J.P. Moreland - The God Conversation: Using Stories and Illustrations to Explain Your Faith

"Most conversations, let alone ones about God, are either dull, single-sided or competing monologues full of smoke. It simply shouldn't be. Carrying on a vital, passionate, engaging conversation with another human being is an art that has been sufficiently lost that we need wisdom and perspective on how to engage well. The God Conversation is a gift to the church to invigorate our conversations with believers, seekers and unbelievers. J. P. and Tim walk with us through the use of story and authenticity with such masterful delight that one ends by sensing the authors have given us the very gift we are to give to others."

DAN B. ALLENDER, PRESIDENT AND PROFESSOR OF COUNSELING, MARS HILL GRADUATE SCHOOL; AUTHOR OF THE WOUNDED HEART AND To BE TOLD

"Today's culture is increasingly a story-based culture. As Tim and J. P. help to show, a story-based culture does not have to be a culture without truth. This book is an excellent tool to learn how to better communicate the great truths about God, the world, our faith and human nature through stories, modern-day parables, and by listening and teaching like Jesus. It is a must-read for all who want to help others find faith in Jesus Christ."

ALAN ANDREWS, U.S. PRESIDENT, THE NAVIGATORS

"I love stories and illustrations because of the impact they have had on me. If they have had a similar effect on you, this book is for you. It will reinforce your faith, hone your ability to share your relationship to Jesus Christ and delight your imagination. I cannot give it a higher recommendation."

CLYDE COOK, FORMER PRESIDENT, BIOLA UNIVERSITY

"If you are a headhunting evangelist or an intellectual who must have the last word, put this book down and go home. If you love your preChristian friends and want stimulating resources to engage them in meaningful spiritual dialogue on hard questions, J. P. and Tim are the mentors you seek."

FRED H. WEVODAU, DIRECTOR, U.S. METRO MISSION, THE NAVIGATORS

"Moreland and Muehlhoff have written a unique and engaging book. The style is casual, yet the topics are treated with sufficient detail and nuance to be helpful. I commend The God Conversation to anyone seeking to discuss these matters in meaningful ways with family, friends and colleagues."

STAN W. WALLACE, NATIONAL DIRECTOR, FACULTY MINISTRY & EMERGING SCHOLARS NETWORK, INTERVARSITY CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP

The God Conversation

USING STORIES AND ILLUSTRATIONS TO EXPLAIN YOUR FAITH

J. P. Moreland & Tim Muehlhoff

Foreword by Lee Strobel

Contents

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all of our colleagues and friends at Biola University who read our manuscript as it progressed and offered invaluable insight and encouragement: Jon Lunde, Matt Williams, Erik Thoennes, Dave Horner, Mike Longinow, V. J. Vonk and Stacy Musha- kian. We appreciate you!

I (Tim Muehlhoff) would like to especially thank the students of my Social Forms class (Spring 2006) who gladly served as a captive audience of early drafts of this material and offered honest insight, support and prayer for this project. Special shout out to Matt Scolinos for refining the title. Thanks to Todd Lewis for being eager about this project start to finish and helping me research and craft illustrations. Your door was always open! As always, I am grateful for a wife who listened to a thousand illustrations that didn't work, yet always believed in my skills and vision. Noreen, you are an illustration of love, support and partnership.

I (J. P. Moreland) would like to thank the Eidos Christian Center for help in providing me the time to work on this manuscript. Thanks also to my brothers and sisters at Anaheim Vineyard Church for being the sort of fellowship in which I experience the love of Jesus and the power of his kingdom. I am also grateful to those in ACSI for giving me a venue in which to try out some of the ideas in this manuscript. Finally, thanks to my friends in the Evangelical Philosophical Society for being examples of faithful, intelligent disciples of the Lord Jesus who earnestly try to help people understand why Jesus is, indeed, the Way, the Truth and the Life. I am especially grateful to Craig Hazen for the depth of his thought, the quality of his life and the passion he constantly exhibits for the Great Commission.

Foreword

More than a decade ago, I invited one of the authors of this book, J. P. Moreland, to Willow Creek Community Church to give a talk on science and faith. At the end of his presentation, a spiritual skeptic challenged him by saying that miracles overturn the laws of nature and therefore are impossible.

"Actually," said Moreland, "the laws of nature are the way we describe how the world usually works. If someone drops an apple, it falls to the floor. That's gravity However, if someone were to drop an apple and I were to reach over and grab it before it hit the ground, I wouldn't be overturning the law of gravity. I would simply be intervening. In a similar way, God is able to reach into the world that he created by performing a miracle. He isn't contravening or overturning the laws of nature; he's simply intervening."

Moreland said a lot of brilliant things that evening. I recall being impressed with his entire presentation. But all these years later, his simple illustration of the falling apple is what I remember most clearly. That's what good illustrations do: they bring abstract concepts to life, heighten our interest and stick in our minds for long periods of time.

When I became a teaching pastor at Willow Creek, the power of good illustrations quickly became evident to me. As I would recite dry data in my sermons, people would sit back in their seats. When I would launch into an extended explanation of an issue, they seemed to relax. But when I would use a colorful example, a compelling story or an illuminating anecdote, they would sit up, move to the edge of their seats and lean forward. Their body language said it all: illustrations captivate people. No wonder Jesus told so many parables!

Moreland and his coauthor Tim Muehlhoff have done us a tremen- dons service by compiling this fascinating and practical volume. They've drawn upon a lifetime of experience to offer illustrations on a wide range of topics, from the problem of evil to world religions to the resurrection to ethics to the existence of God.

The God Conversation brims with creative material for your spiritual discussions with friends, neighbors, colleagues and family members. You'll find it to be an invaluable resource as you effectively communicate Christianity in ways that others can grasp. As the late evangelist Paul Little used to say, this is "putting the cookies on the bottom shelf'-that is, making complex and controversial topics accessible through easy-to-remember nuggets of insight and wisdom.