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Gary R. Habermas

The Thomas Factor: Using Your Doubts to Draw Closer to God Paperback – January 1, 1999

by Gary R. Habermas (Author)

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Print length

141 pages
Language

English
Publisher

B & H Pub Group
Publication date

January 1, 1999
Dimensions

5.75 x 0.5 x 8.75 inches
ISBN-10

0805417206
ISBN-13

978-0805417203
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Gary R. Habermas
311
Paperback
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In what form do our doubts about God come? Habermas discusses three types of doubt: factual, occurring when we doubt the foundational validity of our faith from a lack of provable historical and/or scientific data; emotional, the skepticism raised when we base our faith on our current emotional state; volitional, based on our will and our attitude toward assuming personal responsibility to repentance and obedience of biblical principles. Habermas (Dealing with Doubt) himself admits to having had serious doubts for many of his adult years. He has spent 25 years studying and working with more than 100 individuals who've come to him with their doubts about God and their faith. As Habermas explains, doubt is not necessarily a bad thing. In his chapter on the negative and positive consequences of doubting, he lists six important benefits of doubting: We may learn how to study and discover answers for ourselves; we grow as whole persons as we work through uncertainties; we discover that our emotions are not our enemies; proper thinking teaches us to love the life God has given us; working through emotional doubt helps us see the doubt for what it is; the experience can actually lead to the death of doubt. This author uses personal case studies and anecdotes to liven up this textbook-style study. Habermas unveils the common myths of doubting, sets the stage for building a solid foundation for faith and shares the importance of preparing a strategy for success by disciplining our thoughts, praying, memorizing Scripture, journaling and practicing Christian behavior.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ B & H Pub Group; First Edition, First Printing (January 1, 1999)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 141 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0805417206
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0805417203
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 0.5 x 8.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,007,040 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #353 in Agnosticism (Books)
- #3,045 in Religious Faith

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Gary R. Habermas

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www.GaryHabermas.com

Dr. Gary R. Habermas is Distinguished Research Professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy at Liberty University. He also teaches in the Ph.D. program in theology and apologetics at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. He earned the Ph.D. at Michigan State University and the M.A. from the University of Detroit.

He has authored, coauthored, or edited thirty-nine books and contributed more than sixty-five chapters or articles to other books. He has also written well over one hundred articles and reviews for journals and other publications. While his chief areas of research (and the topic of twenty of his books) are issues related to Jesus' resurrection, he has also published frequently on the afterlife, near death experiences, as well as the subjects of suffering and religious doubt.

Over the past fourteen years, he has often been a visiting or adjunct professor, having taught courses at some fifteen different graduate schools and seminaries in the United States and abroad. He and his wife, Eileen, have seven children and thirteen grandchildren, all of whom live in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Visit Gary Habermas' website (www.GaryHabermas.com) to access many publications as well as video and audio presentations.

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4.4 out of 5

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John

As promised.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 19, 2022

Verified Purchase

Book came as promised. This is a great resource for those who are dealing with doubt.

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Kindle Customer

An Excellent Resource For Doubt

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 20, 2009

I believe it's best to state if there is any bias a reviewer might have up front so let me tell you that yes, I do have a bias. I have communicated with Dr. Habermas and he is an excellent friend and help through struggles of doubt. Dr. Habermas does not just write this out abstractly. He really lives it. Every reply I've got from him has led me to the belief that he truly does care about me and connect with me. When I meet Christians who are doubting, I'm always eager to point out Dr. Habermas's materials.

This one will not disappoint. What I like about Habermas's style is that he doesn't speak in the heavy philosophical or apologetic language. Now I love both of those fields deeply, but I wonder about people who seem to speak exclusively in those fields. I wonder if a lot of people just try to use fancy terminology to make themselves look better. Dr. Habermas does not make me wonder about that. This is the kind of advice he'd give if he sat down to talk with you at Starbucks. I've heard Dr. Habermas speak a number of times on this topic before and I could practically hear his voice reading the passages.

Also, it works. That's what's really important. Dr. Habermas has helped me immensely with self-doubt mainly and he has used the principles taught in this book. I also liked how he had in this one a chapter on differences amongst Christians. I have frequently been in Christian circles where I am the lone outsider with a different view, always within the pale of orthodoxy of course. This can be a hard one, but Dr. Habermas explains it well.

Dr. Habermas also distinguishes between the kinds of doubts and how to deal with each of them. He shows how the most common kind he deals with when people come to him is emotional doubt. That has been my case as well when I'm dealing with some sort of doubt. There can be a factual kernel somewhere, but the flower that has come up is essentially emotional. Dr. Habermas would tell you that you need to know where your emotions get off. They're not bad things, but they're not meant to control you.

Dr. Habermas is realistic about apologetics also. When I started the field, I had this delusion that if you just went out there and gave the answers, people would convert. That delusion doesn't last long. It also doesn't work when we argue with ourselves and have the "What if?" questions. Habermas's approach is that the "What if" questions are the problems. They can be anything and they don't usually have a factual basis and could be used to explain away anything or to refuse believing anything.

I think all Christians should learn the lessons that Habermas speaks of in this book. Not only would we be helping ourselves, but maybe if we opened the doors of fellowship in our churches and were able to show the dark sides we're experiencing as well as the light, maybe we'd grow stronger together in Christ and be able to do more for him.

13 people found this helpful

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Joshua Wilkinson

Highly Recommend

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 19, 2015

I thoroughly enjoyed Habermas's "The Thomas Factor." In fact, it intrigued me so much, I ended up reading the entire book in one day! There are two very clear distinctions that must be made about this book, however. First, this book is not an exhaustive solution manual for all types of doubt. As Habermas states in the book, doubt can be found as having factual, volitional, or emotional roots. This book is not comprehensive in the least bit on factual or volitional doubt. Although he touches briefly on both of these, the vast majority of the book deals with emotional doubt. Depending on what you're looking to read, this can be a pro or a con. Personally, I wanted to read on emotional doubt so this book's layout proved perfect for me. Secondly, the content on emotional doubt is not a psychological dissection. Habermas mentions several times that he is not a psychologist and that his writing is from a personal, experiential point of view. This doesn't mean he isn't qualified to write this book (he does have a PhD in religious history and philosophy after all), it just means he approaches the material on a simpler level instead of arguing from a more complicated, psychological standpoint. Again, this was a giant pro for me since I don't have the least bit of background in psychology. While I think this book is very specific, it is exactly what I was looking for: a thorough book covering the definition and solution of religious, emotional doubt that doesn't get too caught up in philosophical reasoning. I highly recommend to any who are struggling with doubt caused by their emotions.

6 people found this helpful

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Stephan Stuecklin

Aimed at Christians

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 5, 2000

I ordered this book while going through a bout of doubt both about my current girlfriend and my faith (strange how some things are linked at times). Of course, since I live in Switzerland, the book took its time to arrive, and by the time I read it, my doubts had been blown away like the clouds on a windy day - by a four-hour phone call with my girlfriend. Previously, they had been exacerbated by reading the book "What is Atheism" by Douglas Krueger, to the point where I was wondering what would happen if I renounced my faith.
When the sharpest doubt subsided (the "O boy, he is intelligent and logical and convincing and here I thought it was all true, what do I do now) I realized that while I still wanted to reread Krueger's book and check his arguments against those of apologists (dealing with factual doubt), any decision as to my beliefs should be made with a level head and not while in a panicked frenzy (i.e. while suffering from emotional doubt).
The mere fact of doubting something does not mean it's necessarily wrong, and it would be foolish to change convictions every time someone rattles you with his or her arguments. (As reviews demonstrate, neither Atheists nor Christians seem to do that.) This is the main point Dr. Habermas is making, and his goal is clearly to lead any doubting Christian to the point where he or she can take a step back, take a look at the whole picture, and decide rationally and calmly on the course to be taken. It therefore seems to me that Bill Hays mistook Dr. Habermas' main thrust for a recommendation to exercise blind faith. Not so! Dr. Habermas encourages Christians to read apologetic books to counter factual doubts instead of simply using psychological tricks to push them aside; where he urges Christians not to question is in the area of emotional doubt, where questions frequently are "what ifs" of the destructive kind. To give an example: the question "What if I had married a more beautiful woman?" is not only destructive to your marriage, it tends to preoccupy your mind and preclude a levelheaded assessment of your wife's true qualities. The same is true for questions of the type "What if God does not exist despite what I factually know?" Rarely does anything positive come of them. (If the question is reduced to "What if God does not exist?" or "What facts are there about God's existence?", I believe it can lead to a very positive outcome.)
In fine, Dr. Habermas has written a clear, logical assessment of doubt (it clicks very nicely with what I've experienced), throwing aside many popular misconceptions in the process. The reason I do not give it five stars is that I have not yet been in the position to apply his principles (I'm on a surprisingly long doubt-free period) and therefore cannot evaluate them. (Another reason is that I dislike the free-flowing margin - looks sloppy - but that's not his fault.) All in all I'd recommend this book to people who are worrying about their faith; to others who have factual questions, it will be of little help (one short chapter and a reference section).

16 people found this helpful

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The Thomas Factor: Using Your Doubts to Draw Closer to God Paperback – January 1, 1999

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