Product Description

This eagerly anticipated sequel to Lee Strobel’s best-selling The Case for Christ finds the author investigating the nettlesome issues and doubts of the heart that threaten faith. Eight major topics are addressed including doubt, the problem of pain, and the existence of evil.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3730 in Books
• Published on: 2000-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780310234692
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
Award-winning reporter and author Lee Strobel (The Case for Christ) once again uses his investigative skills to address the primary objections to Christianity. As a former atheist, Strobel understands the rational resistance to faith. He even names the eight most convincing arguments against Christian faith:

1) If there's a loving God, why does this pain-wracked world groan under so much suffering and evil?
2) If the miracles of God contradict science, then how can any rational person believe that they're true?
3) If God is morally pure, how can he sanction the slaughter of innocent children as the Old Testament says he did?
4) If God cares about the people he created, how could he consign so many of them to an eternity of torture in hell just because they didn't believe the right things about him?
5) If Jesus is the only way to heaven, then what about the millions of people who have never heard of him?
6) If God really created the universe, why does the evidence of science compel so many to conclude that the unguided process of evolution accounts for life?
7) If God is the ultimate overseer of the church, why has it been rife with hypocrisy and brutality throughout the ages?
8) If I'm still plagued by doubts, then is it still possible to be a Christian?

These are mighty tough questions, and Strobel fields them well. Rather than write a weighty dissertation about the merits of faith, he brings us along on his quest as we meet leaders in the Christian community, such as Peter Kreeft and William Lane Craig. We also encounter his everyday friends and acquaintances that serendipitously fill in the holes in each of the eight arguments against faith. The use of dialogue from personal interviews and a scene-by-scene active narrative makes this an easy and engaging read. However, easy does not mean breezy. This is a book of substance and merit, one that will help Christians defend their faith, especially during the hardest of times, when they have to defend their faith to themselves in moments of doubt. --Gail Hudson

From Booklist
Ex-newspaperman Strobel's Christian apologetics read like feature interviews in the religion pages rather than a theological treatise. To knock down what he calls "the Big Eight" roadblocks to faith, he questions experts about them rather than logically bulldozing his way to solutions. He grills Catholic lay philosopher Peter Kreeft about the problem of evil, Indian-born evangelist Ravi Zacharias about Christian exclusivism, historian John Woodbridge about oppression in the name of Christ, and other authorities about the truth of miracles, God's callousness in the Hebrew Bible, the justice of Hell, the challenge of evolution, and the struggle with persistent doubt. Each conversation is pointed and engaging, so much so that Strobel's occasional melodramatic note (did he really speak "in a voice laden with sarcasm" to any of these, his fellow believers?) seems ridiculous. Kreeft and Woodbridge are Strobel's least doctrinaire interlocutors. The others, staunch evangelicals all, may interest fewer readers, though Zacharias on the exclusivisms of the other major religions touches on matters Americans too rarely hear discussed. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"Strobel's appraoch is hard-hitting, clear, and persuasive." — Christian Research Journal

(Christian Research Journal )

"Despite the rather heavy matters discussed, this book is easy to read. The analogies and anecdotes are very helpful in explaining a deep subject on an understandable level." — The Conservative Theological Journal

(The Conservative Theological Journal )

"...the book incorporates Strobel's journalistic skills to tackle several of the most persistent objections to belief in Christ....'The Case for Faith' is for readers who may be attracted to Jesus, but still have formidable intellectual barriers with emotional undertow inhibiting them from fully committing their lives to Christ....As one who was a spiritual skeptic for many years, Strobel relates well to those who object to the faith on emotional and intellectual grounds...." — Christian Retailing

(Christian Retailing )

"When Strobel interviews his subjects, he approaches the questions just as a non-believer would, and he's not afraid to press until he gets a satisfactory answer....'The Case for Faith' will provide the tools you need to remove...obstacles from a non-believers path to faith in Christ." — Singing News

(Singing News )

"Lee Strobel takes a hard look at the toughest objections to Christianity....The result is an intellectual and captivating book that will change the way many think about God." — Christian Herald

(Christian Herald )

"[This] is for anyone who is looking for satisfying and life-changing answers." — Giftware News

(Giftware News )

"It will help you understand how God can meet our needs even in the midst of great suffering." — Home Times

(Home Times )

"Strobel...confronts in head-on fashion some of the thorniest issues that prove a hinderance to people coming to faith in this thought-provoking volume." — Capital Journal

(Capital Journal )

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Customer Reviews

Another Solid Work by Lee Strobel
In the same vein as "The Case for Christ" Strobel uses his investigative prowess to interview certain scholars regarding the issues of faith, evil, suffering, evolution, miracles, etc. Strobel seeks answers from some of the most renown Christian apologists, theologians and philosophers. Some of the men Strobel interviews are Norman Geisler, J.P. Moreland, Ravi Zacharias, John Woodbridge, Peter Kreeft, etc. The style in which Strobel writes makes the book very engaging and helps keep the reader's attention throughout. While the book itself does not exhaustively answer to my satisfaction every issue that was covered (which I don't think was Strobel's intention), it nonetheless gave me a desire to further research the issues. I wish the issue of faith and reason could have been detailed but perhaps Strobel had other intentions. Nevertheless, this book would be a great "starter" text for those who are desiring to get a basic handle on certain issues (i.e. the problem of evil and suffering, evolution, etc.) but it is not the kind of text for the academic researcher in those areas. Thus, this book is a must for lay people of the Christian church, and those who want to know where to begin researching the issues on a small scale. I would recommend this book to anyone involved in Christian ministries, Christian leadership positions, and especially youth ministers. Once again Lee Strobel has provided a fairly solid work.

A good start to answering difficult questions
Lee Strobel has written several good books that could be especially valuable to someone new in the Christian faith. In fact, even older Christians will appreciate the information offered in The Case for Christ and The Case for Faith, both of which nicely complement each other in their easy-to-read style. In The Case for Faith, Strobel--who is a former skeptic--continues where he left off with The Case for Christ. He interviews scholars all over the country, picking their brains for answers to some of the toughest questions out there, including evil, miracles, and "oppressive" church history. Read sort of like a novel, Strobel introduces each chapter by mixing in interesting crime/court stories he gathered during his investigative reporter days for a Chicago newspaper. Sometimes, though, his writing is a little melodramatic, as there were several times I became annoyed with his overuse of neon yellow adjectives. Otherwise, I thought the novelistic style helped make the book a quick read. While the average reader should not need more than 6-8 hours with this book, if he/she reads carefully, much can be learned about answers to some pretty difficult questions. Overall I recommend The Case for Faith for its apologetic value. Deeper material can certainly be gathered in other places, including the little more detailed "When Skeptics Ask" (Geisler) and the much more detailed "Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics" (Geisler). As a beginning book, though, The Case for Faith works well.

Solid, convincing answers to the toughest questions
This excellent resource provides persuasive answers to the "Big 8" objections to Christianity. As a former skeptic myself, I consider this book to be the very best of its type in terms of readability, cogent analysis, and honest engagement with the most difficult issues involving Christianity. Like the author's previous best-seller, "The Case for Christ," this book is sure to garner a huge number of strong supporters as well as a small group of vociferous critics. That's because some people simply won't like the author's conclusions and will do anything to discourage people from reading the book. However, read the negative reviews yourself and you'll see their logical holes or their blatant misunderstanding of the author's points. Incredibly, one reviewer accuses the author of not disclosing he's a minister -- when that very fact is emblazoned across the back of the book! So the credibility belongs to the author, and anyone who is sincerely seeking answers to their tough questions about faith will find this book to be thorough, engaging, and potentially life-changing!