Short Answers to Big Questions About God, the Bible, and Christianity

by Clinton E. Arnold, Jeff Arnold

This accessible reference offers short and to-the-point answers to fifty pressing questions people have about God, the Bible, and Christianity, including

- Are there errors or contradictions in the Bible?
- Do science and faith conflict?
- Is hell a real place?
- What will heaven be like?
- Is it possible to prove God exists?
- Why did Jesus have to die?
- Does God hate sex?
- Do Christians have to go to church?
- and many more

This book is for those who want a clear introduction to the essential teachings of Christianity to help them grow in faith and in preparation to share the basics of Christian belief.

368 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2015

About the author

Clinton Arnold (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is the Dean and Professor of New Testament Language and Literature at Talbot School of Theology.

Dr. Arnold enjoys teaching, speaking and writing on various aspects of the New Testament. He has had a special interest in the historical and cultural setting of the letters of Paul. He is currently serving as the Vice President of the Evangelical Theological Society. Arnold is the editor of the four-volume Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary for which he wrote commentaries on “Acts," "Ephesians” and “Colossians”. He is the general editor of the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament for which he has written the volume on “Ephesians.” Arnold has published in Christianity Today and was a regular columnist for Discipleship Journal. His research articles have appeared in such journals as New Testament Studies, Novum Testamentum, Journal for the Study of the New Testament and the Journal of Psychology and Theology. Arnold, his wife and three boys are vitally involved in their local church.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short Answers to Big Questions about God, the Bible and Christianity by Clinton E. Arnold and Jeff Arnold is just what its title declares it to be, it is an endeavor to answer, in only a few pages, many questions new Christians, or unbelievers, have about God, the Bible or Christianity. The book is not as good as I had hoped it would be. My main problem with it is its presentation of the relationship/interaction between God and mankind.

First, its discussions of the love of God toward people are presented too much like the modern concept of "falling in love", an uncontrolled, "couldn't help it" type of thing. Here are a few quotes to demonstrate what I mean: "God isn't just loving, he is love……And he isn't just a loving person 'in theory'; he literally, at this very moment, is aware of his deep love for you. "and, "he loves you because he created you…If you have a child, you have felt this love before; you don't love your child because of what they've accomplished; you love them because they are your child. This is how God sees you. …" I don't remember anywhere in the Bible where God's love is declared to have been bestowed on us simply because we are His creations. God created Satan too but He doesn't love him even though he is His creation. "The problem of sin created a serious dilemma for God…It is his nature to hate sin….yet he earnestly wants a relationship with his people…..", "In his perfect purity, holiness, and righteousness, God is deeply offended by our sin. Yet he longs to have a close relationship with us. Since he cannot simply overlook our offenses, he devised a merciful and loving plan to deal with this problem…" To me, this makes God's love come across as a human loving a pitiable sickly little child, but God's love isn't generally presented that way (unless you count the picture of God's love towards Israel, but even then, it was His choice), it's more like God choosing to love a corpse, or a zombie…those dead in their sins and yet using their decaying faculties to rage against God and His attributes and desires. God CHOSE to have pity on us, God CHOSE to love us detestable creatures, creatures who naturally choose to despise Him and His laws in favor of their own selves and desires. He chose to make us New Creations, breathing spiritual life into us.

Second, in answering the question "Why Bad things happen to good people", part of the explanation is given like this, "God gave us the free will to make our own decisions. Without this freedom, we would be unable to truly love God - or each other, for that matter; we would simply be robots following commands. So when we ask how an all-powerful God could allow someone else to wrong us, the problem with what we're asking is that God's power has nothing to do with it;….God could, if he wished, end all pain on this earth right now. He could step in and directly control everyone's actions, thoughts, and feelings in order to keep anyone from doing anything that causes harm. But imagine the cost: an entire world full of people who move around like puppets, never saying or doing anything that wasn't controlled for them. No one wants that." So will we be robots in Heaven, not able to choose evil? When God makes us into New Creations, Christians, does that make us puppets? Is it really more loving for God to let a person choose to make choices that will lead to condemnation for eternity than it is for Him to change their dispositions to desire the right and accept Him so that they will live in the New Heaven and the New earth for eternity? That logic doesn't come from the Bible. That logic doesn't even make sense when it comes to parents with their children, it would not be loving for a parent to let their child slap their brothers and sisters around and then also give them the option to choose to stick their finger into a light-socket. The loving thing to do would be to stop them from doing both of those things, not giving them a choice in the matter, even if they aren't happy in the process of being stopped. "…without this freedom, we would be unable to truly love God.." really? Where does the Bible say that? True love comes from God (see 1 John), it doesn't originate with human beings. God defines love, and we learn in the Bible that true love is selfless. So to rephrase the above statement, "Without the freedom to be selfish, we wouldn't be able to truly be selfless?" As you can see, I don't believe that question about why bad things happen to good people was answered biblically in this book.

Things like the above really bothered me. This is not to say that there weren't good things in the book, there were. I just don't think that this book would necessarily be the best to give an unbeliever or an immature Christian because some of the answers given do not match up with what the Bible says. I really liked their section on why we don't always sense the presence of God. That chapter contains many statements that I really like, actually, I think they're excellent! So I'll end on a positive note with my favorite excerpt from the book:

Soon after I stopped feeling this intense love and presence of God, I started grasping for things that normally brought that passion back. I would drive almost an hour away to find churches with great worship bands and speakers……I knew on some level that there was something off about the way I was approaching this, but I felt like I needed to do whatever it took to get that feeling back. And then one day it struck me: my faith had stopped being about God and had become about how I felt. That was really selfish of me. It shouldn't have mattered how I felt if I trusted that God was real. At that point the best thing for someone like me was to remove those feelings so that my faith would once again become about God, not myself. ….the end result was that I began learning how to center my life around God with or without the feelings that I once had…….To make Christianity purely about feelings is to make it about ourselves rather than God. God doesn't promise to constantly flood us with intense emotion…From the earliest days of the church, Christians have based their closeness to God on theology - on what they knew about God from Scripture - rather than feelings. Many of the first Christians shed blood for believing in God. If anyone had the right to feel distant from God, wouldn’t it be the people suffering for his sake? Instead, the early disciples rejoiced at the chance to suffer for Christ (Acts 5:41)."

 
I received a free review copy of this book from the Baker Books Blogger Program and my review did not have to be favorable.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I highly recommend Lee Strobel’s books instead. This one fell short in many ways, including being interesting to read. I don’t know, it was just laid out weird, some of the questions were so odd to me and the answers didn’t really help. If I were a non-believer looking for answers, this book would not do it. Read The Case for Christ instead if you’re a non-believer. Probably should give this 1 star but it was “okay” I suppose, if you can force yourself to finish it.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

We Christians are to be thinking people and sometimes we need resources to help us. The authors have written this book to help fill in those areas where we need clarity in our thinking.

They start with basic questions about trusting the Bible. They cover loads of topics, such as believing God is good, the supernatural, the destiny of man, the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, Jesus' return, and many more.

The authors have limited their answers to a few pages, even though books have been written about some of these issues. The idea is that these answers are not exhaustive but are more springboards for further investigation. There are books listed in For Further Reading so the topics can be explored more deeply. There are also Discussion Questions listed at the end of each chapter.

Potential readers should be aware that this is a very general and introductory collection of questions and answers. For example, when investigating the claim of possible errors in the Bible, they address the issue in general, not looking at any specific issues.

Salvation is clearly explained so the book is suitable for someone investigating Christianity. There are places where the authors expect readers to accept the Bible as truth so those answers are suitable for readers already Christians. There were a few of discussions I especially appreciated. One was a very good teaching on the Trinity. Another was the explanation for the formation of the canon. Another was a balanced and well presented look at the return of Christ, not giving a particular view of the timing of the rapture, but covering the various possibilities.

Some of the questions surprised me, such as the role of emotions in our Christian life. The authors talk about the “dark night of the soul,” something usually discussed in more advanced books. But the authors have selected the questions because they themselves have been asked these questions over the years. So the book does not deal with just theology but questions of life, like happiness and purpose. They have an excellent discussion of what it means to be “in” the world but not “of” the world. And they tackle hard questions, like unanswered prayer.

I recommend this book to new Christians or those investigating Christianity. You'll get some good answers, some questions to stimulate your thinking, and some suggestions to investigate further.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of an independent and honest review.

[Wesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

"But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect" (1 Pet. 3:15, NIV).

Educating Christians about their faith should be a high priority for the Church. This is especially true in a world where there's been an increase in both hostility towards the Gospel and access to data (often used to accomplish the means of the first).

I find that it's easier for people to speak about their faith "with gentleness and respect" when they've been adequately equipped to "give an answer" for their faith. The stakes are quite high: without proper preparation, discussions on matters of faith risk devolving into unproductive muslinging sessions. While education can't solve this entirely, it can help mitigate the problem.

Enter Short Answers to Big Questions about God, the Bible & Christianity by Clinton and Jeff Arnold. Clinton Arnold is the dean of Talbot School of Theology at Biola University and Jeff Arnold is a high school English and logic teacher and a former youth pastor. Together, they seek to package theological truths in a portable and accessible manner so Christians who haven't received a formal theological education can utilize their work.

Overall, this is a solid addition to one's library. It's user friendly and the chapters are organized by topics (The Bible, Tought Questions, the Supernatural, Life after Death, God, Jesus and the Spirit, How to Know God, Questions about the Christian Life, and Essential Christian Practices).

As an Anglican, I must say I'm always a bit nervous about books I receive which address the lord's Supper as it takes such a central role in our worship. However, the chapter on Communion, which ends the book, is excellent and my favorite: "The regular celebration of the Lord's Supper in our churches provides us with an important opportunity for worshiping our merciful and loving God. By celebrating this, we honor God for this central event that serves as the basis of his new covenant relationship with his people, of which we are a part. This celebration occasions an opportunity for deep inner reflection, confession of sin, and joyful thanksgiving to God for the forgiveness of of sin and the hope of life to come with our Lord Jesus Christ."

With Christmas right around the corner, this would be a great book for that friend or family member who enjoys reading about Christianity in their spare time. While you're at it, you should probably pick up a copy for yourself too.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clinton Arnold is a New Testament scholar and the dean of Talbot School of Theology at Biola. I have appreciated his writing on 'the powers,' his commentaries (especially his Power and Magic: the Concept of Power in Ephesians), and his work on the Zondervan Bible Background Commentary. Jeff Arnold teaches high school, is a former youth pastor, and the creator of Unleashed (an intensive training program for Christian teens). The Arnolds have teamed up to produce Short Answers to Big Questions about God, the Bible and Christianity. In the spirit and vein of Josh McDowell's classic Answers to Tough Questions, Short Answers examines the questions many unbelievers, new believers and young people ask.

The Arnolds tackle fifty questions ranging from the reliability, inspiration and relevance of the Bible, the problem of evil, the nature of faith and doubt, angels and demons, the after life, the nature of God, Jesus and the Spirit, and how to cultivate your relationship with God. The questions are topically arranged making this more of a quick reference book for particular questions than a cover-to-cover book of theology.

This is a simple and practical resource which I think would be perfect for a muture high school student or a young college student. These are short answers to big questions, which means it doesn't answer these questions comprehensively. There is a great deal more that could be said for any number of the issues covered here. But these answers are a good start and sometimes we don't need to have a definitivie and final answer when we face various questions. We just need to know that there are answers. In their preface, Clinton and Jeff Arnold state, "Short Answers is not meant to be the end of your study; rather, it's the beginning. Let this be the springboard for you to dive into the deep ocean that is understanding God" (17).

And a springboard is what this book is. With intelligent and pastorally sensitive answers the Arnolds make a good case for the reality and reliabilty of the God described in the Bible and insights on how to cultivate our relationship with him I give this book four stars.

Note: I received this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Kim Wells · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really excited about this book as a resource for helping to answer questions that I get asked on a regular basis. The authors, Clinton and Jeff Arnold, attempt to answer 50 of the most asked questions about God, Christianity and the Bible. The book is divided into 9 sections, each with 3-8 questions relating to the topics of the Bible, life after death, the supernatural, God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and several other topics. Each of the questions is answered in only a few pages and includes key scripture passages and discussion questions.

I believe this book was intended to help new Christians or those curious about Christianity to find brief answers and scripture resources for general questions about Christianity. For this purpose, it’s not a bad resource. I do believe that the authors probably bit off more than they could chew in that many of these questions couldn’t possibly be answered properly in only a few paragraphs. For example, the second question in the book is “Are there errors in the Bible?”. The authors attempt to answer this by giving only a few examples of seeming contradictions and refuting them by saying that they are simply not contradictions. There is very little explanation. There is actually more intro and opinion than actual answers in most of the chapters. While I do agree with the authors, I wish they had chosen to answer fewer questions with more in-depth answers.

I do, however, love the discussion questions and key passages attached to each question and believe this to be the most valuable part of this resource. I also love that they addressed questions that the church doesn’t often talk about, such as “Why are there hypocrites in the church?” or “Does God hate sex?” or even “Why does God feel distant?” There are several very good discussions that could be started by the questions in this book.

While I’m not sure this book actually answers all of the questions it poses, it might be a great resource to at least begin the discussion.

[Wayne Stiles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good questions deserve good answers. They’re even better answers if they’re short ones. Clinton E. Arnold and Jeff Arnold have given us the best of both—short and good.

Their volume, Short Answers to Big Questions about God, the Bible, and Christianity, begins where it must if we are to answer questions related to God, Christianity, and the Christian life. Questions about the Bible must first find good answers. Otherwise, we have no basis of authority for answering other questions.

Each of the 50 chapters in this excellent volume uses a question as its title—and a subject as it subtitle by way of a topical overview. After answering the question, each chapter concludes by turning the tables and asking questions of the reader—all designed to drive home the chapter’s reasonable solutions. Related Bible passages are also listed for further study.

Even at 360 pages, the book feels brief. The authors explain the dilemma: "Each of these questions deserves a book of its own. It would be, in some ways, much easier to do that, because then we wouldn’t find ourselves having to leave out really good information for the sake of brevity. . . . Thus, Short Answers is not meant to be the end of your study; rather, it’s the beginning."

The book offers a solution to its own problem by providing the reader a list of excellent resources for further study.

Short Answers to Big Questions about God, the Bible, and Christianity reveals that we needn’t check our brain at the door in order to be a Christian. We can be intellectually honest—as well as compassionate and articulate—in offering good answers to good questions.

[Gini · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book accomplishes its mission. Each of the questions, and I think they're pretty representative questions, gets a short answer and then some references to check. The questions at the end of each chapter help the reader practice his own short answers.
Why three stars and not more? Three here is an I liked it. It's a good reference book. A good starter book. A good short answer book. I liked it but couldn't say I loved it.

[Cynthia A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done. One of those books you need to reread sections, but presented well. Won this book on Goodreads.