Who Made God?: And Answers to Over 100 Other Tough Questions of Faith Book

Preface.......................................................................................................................13
Acknowledgments...............................................................................................................15
Contributors..................................................................................................................17
Part 1: Questions about the Christian Faith
1. Tough Questions about God Norman Geisler..................................................................................23
Who Made God?.................................................................................................................23
Why Couldn't the World Always Have Existed?...................................................................................24
How Can God Make Something out of Nothing?....................................................................................27
What Was God Doing before He Made the World?..................................................................................28
How Can There Be Three Persons in One God?....................................................................................29
How Can a Good God Send People to Hell?.......................................................................................30
How Can God Be Both Loving and Just?..........................................................................................31
2. Tough Questions about Evil Ronald Rhodes..................................................................................33
What Is the Origin of Evil?...................................................................................................36
What Is God's Ultimate Purpose in Allowing Evil?..............................................................................37
Wouldn't It Be Better If God Did Away with All Evil Immediately?..............................................................38
Does the Existence of Evil Prove That God Is Finite?..........................................................................39
Is Evil Just an Illusion?.....................................................................................................40
Can New Age Pantheism Account for Evil?.......................................................................................41
Do We Create Our Own Realities?...............................................................................................43
Does Reincarnation Explain the Existence of Evil?.............................................................................44
3. Tough Questions about Science William Lane Craig..........................................................................49
Are Science and Christianity Allies or Adversaries?...........................................................................49
How Should Theology and Science Relate?.......................................................................................51
How Does Modern Science Describe the World?...................................................................................52
Where Did the Universe Come From?.............................................................................................54
What Does the Fine-Tuning of the Universe Mean?...............................................................................58
What Does the "Many Worlds" Hypothesis Mean?..................................................................................60
What Explains the Actual Origin of Life?......................................................................................63
How Long Are the Days of Creation in Genesis?.................................................................................66
Is the Neo-Darwinian Theory of Evolution True?................................................................................68
4. Tough Questions about Christ Lee Strobel..................................................................................73
Are the Records of Jesus' Life Reliable?......................................................................................75
Did Jesus Ever Claim to Be God?...............................................................................................81
5. More Tough Questions about Christ Lee Strobel.............................................................................87
Did Jesus Really Perform Miracles?............................................................................................88
Did Jesus Fulfill the Messianic Prophecies?...................................................................................93
Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?.................................................................................................97
6. Tough Questions about the Bible Norman Geisler............................................................................105
Where Did the Bible Come From?................................................................................................106
Who Wrote the Bible?..........................................................................................................106
Were the Biblical Authors Mere Secretaries of the Holy Spirit?................................................................108
What Was a Prophet in Bible Times?............................................................................................108
Could Prophets Add Their Personal Thoughts to God's Message?..................................................................109
How Did the Prophets Get Their Messages from God?.............................................................................110
Were the Prophets Permitted to Change the Words God Gave?.....................................................................110
What Do You Mean When You Say "The Bible Is the Word of God"?.................................................................111
How Else Does the Bible Claim to Be the Word of God?..........................................................................113
Does the Bible Actually Claim to Be the "Word of God" in So Many Words?.......................................................113
Does the Bible Claim to Have Divine Authority?................................................................................114
How Far Does This Divine Authority Extend?....................................................................................114
What Do You Mean When You Say That the Bible Is Inspired?.....................................................................114
Are the Very Words of the Bible Inspired by God, or Only the Ideas?...........................................................115
Does the Bible Claim to Be Inspired on All Topics or Just Spiritual Ones?.....................................................116
How Do Some People Misunderstand What Is Meant by the Inspiration of the Bible?...............................................117
How Do We Know These Misunderstandings Aren't Part of What Inspiration Covers?................................................118
Isn't the Bible Also a Human Book?............................................................................................118
Does the Bible Have Errors in It?.............................................................................................120
Are There Errors in Bible Manuscripts and Translations?.......................................................................120
How Can the Bible Be Both God's Words and Man's Words?........................................................................122
Were the Biblical Witnesses Reliable?.........................................................................................123
Why Does the Jesus Seminar Reject the Reliability of the New Testament Witnesses?.............................................124
Would the New Testament Witnesses Have Stood Up in a Court of Law?............................................................126
Are the Copies of the Bible Reliable?.........................................................................................126
Part 2: Questions about Other Faiths
7. Tough Questions about the Bible, False Prophets, and the Holy Books of Other Religions Norman Geisler.....................131
What Evidence Is There That the Bible Is Inspired by God as It Claims to Be?..................................................132
Is There Any Other Evidence That the Bible Is God's Word?.....................................................................133
Haven't Psychics Made Successful Predictions Like Those Found in the Bible?...................................................133
Didn't Nostradamus Make Supernatural Predictions?.............................................................................134
Do Nostradamus's Predictions Fail the Test of a True Prophet?.................................................................135
What Are the Tests for a False Prophet?.......................................................................................136
Did the Biblical Authors Measure Up to These Tests?...........................................................................137
Why Can't the Holy Books of Other Religions Also Be from God?.................................................................138
Isn't It Narrow-Minded to Claim That Only One Religion Has the Truth?.........................................................138
Is the Old Testament Complete?................................................................................................139
What Is the Testimony of Judaism about the Completeness of the Old Testament?.................................................139
What Did Jesus Say about the Completeness of the Old Testament?...............................................................140
What Did the Early Christians Say about the Completeness of the Old Testament?................................................141
Did the Roman Catholic Church Add Books to the Jewish Old Testament?..........................................................142
How Do We Know the New Testament Is Complete?.................................................................................142
What Did Jesus Promise about the Formation of the New Testament?..............................................................143
What Did Jesus' Apostles Say about the New Testament?.........................................................................143
What Evidence Did the Apostles Show for Their Authority?......................................................................144
Were All the Apostolic and Prophetic Writings Preserved in the New Testament?.................................................145
How Does the Character of God Guarantee the Completeness of the New Testament?................................................145
Did the Church Carefully Preserve the Whole New Testament?....................................................................146
Is the Whole Bible Complete?..................................................................................................147
Why Are Noninspired Books Mentioned in the Bible?.............................................................................147
Do Mormons Believe That the Bible Is Inspired by God?.........................................................................148
Is There Confirmation That Mormon Scriptures Are from God?....................................................................148
Are There Evidences That The Book of Mormon Is Inspired?......................................................................149
Is the Qur'an the Word of God?................................................................................................150
8. Tough Questions about Hinduism and Transcendental Meditation L . T. Jeyachandran..........................................153
Why Is There Such a High Degree of Interest in Eastern Religions among Westerners?............................................155
What Are the Main Tenets of Hinduism?.........................................................................................158
What Is Transcendental Meditation?............................................................................................163
9. Tough Questions about Yoga, Reincarnation, and Buddhism L . T. Jeyachandran...............................................167
What Does Yoga Mean and What Is the Teaching Behind It?.......................................................................168
What Is Reincarnation?........................................................................................................171
What Are the Beliefs of Buddhism?.............................................................................................176
10. Tough Questions about Black Islam Robert White...........................................................................183
What Is the Current Climate of the Church?....................................................................................185
What Makes Religion "Black"?..................................................................................................186
Who Founded the Black Islamic Movement?.......................................................................................188
Who Was Responsible for Bringing the Message of Black Islam to the Forefront?.................................................189
What Social Factors Led to the Emergence of the Black Islam Movement?.........................................................190
What Is the Unique Appeal of Islam for Blacks?................................................................................191
Why Is the Message of Islam Appealing to African-American Males in Particular?................................................192
Who Was Malcolm X?............................................................................................................194
Is Islam Becoming the True Religion of the Black Man?.........................................................................195
Do Black Muslims Have Misperceptions about the Christian Faith?...............................................................195
Does Black Islam Recognize the Deity of Jesus Christ?.........................................................................196
Should Black Muslims Be Allowed to Speak in Black Churches?...................................................................197
How Might the Church Reach Out to Black Muslims?..............................................................................199
Resources for Digging Deeper..................................................................................................203
Notes.........................................................................................................................209
Scripture Index...............................................................................................................225
Subject Index.................................................................................................................231