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What a wonderful book of letters from a skeptical father to his son on the existence of God and Jesus Christ. The fathers questions are so reflective of so many people and the author's answers are genuine. You don't need to completely agree with the theology to love this book.
Gives well thought out answers to tough questions for christians. Gave me much more confidence in my beliefs.
Some of the theology may trouble Christians of certain denominations, as the author doesn't believe that every phrase of the Bible is to be taken literally. It is a beautiful example of love between father and son. I purchased eleven copies of Letters of a Skeptic to give as gifts. For example, he states that Hell isn't necessarily a lake of fire, but that it's described as such to emphasize how much we shouldn't want to go there. It's a series of actual letters in which a true skeptic questions his son's beliefs, and his son answers with solid theological thoughts written in a way anyone could understand. It's interesting and easy to read, and would be a great gift for the person who wants to know more about Christianity. He also explains what he thinks Hell is, in a way that makes sense, is logical, and uses scripture to explain it. Every person I've shared this book with has enjoyed it, even when they didn't fully agree with it.
To me, an omnipotent God who is intentionally self-limiting is basically more powerfully impressive than a God who seems almost so insecure that He must determine every little action of mankind to make sure "nothing gets out of control," so to speak.I felt a sort of sad pity for the reviewer who went on and on excusing the father's eventual conversion on the premise that he just didn't have quite enough education to battle his son into submission. Greg Boyd, a green young seminary student, begins a correspondence with his agnostic father, who is staunchly and bitterly opposed to the Bible and Christian faith. You would be hard put to find a more powerful debate regarding the Christian faith than this one between an agnostic father and his believing son. As if the whole point of the thing was to see who had the most powerful guns to blow the other to smithereens. I like the fact that neither pulls any punches, and they remove the gloves at times and really face some of the most difficult things to believe about the faith. Some reviewers have struggled with Greg Boyd's open theological stance regarding how God applies his will in daily human life. I would give this book to anyone who is struggling with whether the Bible is really true and if Christianity is only the wishful thinking of weak people. An excellent account.
I bought this book for a friend who has lots of questions about God and how to believe in Him completely if those are present. I am encouraged to say that God used this book to allow for growth in my friend's life. He read it once and now is going back through it to really disect what it is truly saying. Great book to give away; send it with lots of prayers as God has to do the work within people's lives.
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