As an ordained pastor, apologetics is not just an academic pursuit for me, it something that I believe needs to get into the church. I have experimented with some apologetics resources in my previous churches. While I found the material interesting, it was often over the heads of the people in my congregation. So instead of just getting frustrated, I decided to do something about it. I wrote my own curriculum aimed at people with no background in apologetics. The result was Experiencing God Without Losing Your Mind. The title comes from my conviction that we can have a real and vibrant relationship with God without having to shut our minds to the hard questions. In this book, I look at the following issues:
What Do We Want From God? (The Importance of Experience and Reason)
The Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth (The Nature of Truth)
O God, Where Art Thou? (The Existence of God)
As the Good Book Says… (The Nature of the Bible)
That Mean Old Testament God (The Nature of God in the Old Testament)
God is Good, God is Great (The Problem of Suffering)
Jesus: Hit or Myth? (The Historicity of Jesus)
Jesus Gets a Raise (The Resurrection of Jesus)
Jesus: Like Father, Like Son (The Divinity of Jesus)
Now That’s Good News! (The Nature of the Gospel)
What On Earth Are You Doing? (The Ethical Life)
Will the True Religion Please Stand Up? (Christianity and Other Religions)
The chapters are short, overviewing the issues in about four or five pages, and are concluded with a page of discussion questions. I have used this material in two of my previous churches and we had the best discussions of any study we did. This book would be great for leading a small group through some important questions or for giving an individual for personal reflection. If you are a pastor or small group leader who is considering purchasing this book for your church or group, contact me and I will send you a pdf sample to see if this right for you.
You can purchase Experiencing God Without Losing Your Mind here.
