But Don't All Religions Lead to God?


Book Description

We've all heard the rationale: "It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you're sincere." Or "All religions are pretty much the same." But are they the same? Does it matter which one you follow? In this insightful and compelling book, Michael Green invites readers into a relationship with Jesus Christ, the divine revelation and only pathway to the one true God. In a conversational style geared toward nonbelievers, Green compares Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, and other religions to help spiritual seekers navigate the multi-faith maze. "But Don't All Religions Lead to God?" is an ideal reference and evangelism tool for churches and individual Christians as well. It offers scriptural references, looks at how divergent religious traditions view salvation and eternity, and answers difficult questions such as "What about people who have never heard of Jesus?" and "How should Christians regard other religions?" In the midst of our pluralistic and tolerant culture, here is an important and convincing argument for faith in Jesus-the only great teacher whose death and resurrection provided grace, forgiveness, and an eternity in the presence of God.




Give Me an Answer


Book Description

Cliffe Knechtle offers clear, reasoned and compassionate responses to the tough questions skeptics ask.




Contradict


Book Description

Tolerance and co-existence are both great! In fact, they are necessary. If we are to live together in peace without hating each other, or physically harming each other over differences in race, culture, sexual orientation, political views, and religious beliefs, we must have tolerance. However, we must also recognize that every belief can't be equally valid. If two beliefs directly contradict each other, both of them cannot be true, no matter how "tolerant" we become. This means it is false to say that every religion is true, or that every religion leads to God. When people make such claims they show that they have not taken the time to study the world's religions, because a brief reading of the sacred texts of only a handful of religions quickly reveals contradictions on the most fundamental levels. Religious Contradictions Reincarnation (Hinduism and Buddhism) contradicts the belief that this is your only life before eternity (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam). Salvation from sin (Christianity) contradicts the belief that there is no sin to be saved from but simply pain that can be escaped through enlightenment (Buddhism). Jesus Christ is the incarnate, Son of God (Christianity), contradicts the teaching that he is just a prophet (Islam) or that he was a false prophet (Judaism). In light of these contradictions alone, all religions can't be true. They could all be false, but they can't all be true. Are any of them true? This is the most important question anyone can ask. Recognize religious contradictions. Embrace them. Test them. Seek the truth. www.contradictmovement.org




Sharing Your Faith with Friends and Family


Book Description

Practical guidance on how Christians can share their faith with friends and loved ones.




Jesus > Religion


Book Description

Abandon dead, dry, religious rule-keeping and embrace the promise of being truly known and deeply loved. Jefferson Bethke burst into the cultural conversation with a passionate, provocative poem titled "Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus." The 4-minute video became an overnight sensation, with 7 million YouTube views in its first 48 hours (and 23+ million in a year). Bethke's message clearly struck a chord with believers and nonbelievers alike, triggering an avalanche of responses running the gamut from encouraged to enraged. In his New York Times bestseller Jesus > Religion, Bethke unpacks similar contrasts that he drew in the poem--highlighting the difference between teeth gritting and grace, law and love, performance and peace, despair, and hope. With refreshing candor, he delves into the motivation behind his message, beginning with the unvarnished tale of his own plunge from the pinnacle of a works-based, fake-smile existence that sapped his strength and led him down a path of destructive behavior. Along the way, Bethke gives you the tools you need to: Humbly and prayerfully open your mind Understand Jesus for all that he is View the church from a brand-new perspective Bethke is quick to acknowledge that he's not a pastor or theologian, but simply an ordinary, twenty-something who cried out for a life greater than the one for which he had settled. On this journey, Bethke discovered the real Jesus, who beckoned him with love beyond the props of false religion. Praise for Jesus > Religion: "Jeff's book will make you stop and listen to a voice in your heart that may have been drowned out by the noise of religion. Listen to that voice, then follow it--right to the feet of Jesus." --Bob Goff, author of New York Times bestsellers Love Does and Everybody, Always "The book you hold in your hands is Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz meets C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity meets Augustine's Confessions. This book is going to awaken an entire generation to Jesus and His grace." --Derwin L. Gray, lead pastor of Transformation Church, author of Limitless Life: Breaking Free from the Labels That Hold You Back




For God's Sake


Book Description

Four Australian thinkers come together to ask and answer the big questions, such as: What is the nature of the universe? Doesn't religion cause most of the conflict in the world? and Where do we find hope? We are introduced to the detail of different belief systems - Judaism, Christianity, Islam - and to the argument that atheism, like organised religion, has its own compelling logic. And we gain insight into the life events that led each author to their current position. Jane Caro flirted briefly with spiritual belief, inspired by 19th century literary heroines such as Elizabeth Gaskell and the Brontë sisters. Antony Lowenstein is proudly culturally, yet unconventionally, Jewish. Simon Smart is firmly and resolutely a Christian, but one who has had some of his most profound spiritual moments while surfing. Rachel Woodlock grew up in the alternative embrace of Baha'i belief but became entranced by its older parent religion, Islam. Provocative, informative and passionately argued, For God's Sake encourages us to accept religious differences but to also challenge more vigorously the beliefs that create discord.




The Prophets of Israel


Book Description

Wood focuses on the prophets' daily circumstances to illuminate their message. Covers both the writing and non-writing prophets, including Miriam and Elijah.




Jesus Among Secular Gods


Book Description

Ravi Zacharias and Vince Vitale defend the absolute claims of Christ against modern belief in the "secular gods" of atheism, scientism, relativism, and more. The rise of these secular gods presents the most serious challenge to the absolute claims of Christ since the founding of Christianity itself. The Christian worldview has not only been devalued and dismissed by modern culture, but its believers are openly ridiculed as irrelevant. In Jesus Among Secular Gods, Ravi Zacharias and Vince Vitale challenge the popular "isms" of the day, skillfully pointing out the fallacies in their claims and presenting compelling evidence for revealed absolute truth as found in Jesus. This book is fresh, insightful, and important, and faces head on today's most urgent challenges to Christian faith. It will help seekers to explore the claims of Christ and will provide Christians with the knowledge to articulate why they believe that Jesus stands tall above all other gods.




God is Not One


Book Description

A fascinating guide to religion and its place in the world today. In God Is Not One, bestselling author Stephen Prothero makes a fresh and provocative argument that, contrary to popular understanding, all religions are not simply “different paths to the same God.” Instead, he shows that the differences between the major religions are far greater than we think: they each ask different questions, tackle different problems, and aim at different goals. God Is Not One highlights the unique aspects of the world’s major religions, with chapters on Islam, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Yoruba religion, Judaism, Daoism and atheism. Lucid and compelling, God Is Not One offers a new understanding of religion for the twenty-first century.




God, Grades, and Graduation


Book Description

"It's widely acknowledged that American parents from different class backgrounds take different approaches to raising their children. Upper and middle-class parents invest considerable time facilitating their children's activities, while working class and poor families take a more hands-off approach. These different strategies influence how children approach school. But missing from the discussion is the fact that millions of parents on both sides of the class divide are raising their children to listen to God. What impact does a religious upbringing have on their academic trajectories? Drawing on 10 years of survey data with over 3,000 teenagers and over 200 interviews, God, Grades, and Graduation (GGG) offers a revealing and at times surprising account of how teenagers' religious upbringing influences their educational pathways from high school to college. GGG introduces readers to a childrearing logic that cuts across social class groups and accounts for Americans' deep relationship with God: religious restraint. This book takes us inside the lives of these teenagers to discover why they achieve higher grades than their peers, why they are more likely to graduate from college, and why boys from lower middle-class families particularly benefit from religious restraint. But readers also learn how for middle-upper class kids--and for girls especially--religious restraint recalibrates their academic ambitions after graduation, leading them to question the value of attending a selective college despite their stellar grades in high school. By illuminating the far-reaching effects of the childrearing logic of religious restraint, GGG offers a compelling new narrative about the role of religion in academic outcomes and educational inequality"--