January Read

Like I said in my Loose Commitments post I am trying to read more and watch less TV. Unfortunately harder said than done, I think I could give up cable completely if Chelsea Lately would just get a network spot. Anywho, I had planned on starting the year off with The Lovely Bones, so I could compare the book to the movie but it is completely checked out at the library so I decided to pluck a book from my shelf that I bought in college and never really dove into. I am currently reading The Case For Faith by Lee Strobel. Lee is an atheist turned Christian and also a journalist which is why I find this to be an interesting read.

The main objective of the book is to explain faith and rationality, a common objection to Christianity. Although I have doubted I have never lost touch with my faith and I think this read will hopefully allow me to justify my faith when I talk to others who take a much more rational look at religion (I personally am one of blind faith and it is the hardest thing to describe to someone who can debate just about anything, and I know a few people like this!). I'm not an evangelist and I appreciate that we can all believe different things so don't think I'm going to turn this into some Bible beating platform, this is just something that greatly interests me and it's my blog so I'll do what I want ;).

Back to the book. Lee covers 8 objections to Christianity and they are:
1) If there's a loving God, why does this pain-wracked world groan under so much suffering and evil?
2) If the miracles of God contradict science, then how can any rational person believe that they're true?
3) If God is morally pure, how can he sanction the slaughter of innocent children as the Old Testament says he did?
4) If God cares about the people he created, how could he consign so many of them to an eternity of torture in hell just because they didn't believe the right things about him?
5) If Jesus is the only way to heaven, then what about the millions of people who have never heard of him?
6) If God really created the universe, why does the evidence of science compel so many to conclude that the unguided process of evolution accounts for life?
7) If God is the ultimate overseer of the church, why has it been rife with hypocrisy and brutality throughout the ages?
8) If I'm still plagued by doubts, then is it still possible to be a Christian?

I'm looking forward to learning more about each of these objections and hope that my first read of the season goes a little quicker than my last book!