Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn't

Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn't PDF Author: Gavin Ortlund
Publisher: Baker Academic
ISBN: 1493432451
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
It has never been more important to articulate the wonder and enchantment of the Christian message. Yet the traditional approaches of apologetics are often outmoded in an age of profound disenchantment and distraction, unable to meet this pressing need. This winsome apologetics book for a new generation makes the case that Christianity offers a compelling explanatory framework for making sense of our world. Pastor and writer Gavin Ortlund believes it is essential to appeal not only to the mind but also to the heart and the imagination as we articulate the beauty of the gospel. Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn't reimagines four classical theistic arguments--cosmological, teleological, moral, and Christological--making a cumulative case for God as the best framework for understanding the storied nature of reality. The book suggests that Christian theism can explain such things as the elegance of math, the beauty of music, and the value of love. It is suitable for use in classes yet accessibly written, making it a perfect resource for churches and small groups.

Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn't

Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn't PDF Author: Gavin Ortlund
Publisher: Baker Academic
ISBN: 1493432451
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 266

Get Book

Book Description
It has never been more important to articulate the wonder and enchantment of the Christian message. Yet the traditional approaches of apologetics are often outmoded in an age of profound disenchantment and distraction, unable to meet this pressing need. This winsome apologetics book for a new generation makes the case that Christianity offers a compelling explanatory framework for making sense of our world. Pastor and writer Gavin Ortlund believes it is essential to appeal not only to the mind but also to the heart and the imagination as we articulate the beauty of the gospel. Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn't reimagines four classical theistic arguments--cosmological, teleological, moral, and Christological--making a cumulative case for God as the best framework for understanding the storied nature of reality. The book suggests that Christian theism can explain such things as the elegance of math, the beauty of music, and the value of love. It is suitable for use in classes yet accessibly written, making it a perfect resource for churches and small groups.

Making Sense of God

Making Sense of God PDF Author: Timothy Keller
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525954155
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
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.

How God Becomes Real

How God Becomes Real PDF Author: T.M. Luhrmann
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691234442
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
The hard work required to make God real, how it changes the people who do it, and why it helps explain the enduring power of faith How do gods and spirits come to feel vividly real to people—as if they were standing right next to them? Humans tend to see supernatural agents everywhere, as the cognitive science of religion has shown. But it isn’t easy to maintain a sense that there are invisible spirits who care about you. In How God Becomes Real, acclaimed anthropologist and scholar of religion T. M. Luhrmann argues that people must work incredibly hard to make gods real and that this effort—by changing the people who do it and giving them the benefits they seek from invisible others—helps to explain the enduring power of faith. Drawing on ethnographic studies of evangelical Christians, pagans, magicians, Zoroastrians, Black Catholics, Santeria initiates, and newly orthodox Jews, Luhrmann notes that none of these people behave as if gods and spirits are simply there. Rather, these worshippers make strenuous efforts to create a world in which invisible others matter and can become intensely present and real. The faithful accomplish this through detailed stories, absorption, the cultivation of inner senses, belief in a porous mind, strong sensory experiences, prayer, and other practices. Along the way, Luhrmann shows why faith is harder than belief, why prayer is a metacognitive activity like therapy, why becoming religious is like getting engrossed in a book, and much more. A fascinating account of why religious practices are more powerful than religious beliefs, How God Becomes Real suggests that faith is resilient not because it provides intuitions about gods and spirits—but because it changes the faithful in profound ways.

What Jesus Demands from the World

What Jesus Demands from the World PDF Author: John Piper
Publisher: Crossway
ISBN: 1433520575
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 428

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Book Description
Looks at the Gospels and examines what Christ requires of his followers in a redemptive-historical context. New and seasoned believers will see God's loving plan for their ultimate satisfaction. Now in paperback.

Loving Wisdom

Loving Wisdom PDF Author: Paul Copan
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 1467458252
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description
A guide to Christian philosophy that engages with the biblical story As human beings, we all qualify as philosophers, and Paul Copan contends that we take a position of trust (faith) shaped by philosophical stances but also personal heart commitments (worldviews). In this thoroughly revised and expanded second edition of Loving Wisdom, Copan explores philosophy of religion from a distinctively evangelical Christian perspective—biblically grounded, informed by apologetics, and engaging with questions about universal human longings. Copan presents a distinctively and deliberately biblical philosophy of religion in Loving Wisdom,addressing a wide range of topics and questions as they arise in the metanarrative of scripture. He acknowledges the difficulties, mystery, and disagreements in “religion,” while attempting to show how the Christian faith does a much more adequate job of responding to a wide range of challenges as well as addressing our deepest human yearnings. With discussion questions for each chapter and an accessible approach, Loving Wisdom is ideal for the classroom or small groups.

God Makes Sense the Bible Doesn't

God Makes Sense the Bible Doesn't PDF Author: Patrick Brashers
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781544121659
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Book Description
There are millions of religions on Earth, because of this you may find yourself wondering which one is right; what is the so-called "right" path to take and how do you even begin to find it if there is one? We live in a vast universe of possibilities with never ending choices, is it possible that there could be only one right way to enlightenment in this world? Even with the understanding of one God and one humanity how is it that there are so many different ideas of what the eternal plan for us all is that so many people believe was predestined since the beginning of time? Does God actually speak to anyone, or is the person who believes he or she hears God's voice special in some indescribable and unique way that allows some otherworldly divine voice to come through to those people alone as the rest of humanity sits in an unending clueless silence? Would a God that has an unchanging, unconditional and steadfast love for his creations truly order their annihilation and destruction, essentially sentencing his creations to an eternal torment simply because they refused to trust another man's word on the existence of God to begin with? Does God intervene in the lives of people simply because they pray to him, but then turn a deaf ear towards the countless starving children who silently die every single day? Does this all-powerful creator of the universe really need your money; or is this just man's corrupted way to prosper at the hands of hard working believers? Finally, does God love all of creation or just the select few who somehow found the only one true path leading to him in the midst of all the wrong ones? If so, then why would he create anyone who would not eventually find the one true path in the first place? What is the point? Is this life nothing more than a test? These are just a few of the questions I want to address, but before we get into all of that I would like to share a little about my life so you get to know who I am and allow you to gain some insight into how this all began.

God and Time

God and Time PDF Author: Gregory E. Ganssle
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 9780830815517
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
Editor Gregory Ganssle calls on four Christian philosophers to present and defend their views on the place of God in a time-bound universe. The positions taken up here include divine timeless eternity, eternity as relative timelessness, timelessness and omnitemporality, and unqualified divine temporality.

Why a Suffering World Makes Sense

Why a Suffering World Makes Sense PDF Author: Chris Tiegreen
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780801065750
Category : Consolation
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Tiegreen reveals that there is a point to suffering--it reveals God's mercy, forgiveness, and healing that can only be known in an imperfect world. He encourages readers to let God's hidden attributes be revealed in their pain, thereby helping them unravel the mystery of who God is.

If God Is Love, Don't Be a Jerk

If God Is Love, Don't Be a Jerk PDF Author: John Pavlovitz
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
ISBN: 1646982134
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
Thou Shalt Not Be Horrible. Imagine for a moment what the world might look like if we as people of faith, morality, and conscience actually aspired to this mantra. What if we were fully burdened to create a world that was more loving and equitable than when we arrived? What if we invited one another to share in wide-open, fearless, spiritual communities truly marked by compassion and interdependence? What if we daily challenged ourselves to live a faith that simply made us better humans? John Pavlovitz explores how we can embody this kinder kind of spirituality where we humbly examine our belief system to understand how it might compel us to act in less-than-loving ways toward others. This simple phrase, "Thou Shalt Not Be Horrible," could help us practice what we preach by creating a world where: spiritual community provides a sense of belonging where all people are received as we are; the most important question we ask of a religious belief is not Is it true? but rather, is it helpful? it is morally impossible to pledge complete allegiance to both Jesus and America simultaneously; the way we treat others is the most tangible and meaningful expression of our belief system. In If God Is Love, Don't Be a Jerk, John Pavlovitz examines the bedrock ideas of our religion: the existence of hell, the utility of prayer, the way we treat LGBTQ people, the value of anger, and other doctrines to help all of us take a good, honest look at how the beliefs we hold can shape our relationships with God and our fellow humans—and to make sure that love has the last, loudest word.

Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals

Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals PDF Author: Gavin Ortlund
Publisher: Crossway
ISBN: 1433565293
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
Restless for rootedness, many Christians are abandoning Protestantism altogether. Many evangelicals today are aching for theological rootedness often found in other Christian traditions. Modern evangelicalism is not known for drawing from church history to inform views on the Christian life, which can lead to a "me and my Bible" approach to theology. But this book aims to show how Protestantism offers the theological depth so many desire without the need for abandoning a distinctly evangelical identity. By focusing on particular doctrines and neglected theologians, this book shows how evangelicals can draw from the past to meet the challenges of the present.