Matt Bennett » Apologetics

Beyond Opinion by Ravi Zacharias

admin — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 18:33:44 +0000

Beyond Opinion is a collection of essays by the author and various members of his staff. The aim of the book is to provide practical answers to contemporary challenges to the faith. A valuable section of this book aids the reader in understanding the questions behind those challenges and then equips the reader to not only know, but to live out the answers.

The best introduction to the tone of this book is this quote of Ravi Zacharias from the Introduction:

Sometime in the 1980′s, Christians in the West began to label evangelistic techniques and reconfigure church services to reduce the message to the lowest level of cognition of the audience. As nobly intentioned as that was, the end result was the lowest level of writing and gospel preaching one could imagine. Mass media was brought to aid this purpose, and before long evangelicals were seen to be masters in entertainment and minimalists in thought.

The variety of authors and their diverse cultural, professional and educational backgrounds make this a very engaging book. It will challenge you to think through the issues surrounding living out the Christian faith in a modern world in a practical and compelling manner. This book is an excellent introduction to and survey of modern apologetics. It will likely be a bit “deeper” than what many Christians are used to reading but, referring again to the author’s quote above, I can’t help but think that this is the purpose of this timely book.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Quote – 3 Feb 2009

Matt — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 11:47:46 +0000

I wonder at the hardihood with which such persons undertake to talk about God. In a treatise addressed to infidels they begin with a chapter proving the existence of God from the works of Nature…this only gives their readers grounds for thinking that the proofs of our religion are very weak.… It is a remarkable fact that no canonical writer has ever used Nature to prove God.

- Pascal, Pensées

Why I Am A Christian

Matt — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:17:24 +0000

How can anyone claim to have the truth? Can anyone really prove the existence of God? Isn’t it naive to believe in miracles? Doesn’t evolution prove that the Bible’s creation story is false? If God is so powerful and good, why is there so much suffering in the world? These are crucial questions that many Christians wrestle with. They are also the type of questions asked by skeptics of the faith. Why I Am a Christian offers compelling answers that will free Christians from doubt and clear away obstacles to faith for unbelievers. Beginning with the topics of moral relativism and knowable truth, the book progresses to questions about belief in God, the reliability of the Bible, and the identity of Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. It concludes with three chapters on what it means to make a commitment to follow Christ. Some of today’s leading Christian thinkers offer clear and convincing arguments in Why I Am a Christian. Norman L. Geisler Hugh Ross J. P. Moreland Paul K. Hoffman Walter Bradley Ravi Zacharias Francis Beckwith Winfried Corduan Josh McDowell William Lane Craig Barry R. Leventhal Peter Kreeft R. Douglas Geivett Gary R. Habermas John S. Feinberg

The Case for Christ

Matt — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:09:04 +0000

A Seasoned Journalist Chases Down the Biggest Story in History The Project: Determine if there’s credible evidence that Jesus of Nazareth really is the Son of God. The Reporter: Lee Strobel, educated at Yale Law School, award-winning former legal editor of the Chicago Tribune—with a background of atheism. The Experts: A dozen scholars, with doctorates from Cambridge, Princeton, Brandeis, and other top-flight institutions, who are recognized authorities on Jesus. The Story: Retracing his own spiritual journey, Strobel cross-examines the experts with tough, point-blank questions: How reliable is the New Testament? Does evidence exist for Jesus outside the Bible? Is there any reason to believe the resurrection was an actual historical event? . . .

This remarkable book reads like a captivating, fast-paced novel. But it’s not fiction. It’s a riveting quest for the truth about history’s most compelling figure. What will your verdict be in The Case for Christ

Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Zondervan (September 1, 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310209307

The Case for Faith

Matt — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:04:44 +0000

Ex-newspaperman Strobel’s Christian apologetics read like feature interviews in the religion pages rather than a theological treatise. To knock down what he calls "the Big Eight" roadblocks to faith, he questions experts about them rather than logically bulldozing his way to solutions. He grills Catholic lay philosopher Peter Kreeft about the problem of evil, Indian-born evangelist Ravi Zacharias about Christian exclusivism, historian John Woodbridge about oppression in the name of Christ, and other authorities about the truth of miracles, God’s callousness in the Hebrew Bible, the justice of Hell, the challenge of evolution, and the struggle with persistent doubt. Each conversation is pointed and engaging, so much so that Strobel’s occasional melodramatic note (did he really speak "in a voice laden with sarcasm" to any of these, his fellow believers?) seems ridiculous. Kreeft and Woodbridge are Strobel’s least doctrinaire interlocutors. The others, staunch evangelicals all, may interest fewer readers, though Zacharias on the exclusivisms of the other major religions touches on matters Americans too rarely hear discussed. Ray Olson
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