Farewell to God : My Reasons for Rejecting the Christian Faith

by TEMPLETON, CHARLES

• ISBN13: 9780771084225
• ISBN10: 0771084226
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-04-01
• Publisher: McClelland & Stewart

Summary

During the early 1950s, Charles Templeton and Billy Graham were two of the most successful evangelists in North America. Here, Templeton speaks out about the reasons for the abandonment of his faith. He spells out, in terms that are bound to provoke controversy, the untenable nature of much Christian dogma and argues the case for a morality based on the actual life of Jesus of Nazareth, a healthy skepticism, and the universality of natural law.

Table of Contents

Author's Note	vii
A Personal Word	1	(16)
THE GOD MYTH
Is There a God?	17	(5)
An Abundance of Gods	22	(2)
The Various Religions	24	(5)
The Bible versus the Facts	29	(3)
Racial Prejudice in the Bible	32	(5)
THE GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
The Creation	37	(11)
The Actual Creation	48	(3)
Man -- the Creator	51	(2)
Noah and the Great Flood	53	(6)
The Testing of Abram	59	(4)
The Escape from Egypt	63	(5)
The Ten Commandments	68	(4)
The Promised Land	72	(6)
The Patience of Job	78	(7)
THE GOD MEN CREATED
Jesus of Nazareth	85	(2)
The Temptation in the Wilderness	87	(2)
The Birth of Jesus	89	(5)
Jesus' Alienation from His Family	94	(3)
Jesus -- the Man	97	(3)
Problems in Understanding Jesus	100	(4)
Jesus' Life	104	(6)
The Miracles of Jesus	110	(3)
The Prayer in Gethsemane	113	(4)
The Resurrection	117	(6)
The Ascension	123	(4)
THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
The Christian Church	127	(11)
The Plan of Salvation	138	(2)
Our Outdated Heritage	140	(4)
The Illusion That God Answers Prayer	144	(4)
A World in Transition	148	(4)
The Myth of the Holy Trinity	152	(2)
The Inquisition	154	(5)
THE MAN IN THE PULPIT
Priests and Preachers	159	(11)
A Tale of Two Preachers	170	(7)
WOMEN
Women in the Bible	177	(11)
Women in the Church	188	(5)
EVIL AND GOOD
God -- and Evil	193	(10)
Good -- and Evil	203	(6)
The Way the World Works	209	(6)
Our Impersonal World	215	(3)
Hell	218	(2)
Giving Up One's Faith in God	220	(12)
CONCLUSION
Reverence for Life	227	(2)
Questions to Ask Yourself	229	(3)
I Believe	232