Why I Believe: A Psychologist's Thoughts on Suffering, Miracles, Science, and Faith

by Henry Cloud

A leadership expert, clinical psychologist, and New York Times bestselling author asks the big questions and shares his early mental health struggles in this groundbreaking, uplifting book.

World-renowned psychologist and leadership expert Henry Cloud has impacted millions of lives through his groundbreaking books and through his work coaching leaders of the most influential organizations in the world. But few people know the details of his own story and how he became one of the most beloved and respected psychologists and faith influencers in America.
 
In this indelibly personal and vulnerable book, Dr. Cloud leads us through his early struggles with illness and depression and the miracles that healed him and led him to his calling as a healer of others. Through masterful storytelling combined with a deeply nuanced understanding of the human mind, Dr. Cloud invites readers to inhabit the spaces of suffering and elation that make us most human and to walk alongside of him as he ponders the great questions we are so often afraid to ask but which also give life meaning.
 
Written in the vein of such groundbreaking books as An Unquiet Mind, When Breath Becomes Air, and On Being Mortal, Why I Believe is a masterwork in spiritual exploration from one of the great scientific minds and faith voices of our time.

Genres: Nonfiction, Christian, Psychology, Faith, Christian Non Fiction, Christianity, Audiobook

267 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2024

About the author

Dr. Cloud has written or co-written twenty-five books, including the two million-seller Boundaries. His most recent books are Boundaries for Leaders and Necessary Endings. He has earned three Gold Medallion awards, and was awarded the distinguished Retailers Choice award for God Will Make A Way.

As president of Cloud-Townsend Resources, Dr. Cloud has produced and conducted hundreds of public seminars around the country. He speaks on relationships—marriage, parenting, dating, personal growth, and spirituality. His seminars are often broadcast live to over two thousand venues at a time.

Reviews

[Mikayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

**ARC Review***

Thank you to Worthy Publishing for providing an ARC of Why I Believe: A Psychologist’s Thoughts on Suffering, Miracles, Science, and Faith by Dr. Henry Cloud in exchange for an honest review.

Prior to reading Why I Believe, I have read Boundaries by Dr. Cloud and Dr. John Townsend as well as Trust by Dr. Cloud, both of which I absolutely love and recommend to others. Why I Believe is no exception. I absolutely loved this book, and I will definitely recommend it to others.

That being said, this book is quite different than other Dr. Cloud books. It takes a more personal approach, a mix of a memoir, apologetics, and literature on how science and theology interacts - Dr. Cloud beautifully interweaves the three to provide an invitation to Jesus.

From my perspective as both a Christian and a mental health counselor, I found Dr. Cloud to be both theologically and scientifically sound. Depending on what church crowd you run in, this book (specifically part 3) may be very challenging to read, but I found much of my beliefs to be aligned with Dr. Cloud. And I agree with his perspective that some of the details do not matter as long as it points to God.

Lastly, the piece that stuck out the most to me, was Dr. Cloud’s commitment to being vulnerable through sharing his story. As an individual who has had similar experiences to what Dr. Cloud wrote, I found myself moved and encouraged to continue looking to Jesus in both good and bad times because He will always show up (it just might not be in the way we think).

Regardless of whether you are a Christian or if you are interested in learning more about Christianity, this book is a wonderful testimony that points towards God.

[Jesse Harlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid book. The first 60% is mostly miracles and amazing things he has seen and experienced. The remainder is him explaining the scientific fact of God.

[Michelle Raybourn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book and I think I would recommend it.

I enjoyed hearing his story in the first chunk of the book, the middle section was powerful, just a long chapter

And then I also really enjoyed his thoughts on church hurt and people from the church being a deterrent. It was well put.

[Jodie Pine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A big fan of Cloud's books on Trust, Boundaries, Integrity, Necessary Endings, and Changes That Heal, I found this book to be a stand-apart insightful look into his backstory. He expounds on his faith journey as well as the integration of his science and miracle-backed faith with his work as a psychologist.

His intended audience are his non-Christian friends and those who are interested in learning "why he believes." He addresses questions related to creation/evolution, struggles and suffering, human freedom and God's sovereignty.

I was most impacted in the book by his experiences of community in his healing journey out of depression and his drawing subsequent connections of faith and Biblical wisdom with therapeutic research:

"All of the psychological research ever done in meta-analyses of therapies has one finding over all others: it is the therapeutic relationship that heals. And that relationship has to be a supportive energy with warmth (love) and intelligence (truth and guiding principles, wisdom, knowledge, insight, and structure). If those two ingredients, love and truth, are present in the right way, people
can heal."

[Andrew Talavera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend reading for anyone who is genuinely seeking God. Cloud wrote this book out of the desire to explain why he believes in God to his friends who are unbelievers. He shares his early experiences with God -- stories of answered prayers and miracles! Those parts of the book were such a page-turner, I couldn't stop reading! I was in total awe of God, and I kept wanting to read the next story. However, it does get less exciting once he stops talking about these experiences, but he didn't set out to write book solely about his life. And he does explain that early one, so based on the objective of the book, he does get a rating of 5 stars from me.

The latter half of the book, Henry gives some explanations, evidence, and how he has articulated his belief in the Christian faith. This was the less interesting part for me; however, the last chapter on psychology and faith was certainly interesting, and I wish he covered more of it.

This is the first book I have ever read from Henry, and I hope to read some more in the future. I encourage Henry to share more testimonies and perspectives on how psychology and faith are integrated with each other.

[Austin Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful story! Dr. Cloud gives a beautiful testimony of his faith, to which I can strongly relate--growing up in the church and having a strong personal faith but not necessarily a strong religion; not completely fitting in with Christians or non-Christians, but landing somewhere in the middle; and experiencing trials that prove to him God is real but still having doubts about God's existence. In addition to his powerful personal narrative, Dr. Cloud breaks down the common belief-barriers to Christianity ("stumbling-block" questions) in a way that is both simple and elegant, and clearly explains how Christianity and psychology fit hand-in-hand. I really enjoyed his explanation of how the Bible acknowledges dynamic tension, our desire for perfection in this world but keen awareness of just how broken it really is.

If you've been a Christian for a while, some of the material may be things you already know; however, it's always cool to hear someone else's faith journey, and never a bad time to review the serious questions that many non-Christians hold. If you are not a Christian but have an open mind, this book is a great starting point! There is absolutely no judgement or condemnation, just keen and loving explanations of how the Bible can truly apply to our everyday life. My single gripe is that Dr. Cloud walks the line on the issue of the age of the earth (which seems to have a clear Biblical answer), although I understand to an extent why he does so. Overall, however, a really engaging read that is insightful and inspiring!

[Cameron Pascua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever wanted to know everything a friend thought about God, religion, and theology? In the best way possible, this is what it feels like reading this book. Dr. Cloud goes into detail of why he believes in God and all the main events that lead up to his decisions to follow Jesus. However, besides his thoughtful theology and personable prose, what I think Cloud does best is give the reader the freedom to be “normal”. In many ways, Cloud was just an ordinary kid, an ordinary golfer, an ordinary psychologist. He questions, he struggles, he doubts—the Bible actually tells us that will happen and that it is okay. Nevertheless, Cloud shows the reader the truth of the Bible in his life and preaches the gospel most adeptly. This is a book I know I will revisit sooner than later.

[Kaylee James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good! Don’t think I was the target audience but he had some good things to say. Really interested in how the Bible proves psychology and science. That part was a slay.

[Marjorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Nicole Yi · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had me in the first half, then I felt like it would never end. Very scattered toward the end with a scientific approach that felt like he had no idea where he was going.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Why I Believe, Dr. Henry Cloud is a personal book about part of his life mixed with what he believes on suffering, miracles, science, and faith. He shared in the book at the young age of ten years old. He was at a camp in North Carolina and he felt a sharp pain in his soul. It was a lightly Christian camp and he felt a calling to the Creator. He explained an illustration of a judge condemning us for our sins and crimes. Jesus stands up telling the judge to spare us and He would instead take our fines. This is to convey how Jesus tried for all of our sins and mistakes and He paid in on the cross. This is the first time he felt the presence of God and His love for him. He shared his up bring and how his parents displayed their faith in God and how this influenced him. He also shared how at four years old, he was sitting in Sunday school when he leg began to hurt badly. He would be screaming in pain for hours and he has to be hospitalized. They did lots of test and blood work. He admitted to feeling very afraid and alone. They considered amputating his leg. He explained how his mother heard a voice that told her to leave now and take him to another hospital. His new doctor knew right what the disease was and it affected his hip and he would have to remain in a wheelchair. He then realized that God intervened on his behave with his parents faith. He felt very different from others and he struggled with being normal.


When he was better, he decided to jump into sports especially golf. He played through the pain for two years until he had to give it up at age 20. At this time, he also gotten broken up. He struggled with depression and feeling like a complete washout. He lost his life purpose and started searching for a new path. He recalls being in his dorm room and being drawn to open his Bible and the page opened until Matthew 6:33 and how seeking first the kingdom of God and how all things will be added to you. He started searching actively for God and he turned to Him. He explained how people came into his life and helped him strengthen his faith. This helped to dramatically change his life with the help of mentors and friends. The depression finally went away. He was instructed by God to trust him and to follow him this led him into going after psychology.



One of the chapters of course discussed what the greatest obstacle of all is. This how does a good God allow evil to exist and suffering. He like most have experienced lost and witnessed others and heard others who had gone through horrible events. He shared how everything is related to death and a separation from God. God gave us freedom from the beginning and we chose a different tree. We lost our disconnect from our Creator but still we had a path through the crucifixion that would save the world. If we want to have relationship with Christ, we have a chance to seek Him. He clarified how there is no answer on his side as to why we have to go through things. We have to have faith that Jesus knows better than we humanly do. Even when Jesus was dying on the cross, He asked His own dad why he had forsaken Him. He even explored cognitive thinking and psychology and how we can look at suffering in this way to see a different approach.


I would recommend this life changing book to anyone who is wondering what a psychologist thinks about science, faith, suffering, miracles, and much more. I immensely loved how he covered the entire spectrum of faith, doubts, and what his own personal beliefs are. I thought he did a wonderful job is going through details about what psychology has taught him and influenced his Christian beliefs. I really enjoyed hearing from a psychologist approach to faith and suffering. I appreciated how transparent he was in reading about his thought and learning more about his background and how he came in know Christ and how it changed and grew over the years. One of my favorite sections was on that he shared how psychology aligned with things that are also addressed in the Bible and this enclosed an entire list that breaks it down for readers. This book will assist readers into growing deeper in their questions and faith.


I received this book free from Worthy Publishing for my honest review.”

[John Martindale · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of the book is definitely worthy of 5 stars. The last half, sadly, deserves 1 star. So I am landing with three.

So yes, what I loved in the first part of the book was Cloud's story and the ways he saw God's involvement with him through some difficult turns in his journey. If there were reasons for Henry to believe, he gave them here. If his recollection of these experiences is accurate, then some are of the sort that, abductively, a benevolent Spiritual agent at work does seem more probable than mere coincidence. It really does seem that some truly miraculous stuff continues to occur today, as well as what seems supernatural leadings, provision, and providential meetings. If Henry is to be trusted, his story truly lends credence to this. It would have been best for Cloud to end it here.

Sadly, he did a dive into evangelical apologetics (The anti-intellectual, shallow Josh McDowell sort), a brand of apologetics that is an act of pure unadulterated confirmation bias--leading to embarrassingly weak arguments, which crumble to dust under the least bit of scrutiny.

He claims, for example, that Jesus fulfilled ALL the Old Testament messianic prophecies (hundreds of them). Yes, apologists assert this and then go into the math and supposed probabilty of Jesus fulfilling these, but if you look at the "prophecies" mentioned, several are not prophecies at all; most, in the original context are clearly talking about someone else, and most of the truly Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament refer a Davidic king who would slaughter all of their enemies (dashing them to pieces) and rule with an Iron rod from Jerusalem (something Jesus clearly did not do).
If you go to Matthew, you find things Jesus coming out of Egypt, which fulfills Hosea 11:1. But what do we find if we go to Hosea? It is like "I called my son (Israel) out of Egypt, but he went whoring after other gods, so I will send Assyria to destroy Israel." The "son" coming out of Egypt is obvious: Israel. The only prophecy here is that God would ruthlessly destroy Israel with the Assyrians. Either Matthew is engaging in pure eisegesis and inventing messianic prophecies that Jesus fulfilled (hoping for the gullible--folks like Cloud and McDowell, to just believe him), or he is simply pointing out a parallel, as Israel came out of Egypt (creating an example), so Jesus came out of Egypt (fulfilling the example).
Let's take another case, if you read Is 53, notice this was written BEFORE Jesus walked the earth, and notice the TENSE... it is PAST TENSE. The author is NOT predicting the future; he is wrestling with someone's past suffering (likely the righteous who suffered through the Babylonian exile) and reasoning that their suffering won't be in vain. As a parallel, this again works for Jesus. But it is in no way a Messianic prediction.
Not a single "prediction" listed by Cloud holds up if the context is consulted. I really do not think it is wise to try to convert people with evidence that can be demonstrated as clearly false. Yet, I guess some people are so trusting of the apologists who make these groundless assertions that they convert due to these apologetic arguments. So yes, bad evidence can win souls. If Christianity is the Truth, maybe the End justifies the means? Sigh... is there a way to lead them to Christianity without using pure propaganda?

[L.A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading “Boundaries” a few times, I found it helpful to read the personal testimony of Dr. Cloud. He’s the kind of guy you’d never forget meeting, and you would be blessed by the experience, regardless of your personal beliefs.

Dr. Cloud and I are definitely from different camps as far as our religious upbringing, but I appreciated that even as he shared his thoughts and experiences regarding healing, visions, and other interesting topics, his goal was to present Jesus, not his viewpoint. Given some of those topics, I wouldn’t hand this book to just anyone, but I can think of a few people to whom I’d like to pass it on. Several books he references—as well as a few more of his personal titles—are also now on my “to read” list.

The following excerpt demonstrates a primary theme that is the reason this book resonated with me so much. This is a fallen world, God didn’t design it that way, and one day things will be made right.

“We all want the world to be perfect, other people to be perfect, and God to be the God that we wish He were. And the Bible says that is not your fault. And not only immature thinking at all ... He is the one who set us up for that problem, in a certain way! The reason we think that way is that we are right... it all should be that, and even better than we can imagine. He really did create a better life than the one we have, with all of its problems. We had it in a perfect Creation, lost it when we left God, but He says it is coming back. And we all, believer or not, long for that lost Eden."

Overall, I enjoyed the book, but I’m afraid the readers who would most benefit from it won’t be the ones reading it: it’s very down-to-earth and full of personal and descriptive details as Dr. Cloud explains how he came to faith and why he stayed. In spite of what he says, this is close to a personal memoir (LOL).

There is a purported structure to the book, but it reads more like a personal-revelation-style conversation you started with a friend over lunch, then went for a walk, then found you’d need to get dinner, and ultimately found yourselves walking down a pier under a starlight sky to wrap it up for the night. It is a testimony after all—just close to 300 pages long. There were also (mostly toward the end) quite a few typos, misplaced modifiers, non-sentences, a formatting issue, and some sentences in need of editing to clarify what was being said. (Even the excerpt above is an example.) The writing was definitely tighter in “Boundaries.”

If you’re a Dr. Cloud fan, this is an easy read and enjoyable behind-the-scenes tour. If you’re looking for more psychological advice and aren’t a conversationalist or in search of spiritual truth, this may not be for you.

**I received an advanced released copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.**

[Monica H (TeaandBooks) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why I Believe by Dr. Henry Cloud is a mix of memoir and spiritual exploration, real life miracle stories, and science-meets-faith in one book.

Why I Believe is divided into three parts--following the introduction where Dr. Cloud explains why he wrote this book.

The first part: I Came to Believe in God is where the author shares his early years and things that happened to him that caused him to believe in God. He also shares things that were a bit of an obstacle in life for him. Like most of us in the world, Dr. Cloud experienced some life challenges that left him wondering where God was in the midst of them. In this section, he explains how he kept his faith and how he felt he heard from God at certain times in his life and how the people around him drew him to God.

The second part: How I Came to Believe in Miracles was fascinating. I am not sure I have ever really experienced some of the things like Dr, Cloud has that were miraculous. He shares ways God worked in his life that were clearly from God. At the end of the section, he makes the comment that you may not have experienced anything like this but that doesn't make your faith any less important. I like that he acknowledges this. It is one of the things I like about him--he is down to earth and relatable.

Then the third part of the book: How I Came to Believe Through Science shares scientific truths that relate to the Bible. Dr. Cloud shares why he believes the Bible can be trusted. My favorite chapter in this section is entitled, "Jesus, Please explain your followers." This chapter talks about how bad experiences with some Christians tarnish other Christians and don't reflect God well. He also addresses the issues of how a good God can allow suffering in another chapter, which is also good.

All in all, I really enjoyed Why I Believe. I have read other books by this author and read and listened to him in other avenues and always appreciated his way of communicating. I find him easy to read and understand. He is almost conversational in his writing in this book. I felt it was both interesting and compelling. This is a good book for those who are new to faith, don't know anything about the Christian faith, and those who have been Christians for awhile.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions within this review are my own.

[Milan Homola · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve read a couple of Dr. Cloud’s books. They were thoughtful and practical. From a spiritual standpoint, they felt like a Cubs fan walking the streets of St. Louis subtly extending feelers looking for friendlies rooting for the same team. On the other hand, this book reads more like a Cubs fan the night they won the World Series after the 108-year drought. With “Why I Believe” Cloud has brought together practical and outright spiritual. It helps me appreciate his other works even more.

The book is a direct appeal through story, facts, and humor. In this way “Why I Believe” could be Cloud’s most important practical book. He says as much in explaining why he wrote it for his friends.

It’s organized in three easy-to-follow sections: Cloud’s testimony, believing miracles, and believing through science.

I found the first section honest and inspiring. My favorite theme: God can be present in life but that doesn’t make all the pain disappear. Cloud is honest about the significance of the journey and the power of a loving community. I appreciated his conclusion in that section:
“God did heal me. But he hadn’t done it through a zapping.”

I didn’t find the second section as helpful. He continued the theme of suffering even while walking with God. He shared some incredible stories of miracles and some powerful testimony from others.

In section three I found intriguing thoughts. Cloud’s disciplined focus on the Bible and engaging with people who knew what they were talking about in various fields of science is great. His explanation of “dynamic tension” was helpful when considering current cultural challenges. My only critique is that Cloud uses a broad brush stroke when painting the types of “over the top” Christians who are poked at in the book.

Overall, the book is a personal story of the type we need many more today. When witnessing to God in our Western world Christian systems, marketing, and programs seem to be crumbling. Maybe that’s a good thing. It’s hard to argue with a transformed heart & life.

[Karla Osorno · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating 4.5 stars.

“Faith in Jesus is not primarily a collection of ‘beliefs’ or a philosophy. It is a relationship.”

Henry Cloud is renowned for his work as a psychologist, leadership consultant, entrepreneur, and author. In Why I Believe he brings his professional expertise and credibility, but mainly his humanity. Cloud wants his friends and readers to know God. This book compiles the experiences and thoughts of the author and his relationship with Jesus, in a sincere way.

Cloud shares anecdotes that capture the essence of his journey to faith, seasons of hardship, witnessing miracles, and seeing God’s clear providence throughout his life. In this collection he includes his story (memoir light) plus questions, doubts, struggles, and discovered answers. Cloud uses appropriate (and adequate, but not excessive) scripture to support his claims and to invite people to know Jesus.

I really appreciated the humility Cloud demonstrated as he laid out his questions and discoveries from the Bible. I agreed with his assessment that relational hurt and misunderstandings of what is in the Bible wrongly lead many to deny God. His invitation to discover Jesus for yourself is one I echo. And his admission that it is hard to communicate the gospel and the impact of faith to friends is relatable.

This is a great book and one I recommend - for people curious about Jesus, for those looking for encouragement to share the gospel with friends, and for fans of Henry Cloud who want to know his compelling story. I was a deeply impacted by Boundaries (co-authored with John Townsend) and reading this made me appreciate Cloud’s work even more.

Some of my favorite parts of Why I Believe were the early childhood stories, the psychology/Bible connections, and the providential moments in Cloud’s life where God so clearly was at work. It’s fascinating to see “new” psychological ideas or processes addressed in the Bible. I guess there is nothing new under the sun. I greatly enjoyed this reading experience and am grateful to Worthy Books for an early digital copy of the book.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Cloud initially wrote this book to explain to his unbelieving friends why he believes so fully in Jesus Christ, but then he realized that a wider audience (all the rest of us) may want to listen to his story. This is a memoir. This is a lifelong research documentary. This is a psychological treatise. This will give you pause in every chapter!

This amazing man writes with integrity and humor, yet he shares experiences of enduring significant pain and trauma, profound depression, miracles, hard setbacks, and deep personal doubts regarding issues of faith. I loved how he did not suddenly become a devout Christian when he saw God intervene in his childhood affliction. Each step of the way, like a sound psychologist, he recognized the areas of his unbelief and diligently sought to seek out truth, not opinions or feelings. He models for his reader many levels of investigation, including physics and psychology. He looks at the failure of Christians to model Christ’s healing love, their tendency to drive seekers far from the church, and he still embraces God the Father, Jesus the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the family of believers.

The clarity of his presentation is marvelous; the insights he brings to light in logical discussion are refreshing. This book rivals C. S. Lewis’s treatises. Read it!

[Otis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm grateful to be one gifted with a digital copy of this book before it released date. Truly, I'm honored and thankful to have been part the ones selected.

Wow, what an encouragingly inspirational book. I was truly lifted by the vulnerability shown throughout this material. Dr. Henry Cloud sharing was transparency with conviction to help others with questions regarding this subject. The way the book is broken in the three part: How I Came to Believe in God, How I Came to Believe in Miracles and How I Came to Believe through Science, was fantastic. In how Dr Cloud shared such palpable stories brought such strong internal feelings/emotions within me. I pray this book will touch individuals lives in such a way, he/she will be drawn to "seek" with a sincere heart the free Gift of God.

I pray the readers which may not personally have a relationship with Him [Jesus], will be encouraged to surrender his/her life to the invitation in the conclusion of this book. I pray God will continue to use you Dr Cloud for His purpose and to His glory. Blessings.

[Meryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first book by Dr Henry Cloud so I had my initial reservations about where this was going to go. I was pleasantly surprised and thoroughly enjoyed the focus of this book which aimed to show a correlation between psychology and faith. Cloud did not intend to have this book classified as a Christian book for a specific audience of Christianity, but he wanted to direct this book to his close friends and bring an understanding of the relationship between psychology and his faith. His journey is quite interesting including his encounter with God throughout the events in this book. He creates an alignment between science and faith and how this influenced his personal journey of faith. Definitely brought some valuable insights from a scientific and spiritual perspective which makes it even more interesting. His encounters with total strangers who confirmed what he needed to hear or spoke of something only he knew about, truly solidified my own journey of faith. Worth a read.

[Colt Foerch · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book for those who question the Christian faith and are searching for answers as to trust what the Bible says. Cloud draws a TON of personal testimonies in almost the entire writing. This helps him draw conclusions as to “why he believes”. Plenty of cool supernatural occurrences where he trusts God and he delivered. It’s cool to hear his personal experiences with God and know Cloud on a more personal level. Then to hear how he interprets how God works through the suffering in the world.

I gave it a 4 stars because I’m more seasoned Christian. I know a lot of the arguments he makes for believing in God and have heard them through other authors like Lee Strobel. But to hear the arguments for faith the first time would be a big deal for many. Worth your time if you want to know more about Clouds personal testimony or if you want apologetics as to why trust in God.

[Mariah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate the authors motivation for writing this book and agree with a lot of his points on psychology, being in psychology myself. I do not fully see my faith being the same as he describes his, though, and it caused some disconnect for me throughout the book. I also felt like this book needed to have some more editing run throughs, as there were multiple times where the writing was confusing or there were simple writing errors. Overall, I think the ideas the author had in this book such as sharing his testimony, making it relatable to readers outside of psychology, and bridging the gap between faith and science were all great, I just wish the execution was done differently, along with my own personal views of my faith differing from the author’s causing me to be less engaged.

[Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Christian psychologist, Dr Henry Cloud has been exposed to Christianity and science and is able to reconcile the two. The first part of the book recounts his spiritual memoir, but he spent a large portion of the book writing about how science and the Bible do NOT contradict each other. I appreciate this emphasis on science, because it seems to be the largest stumbling block people use against Christianity.

In my opinion, science is not carved in stone and is changing as we learn new things. People don't seem to acknowledge this when they blindly claim to follow science instead of Christianity. We need to thoughtfully consider both subjects, as Dr Cloud has done, before we form conclusions.

[Amber Ginter Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a digital copy of this book for review through Worthy Books. I loved the tone and sincerity of the book, and do believe it addresses an important topic: How do I tell those about Jesus if they don't want to hear? One of my favorite quotes is from page 2: "The audiences sign up to hear
what I think about God. My friends don’t."

As a faith and mental health writer, I see this question asked a lot. I'm glad that a psychologist is addressing such important topics. I enjoyed the chapters on suffering and the interaction of faith and science--mainly because those topics are in my wheelhouse.

[Jon Major · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my second book I have read from Henry Cloud and it did not disappoint. I loved the stories of his life where God was speaking and calling Henry into a relationship. Especially where God was navigating Henry in traffic to find a caller to prevent a tragedy.

The last part of the book is about how science shows how true the Bible is. As a believer this only reenforces my faith and for anyone that is not a believer it lays out how the Bible is the answer. A great book, and I highly recommend it others.

[Karissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engaging & thought-provoking! Dr. Cloud makes it personal in his latest book about his own faith journey, career choices and life experiences (not an autobiography as a whole though). The reader might just find himself/herself amongst the pages in this book... I did. Dr. Cloud's writing is intelligent with science and psychology references yet approachable to the lay reader. It is honest & relatable.
Highly recommend for book club, group study, counselors, seekers, believers and anyone still searching with unanswered questions about faith and life choices.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really enjoyable book.

I enjoyed Dr. Cloud talking about his faith experience. I found it very encouraging to see that even though some things take a while, even though we're praying hard about it, God is still working in the background in ways we might not be seeing. It encouraged me to pray more.

I also appreciated hearing about his other reasons for faith, as well as how he deals with objections people have to the faith. It was good to hear him talk about the types of Christians that people don't like, and how to compute Christians that are detrimental to others.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very approachable book about the reason for belief, especially for those new to faith or not yet believers, and for the ones that have been Christians for a longer time it is a good inspiration. The stories are from a lived life with God and a good testament to His faithfulness, but I found much of the apologetics material of a simpler - not wrong - kind. I am happy Henry Cloud wrote this book, as it seems like his most personal book about his faith, and thus an inspiring read. All in all, it is a solid book, but not one of much theological depth.

[Stephanie Nava · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why I Believe by Dr. Henry Cloud is, without a doubt, one of the best books I’ve read so far. My faith is a significant part of my life, but so is science—especially psychology. The way Dr. Cloud weaves together biblical principles with psychological insights is both fascinating and profound. I was captivated from the very first chapter and couldn’t put it down. If you have friends who are struggling with their faith, are curious about Jesus Christ, or if you want to deepen your own understanding, I highly recommend this book.

[Alpha Ngadan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spiritual and easy to relate

I am filled with awe and excitement at how God has touched Dr. Cloud and empowered him with the knowledge and wisdom to articulate his personal encounter with God. I can relate to Dr. Cloud’s spiritual journey as I, too, had an encounter with God in my early 20s. God calls everyone to try to know Him. Let us be vessels to glorify God, similar to Dr. Cloud’s spiritual journey.

Allow me to quote Psalm 34:8 Oh taste and see that the Lord is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

[Sephine Bondurant · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was absolutely life changing. It was able to reshape how I viewed myself as a Christian and gave me a new sense of confidence in what God is asking of me. It helped me to realize some insecurities I was harboring about being a Christian and believing in science and then was able to show me a biblical view of scientific facts and how many scientists have found faith because of their discoveries.