Reasons Skeptics Should Consider Christianity

by Josh McDowell, Don Stewart

This product includes an excerpt from the Jesus Bible as well as a sample of the curriculum from Standard Publishing.

Genres: Christian, Christianity, Christian Non Fiction, Religion, Christian Living, Theology, Nonfiction

230 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Josh McDowell is a bestselling Christian apologist, evangelist, and author of over 150 books, including Evidence That Demands a Verdict and More Than a Carpenter. Once an agnostic, he converted to Christianity while investigating its historical claims. He went on to earn degrees from Wheaton College and Talbot Theological Seminary. For decades, McDowell has been a prominent speaker with Campus Crusade for Christ, addressing issues of faith, character, and youth culture worldwide. His work emphasizes historical and legal evidence for Christianity and tackles challenges posed by skepticism and non-Christian beliefs. He lives in California with his wife, Dottie, and is the father of four children, including fellow apologist Sean McDowell.

Reviews

[Rod Horncastle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not convinced this book could even begin to change your average skeptics position on Biblical issues. But it's still a great book. (it might help the rare skeptic who questions everything though - YES, even their own sacred cows of atheism).

So what are these REASONS skeptics should consider Christianity?

The Bible itself. AS a historical document when compared to all other historical documents. Yes, we need to be honest when comparing ancient writings... many folks are not - they endlessly break their own rules of scholarship.
Now this book was written and published back in 1986. So we've come a fair bit since then. Biblical defense and Apologetics have blossomed in the last 15 years, as has science and historic confusion. But we need to treat the Bible fairly. Allow it to explain and defend itself before the hatred starts stacking to the ceiling.

There are short quick topics in this McDowell book. Such as:
How is the Bible inspired?
Fallible men wrote God's book how?
Apostle Paul was inspired?
Jesus was human?
Jesus read the Old Testament?
Always take the Bible literally?
Which Bible version should I read?
A supernatural Bible?
Noah's Ark?

I enjoyed all these topics. I don't think many were dealt with very thoroughly - but it's a very short book after-all. And thankfully we can find entire Books dealing with each of these issues more completely. I was excited by the footnotes and sources that are mentioned. Most of these sources are probably really hard to find now - but knowing of their authors is awesome.

The second half of the book deals with the endlessly nasty and emotional topic of EVOLUTION. Many will argue to the death over this topic that they really shouldn't be so emotionally invested in. Just dare to bring it up in polite conversation and stand back as the attacks and insults begin flying in the defense of this Untestable science, Unpredictable science, Unobserved science, and Unrepeatable science. This truly is the fattest tastiest sacred cow of atheism. (honestly, If I was an atheist - I could think of 100's of more interesting ways to spend my short, brutal, Cosmically meaningless, existence. Alcohol and sports of course... when the pub is open).

The Evolution issue hasn't really changed much since 1986. So these topics are still at a stalemate scholastically. (ain't nobody gonna change their mind - kind of like arguing over the source of Harry Potter's wizard abilities).
So here's the topics that get poked at:

Is the solar system really 4.5 billion years old?
All those inconsistent dating methods?
Mountains last how long?
Is there enough time to explain what we got?
Does evolution violate the 2nd law of thermo...?
Darwin's assumptions?
Species competition or mutual aid?
What evolved when?
Evidence of the flood and fossils?

I agree with Josh McDowell and Don Stewart on just about everything. (except possibly the remains of Noah's ark and it's location??? But this was a fun issue back in 86')
This is a great beginners intro to Biblical apologetics and theology. But even our great Christian scientists and philosopher's often fail to change a skeptics mind. Many of these issues are more EMOTIONS than actual logic or rationality for the typical freethinking skeptical Bible hater.
Remember: If you claim to be a TRUE skeptic - be skeptical of your OWN BELIEFS thoroughly before attacking others. Yes, question your own GOOD and preconceived assumptions and biases deeply before boasting of your enlightened intellect and factual scientific absolutes. It's so easy to attack others - but to honestly question your deepest passions? Hmmm... I have yet to meet an atheist who brutally questions the core of atheism.

[Anthony Remender]

This one is clearly a product of its time given the specific issues it fixates on, much of which I don’t see focused on in the more “scholarly” Christian-atheist discourse nowadays.

Probably only good for people with little to no understanding of what the Bible is and/or to whom Christianity seems inherently linked to YEC and thus at odds with science (a vanishingly small number of even Christians today).

So, if you don’t want to read *40 pages straight* explaining and going the historical rationale for *every single* English Bible translation that existed in 1981 and you don’t care about the YEC-evolutionist debate (🙋🏽‍♂️) this book is a chore to get through. Honest confession, I only read about half, but I’m becoming comfortable with the fact that not all books warrant being read all the way through.

[Rock Rockwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've taught and re-taught this book to many different discipleship groups, bible studies, etc. as a way to answer basic questions that come up among Christians and non-Christians. Particularly helpful to new Christians and younger aged Christians (teens) to strengthen their faith.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE SECOND BOOK BY THE MCDOWELL/STEWART DUO

Joslin "Josh" McDowell (born 1939) is a Christian author best known for his many works of apologetics; he has been affiliated with Campus Crusade for Christ (now "Cru") since 1964. In the 1980s, he and Don Stewart co-wrote a series of apologetical books; e.g., 'Answers to Tough Questions Skeptics Ask About the Christian Faith,' 'Understanding the Cults,' 'Understanding the Occult,' 'Understanding Non-Christian Religions,' 'Understanding Secular Religions,' etc. Stewart's Pentecostal-friendly background was an effective complement to McDowell's definitely NON-Pentecostal Campus Crusade orientation. (Stewart raised some eyebrows with a 2011 divorce and remarriage, however.)

They wrote in the Introduction to this 1981 book, "After 'Answers to Tough Questions' was released we were inundated with many questions that we had not space to answer... [This book] is written to give various reasons why we believe in the inspiration of the Bible as God's message to man. This work also treats two other issues of great interest today. (1) Is the ark still resting on Mt. Ararat?... (2) Is the theory of evolution the best scientific model to explain the origins of man and the universe?... The final section contains a list of books and authors who give a Christian perspective on various key subjects."

They state about the last verses of Mark's gospel (16:9-20), "While the great majority of the text of the New Testament is beyond doubt, there do exist a few passages in which there is some question as to their originality. Without being exhaustive, these passages include John 5:3-4; John 7:53-8:11; and 1 John 5:7. However, the most famous passage probably is the conclusion to the Gospel of Mark... In the two oldest manuscripts that contain the end of the Gospel of Mark... the last 12 verses are omitted... some of the early church fathers speak out against these verses as being original...

"On the other hand, three strong arguments can be given for accepting these verses as original: (1) No satisfactory theory has been advanced to explain how Mark could have or would have ended his Gospel at verse 8; (2) no objection has been raised against these last 12 verses being inspired that cannot be answered; (3) the arguments given to explain the tremendous amount of objective evidence as to the varied and wide testimony in the Greek manuscripts, translations, and church fathers, are unsatisfactory. It is much easier to explain why the passage could have been omitted in some manuscripts rather than to try and how it received such a wide acceptance." (Pg. 40-44)

About the Flood of Noah, they say, "One question always comes up regarding the extent of the flood: Was it worldwide of localized? Though eventually we plan to address this issue in print, we must now recommend books and articles for the reader to make his own decision." (Pg. 84) About purported "finds" on Mt. Ararat in Turkey, they state, "a good case can be made, on circumstantial grounds, for the ark's existence. Though by no means conclusive, the evidence is highly significant. The fact remains that something is up there. And whatever that something may be, it is thousands of years old, large, wooden, and hand-tooled. If it is not Noah's ark, what then is it? This question must be addressed." (Pg. 93-94)

About the age of the universe, they observe, "In 1979, J.A. Eddy and A.A. Boornazian reported that the sun had been shrinking for at least the last 400 years. Dunham and others performed similar measurements and also concluded that the sun is shrinking. If this is true, then the sun just may not be as old as is taught since it would appear that Helholtz and Kelvin's conclusion about the young age of the solar system is being supported by the most recent evidence." (Pg. 107) They add, "Another possibility which would allow internal inconsistency with radioactive dates is the idea that the rates of radioactive decay might have changed in the past... Thus it is possible for the radioactive dates to be perfectly consistent and yet perfectly wrong." (Pg. 111)

About fossil hominids, they note, "The other two occurrences which overthrew the older view were the discoveries, one by Richard Leakey and the other by Johanson and White, of more 'modern-looking' creatures in supposedly older strata. These two discoveries have led to two competing views of man's origin... Who is correct? No one knows. Further discoveries likely will overturn both of the above viewpoints, and show once again that man's lineage is nothing more than opinion, which is where it stands today." (Pg. 186)

Less wide-ranging than "Answers," this book provides McDowell's and Stewart's answers to a variety of topics---which they have not addressed elsewhere.

[Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was filled with lots of information but I found the wording a bit hard to understand. It seems like the writing is intended for Biblical scholars instead of the average person, but that doesn’t make sense since the idea of the book is to reach non believers.

I found it overall dry and hard to get through but did enjoy the section about different Bible translations.

I admit I did not read the latter half on evolution because it is not a topic of interest.

[Frederick Tan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book.