Customer Reviews

Answers to Tough Questions Skeptics Ask About the Christian Faith

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

McDowell's book has become a sort of an excuse to further their own pre-existing ideas. For this reason, I am reluctant to enter my review of this book. However, I do think I can give those considering buying this book some information. For the record, I am a devout Christian. I enjoyed reading the book and found it interestig and insightful, but I don't think I was reading it for the same reasons as others. I did not read it in order to "arm" myself as I argue God's existance with unbelievers. I did not read it because the book is somewhat fluffy and I could easily argue that McDowell presents shoddy research. I read it simply because I am a Christian and I desired a little more insight into the faith to which I subscribe. Here are some of My Brief Answers to Frequently Asked Questions:

Will this book sufficiently arm me as I do battle with Unbelievers?: Probably not Is this book intened to be the end-all, be-all, convincing me that God definately does exist?: Probably not. Is the research thorough and clearly preented: Not really. If I do not believe in God, will it cause me to question my non-belief a little bit?: Quite possibly.

The reason (I believe) McDowell wrote this book is so that unbelievers would critically think about their faith or lack thereof. The breity and simplicity of the book make it very inviting. Putting myself in the unbeliever's shoes, if I decided it would benefit me to read an apologist's book, I think I'd rather spend very little time doing it then a great deal of time, making McDowell's book all the more inviting. Furthermore, to refute McDowell's arguments, I'd be forced to study history and the Bible more. Imagine that.

So, McDowell's ulterior motive is to get unbelievers to feel a little uncomfortable and make an attempt to reaffirm their belief that there is no God (or at least no Christian God)through researching Biblical truths and the Bible. If we learn a little about McDowell, he was an athiest who was challenged to research Biblical truths in order to refute them and wound up convincing himself that the Bible is true and that God does indeed exist. Do you think he might be hoping the same thing will happen to other unbelievers who pick this book up? To sum everything up this book will be good for you if you read it for the "right" reasons. I enjoyed it and recommend it for a light read.

When this book was written 14 years ago, it was much-needed, and I used it a number of times to help in my research of certain questions. However, in 2000, there are so many other books like this available today that are much more detailed and better organized. Several include When Skeptics Ask and When Critics Ask by Norman Geisler. Even McDowell's A Ready Defense is better than the Answers book. But if you are looking for a simple beginner's manual, then I suppose this could be very useful to you. It's small, inexpensive, and McDowell is very clear about his answers. For many, though, a good look through the apologetics section of Amazon or any Christian bookstore worth its salt will turn up better choices.

A well thought out book in defense of the Christian faith. Author Josh McDowell follows in the footsteps of another great 20th Century defender of Christianity, C. S. Lewis, by offering rational answers to the troubling questions that people have about Christianity. While Lewis's "Mere Christianity" and his other books in defense of the faith are brilliant works, they can be a bit "weighty" for younger readers, or readers with no patience for longer philosophical discourses.

"Answers to Tough Questions Skeptics Ask About the Christian Faith" is the short, straight scoop for a generation busy trying to sort through an overload of information, ideas, and agendas. Every Christian needs this book on her bookshelf, and every skeptic ought to consider the arguments it presents in favor of Christianity.

McDowell in this book provides some answers that are solid and answer common objections to Christianity today. Some say that the Biblical records are just fiction, or are just "hearsay upon hearsay" written many years after Jesus died, but if one rejects the Bible accounts like that, he or she is forced to reject just about every other historical document that we acknowledge without thinking as truthful and historical, such as Ceasar's history of the Gallic Wars. Basically, if we discount the New Testament documents, then we would have to throw out, say, a WWII vet's first hand testimony of a battle he was in. There are some solid reasons for believing that the accounts were not doctored, extrapolated, or exaggerated in any way.

This excellent book is the work of well-known Christian authors Josh McDowell and Don Stewart. In it, the authors address a myriad of tough (and some not-so tough) questions that a Christian is likely to be asked by skeptics, giving the reader a concise answer, and a list of additional reference sources. The topics covered in this marvelous book include the Bible, God, Jesus Christ, miracles then and now, world religions, Christianity, believing faith (that is, faith in Christ), and Bible difficulties (which is the longest section).

Having grown up in an Evangelical church, it was impossible not to have heard about Josh McDowell and to have not read his books. This was one of the books in my library as a young man, and it was a treasured part of it. I really enjoyed the authors' take on the Bible and the Christian faith. Now that I am a father, and my kids are entering their teenage years, I was very glad to have been able to get them copies of this book. They have also devoured the books, and I hope that it will keep them armed and ready to give a defense of the faith that is in them. We highly recommend this book to you and your kids.

Anyone who is a real seeker of truth should read this book. Answers to Tough Questions is one of the greatest concise compilations of evidence for the Christian faith. Josh McDowell, a former skeptic himself, answers questions about the claims of Jesus Christ, His miracles, Biblical authenticity & difficulties. He contrasts Christianity with other world religions while providing historical and archeaological confirmation of the validity of the Christian faith. This book read along with "Reasons Skeptics should consider Christianity" by Josh will convince any truth-seeker that Jesus Christ is who He claimed to be....God. Josh quotes some of C.S. Lewis' writings and arguments which convince people to consider the evidence of Christianity. Lewis was a former atheist but found that after investigating the overwhelming verification of Christianity, he was dragged "kicking and screaming into the kingdom of God".

As a 22 year old College Student it may not be fair to be reviewing this book 28 years after it was published. I am sure that for its time this was a very valuable resource. However, that being said this book is no longer one of the books I would recommend as a must read even for beginners in apologetics. Books such as Lee Strobels Case for Christ and Case for Faith have more up to date information dealing with some of the same questions.
In this book Josh McDowell and Don Stewart try to answer 61 of the most asked questions about the Christian faith. This is the first book that I have read that tries to tackle such a broad category of questions. They discuss reliability of the scriptures, archaeological evidence, creation and evolution, Miracles, world religions, and the list goes on and on. Its very hard to answer so many questions on so many topics well.
Some of the good things that this book does have is that many times as Christians we have a lot of questions we would like to have better answers to. Even those of us who hope to make the defense of the faith our profession, tend to have to focus on one area of study. This book does provide some decent answers to a few of the questions that one may not want to devote a lot of time researching. However, the age of this book makes me hesitant to rely on it too hevily because some of the information is outdated. Over all 3 stars. Not terrible and not great.

As an extremely skeptic Christian, one of my more conservative friends lent me this book for some research. Typically most Christian apologists only cite the Bible for evidence (along with some weak philosophical arguments). The problem is that if one doesn't believe the Bible is infallible or historically accurate (which it is not as proven by historical record), those apologies are useless. This book attracted my attention because it claimed to have historical evidence other than the Bible backing its "thesis".

After my initial read-through, the book's arguments made superficial logical sense, and it seemed quite obvious that Jesus was the only way, etc. However, the skeptic that I was, I did about 2 hours of research in peer-reviewed historical databases at my university's library to check up on McDowell's evidence. While much of the evidence is technically in existence, there is a still huge problem. He does not acknowledge any conflicting historical documents and he does not mention that some of his sources are completely unreliable when it comes to historical accuracy. He ignores an overwhleming amount of counterpoints that disprove his arguments quite effectively.

Unfortunately most young people do not double check everything they read or hear on the news, and they do not look for bias in sources. I can see a great number of ignorant people reading this book and believing in something on false pretenses. Here is a link to a basic outline of the book's numerous faults: http://the-anointed-one.com/bbu85/josh.htm

I know that people will read it and say "Oh but lots of stuff on the internet is incorrect", etc. However, if you take a couple hours to research this book (at your library), using peer reviewed historical documents, you will find that the website makes viable and accurate claims.

Overall, I find this book to be ignorant and misleading. I am not sure if McDowell knows about all of the evidence he ignored. On a closing note, I find the title kind of funny and misleading, considering that Jesus' main profession was being a Rabbi. Seriously people, go take a historical New Testament class at a accredited state university if you want to learn more about biblical history.

Josh puts together the questions that are eating away in the hearts of sceptics and provides solid intelectual answers. This is a grear follow up book after those late night Q&A sessions with a friend. Or, better yet, read it and use it when sharing with others. Its also a good "foundational strenghthening" for "old" Christians!! Got to have it in the collection!

I enjoyed the book. It addressed a lot of things I had never considered- or noticed, and a lot of the things I had wondered about - for example. Jesus died on a Friday and rose again on Sunday, how is that three days! It's an issue that many Christians/churches have.

I think this book was a very good read. Not something I'll read over and over again, but something I will return to from time to time. It talked about "inconsistencies" in the Bible, that a non-believer or a new believer might throw at you.

I do believe the best way to understand the Bible is to read it yourself, as another reviewer said, and Josh helps with that by giving LOTS of scriptual basis for his answers.
I would probably recommend it more to a non-beliver or a new beliver, while many strong Christinas might find it useful - they might also know the answers to many of the questions.