosophy at Boston College, wrote Handbook of Christian Apologetics, publiahed in 1994 by IVP, Intervarsity Press. That work, along with material on science and the Bible provided by Hugh Ross’ organization, Reasons to Believe, form the basis of this CD-ROM, billed as an on-line search for the truth about God
This CD-ROM is a collection of written material organized for easy access. You can use the outline provided or search for particular topics. You can print what you find: on my Macintosh, it opened SimpleText from which you actually do the printing. You may want to do some reformatting before you commit the output to paper, however. The opening screen offers six choices for apologetic material: Faith and Reason, Bible, Bible and Science, God and Heaven, Jesus, and Faith in Christ. In addition, the “About Answers”; button takes you to a screen which clearly explains the aim and limitations of the CD-ROM. This is not an exhaustive presentation of deep philosophical and theological arguments for the truth of Christianity, but a reasonably sound exploration of the most common areas of interest and the logic behind the classic Christian apologetic.
Throughout the presentation, hyperlinks to definitions and short (very short) biographies of persons mentioned are accessed by clicking on the red text. A window pops up to present you with the information. The definitions are from the New American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 3rd edition. The bios are really too short and contain only enough information to place the subject in time and mention a major contribution. For example, Descartes does not even have his first name (Rene) mentioned in his micro-bio.
The quality of the arguments presented is high. Reading through some of the material will give the believer, new or old, a satisfying sense of rightness. For those who do not yet believe, while there is a difference between intellectual assent and believing faith, there should at least be assent that the position that Christianity is intellectuallly defensible is a valid one. The arguments are not only positive ones which demonstrate the validity of traditional Biblical Christianity, but also negative, exposing the weaknesses of arguments against Christianity.
In addition “Answers” provides the testimonies of six people about their experience in coming to a belief in Christ. These range from college students to an astrophysicist (Dr. Hugh Ross of Reasons to Believe). These expressions provide a human touch to what could become merely an intellectual exercise. The implementation is straightforward, the graphics are well done but static and the only sound is a distinct ‘click’ when you select a menu item (this is not an ‘entertainment’ CD-ROM). The displayed type is clear, although italicized items tend to crowd the following word. All in all, this is a well put together resource for the Christian who wants to improve his ability to defend the faith or merely strengthen his own understanding of the intellectual grounds for belief.
Multimedia Cafe Scorecard
| Product: | ANSWERS |
| Company: | Digital Fish, Inc. |
| Cost: | $29.95 |
System Requirements:
PC Requirements:
Multimedia PC w/ 486/33 MHz or higher processor; Windows 3.1 or 95; 4 MB RAM (8 MB recommended); 1 MB hard disk space; VGA monitor (256-colors); Microsoft-compatible mouse; sound board w/ speakers.
Macintosh Requirements:
25 MHz 68030 or higher processor; System 6.0.7 or higher; 640×480 color monitor; 4 MB RAM (8 MB recommended).
Breakdown:
Entertainment Value 4
Educational Value 5
Concept 5
Depth 5
Interface 5
Overall Score:
(* 0 rating, 0 votes)
Loading ...
