I Still Believe How Listening To Christianity's Critics Stengthens Faith

I Still Believe Copyright © 2005 by Kurt Bruner Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bruner, Kurt D. I still believe : how listening to Christianity's critics strengthens faith / Kurt Bruner. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-10: 0-310-24997-X ISBN-13: 078-0-310-24997-9 1. Apologetics. I. title. BT1103.B78 2005 239-dc22 2005006092 All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other-except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Published in association with the literary agency of Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920. Edited by Rebecca Shingledecker Interior design by Beth Shagene Printed in the United States of America 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 /?DCI/ 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Kurt Bruner can be contacted by email at KurtBruner@msn.com INTRODUCTION: Listening to the Unconvinced Iimagine even the most die-hard believers have moments when they become uneasy about their faith. Kind of like that feeling you get when you crawl into bed and your wife asks whether you remembered to lock all of the doors. No matter how confident you may feel that the doors are properly bolted, the mere suggestion keeps you awake until you go downstairs and double check. I've often found myself comfortably between the sheets, ready to settle into a confident faith. But then the suggestions come. "How can you be so sure when so many are not?" "Why do you find Christianity so appealing when others find it so offensive?" "If most of earth's six billion people reject Christianity, isn't it arrogant to think you have the corner on truth?" Unable to properly rest until I've double checked, I decided to explore what makes my religion so hard to accept-to grab each handle, give it a good twist, and see whether it opens or remains securely locked. I've never experienced what you would call a serious crisis of doubt; sometimes I envy those who have. Strong faith should not accept easy answers, something I probably have done too quickly at times. Not that I don't ask hard questions or face difficult realities! It's just that I do so from the perspective of one who wholeheartedly accepts Christianity as the best description of our world and the dilemma in which we find ourselves. It also offers a unique solution, a key that fits the lock better than any other religious or secular offering. Raised in church and immersed in religious assumptions since diapers, I suppose faith comes easier for me than for some others. As an adult, I attended a well-respected seminary where I studied theology and apologetics. Consequently, I believe in Christianity like I "believe" in the changing seasons or the law of gravity. And I find those who don't a curiosity. Still, it bothers me that some of history's greatest minds have rejected Christian belief. Of course, just as many have not. For every Neitzsche, there is a Lewis; for every Voltaire, a Pascal; and for every Twain a Tolstoy. A number of Christianity's most hardened opponents once counted themselves believers, while among its most articulate defenders we find former atheists and skeptics. Clearly, something exists behind unbeliefBruner, Kurt is the author of 'I Still Believe How Listening To Christianity's Critics Stengthens Faith', published 2005 under ISBN 9780310249979 and ISBN 031024997X.