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The God Question: An Invitation to a Life of Meaning (ConversantLife.comŪ)

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The God Question has something for everyone. It is well-written, warm, clearly argued without being overly technical, and engaging. Even if you disagree with his conclusions at the end of the day, I think you will concede that Moreland has been fair, honest, thoughtful, and authentic about life's biggest question...God.

Dr. Moreland is a prolific author who has written on a wide variety of topics like: happiness, the existence of God, the nature of the soul, spiritual formation, and doubt, just to name a few.

In this book, you get a little bit of all of that (and more) sprinkled in and shaped into a compelling narrative journey of faith. Moreland does not shy away from hard topics like Hell and how can Jesus be the only way. He also spends time exploring who Jesus was and how we can know about Him in history. Moreover, he talks about the powerful evidence for God from the origin and design of the universe in an accessible manner. But this is not merely a book defending the faith (i.e., apologetics).

Moreland places these fascinating and important discussions within the narrative of the Biblical story and his own faith journey in walking with Jesus for 40 years. For example he lets the reader into his own relationship-struggles and joys-with Jesus. And then he places this discussion within a wonderful explanation of the central message of Jesus: proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God.

Moreland paints a compelling (and jargon free) picture of what eternal life with God could and should be like according to the New Testament while also spending subsequent chapters talking about how to get good at life according to Jesus. Finally, he wraps up with an enlightening chapter on the afterlife.

Today, there is a lot of confusion about religion in general and Christianity in particular. If you are looking for a thoughtful book, written from the perspective of a follower of Jesus, and that gets past the heat and stereotypes, then The God Question is for you.

High school and college students would also enjoy: Welcome to College: A Christ-Follower's Guide for the Journey

The God Question by J.P. Moreland is an intelligent refutation of the popular books attacking Christianity by Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hutchins. There has been a movement in recent years that equates belief in God with a lack of intelligence. Moreland does a phenomenal job of showing that you don't have to turn off your brain in order to have faith. His arguments for faith are amazing. My husband and I both want to memorize them in order to share them when our faith is under attack. The thesis of the book is that the American people are unhappier than previous generations have been, and Moreland poses the theory that it's because of a lack of belief in God. Moral relativism and a lack of higher purpose has robbed people of a deeper sense of happiness, so they turn instead toward short-term happiness that is found through material things or people. The evidence is undeniable. He is extremely logical and almost dispassionate in the beginning of the book, but once Moreland starts to talk about his own journey to faith and the experiences with God since then, the book takes on a whole new life. His stories about faith healings and encounters with Jesus are incredibly moving, the type you can't wait to tell someone else about and want to experience as well. After sharing his own faith, Moreland turns to encouraging the reader to make a commitment to God. It's an intellectual book that has a remarkably big heart.

I bought this book during a recent conference in San Diego, and it is the ideal book to present to a friend who is an agnostic or atheist, and as a training guide for believers to be able to defend their belief in God. J.P. Moreland gives complete and compelling arguments to present a convincing and reasonable case for believing that God exists. It is very down-to-earth, informational, and spiced with personal stories by the author.

The table of contents are as follows:

Part 1: Why Can't We Be Happy?
1. Why Can't I Be Happy?
2. Hope for a Culture of Bored and Empty Selves

Part 2: Is There a Real Solution to Our Dilemma?

3. The Question of God, Part 1
4. The Question of God, Part 2
5. The Luminous Nazarene
6. My Own Journey as Jesus' Apprentice

Part 3: How Can the Solution Help Me Change?

7. Rethinking the Whole Thing
8. Two Essentials for Getting Good at Life
9. Avoiding the Jaws of Defeat
10. How to Unclog Your Spiritual Arteries and Develop the Heart
to Work for God

Part 4: Is This Life All There Is?
11. From Here to Eternity
Epilogue
Notes

Brief Summary of the Contents

In Part 1, Moreland argues that our pursuit of the American Dream doesn't make people happy. The Baby Boomer generation is 10 times more depressed than earlier generations because they lived only for themselves and not for a cause larger than themselves -- they need to live for a good purpose in life.

In Part 2 Moreland investigates evidence that makes it reasonable to believe in the Creator:

The Kalaam Cosmological argument and support from astronomy, the Design argument (drawing examples from the complexity and fine-tuned eye and molecule, and from biology), the Moral Argument (e.g. building a case for an absolute moral law).

In Part 3, Moreland builds the case for believing in God through examining the claims of Jesus Christ and the support for the Resurrection. At the beginning of Part 3, Moreland offers 3 criteria for choosing a religion:

1) Does the depiction of the Supreme Being in a given religion harmonize with what we already know about God from creation?
2) Does that religion provide the most profound diagnosis of the human condition and the most adequate solution to that diagnosis?
3) Does the best explanation of both the origin and continued history of the religion include supernatural activity?

Moreland goes on to give his own personal journey of how he came to believe in God through the Christian faith, and how that impacted his life.

In Part 3, Moreland gives the practical relevance of believing in the God that the Bible describes through trusting in the Gospel:

A. The Gospel of the Kingdom

Our purpose is to join the kingdom program as set forth in the Gospel
a) We need to be apprentices of Christ
b) We need to love God
c) We need to obey His commands

B. The Gospel of Justification by Faith
a) We need to trust Christ for He appeased God's wrath in His substitutionary atonement on the cross
b) Through Christ, we receive forgiveness of sins

C. Two Essentials for Getting Good at Life

1) Follow Christ by getting good at denying ourselves, count the cost,
and following Him

2) Practice disciplines that will help us be a disciple
a) Practice biblical self-talk
b) Recognize your core-identity in Christ & your mission
c) Be absorbed in developing your character and a heart for God
and others

D. Avoiding the Jaws of Defeat -- Moreland gives practical suggestions on how we can deal with the flesh, the world, and the devil. One of the very practical sections deal with how believers can rightly interact with the world and with non-believers, and how believers can deal with doubt.
He talks about the spiritual disciplines that can help us conquer the flesh, and how we can wage spiritual warfare against the devil & demons.

E. How to Unclog Spiritual Arteries -- we need to be engaged in God-centered worship and we need to pray. Moreland offers practical suggestions on how to worship and pray.

Part 4 Is This Life All There Is?

Moreland examines the afterlife and builds a case for believing in the biblical teaching of the afterlife. He talks about heaven and hell, and refutes common objections for believing in the hell described in the Bible.

This is a pretty lengthy summary, but I wanted you readers to see how helpful this book is. I highly recommend this book as an apologetics and evangelistic tool, not only to give to your intellectual agnostic or atheist friend, but also as a very helpful guide for equipping yourself. I will definitely use this class for my teaching and ministry. Very highly recommended!!

Although J. P. Moreland is a distinguished Christian philosopher who has written numerous academic articles and books at a high academic level, he is also a passionate follower of Christ who wants to ignite that same passion in others. To that end, he has written this remarkable book, which combines philosophical reflection with spiritual instruction.

Moreland begins by reflecting on our quest to be happy and our inability to find genuine satisfaction in life. Social scientists have noted that the incidence of depression has skyrocketed in recent years, even as our standard of living rises. Moreland describes "the empty self" that consumes popular culture in copious quantities, but ends up restless, bored, impatient, and immature. Instead of giving yet more self-help advice, Moreland argues that only a true and rational worldview and wise living based on that worldview can adequately treat the problem of unhappiness.

Therefore, Moreland makes a philosophical and historical case for the Christian God, covering the best of natural theology (cosmological, design, and moral arguments), as well as the historical reliability of the Gospels. But unlike some apologetic approaches, Moreland always has the human subject in view, being concerned to relate the rationality of Christian truth to the individual in search of meaning. Along these lines, his defense of the uniqueness and supremacy of Jesus is closely tied to the human fulfillment found in "the luminous Nazarene," as he aptly puts it.

The God Question is both warmly personal (featuring a chapter on Moreland's testimony) and intellectually challenging (although not overly technical). Not content to merely to defend the Christian worldview as intellectually compelling, Moreland beckons the reader to live a Christian life through the spiritual disciplines and an openness to the supernatural work of God. Moreland also gives personal examples of encountering the supernatural power of God and alerts the reader to the realities of spiritual warfare. His excellent discussion of life in the Kingdom of God should inspire and excite the reader to be whole-hearted participant in this wonderful manifestation of God's rule over a fallen world. (He develops this vital theme more fully in Kingdom Triangle.) The Christian life offers true happiness, in which the entirety of the human person can flourish to the glory of God (see John 10:10).

Moreland calls us to a life of drama and meaning in Christ. He writes wisely about the need to practice self-denial, which can be painful, although it is ultimately the gateway to joy. However, he says little about the Christian's personal struggle with suffering and evil. While he doesn't ignore the subject, his practical advice on living the Christian life mentions little about the need for lament, grieving, and suffering well in the presence of God--something we find so often in the Psalms, for example. (This topic is wisely addressed in Michael Card's book, A Sacred Sorrow.) Of course, one cannot do everything in a medium-sized book, so this is a minor complaint.

May God use this unique and important book to raise up many Christ-followers who desire to develop both a Christian mind and a godly heart.

There are fact-based documentaries, and then there are love-stories that should list St. Valentine in the credits. "The God Question," a moving semi-apologetic book, falls into both categories, for it's as tedious as an elegant sententious movie. J.P. Moreland, professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology, delivers a book on happiness and truth that is intellectual and touching.

Chapters encompass:

- Why can't I be happy?
- Hope for the bored and empty
- The question of God: Part I and II
- The Luminous Nazarene
- How can I change?
- I this life all there is?

David Neff and Craig Hazen endorse this volume.

"Americans are twice as rich, far healthier, more youthful, and much safer that they were 50 years ago-and still, depression rates are ten times higher than they were then. Contemporary studies are confirming age-old truths: True happiness comes not from seeking pleasure but from a deep sense of meaning and purpose" (back cover).

Moreland contends that Christianity intermixed with a profound relationship with Jesus Christ is the only lasting means of joy and hope. He offers sound arguments, emitting from vivid illustrations, that make a powerful case for Christian theism. He employs scriptural and philosophical truths to dispense "An Invitation to a Life of Meaning."

This work was spiritually stimulating and intellectually engaging even though I maintain a different apologetic outlook (a view that contends for the certainty of the Christian worldview inasmuch as the CWV alone can account for the pre-essentials and a priori environment for immaterial immutable universals such as the laws of logic and moral law; these rational essentials are necessary for intelligibility).

Inside the author and publisher furnish free online tools including:
- Bible study materials
- Videos
- Blogs
- Podcasts
all free of charge to the reader.

This volume does not consist of hard facts and concrete arguments, nonetheless it makes a fine gift and is uplifting resource for personal or group studies.
The Necessary Existence of God: The Proof of Christianity Through Presuppositional Apologetics

I love this book. "The God Question" is an intelligent and intriguing invitation to a meaningful life. The author, J.P. Moreland, has a very unique and sophisticated way to kindly suggest an alternate way of thinking through open-mindedness. He asks for the reader to hear what he has to say and judge for themselves whether it is legitimate or not. Moreland then presents many different suggestions in different areas that cause the reader to think.

My expectation was a philosophical book defending the existence of God, but the book turns out to proselytize in a most zealous way. The author repeatedly urges "passion", the word viewable as a euphemism for "fanaticism".

To be sure, early in the book he presents purportedly logical arguments for the existence of God, but thereafter, although still writing with the apparent conviction of engaging in valid argumentation, he unbelievably rationalizes what belongs to the most extreme articles of faith.

I am a theist myself, who has likewise delved into the question of God. Among the most sensible if inconclusive answers are the currently well-known ones of intelligent design, mentioned in passing by the reviewed author. However, alongside others of the same circle, he appears especially proud of his incredibly circuitous "kalam" cosmological argument (p.57, ff.), and it should be worthwhile to here examine it.

He writes: "The universe...hasn't been here forever. There was a beginning. Now, things don't pop into existence from sheer nothingness with no cause at all. Something completely different from and outside the universe had to bring it into being. And the best candidate for that cause is God". Before more, why can't the universe "pop" into existence without a cause (beside conceivable gradual becoming)? Causation is an experience concerning "things" within the universe, without implying a cause of the universe itself. Further, if it has a cause, why must it be "completely different from and outside the universe"?

The author then argues: "If the universe had no beginning, the number of events crossed to reach the present moment would be actually infinite. It would be like counting to zero from negative infinity... so the present moment could never have arrived". One cannot count "from" any infinity, because, as the author himself indicates, there is no "actual infinite" from which to count. But he appears to confuse infinity with the infinitesimals of Zeno's paradoxes; Zeno argued that one never reaches any place, since one must cross an infinity before. In reality, although e.g. the number line has negative infinity, it does reach zero and beyond. Ironically, the author then contradicts his stance, on discussing science's "entropy", an "equilibrium state" the universe is to reach: "The universe hasn't reached an equilibrium state yet, so it must have had a finite past. Why? If the universe had already existed throughout an actually infinite past, it would have reached an equilibrium state an infinite number of days ago, but it obviously has not done so". But our author said that no state is ever reached from an infinite past! Furthermore, if that is false, why would the universe of an infinite past "have reached an equilibrium state an infinite number of days ago" instead of reaching it later?

The author continues, amidst other intervening and equally laborious and problematic arguments: "The world gives us examples of two basic types of efficient causes... The first...is called event-event causation... The second...is called agent causation". These may be better known as mechanical and final causes, signifying the difference between aimless causes and ones with aims, associated with purposeful agents like humans. The author correspondingly argues in the above sense that the universe couldn't be caused by the first type; of course, that type is of the familiar forces I alluded to as concerning causes inside the universe, not causes of it. So he concludes "that the most reasonable explanation for the beginning of the universe is that it was the result of a free act of will by an immaterial, conscious agent..." But there is no such dichotomy, a choice between the mechanical laws of nature and a conscious agent. If the universe is caused, it may be by who-knows-what other than those two.

The author adds a similar artificial distinction between "contingent" and "necessary". He asserts, "the universe...might not have existed", making it contingent, and: "If something is contingent, then there has to be some reason or cause as to why it exists..." Why? It appears nothing is necessary except the laws of logic. Where is there a law that everything else has a cause? Wait, our author postulates: "If God is a necessary being with free will, then we have an adequate explanation for the universe". God is not to be contingent, and hence has unexplained free will. But we see this as not only postulated, but as needless causation.

As hinted at the start, the author carries his rationalizations into spheres much more doctrinaire than the preceding. Seemingly knowing all about heaven and hell, he uses tortuous arguments to reconcile God's omnipotence, omniscience, and infinite goodness with believed eternal damnation of the unworthy. Allow me to describe at least one argument, illustrating the possible perversion of logic. He writes (p.241): "God's holiness requires Him to separate Himself entirely from evil, and hell is essentially a place away from God. Thus, hell is in keeping with God's holiness". How is God understood to separate Himself from evil? Is it by shutting his eyes and sending evildoers away for eternal punishment? Or is it by reforming the failing ones and rewarding them with unfailing forgiveness?