Everything You Always Wanted to Know About God (but were afraid to ask)

by METAXAS, ERIC

• ISBN13: 9781400071012
• ISBN10: 1400071011
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-10-18
• Publisher: WaterBrook

Summary

We all have questions about God. But very few of us get the answers we're looking forif those answers even exist!Do they?Where (in heaven's name) do you go to find out? Eric Metaxas understands. That's why he's written this refreshingly down-to-earth take on the big questions everyone asks (but not always out loud). Finally a book that takes questions about God seriously enough to get silly (where appropriate). Wonderfully conversational and often very funny, this book joins you in wondering: How can a good God create a world that has evil and suffering? Is God anti-sex? Doesn't science make God obsolete? What's the real story on miracles? If God is everywhere, why go to church? Don't we already have God within us? Isn't God too busy running the universe to care about the details of my day? What does the Bible say about things like UFOs, ESP, and the afterlifeand what about Bigfoot? These questions (and many more like them) get straight answers that don't hide behind dull and confusing theological language. So get the lowdown on the big questions everyone asksbut please try not to laugh (because it's averyserious topic). From the Trade Paperback edition.

Author Biography

Eric Metaxas has edited “the nation’s oldest college humor magazine” at Yale, and written humor for The New York Times, the Atlantic Monthly, and VeggieTales. He is the author of thirty award-winning and best-selling children’s books, and has written extensively for Books & Culture and Chuck Colson’s Breakpoint. He lives in Manhattan with his wife and daughter, where he hosts the acclaimed Socrates in the City, a speakers’ series on “life, God, and other small topics.”

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	1	(94)
1 How Can You Prove God's Existence?	3	(16)
The Meaning of "Proof'
What God Is Like
Miracles
2 Why Would a Loving God Allow Suffering?	19	(6)
The Existence of Evil
Who's to Blame
God and Suffering
3 Does God Really Know Everything?	25	(8)
What God Knows in Advance
How People Can Influence God
4 What's the Deal with Angels and Demons?	33	(10)
Evidence for Both
The Difference Between the Two
5 What About the Paranormal and Life on Other Planets?	43	(14)
UFOs
Psychics
Reincarnation
Astrology
Wicca
6 Is God Against Us Having a Good Time?	57	(8)
God and Sex
Sex and Marriage
God's View of Pleasure
7 Does God Hate Gays and Oppose Women?	65	(6)
Hateful Christians
God and Gays
God's View of Women
8 Why Does Anyone Need Religion?	71	(12)
Ritual and Superstition
God's Stance on Religion
9 Isn't One Religion About as Good as Another	83	(12)
How Religions Compare
Allah and God
The Meaning of Mercy
10 What's the Real Story on Adam and Eve?	95	(12)
Forbidden Fruit
Falling from Grace
Made in God's Image
11 Does Hell Really Exist?	107	(8)
What Hell Looks Like
Where It Is
Who Ends Up There
12 What About Heaven?	115	(10)
What Happens When You Die
What Heaven Is
Who Ends Up There
13 Why Are Religious People Such Fanatics?	125	(12)
Forms of Fanaticism
The Born-Again Thing
Christians in Your Face
14 How Can Anyone Take the Bible Seriously?	137	(20)
Religious Texts
Dinosaurs
The Big Bang
Digging Archaeology
15 What Exactly Is Christianity?	157	(8)
Religion Versus Relationship
Trust Versus Belief
16 What's the Point of Prayer?	165	(8)
Unanswered Prayers
Faith and Prayer
Meditation and Prayer
17 What Does It Take to Believe in God?	173	(12)
Faith and Reason
The Question of Meaning
The Definition of Trust
18 Who Says Jesus Is God's Son?	185	(12)
Jesus as More than a Moral Teacher and a Great Role Model
19 Jesus Isn't Really the Only Way to God, Is He?	197	(6)
The Path to God
How God Reveals Himself
20 What Makes Conversion Real?	203	(16)
The True Meaning of "Conversion"
What Happens Afterward
Appendix: Recommended Reading	219	(2)
Notes	221