McDowell Sean - 77 FAQs About God and the Bible

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the second edition of Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189 USA. All rights reserved.

Verses marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Verses marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by Permission (www.Lockman.org)

Verses marked NLT are taken from the first edition of the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaten, IL 60189 USA. All rights reserved.

Verses marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Cover by Koechel Peterson & Associates, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota

Cover photo Design Pics / Ron Nickel / Getty Images

77 FAQS ABOUT GOD AND THE BIBLE

Copyright 2012 by Josh McDowell and Sean McDowell

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

McDowell, Josh.

77 FAQs about God and the Bible / Josh McDowell and Sean McDowell.

p. cm.(The McDowell apologetics library)

ISBN 978-0-7369-4924-8 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-4925-5 (eBook)

1. God (Christianity)Miscellanea. 2. BibleMiscellanea. I. McDowell, Sean. II. Title.

BT103.M325 2012

239dc23

2011050764

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

We wish to recognize the following individuals for their valuable contribution to this book.

Dave Bellis , my (Joshs) friend and colleague for 35 years, for collaboration with us on the questions for the book, researching answers, writing the rough draft, and folding in all our edits and revisions to create the final draft. We recognize Daves insights and general knowledge on the topics in this book and are deeply grateful for his contribution.

Eric Johnson and Alan Shlemon for providing helpful insight in their areas of expertise.

Becky Bellis for laboring at the computer to ready the manuscript.

Terry Glaspey of Harvest House for his vision and guidance in shaping the direction and tone of this work.

Paul Gossard of Harvest House for the expert editing and insight he brought to the manuscript completion.

Josh McDowell
Sean McDowell

T houghtful answers to the most frequently asked questions about God and the Bible are sometimes difficult to find. We (Josh and Sean) are attempting to provide you with them. All together, we have spoken over 15,000 times to youth and adult audiences. We have sought to research the issues and questions Christians and non-Christians alike have asked. We have studied what scholars and theologians of the past have said. And it would be nice to say we have found all the answers. But that is simply not the case.

The subject of God and his divine Word is so immense and deep that we have to confess there are far more questions than there are answers. In fact, the more we study and learn about God and the Bible, the more we realize how little we actually do know. Yet this doesnt mean we are left without good reasons for what we believe.

There are many questions on the subjects of God and the Bible that have satisfying answers. But to some people they may not be satisfyingin fact, they may seem foolish to those who do not believe. Even the apostle Paul said the message of the cross is foolishness to those who dont believe (1 Corinthians 1:18)! Many of the questions we are answering are spiritual questions that require spiritual answers. If you accept only secular answers, you may be disappointed.

So on many occasions we will be asking you to see the answer from Gods perspective, because that is when we receive true insight and wisdom. When we see life and its dilemmas from a godlike viewpoint we gain insight and direction. Our hope is that you will find such answers in this book. At the same time we are dealing with some very difficult questionsquestions that have been contemplated for centuries. And some of these answers, while satisfying to a point, remain incomplete. Sometimes we must accept that there are issues and situations God knows but that remain partially or wholly a mystery to us humans. This does not mean Christianity is a matter of blind faith. But it is important to recognize our own human limitations.

So nonot all of your questions about God and the Bible can be answered in this or any other book. But we will do our best to address every question honestly and provide answers that are as clear and practical as possible. However, the key in getting real answers to the tough questions of life is in the approach. In his wisdom, King Solomon understood this approach, and he shared it with us in the second chapter of Proverbs. Real answers come from gaining understanding and wisdom from God.

My child, listen to me and treasure my instructions. Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding. Cry out for insight and understanding. Search for them as you would for lost money or hidden treasure. Then you will understand what it means to fear the L ORD , and you will gain knowledge of God. For the L ORD grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He grants a treasure of good sense to the godly. He is their shield, protecting those who walk with integrity. He guards the paths of justice and protects those who are faithful to him.

Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will know how to find the right course of action every time (Proverbs 2:1-9 NLT ).

W hat if I (Sean) told you I owned a brand-new Lamborghini and it was sitting in my garage right now? If you knew me you would probably say I couldnt afford such a high-priced car on a high-school teachers salary. Of course, youd be right. But all you would have to do is call my hand and say, Show me the Lamborghini. And if I couldnt produce the goods, I would be a fraud.

Its a little different when it comes to producing the goods on God. We just cant pray a prayer or snap our fingers and presto!God appears and dispels any question about his existence. To be truthful, even that might not persuade some people to believe in him. But the fact is, God in a real sense remains hidden to us as a material being. The Scripture says, God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). And as a spirit, God is invisible to us (see 1 Timothy 1:17). You see, he is on another plane of existence than we humans. We are not meant to see him in all his awesome power and might. He told Moses, You may not look directly at my face, for no one may see me and live (Exodus 33:20).

Actually God is hidden from us because he is a perfectly holy God (Isaiah 54:5 and Revelation 4:8) and we as humans are imperfect and unholy (Romans 5:12). We are contaminated with evil, and Scripture says Gods eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong doing (Habakkuk 1:13 NIV ).