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One Minute Answers to Skeptics' Top Forty Questions

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This book allegedly provides answers to some common questions that skeptics raise about Christianity. It actually provides the same standard answer: Whatever the Bible says must be so. If you are looking for thoughtful, compelling answers to the questions, you will be very disappointed.

This is a book that I think every Christian should have in his or her library. ANd one they should all be very familiar with.

Charlie does a wonderful job of quickly summarizing the main points in answering skeptics' questions. The answers are clear, insightful, and polite. The last being key in sharing with skeptics.

If you are a Christian and know skeptics that have asked, or are asking questions like, "How do we know the Bible hasn't been corrupted?", or "How can you be sure that Jesus is the only way, aren't there other ways?", or if you yourself are a skeptic then this book is for you.

If you're looking for convincing answers, you're really looking in the wrong place. If you're looking for ice breaker assertions with openings to conversation that could be potentially convincing or otherwise, then this might be up your alley. The answers Campbell gives are unelaborative in nature and the entire book can be read in one sitting; thus "One-Minute Answers to Skeptics." Keep in mind it says "skeptics" and not "non-believers" or "Atheists."

This book is best used, I think, by current theists as a study guide of sorts. The most helpful objective resources are the citations Campbell makes constant note of. The reason I say this is because nobody will be convinced in just a moment of time. If you do truly want answers, you shouldn't expect another quick fix to life with this book. It's not supposed to be and if you make it the extent of your intellectual development, you are really cheating yourself or your friends that you try to give these answers to.

If you buy this book, who ever you are, use it as a study guide and use the citations. You won't get your money's worth otherwise. For what this book is, it is a decent concise compilation of topics that need a more in depth approach in order to gauge the soundness of Campbell's answers and points of view.

This book is AWESOME. It is filled with one-minute answers only a few paragraphs long each that are so clear and compelling you will be on the edge of your seat just like in a blockbuster movie. Don't be fooled by how short the answers are. Every word is to the point. Every point is solid. Irrefutable answers to questions like:

"If God is so loving, why does He allow evil and suffering?"

"Is what the Bible says really true?"

"How do you know God really exists?"

When I started reading this book I was so captivated by how believable these answers are that I could not put it down. In addition to answering questions to skeptics himself, there are tons of quotes from highly respected scientists, well known apologetic scholars, renown archaeologists, like: Nelson Glueck, Ph.D., Norman Geisler, Ph.D., Charles H. Spurgeon, Martin Luther, C. S. Lewis, and even Charles Darwin, just to name a few.

Check out this quote from Charles Darwin.

"To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree."

I highly recommend this book.

This is a short book that answers many of the Bibles tough questions. I liked it.

Sharing our faith with others is almost always difficult. It is rarely easy to share with another person that he is a sinner and in need of a Savior. The foolishness of the gospel makes us feel like fools. Yet it is our great honor and privilege and responsibility to be fools for Christ and to serve Him by sharing the good news with others. Despite this, we are often unprepared. When friends or acquaintances or even strangers provide us an opportunity to share with them, so often we find ourselves fumbling and stumbling. Some of us turn to "fillibuster evangelism," hoping to talk our friends into the kingdom by never giving them a chance to voice their questions or disagreements. Others say little, perhaps finding ourselves intimidated at having been challenged.

Charlie Campbell, pastor of Calvary Chapel Vista in southern California, believes that we should be able to provide one-minute answers to the most common questions posed by skeptics. "When someone asks me, 'What evidence do you have that the Bible is actually true?' I do not attempt to walk them through a whole pile of evidence ('The eighth reasons is...'). I try to answer their question in under a minute or two. Frankly, that is all the time people often have before their cell phone rings, the baby starts crying, or they have to get back to work. If they want to hear a more in-depth response to their question, I let them know that I would be glad to go on." This book, One Minute Answers To Skeptics' Top Forty Questions seeks to provide just enough information to answer questions thoroughly yet without taking too much time.

Here are some of the questions Campbell addresses:

* What evidence do you have that there is a God?
* Hasn't the Bible undergone corruption as it was translated hundreds of times down through the centuries?
* If God is so loving, why does He allow evil and suffering?
* How can a loving God send somebody to hell?
* Doesn't the Bible have scientific errors in it?
* Can God make a rock so big that He cannot move it?
* Why aren't dinosaurs mentioned in the Bible?
* Isn't being a good person enough to get to heaven?

On the whole the author does quite a good job of answering the questions. He continually refers back to Scripture, allowing the Spirit to convict the heart of the person asking the questions. Having said that, there were a couple of answers that I felt were quite poor. In answering, "What about those who have never heard of Jesus? Will they be condemned to hell?" the answer contains the words, "I personally believe..." In this case Campbell goes outside of Scripture to suggest that if there is a person alive who would receive Jesus, if only he could hear about Him, God will somehow save that person, perhaps through a missionary, a vision or so on. The answers to "How can a loving God send somebody to hell?" and a couple of the other questions are, as we might expect, based on an Arminian understanding of Scripture. Still, most questions are answered well.

I had a couple of disappointments with the book. First, I am not entirely sure who the audience is. At times the author uses fairly advanced language such as "the inspired, infallible Word of God." Yet the book closes with a section outlining steps to peace with God. It seems that the book has something of a dual purpose and it would perhaps have been better to focus on either believers or unbelievers. It is rare that a book can be targetted successfully at both groups. Second, most of the chapters close in a quote or two relevant to the topic that has just been discussed. Several of the quotes were by people who may lead the reader to read books that would not prove conducive to sharpening his faith. I would suggest that the author could have been more selective in choosing quotes.

One Minute Answers To Skeptics' Top Forty Questions is an easy read and provides valuable answers. Perhaps its greatest value, though, at least as in so far as it applies to believers, is that it will help convict Christians that they need to be "prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you" (1 Peter 3:15). Christians should think through the most common questions and objections and be prepared to give an answer that is convicting and biblical, but not necessarily exhaustive.

This volume is very short (109 pages), but it is filled with lots of great information.

The text covers forty questions that are commonly asked of Christians be seekers and skeptics covering a wide range of areas. The answers given are concise and meaningful.

Some of the questions covered include such basics as: 'What evidence do you have that there is a God?', 'Doesn't the Bible have scientific errors in it?', and 'Isn't being a good person enough to get to Heaven?' There are 37 others as well.

This is a great resource that should be read by all Christians.

I own a copy of this book, and I plan on getting more. This is precisely the type of apologetics resource people are looking for. The quick and to-the-point answers are just what the doctor ordered. A+ work, Charles!

Charlie has done a masterful job at dealing with common "hurdles" to the Christian faith. The answers to these questions are concise and to the point. I don't have a lot of extra time to read 300+ pages of apologetic books. This book allows me to look up an issue and develop an accurate counterpoint. Great job Charlie!!

I purchased this book for my kids, so they could have some answers needed now to defend their faith, I really thought it was for all Christians, but, to my surprise, I found a direct attack to the Catholic Church inside the book. I really regreat this purchase.