Dr. Robert Jeffress - How Can I Know?: Answering & of Lifes Mor Crucial Questions

Christians need to know that there are solid answers to questions all of us should be asking. This book will help us to be better grounded in the faith personally, but equally important, it will help us answer questions skeptics are prone to ask. Enjoy the journey of studying this book!

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer, Senior Pastor
The Moody Church, Chicago

The Bible records over 150 questions that escaped the lips of our Lord. Like Him, my friend Robert Jeffress is always probing, asking life's most important questions so that we all might be ready to give account of the hope that is within us. The answer to How Can I Know? is a simple oneGet a copy, read it, and reap!

O. S. Hawkins, President/CEO
GuideStone Financial Resources

With a deft touch and a keen sensitivity to the questions faced by a lay audience, pastor Robert Jeffress of the far-famed First Baptist Dallas provides answers to seven critically important questions often asked by Christians. The remarkable thing about this book is the transformation of intensely academic ideas into the parlance of the average reader. This book is a major contribution for the churches.

Paige Patterson, President
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

As never before, our culture needs adequate biblical answers for the burning questions of faith and doubt. Robert Jeffress has been uniquely gifted by God to speak to our world from the authority of God's Word. His commitment to truth is obvious and his communication is clear. I have no doubt God will use this book to bring many to Himself and to help others find their way back to Him.

Mark L. Bailey, President
Dallas Theological Seminary

Copyright 2012 by Robert Jeffress

Published by Worthy Publishing, a division of Worthy Media, Inc., 134 Franklin Road, Suite 200, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027.

HELPING PEOPLE EXPERIENCE THE HEART OF GOD

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2012951797

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Published in association with Yates & Yates, www.yates2.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.

Other Scripture quotations are taken from the following sources: 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. The New King James Version (NKJV). 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The King James Version of the Bible (KJV). Public domain. J. B. Phillips: THE NEW TESTAMENT IN MODERN ENGLISH, Revised Edition (PHILLIPS). J. B. Phillips 1958, 1960, 1972. Used by permission of Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc. The Living Bible (TLB). 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Italics added in Scripture quotations are the author's emphasis.

For foreign and subsidiary rights, contact Riggins International Rights Services, Inc.; www.rigginsrights.com

ISBN: 978-1-936034-59-8 (trade paperback)
Cover Design: Christopher Tobias
Interior Design and Typesetting: Kimberly Sagmiller, Fudge Creative

Printed in the United States of America

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To the Jim Donald familyJim, Geneva, and Jenniferfor your vision and generous help in spreading God's eternal truth through our Pathway to Victory radio and television ministry.

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No book is ever the result of one person. I am deeply indebted to

Byron Williamson and his team at Worthy Publishing for the privilege of working with you on another significant project.

Bill Craig and his team at Lifeway Christian Resources for immediately catching the vision for this project and creating the curriculum material for How Can I Know?

Jennifer Stair for your meticulous review of every line of this manuscript and your helpful suggestions.

Rhonda Lowry for your assistance in tracking down and verifying all of the information for the endnotes.

Cecil Price for assisting me with the supplemental research for this project.

Sealy Yates, my friend and literary agent for eighteen years, for your practical advice and encouragement.

John Grable and the media team at First Baptist Dallas for your creativity in recording and packaging this material for a worldwide audience.

Carrilyn Baker, my administrative assistant for twelve years, for helping me with myriad details related to this project. I will never forget the leap of faith you and Scott took in leaving your home in Wichita Falls, Texas, to come work alongside us in Dallas.

My wife, Amy, an incredibly gifted writer who could be penning her own books if she were not so committed to helping me in my ministry.

The members of First Baptist Dallas for never wavering in your prayerful support of your pastor.

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I was saved by God when I was five years old. I was called by God into the ministry when I was fifteen. I made a pledge to God to remain faithful to my bride when I was twenty-one.

I serve God by pastoring a large church. I write and talk about God to a lot of people. I converse with God every morning, night, and throughout the day.

Occasionally, I wonder if God really exists.

And I imagine you do too.

I regularly encounter people in my church who won't admit to having any doubts about anything, including the existence of God. I may have questioned a lot of things, but I have never doubted that there is a God who loves me, they proclaim. These people seem to represent the vast majority of Americans who profess belief in God. According to a recent Gallup poll, nine in ten Americans say they believe in God. However, I'm not sure that people are as sure about God's existence as they profess.

Daniel Dennett, author of Darwin's Dangerous Idea, is representative of the new atheists who have launched a vitriolic attack against so-called theists. As much as I disagree with just about everything Dennett believes, I think he is correct in clarifying the distinction between actual belief in God and what he terms belief in belief. If you more deeply question those nine in ten Americans who say they believe in God, you will find that what they really believe in is not God but their own beliefs about God. If they truly believed in God, wouldn't they conduct their lives differently? And if over half of the world's population and 90 percent of Americans acted as if God really existed and would one day evaluate their lives, wouldn't this world be in much better shape than its current state? Even atheists like Dennett can get it right every now and then!

Whether we are willing to admit it or not, most all of us have wondered about the existence of God. The only people who never doubt are those who never really think. I agree with Mark Buchanan's assertion: The depth of our doubt is roughly proportional to the depth of our faith. Those with strong faith have equally strong doubts. That principle bears out in the other direction as well: People with a trivial and shallow faith usually have trivial and shallow doubts.