Apologetics What Do You Really Believe

We live in an age of skepticism. Our society places such faith in empirical reason, historical progress, and heartfelt emotion that it’s easy to wonder: Why should anyone believe in Christianity? What role can faith and religion play in our modern lives? In this thoughtful and inspiring new book, pastor and New York Times bestselling author Timothy Keller invites skeptics to consider that Christianity is more relevant now than ever. As human beings, we cannot live without meaning, satisfaction, freedom, identity, justice, and hope. Christianity provides us with unsurpassed resources to meet these needs. Written for both the ardent believer and the skeptic, Making Sense of God shines a light on the profound value and importance of Christianity in our lives.

This long awaited book actually takes two distinct components and combine them into one comprehensive guide. The dedicated student, who wishes to concretize his or her belief or the inquisitive student, who simply wants to learn more concerning the biblical statutes of Christianity will find this an invaluable study aid. The first part of this book gives a detailed account of the structure of Christianity and its implications. The second part of this book provides step-by-step lessons for delivering its contents in a communicative learning environment. Each lesson is clearly laid out for ease of presentation. Also, there are activities that accompany each lesson for independent study or group interaction. The lessons are sequenced in order to maximize retention of content and understanding of certain historical events. Words and their current definitions are given along with several quotations from famous theologians and authors. Such a structure is guaranteed to enhance the appreciation of learning, while serving as a ministry tool.

This long awaited book actually takes two distinct components and combine them into one comprehensive guide. The dedicated student, who wishes to concretize his or her belief or the inquisitive student, who simply wants to learn more concerning the biblical statutes of Christianity will find this an invaluable study aid. The first part of this book gives a detailed account of the structure of Christianity and its implications. The second part of this book provides step-by-step lessons for delivering its contents in a communicative learning environment. Each lesson is clearly laid out for ease of presentation. Also, there are activities that accompany each lesson for independent study or group interaction. The lessons are sequenced in order to maximize retention of content and understanding of certain historical events. Words and their current definitions are given along with several quotations from famous theologians and authors. Such a structure is guaranteed to enhance the appreciation of learning, while serving as a ministry tool.

The book consists primarily of interviews between Strobel (a former legal editor at the Chicago Tribune) and biblical scholars such as Bruce Metzger. Each interview is based on a simple question, concerning historical evidence (for example, "Can the Biographies of Jesus Be Trusted?"), scientific evidence, ("Does Archaeology Confirm or Contradict Jesus' Biographies?"), and "psychiatric evidence" ("Was Jesus Crazy When He Claimed to Be the Son of God?"). Together, these interviews compose a case brief defending Jesus' divinity, and urging readers to reach a verdict of their own.

For anyone who feels caught in the tension between the beauty of God's story and the ugliness of human hypocrisy, Why I Still Believe offers a stirring story of hope. Why would anyone be a Christian when there is so much hypocrisy in the church? Mary Jo Sharp shares her journey as a skeptical believer who still holds to a beautiful faith despite wounding experiences in the Christian community. At a time when de-conversion stories have become all too common, this is an earnest response - the compelling conversion of an unlikely believer whose questions ultimately led her to irresistible hope. Sharp addresses her own struggle with the reality that God's people repeatedly give God's story a bad name and takes a careful look at how the current church often inadvertently produces atheists despite its life-giving message. For those who feel the ever-present tension between the beauty of salvation and the dark side of human nature, Why I Still Believe is a candid and approachable case for believing in God when you really want to walk away. With fresh and thoughtful insights, this spiritual narrative presents relevant answers to haunting questions like: Isn't there too much pain and suffering to believe? Is it okay to have doubt? What if Jesus' story is a copy of another story? Is there any evidence for Jesus' resurrection? Does atheism explain the human experience better than Christianity can? How can the truth of Christianity matter when the behaviors of Christians are reprehensible? At once logical and loving, Sharp reframes the gospel as it truly is: the good news of redemption. With firmly grounded truths, Why I Still Believe is an affirming reminder that the hypocrisy of Christians can never negate the transforming grace and truth of Christ.

In C. S. Lewis’s Christian Apologetics: Pro and Con, ten articulate defenders and critics of Lewis’s apologetics square off and debate the merits of Lewis’s central arguments for Christian belief.

Apologetics, the defense of the Faith, shows why our Christian faith is true—but it’s much more than that. Apologetics isn’t just the province of scholars and saints, but of ordinary men and women: parents, teachers, lay ministry leaders, pastors, and everyone who wants to develop a stronger faith, to understand why we believe what we believe, to know Our Lord better, and love him more fully. In Apologetics and the Christian Imagination: An Integrated Approach to Defending the Faith, Holly Ordway shows how an imaginative approach—in cooperation with rational arguments—is extremely valuable in helping people come to faith in Christ. Making a case for the role of imagination in apologetics, this book proposes ways to create meaning for Christian language in a culture that no longer understands words like ‘sin’ or ‘salvation,' suggests how to discern and address the manipulation of language, and shows how metaphor and narrative work in powerful ways to communicate the truth. It applies these concepts to specific, key apologetics issues, including suffering, doubt, and longing for meaning and beauty. Apologetics and the Christian Imagination shows how Christians can harness the power of the imagination to share the Faith in meaningful, effective ways.

New Series: The Big Ten -Critical Questions Answered Exploring the reasoning behind Christianity Challenges modern worldviews