Christianity for People Who Aren't Christians , livre ebook

Baker Publishing Group - Emery White James

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92 pages

English

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"I wish this book had been around when I was an atheist and started to seek God. It's a no-nonsense, practical, and insightful guide that will help all those on a quest for spiritual truth. If you're investigating whether there's any substance to the Christian faith, you must read this important book."--Lee Strobel, former award-winning legal editor of the Chicago Tribune and bestselling author of more than twenty books***In our post-Christian age, the old answers for skeptics are no longer cutting it. Why? Because they largely seek to answer the wrong questions. Our world is changing, and while the gospel never changes, the way we talk about it and learn about it must.Christianity for People Who Aren't Christians answers both classic and bleeding-edge questions that skeptics have about the faith, such as- Is there a God?- Why do the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus matter?- Why is there so much suffering in the world?- Why do Christians think there is only one way to know God?- How do I reconcile the Bible's picture of Christ's followers with the actual Christians I know who have disappointed me?Covering such topics as astrophysics, social justice, and acceptance of the LGBTQ community, this one-of-a-kind book is perfect for those skeptical of Christianity and for those who love them and want to keep the line of communication open.

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Philosophie et théologie

Christianity

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Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	05 novembre 2019
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781493419296
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	10 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0490€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Cover
Endorsement
“I wish this book had been around when I was an atheist and started to seek God. It’s a no-nonsense, practical, and insightful guide that will help all those on a quest for spiritual truth. If you’re investigating whether there’s any substance to the Christian faith, you must read this important book.”
Lee Strobel , former award-winning legal editor of the Chicago Tribune and bestselling author of more than twenty books
Half Title Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2019 by James Emery White
Published by Baker Books
a division of Baker Publishing Group
PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www. bakerbooks.com
Ebook edition created 2019
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-1929-6
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
Scripture quotations labeled CEV are from the Contemporary English Version © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations labeled GNT are from the Good News Translation in Today’s English Version-Second Edition. Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations labeled Message are from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Scripture quotations labeled NLT are from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled TLB are from The Living Bible, copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled TNIV are from the Holy Bible, Today’s New International Version®. TNIV®. Copyright © 2001, 2005 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Contents
Cover 1
Endorsement 2
Half Title Page 3
Title Page 5
Copyright Page 6
Acknowledgments 9
Introduction 11
1. The God Who Is There . . . or Not 19
2. But What Kind of God? 43
3. Jesus 101 67
4. The Message 103
5. The Book 133
6. The Church 167
7. UnChristians 189
8. Next Steps 209
Notes 221
Back Ads 233
Back Cover 240
Acknowledgments
I wish to thank the Baker team for their support of this project, our seventh together, and specifically Bob Hosack, who connected with the idea and vision of this book almost immediately.
Alli Main is one of the great gifts to my life and earns my deepest gratitude for her assistance with all of my writing. Whether through research or editing, feedback or ideas, constructive criticism or encouragement, she is nothing less than a godsend.
And as always, my wife, Susan, continues to make every page possible. After thirty-five years of marriage, I think it’s safe to say she is still the love of my life.
Finally, to Mecklenburg Community Church, an amazing community of people who continue to die to themselves daily in countless ways in order to reach out to their friends and family, neighbors and coworkers, and share the message of the Christian faith like gossip over the backyard fence. It’s an honor to be your pastor.
Introduction
We are half-hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered us . . . like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday by the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
C. S. Lewis, “The Weight of Glory”
Men despise religion; they hate it, and fear it is true.
Pascal, Pensées
I hope you begin this book with a healthy amount of doubt. It’s the best way to explore anything. When you believe something to be true, you are “in one mind” about accepting it; when you do not believe something to be true, you are “in one mind” about rejecting it. “To doubt,” Os Guinness writes, “is to waver between the two, to believe and disbelieve at once and to be ‘in two minds.’” 1
I’m so glad someone gave me that permission. When I was around nine, it dawned on me that the reason I considered myself a Christian was because my parents were Christians. Like a thunderbolt from the blue it hit me: That’s why I believe all of this—I have been raised to believe it all! Which, of course, did not make it true. My preadolescent brain quickly surmised that if I had been born in India, I would have been raised a Hindu. It would have been Hinduism I believed and accepted. If I had been born in Iran, my parents would have raised me to accept the Muslim faith. If I had been raised in Pittsburgh, my parents would have raised me to accept the cult known as “Steeler Nation” and I would be waving yellow towels in worship.
I remember panicking—what if I wasn’t born in the right place? My entire eternity suddenly seemed to rest on whether my family of origin was geographically correct.
I went to my mother, innocently working in the kitchen and unaware of my spiritual crisis, and asked, “Mom, why are we Christians? You did . . . like . . . check it out first, didn’t you? How do you know we’re believing the right thing?” I then shared my geographical concerns. She did not dismiss me or give me a quick “Don’t worry” kind of reply that would have trivialized my question. She knew me well enough to know that I was serious about the question.
So she did something that was very unusual for a parent to do for their nine-year-old son. She said, “Jim, your father and I have looked at all of the faiths of the world and have determined that Christianity is true. It’s not just about where we live—Christians are all over the world and, in fact, it’s the world’s largest faith. You’ll find Christians in India, in Iran, and other places as well, so it’s not just about geography. But you have to come to that in your own mind. So you are welcome to look into all of the world’s religions and come to your own conclusions. And if, at the end, you want to go to a different church, or believe something else, or believe in nothing at all, that is your choice.”
When she said that to me, I heaved a huge sigh of relief. Not just because they had apparently done their homework, but also because I was allowed to pursue my questions without fear of retribution. Without insecurity. There was something comforting—even reassuring—about such freedom. I learned that questions, by themselves, were not wrong. Neither was good, solid, healthy doubt, which can be the fuel that energizes any faith when seeking understanding.
It was many years before I settled the matter for my own life, so I know what it’s like to approach the Christian faith (or any faith, for that matter) with a healthy dose of skepticism, curiosity, willful disobedience, and, for my part, ignorance. Which is why this is a book about the Christian faith for people who may not be Christians, written by someone who understands not being one. As such, I will try to accomplish two things: first, to explain the Christian faith in a way that doesn’t assume you have a foundational knowledge or understanding of it. I’m not going to assume you were raised in a church or that you’ve had much exposure to the Christian faith. Second, I’d like to try to answer some of the more common questions people standing outside of the Christian faith are quite reasonable to ask based on what they do know or understand about it. And I think you’ll find these answers are uncommon—meaning they may not be the answers you’d expect based on caricatures or ideas you’ve already formed about Christians. If you consider yourself a Christian, I’ve got a feeling you’ll enjoy this conversation, too, as there may be many aspects of the Christian faith you’ve never fully understood or questions that have remained unanswered. You can have doubts even as you believe.
It won’t just be you and me on this journey. You will find that I have invited a partner to join me. His name is C. S. Lewis. He died on the same day as John F. Kennedy and Aldous Huxley, so he’s not exactly a contemporary. I mention him because you will find that as we walk through the Christian faith, I bring him up from time to time. One reason is that his writing and thinking were very helpful to me when I first explored the Christian faith. The second reason is that he also understands what it’s like to be an atheist well into his adult life.
If you’re not familiar with Lewis, you may be familiar with some of his friends, particularly J. R. R. Tolkien of The Lord of the Rings fame. They spent many, many hours together at their favorite Oxford pub, The Eagle and Child (affectionately known by locals as “The Bird and the Baby”). As a plaque on the wall reads:
C. S. Lewis, his brother, W. H. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams and other friends met every Tuesday morning, between the years 1939–1962 in the back room of this their favorite pub. These men, popularly known as the “Inklings,” met here to drink beer and to discuss, among other things, the books they were writing.

The Eagle and Child pub in Oxford, England [Wikimedia Commons ]
If you are familiar with Lewis, it is probably as a result of the movie of his