Download or read book Conversations with My Inner Atheist A Christian Apologist Explores Questions that Keep People Up at Night written by Randal D. Rauser and published by . This book was released on 2020-07-31 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book God or Godless written by John W. Loftus and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2013-04-15 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perhaps the most persistent question in human history is whether or not there is a God. Intelligent people on both sides of the issue have argued, sometimes with deep rancor and bitterness, for generations. The issue can't be decided by another apologetics book, but the conversation can continue and help each side understand the perspectives of the other. In this unique book, atheist John Loftus and theist Randal Rauser engage in twenty short debates that consider Christianity, the existence of God, and unbelief from a variety of angles. Each concise debate centers on a proposition to be resolved, with either John or Randal arguing in the affirmative and the opponent the negative, and can be read in short bits or big bites. This is the perfect book for Christians and their atheist or agnostic friends to read together, and encourages honest, open, and candid debate on the most important issues of life and faith.
Download or read book The Doubters Club written by Preston Ulmer and published by NavPress. This book was released on 2021-09-07 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The closer we get to the heart of God, the closer we should grow toward the doubter, the skeptic, the differing perspective, even the atheist. And that should make us wonder: Is it possible to grow in our Christian faith without engaging the doubter or the skeptic? And if growing in our faith means growing closer to the doubter, how do we do that without compromising what we believe to be true? The Doubters Club is a guide for people who want to live in friendship with those who think differently than them. In The Doubters Club, youll learn how to: (1) rebuild the impression the other person has of us as Christians; (2) renovate the intention we have with the nonbeliever; (3) rely on an invitation into real life (not a church service); (4) reexamine our views through initiating conversations that matter; and (5) redefine progress as imitation, not just immersion. Youll get practical steps and tools to help you navigate relationships and conversationsbut not foolproof methods (because there arent any). Maybe youre ready to take a chance because its your mom or dad who is the skeptic, a sibling, an old friend, a coworker, or a neighbor. Maybe youre just ready to embrace the adventure of your faith. If you are open to the mystery of doubt, The Doubters Club invites you to bring your uncertainties as common ground for relationship with skeptics and see what God does.
Download or read book The Rise and Fall of Faith written by Drew Bekius and published by Pitchstone Publishing (US&CA). This book was released on 2017-07-01 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of religion in the twenty-first-century West has been defined, in part, by the stories of once-zealous pastors moving beyond their faith to embrace a life of reason. But too often and too quickly ardent believers dismiss such accounts as aberrations and fail to consider the real-life implications for those who make this transition. Atheists and other skeptics, meanwhile, struggle to understand what took these individuals so long to make such a journey—and why others aren't lining up more quickly to do the same. As a result, the questions posed by one side inevitably mirror those asked by the other. Why do believers trust in God the way they do? But what factors lead atheists to dismiss religious beliefs so easily? How can believers have faith in the face of known science and history? But what allows anyone to be so sure their beliefs are based in reality? What would it take for believers to stop believing in God? But what would it take for nonbelievers to start to believe? Drawing on the author's own story as a former evangelical pastor powerless to stop his turn to atheism, The Rise and Fall of Faith touches on these and other questions, inviting readers into a long-overdue conversation between Christians and atheists. While the aim of the book is to initiate this much-needed discussion, the author encourages all who care about the future of humanity to carry the dialogue forward—whether in the evaluation of our own inner thoughts, in the assumptions we make about the other side, or in how we work together in the pursuit of understanding and common ground as we navigate the world's ever-changing and increasingly challenging religious and cultural landscape.
Download or read book Conversations With My Good Friend the Atheist written by Richard Cannon and published by Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.. This book was released on 2022-08-01 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why should Christians care about what Atheists believe? It is easy to discover what Atheists have to say about Christianity and Christians. Pick up a book by any modern Atheist writer, read a few random pages, and the reader will have a sampling of the criticisms Atheists have regarding religion and people of faith. A natural first response is the desire to set the record straight. A person responding this way will quickly find themselves going in circles. This is one point Christians need to accept and understand. From the Christian's perspective, it serves no useful purpose when Christians engage Atheists in an attempt to set the record straight. Atheism is a worldview or a way of seeing the world. Just as the Christian sees their Christian faith as reasonable and rational, the Atheist has the same view of what they believe to be true. Atheists vary in their definition of what it means to be an Atheist. There are, however, common themes found in the beliefs of people identifying themselves as Atheist. It is common, for example, to find people identifying themselves as Atheists to believe the natural world is all there is. This of course, excludes the supernatural and since God operates outside of nature, God is supernatural and is therefore eliminated in the thinking of Atheism. How should the Christian respond when Atheists challenge Christian beliefs? How can the Christian respond effectively unless the Christian understands what Atheists believe? How can the Christian respond unless the Christian understands why Atheists believe as they do? The apostle Paul tells Christians to be ambassadors. Ambassadors need to understand the world in which they serve. This is why Christians should care about what Atheists believe.
Download or read book Thank God for Atheists written by Marshall Davis and published by . This book was released on 2017-05 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Warning! This book may be dangerous to your faith! This book is not for the faint of heart. This is not a work of Christian apologetics designed to arm the believer with biblical and theological strategies to counter humanist arguments. It is not designed to buttress your Christian faith against attacks from atheists and other unbelievers. On the contrary, this book takes the claims of atheists seriously. It listens to the arguments of atheists against the existence of God, and it comes to the conclusion that in a number of areas, atheists are right and Christians are wrong. For that reason it may actually undermine your faith. So please, if you are a Christian, think twice before you read it. Drawing upon the writings of the 21st century New Atheists, as well as previous generations of atheists, the author explores the most convincing arguments that atheists make against theism. His conclusion is that the New Atheists have important things to say to today's Christians. He goes so far as to say that atheists are God's prophets to the Church today, sent by God to purify the Church by proclaiming hard truths that Christians are not willing to hear. He make a case for nonbelieving prophets in the Bible, and then explains how atheists are playing the prophetic role today by echoing the same themes as the biblical prophets. Old Testament prophets regularly confronted the religious authorities and orthodoxies of their day, often paying for "speaking truth to power" with imprisonment and death. Likewise atheists are among the most mistrusted people today. Davis suggests that instead of instinctively resorting to confrontational, evangelistic or apologetic approaches, Christians should listen to atheists with open minds and hearts. They might just hear a word from God! He examines the New Atheists' arguments against God, with particular emphasis on the atheists' strongest argument: the age-old problem of evil and suffering. Along the way he explores the issues of violence ordered by God in the Bible, scriptural historicity, biblical literalism, creationism, hell, prayer, miracles, resurrection, and the problematic doctrine of substitutionary atonement. This book examines the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of Christianity as exposed by the New Atheism. It also explores the responses of Christian apologists who oppose the New Atheism. In the last section of the book, Davis "reimagines" Christianity in the light of reason, evidence, science and historical criticism. Marshall Davis tests the Christian faith from the viewpoint of skepticism to see if it is worthy of our devotion. His conclusion is that it is, but that the New Atheism can help put Christianity on a stronger footing ... if Christians are willing to listen to God speaking through the New Atheists. "This book transcends the typical atheist-theist debate over the existence of God as a supernatural being. He takes a number of pro-science, pro-future insights from religious skeptics and offers a fresh interpretation of Christianity in light of the Evidential Reformation now emerging throughout the world. I highly recommend it." ~ Rev. Michael Dowd, author of "Thank God for Evolution" and host of "The Future Is Calling Us to Greatness"
Download or read book Circling the Elephant written by John J. Thatamanil and published by Fordham University Press. This book was released on 2020-06-02 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christian theologians have for some decades affirmed that they have no monopoly on encounters with God or ultimate reality and that other religions also have access to religious truth and transformation. If that is the case, the time has come for Christians not only to learn about but also from their religious neighbors. Circling the Elephant affirms that the best way to be truly open to the mystery of the infinite is to move away from defensive postures of religious isolationism and self-sufficiency and to move, in vulnerability and openness, toward the mystery of the neighbor. Employing the ancient Indian allegory of the elephant and blind(folded) men, John J. Thatamanil argues for the integration of three often-separated theological projects: theologies of religious diversity (the work of accounting for why there are so many different understandings of the elephant), comparative theology (the venture of walking over to a different side of the elephant), and constructive theology (the endeavor of re-describing the elephant in light of the other two tasks). Circling the Elephant also offers an analysis of why we have fallen short in the past. Interreligious learning has been obstructed by problematic ideas about “religion” and “religions,” Thatamanil argues, while also pointing out the troubling resonances between reified notions of “religion” and “race.” He contests these notions and offers a new theory of the religious that makes interreligious learning both possible and desirable. Christians have much to learn from their religious neighbors, even about such central features of Christian theology as Christ and the Trinity. This book envisions religious diversity as a promise, not a problem, and proposes a new theology of religious diversity that opens the door to robust interreligious learning and Christian transformation through encountering the other.
Download or read book Wake Up and Die Right written by Ben Foster and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2010-06-08 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How might it happen that a boy of five or six would be tortured by the question of the existence of God? How would this happen, even if that boy were raised to be an atheist by atheist parents? If the boy was never baptized and never taken to church? Was never told about any religion? This book records the spiritual autobiography of a boy who, raised in a household which discouraged belief in anything religious, nevertheless came at a young age to worry about the place of God in his life and family, and suffered from intense fears that he would be condemned to hell because he had not been baptized. Looking back, here is the way the author describes his early years: “I grew up in a household with no place for God or religion. My mother and father were atheists. They did not believe in any divinities, and certainly not in the divinity of Jesus. Perhaps like some of their intellectual friends, they dismissed the idea that Jesus of Nazareth ever existed. This was in America in the 1930’s and 40’s, a time when scientists and intellectuals challenged the claims of Christianity. For my parents the questions of who Jesus was and whether he had actually walked the earth were irrelevant. “Is there a God in heaven? Is creation a gift to us from God? Does God love and care for his children? These were not questions my parents would entertain. Such statements had been denounced as meaningless by the scientists and the rationalists, who insisted that all discussions of God are pointless.” The author recalls his childhood swept by the cold winds of atheism as especially painful because his mother, suffering from the loss of meaning of the atheist’s vision, sank into a deep depression and then into madness. She suffered a series of nervous breakdowns and spent most of the author’s early years in and out of mental hospitals. As a child the author felt “spiritually bankrupt.” He felt he “counted for little in my parents’ world. I counted for even less in the larger world. I looked out at the vast universe that the scientists described and saw it as a frightening place. Darkness and frozen space extended for millions of miles in all directions, and there was nothing out there to comfort us or give our lives meaning.” The author was born into the Great Depression and went off to grammar school during World War II, both events exerting a terrible impact on his family, contributing to his mother’s mental imbalance and his own feelings of insecurity. “I was four years old,” the author writes, “when World War II began. As the war grew more widespread and destructive, I watched with terror the newsreel reports of Nazi bombings. I listened horrified to the newscasts on the radio. Every week fresh issues of Time and Life magazines entered our house, and they brought new images of cities in flames or bombed to smoking rubble. There were close-up photos of the dead on the battlefield, of soldiers bleeding to death, of bodies on a beach. “I recall in particular a photo of a boy my age standing in the ruins of his apartment building somewhere in Europe. He looks lost, frightened, and utterly alone. He wonders if his mother, missing since the bombing, is alive in the ruins. Rubble and twisted metal are all that remain of the city street he had called his home. “Turning the pages of that Life magazine, a terrible fear and sorrow seized me. I identified with the boy. I feared what had happened to him would happen to me.” The author speaks of how, from a source he could not name, powerful religious emotions, primarily fear of a God of Wrath, took hold of him and “initiated me into a secretive life I kept hidden from my father. The fears were brought into focus when I casually used words that had a religious meaning I didn’t understand. The words were these: ‘Cross my heart and hope to die.’ “I had heard other kids utter these words when they wanted to impress one another with the truth of an assertion. They often said them when it seemed fairl
Download or read book Jesus Loves Canaanites written by Randal Rauser and published by 2 Cup Press. This book was released on 2021-04-17 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: And who is my neighbor? Christians confess the Bible as the Good Book, the perfect guide for becoming loving and holy, just like Jesus. And yet, that same book describes God commanding the Israelites to kill every Canaanite living in the Promised Land. How are we to understand the Bible as the Good Book when it depicts God commanding actions like genocide? How are we to reconcile this narrative with the God revealed in Jesus Christ, the God who taught us to love our enemies?In this bold new book, Randal Rauser defends a novel approach to the Canaanite genocide, one that remains faithful to our deepest moral intuitions even as it is guided by the conviction that Jesus calls us to love all our neighbors. And the Canaanite is our neighbor.
Download or read book The Swedish Atheist the Scuba Diver and Other Apologetic Rabbit Trails written by Randal D. Rauser and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the real world, we don't usually sit in lecture halls debating worldview issues in systematic arguments. Chances are that we're more likely to have haphazard, informal conversations over a latte in a coffee shop. Meet Randal Rauser, a Christian, and Sheridan, an atheist. Over the course of one caffeinated afternoon, they explore a range of honest questions and real objections to Christian faith. Do people hold to a particular religion just because of an accident of geography? Is believing in Jesus as arbitrary as believing in Zeus? Why would God order the slaughter of infants or send people to hell? How do you know you're really real, and not just a character in someone's book? Their extended conversation unfolds with all the rabbit trails, personal baggage and distractions that inevitably come in real-world encounters. Rauser provides substantive argument-based apologetics but also highlights the importance of apologetics as a narrative journey. As we get to know Sheridan, we better understand the personal history that drives his atheism and the issues that motivate his skepticism. You, the reader, are already in this book. Randal has written you into the story, and you're sitting with him and Sheridan in the coffee shop, listening in on their dialogue. Discover what they have to say to each other--and to you. --from back cover.
Download or read book Stealing from God written by Frank Turek and published by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. This book was released on 2014 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you think atheists have reason, evidence, and science on their side, think again! Award-winning author Dr. Frank Turek (I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist) will show you how atheists steal reason, evidence, science, and other arguments from God in trying to make their case for atheism. If that sounds contradictory, it's because it is! Atheists can't make their case without appealing to realities only theism can explain. In an engaging and memorable way,Stealing from God exposes these intellectual crimes atheists are committing and then provides four powerful reasons for why Christianity is true.
Download or read book Confessions of a French Atheist written by Guillaume Bignon and published by Tyndale House Publishers. This book was released on 2022-06 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A compelling spiritual memoir that traces Bignon's fascinating quest for answers to life's most profound questions." --Lee StrobelGod Wasn't In His Plans Until . . . Guillaume Bignon was a French atheist . . . and he was perfectly happy. He was very successful as a software engineer in finance, a musician, and a volleyball player. Yet a chance encounter with a beautiful woman would change the way he thought about his life and beliefs forever. Confessions of a French Atheistis the unusual story of Guillaume Bignon--a man who didn't need God but who grew to believe in God after he thought through the nature of morality, the relationship between science and faith, the supernatural, and the reliability of the Bible. With rigorous reasoning, remarkable authenticity, and a sense of humor, Guillaume takes the reader on a journey of his innermost questions and surprising discoveries.
Download or read book 10 Answers for Atheists written by Alex McFarland and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2012-09-28 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With notable nonbelievers such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens featured prominently in the media, it is no surprise that many Christians wonder how best to answer the growing number of atheist arguments they encounter every day. 10 Answers for Atheists is a one-of-a-kind resource from respected Christian apologist Alex McFarland that looks closely at the philosophical assumptions at the root of atheism and agnosticism and exposes the logical, historical, and conceptual fallacies that perpetuate unbelief. Readers will find easy-to-understand charts and clear explanations of key beliefs, as well as trustworthy, biblical answers to the honest questions posed by atheists and agnostics. Every reader, no matter where he or she falls on the spectrum of belief, will hear a call to thoughtful engagement with the historic Christian faith.
Download or read book An Atheist and a Christian Walk Into a Bar written by Randal Rauser and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2016 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The question of God is simply too important--and too interesting--to leave to angry polemicists. That is the premise of this friendly, straightforward, and rigorous dialogue between Christian theologian Randal Rauser and atheist Justin Schieber. Setting aside the formality of the traditional debate, the authors invite the reader to join them in an extended, informal conversation. This has the advantage of easing readers into thorny topics that in a debate setting can easily become confusing or difficult to follow. Like any good conversation, this one involves provocative arguments, amusing anecdotes, and some lively banter. Rauser and Schieber begin with the question of why debates about God still matter. They then delve into a number of important topics: the place of reason and faith, the radically different concepts of God in various cultures, morality and its traditional connection with religious beliefs, the problem of a universe that is overwhelmingly hostile to life as we know it, mathematical truths and what they may or may not say about the existence of God, the challenge of suffering and evil to belief in God, and more. Refreshingly upbeat and amicable throughout, this stimulating conversation between two friends from opposing points of view is an ideal introduction to a perennial topic of debate.
Download or read book Saving Casper written by Jim Henderson and published by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. This book was released on 2013 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The authors of the popular Jim and Casper Go to Church are back! An unlikely friendship began when former pastor Jim Henderson brought atheist Matt Casper with him to visit a series of churches and give his honest feedback on the services. Since then, Casper has spent a lot of time deeply engaging with Jim and other Christians. And the burning question on everyone's minds is whether Casper has been saved. In Saving Casper, Jim and Casper engage in a new conversation about that question. Most Christians have friends like Casper-people who've heard the gospel but still say no-so what happens next? Jim and Casper reveal the surprising answers to questions like: What can an atheist teach us about how to share God with those who don't believe? What have well-meaning Christians said to Casper that has helped-or hurt-their cause? What, if anything, might bring Casper and other nonbelievers to faith . . . and why does Casper say he's closer to God now than ever before? Saving Casper is a groundbreaking, game-changing look at evangelism and the "conversion conversation."
Download or read book Atheism Remix written by R. Albert Mohler Jr. and published by Crossway. This book was released on 2008-07-25 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A leading Christian intellectual explores the newest strain of atheism, its foremost thinkers, the cultural conditions that have bred it, and how Christians should respond. Something has changed in American culture. What for years was a little-regarded belief system-atheism-has now gained a large, and increasing, national hearing through the writings of "new atheists" such as Dawkins, Dennett, Harris, and Hitchens. Wanting to both inform and equip serious-minded Christians regarding this cultural shift, R. Albert Mohler Jr. explores the environment that has bred the "new atheism" while also introducing readers to the movement's four leading thinkers and the contours of their arguments. Mohler-deemed "the reigning intellectual of the evangelical movement in the US" by Time magazine-then uses this foundation to pinpoint eight major distinctives that make the new atheism new, and to discuss the future of Christianity in relationship to it. At school and in the community, Christians are sure to encounter people who have been shaped by this strain of atheism. Here is keen insight that any believer can use to understand and challenge the new atheists.
Download or read book Thinking about God Again for the First Time written by Paul Timothy Jensen and published by WestBow Press. This book was released on 2024-04-24 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over many years of teaching philosophy and religion, author Paul Timothy Jensen has encountered questions on a wide range of philosophical and spiritual topics from college students, professional colleagues, and other adults. In Thinking about God Again, for the First Time, Jensen explores these questions in the form of imaginary conversations between an atheist and a Christian. Together, Alex and Chris ponder issues of enduring interest and importance: God's possible existence; God's possible love for humans; and the concepts of proof, morality, and evil. The conversations examine these and other closely related questions, seeking to state opposing viewpoints fairly and vigorously and engage the minds of readers. Jensen hopes to encourage others to think about God again or for the first time, fostering opportunities for civil conversation. This study presents a series of questions on topics in the realm of philosophy and religion, considered from the viewpoint of an atheist and a Christian.
