Know Why You Believe

I was originally attracted to this title because it just felt wrong, disingenuous and backwards. Shouldn't we already know why we believe before espousing a belief? Must we be instructed about why and how to believe? Isn't this putting the cart before the horse? Why must faith be forced in this way? The title unwittingly reinforces a feeling that many skeptics hold; that our adopted faith is an accident of geography. We inherit our deepest beliefs and values from our families and our culture, and works like this just help to reinforce and fill in the missing pieces. The arguments presented herein are predictably one-sided and absent of the opposing arguments asked by alternative belief systems. It's topics span the usual arguments about the authenticity of the Bible, God's involvement in and responsibility for pain and suffering, the threats from modern science, the authenticity of miracles, archeological evidence of scripture and a few others. It is a good summary of the Christian stance on most of these issues, although one gets the impression that mainstream Christianity has moved beyond many of the simplistic answers presented here and that this is a Sunday School variety of apologetics. ( )

"Know Why You Believe" is a simple book that attempts to answer the questions of apologetics. The problem with this book is that it is too narrow-minded. It does not allow for possibilities of evolution or differences in theology. Not extremely helpful for anyone seriously considering apologetics. ( )

http://www.skepticalchristian.com/br_knowwhyyoubelieve.htm ( )