Reasons We Believe: 50 Lines of Evidence That Confirm the Christian Faith

by Nathan Busenitz

Reasons We Believe will reinforce your personal faith and will provide you with a clear, concise, evangelistic tool to help you share that faith with others. In an age of cynics and skeptics, Christianity is constantly under attack. Believers need resources that defend the veracity of their faith. They are searching for clear, concise, and credible answers to both doubts of their own and objections from their unbelieving friends. Nathan Busenitz provides such resources to believers. Reasons We Believe confirms and strengthens the faith of believers by demonstrating the reliability of the twofold authority on which Christianity the Word of God and the person of Jesus Christ. Reasons builds a biblical foundation for the authority of the Bible and then shows how extra-biblical evidence corresponds with and thereby attests to what the Bible claims. This study seeks to reinforce the faith of Christians while also providing them with a straightforward evangelistic tool for reaching non-Christians.

Genres: Christian, Christianity, Theology, Religion, Evangelism

224 pages, Paperback

First published August 31, 2008

About the author

NATHAN BUSENITZ, (M.Div., Th.M., Ph.D., The Master's Seminary) is the Dean of Faculty and Assistant Professor of Theology at The Master's Seminary. He holds a doctorate in church history, with a specific focus on patristic theology. He has served as a full-time member of the pastoral staff at Grace Community Church, director of the Shepherd's Fellowship, managing editor of Pulpit magazine, and as the personal assistant to John MacArthur.

Reviews

[Lindsey Layton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that this was a good starting off point for Christians seeking to understand apologetics. It is definitely a book that just hits the surface. Each topic only receives a couple of pages of coverage. This might be a good resource to get a big idea of certain issues in apologetics, and then use the footnotes to dig a little deeper into topics that might be of interest to you.

I might not recommend this book to the skeptic. I was trying to read it with a skeptic's perspective, and because it is just an overview, I would be left with many questions, just because many of the topics are only covered on a surface level. Again, if you are a seriously searching skeptic, it might be a good book to start off with, if you are willing to get a big idea of lines of evidence, and then dig deeper with further research.

[Jennah · Rating 5 out of 5]

True to what the title says! This book gives every scripture to prove the resurrection and existence of our Lord Jesus Christ. I enjoyed reading all of the amazing quotes that were added to each section, and the reasons why believe and worship Jesus Christ.

In regard to this Great Book, I have but to say, I believe the Bible is the best gift "God has given to man." All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this "Book." All things most desirable for man's welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it. ~Abraham Lincoln~

[Rachel Callahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent, logical book pulling from many different sources and viewpoints. It’s a good book for believers as a reminder of the proofs and hundreds of fulfilled prophecies of the scriptures, and it would be a good book for unbelievers who were curious as to why people believed in Jesus and the Bible.

[Ben]

Good introduction to, or reminder of, the arguments of apologetics. Good starting point to what biblical and extra-biblical texts to consult but could use an additional bibliography.

[Isabella Alvarez · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read for the believer 👏

[Chelsie Hargrove · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great introductory resource for Christians seeking to become better apologists or strengthen their own understanding of the relationship between reason and the Christian faith.

[Wade · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very concise (fifty short chapters)… sometimes too much so, sometimes impressively so. I like how he started many of his arguments from Scripture, though from reading other reviews on here, perhaps a bit lengthier defense of presuppositional apologetics might have benefited that approach a bit. Having said that, there’s some great research in here and his work on the historicity of Jesus and the historical reliability of the gospels were beneficial.

[Kit · Rating 1 out of 5]

I shouldn't have purchased this book. I should have just downloaded the sample. This book is so bad and the author is such an outright lier who doesn't know much about other religions. It's sad.

He needs to go back to school to learn the difference between faith, trust, and belief. And he should probably work on the claim that the Bible is rooted in history and ALL other religions are not. *pshh*

Course it is rather convenient that the many prophesies in the bible were also fulfilled in the bible text. For a collection of works that was primarily oral history during the old testament, its really easy to see how someone would edit the history to reflect a current event and provide more evidence of how great god is. Notice that the only modern fulfillments are ones that are influenced by the text itself. Refer to the reestablishment of Israel. The moment the religious text is held to higher scrutiny, it fails to deliver.

The primary flaw of this book is that it claims that the bible is evidence enough. It's pretty ridiculous.

Imagine claiming that Peter Rabbit is real because the Beatrix Potter collection says so. Without proof that the bible isn't just a collection of fables, basing 50 reasons to believe on it is a waste of time. Though it does effectively make believers feel better about their belief, it confirms with no real evidence what people fear doubting and makes it easier to have an excuse for not looking closer---it makes you feel self-righteous.

It would have been nice to read a book written by an author that was capable of critically thinking about the premises of his beliefs. *sigh*

[C.H. Cobb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a little conflicted about how to describe this book. Busenitz' volume is primarily a small encyclopedia of internal evidence: in other words, it recounts what the Bible itself says about the fifty lines of evidence. It's a great book for answering a question in the form of, "does the Bible really teach that?"

If someone asks you, "does the Bible really teach that it is the Word of God?" or "does the Bible really teach that Jesus is God?" Busenitz provides, in compact form, a precis with many biblical references providing the ammunition you need to answer the question. Not all, but nearly all the evidence Busenitz provides comes from within the covers of the Bible itself--and his reasoning from the biblical text is very solid.

However, his use of external evidence is a little uneven--sometimes he uses it, sometimes not. When he does, it's invariably excellent.

If you are looking for a work on apologetics, I would recommend Busenitz plus. In other words, get Busenitz because of his excellent, faithful use of internal evidence. Add to it something like "I don't have enough faith to be an atheist," by Geisler and Turek, which is stronger on external evidences. Between the two you'll get a more complete accounting of God's supernatural works in a material world.

[Jocelyn P · Rating 1 out of 5]

No other religion makes sense, so Christianity must be true.

The author's purpose is to assure Christians that their faith isn't idiotic and to help clear the objections for nonbelievers. I would not recommend this book to non-believers because the author doesn't use logic. He says that Christianity must be true because all other religions are wrong. He doesn't consider the possibility that we're all wrong. For Christians, I wouldn't recommend this book if they weren't discerning. Most of the good insights were not the author's own thoughts, but thoughts taken from other sources. The last portion of the book, the author did an "annotated outline" to keep the book short. This sounds like a dumb reason, but I found that I had wished the entire book was an "annotated outline" because that would've saved me a whole lot of reading and time. That being said, there were some good points made and I did learn somethings.

[Eben Tonder · Rating 1 out of 5]

read with eben through Nathan's book in the blog sites:

SECTION 1 AND 2

http://ebenvantonder.blogspot.com/200...

or

http://issuu.com/ebenvantonder/docs/r...

---------------------------------------------------------------------
SECTION 3

I returned to do more work on a response to Nathan Busenitz who rote a book, "Reasons We Believe - 50 lines of evidence that confirm the Christian faith".

My response to section 3 of his book is:

REASONS WE DO NOT BELIEVE (2)
A response to Reasons We Believe by Nathan Busenitz

You can read it at:

http://ebenvantonder.blogspot.com/200...

AND

http://issuu.com/ebenvantonder/docs/r...

[Eric Durso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent apologetic. I'd put it above Keller's "The Reason for God."

[Greg Perkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

To the point, lots of scripture to back up, well laid out...great book for conversation starters with non-believers!

[Mikeal Peterman · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good apologetic book. Not a great book for non believers but encouraging for me to trust more of Gods word itself.

[Austin Fry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very concise. Will be a solid resource for quick referencing.