xjwsforChrist

KASSAD SAID

hello guys, any christian apologists/writers you are currently into right now?

i came across a book by Philip Yancey entitled "What good is God" and "What's so amazing about grace" and they are both uplifting and strengthening to read. It turns out he also became disillusioned by the sheer legalism of his church and for a period became an atheist. He came back to Christianity because of the writings of C.S Lewis "Mere Christianity" and "Space Trilogy" and the grace that he observed from the love of his wife, classical music, nature, etc convinced him that there MUST be a loving God.

C.S. Lewis was also raised as a Christian but also later became an atheist having been disillusioned, but was converted back with the help of fellow writers JRR Tolkien and others, and by a book called "The Everlasting Man" by G.K. Chesterton.

It is interesting to see that both C.S Lewis and G.K. Chesterton lived in the same time period as C.T. Russell and JR Rutherford but have more uplifting non-judgmental "Christian" things to say...

any authors you have enjoyed reading as of late?

AGUEST SAID

No christian apologists/writers for me, dear Kassad (peace to you!)... unless they're material is secular. Otherwise, I tend to stick to Christ... so that I don't have to worry about what it truth... and what is fiction.

But that's me and only me.

Again, peace to you!

Your servant and a slave of Christ,

SA

[quote]PSACRAMENTO SAID

AH dude, now this is a fascinating subject for me.
I have read CS Lewis, NT Wright, Yancey, Copan, Craig, SParks and on and on and they all have strengthened my faith and helped me to defend my faith with reason, compassion and understanding.
BY the way, Lewis as an atheist that became a CHristian, not the other way around.

If you want some reading suggestions, let me know what subjects in particular and I can try to help yo

KASSAD SAID

Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 12:23 am Post subject:
hi aguest! thanks for reminding about the danger of these things... i'll try hard to put my berean cap on.

hey paul... I'm just beginning to read some of them myself, and I like for example in Yancey's book about grace, he's got some different perspective on parables of Jesus that I haven't really thought about, so it adds another understanding to them. any particular books you've read that made an impact on you- maybe on grace, pain, or any other subject?

PSACRAMENTO SAID



It is important to understand that Jesus' parables were not written TO us but they were written FOR Us.
As such, like those before us, we need to find meaning for our TODAY in them and not just try to understand what they meant to his audience.
That is the difference between studying the bible and applying it to our current life.
Yancy's "what so amazing about Grace" and "The Jesus I never knew" are excellent books.
They are not apologetics per say, they are basically trying to explain things in OUR language and OUR context and in ways that lay people can understand.
Timothy Keller is a good one too for that stuff.

One of the best meesages I ever got about reading and trying to understand the bible were these from Kenton SParks:
The bible is God's words THROUGH Human words.
The bible may have been written FOR us but it was NOT written TO Us.
If we believe that God's creation is in need of redemption, which means there are errors and issue in creation and that creation is God's direct work, then why should we think that the bible is any different?

QUENTIN SAID

I myself read anything religious, or secular that gets my attention. Trying, as best my weak mind allows, to compare the message..

One thing I learned from my father, and continue to be reminded of by my best friend, IS, you cannot be ridged, you MUST STUDY both sides of ANY subject.

Read.... Who Wrote the Bible...Washington Gladden,The Jesus Puzzel... Earl Doherty and for pity sake DON"T neglect an author who may have wrote a hundred years ago. There's really nothing new about Christianity...aplogist or secular
_________________
Vinegar tasts better in freedom
than honey in slavery

How can you unterstand a thing unless you know it?
How can you know a thing unless you understand it?