Recently I finished listening to an installment of the Quest Men’s Fellowship Series on Mistaken Identity. This episode was titled Vulnerable. I’m not always able to attend Quest because of other Bible Study obligations but I regularly listen to the podcast. This one was really impactful because it validated some of the sources I’ve come across in my search for answers to the hard questions concerning my faith.
I go to great lengths to be diligent in my search for sources of spiritual and intellectual principles. It’s the only method in which I can be confident. I have to put the sources—author’s intentions—into context with the information they put forth. It’s not to pick only sources I agree with, rather it’s to pick quality sources I can trust, even when I disagree. Especially when I disagree.
So, when I saw the “suggested reading” list from this episode, I was extremely excited. It’s a list I would have made. This, to me, is validation for the sources I’ve found and the direction I’m going in my intellectual and spiritual growth. My pastor, whom I respect deeply, suggested readings which I independently found. That statement is not about me, it’s about Providence. Awesome.
Here’s the list:
- Is Christianity intellectually credible? Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis; The Language of God, Francis Collins – head of the Human Genome Project; The Reason for God, Timothy Keller.
- Scientific Questions – The Case for a Creator, Lee Strobel.
- General “Problems” with the Christian faith – The Case for Faith, Lee Strobel.
- Is Jesus the unique Son of God? Basic Christianity, John R. W. Stott
I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist
This is going on my list of “Books Every Young Man Should Read” along side other great books like C. S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity. I love to read books that have one “Aha!” moment after another. This one does.
Not forgetting love and emphasizing boldness, I really like the following quote from I Don’t Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist:
Contrary to the spineless Jesus invented today by those who want to be spineless themselves, the real Jesus taught with authority and did not tolerate error. When religious people were wrong, he made righteous judgments and let everyone know what those judgments were. And who could be better at correcting error than God himself? Since Jesus is God, whatever he teaches is true.
More to read. I believe this is an area in which I need to increase my understanding. It’s comforting to see so many brilliant apologists—like C. S. Lewis–writing on the subject.
Cokesbury – As If The Heart Mattered.
This is a devotional also suggested to me by my Bible Study leader. I’ll get this book too so I can move into a better focused daily discipline of practicing Christian Life.
Cokesbury – Devotional Life in the Wesleyan Tradition.
One of my Bible Study leaders suggested this book—workbook—to me last Sunday. I’m going to get it and put it in my reading / study queue. The thing I find most exciting about it is that it’s about applying Wesley’s “means of grace” to your life. Very exciting.
When I read a book which causes me to have epiphanic moments I know I’m mentally closing the gaps in my knowledge. Great authors have the ability to take complex ideas and percolate them down into language mere readers can understand and use. I’ve often had those moments reading C. S. Lewis but the moments are hard won in his writings. I Don’t Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist is a book that delivers those moments straightforward.
Below is a quote from the book I found fun:
“If there is no God, why is there something rather than nothing?” is a question that we all have to answer. And in light of the evidence, we are left with only two options: either no one created something out of nothing, or else someone created something out of nothing. Which view is more reasonable?
…if you can’t believe that nothing caused something, then you don’t have enough faith to be an atheist!
The most reasonable view is God. Robert Jastrow suggested this when he ended his book God and the Astronomers with this classic line: “For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.
