Is Christianity really the only true religion? Can the Bible really be taken literally? Hasn’t Christianity been disproven by science? Isn’t Christianity homophobic, and doesn’t it denigrate women? How could a good, loving God allow so much suffering and death?
These are questions that people bring up about the Christian faith every day in today’s modern world. And people have really been asking these questions for decades or even centuries. Maybe these questions have crossed your mind at some point. Perhaps you’ve heard someone who claimed to be a Christian make a comment that seemed hateful or mean. Or maybe a professor or a science genius has told you Christian beliefs and ideas are impossible or dangerous. Or maybe you’ve been in a situation where it seemed like God didn’t show up like you thought He would.
Hard questions like these are completely normal. It’s not wrong to think about them. In fact, knowing what you believe and why you believe it is a good thing to practice, not only for your own assurance, but also for your confidence in sharing your beliefs with other people in your life. But with all the varying perspectives and differing opinions swirling around our society today, it’s difficult to find good, reliable answers to these questions. Thankfully, someone has done the hard work for us.
In her book Confronting Christianity, Rebecca McLaughlin answers twelve of the hardest questions people ask about Christianity today, covering topics such as diversity, sexuality, and science. Through Bible passages, sound research, and personal stories, Rebecca proves that the ideas and beliefs of Christianity are not dangerous myths. The Bible’s words are true and good, and the message found in them is our only hope. Rebecca writes,
“In Jesus’s world, we find connective tissue between the truths of science and morality. We find a basis for saying that all human beings are created equal, and a deep call to love across diversity. We find a name for evil, and a means of forgiveness. We find a vision of love that is so much deeper than our current hearts can hold, and a true intimacy better than our weak bodies could ever experience. We find a diagnosis of human nature as shot through with sin and yet redeemable by grace. We find a call to care for the poor, oppressed, and lonely, a call springing from the heart of God himself and grounded in the hope that one day every tear will be wiped away, every stomach will be filled, and every outcast will be embraced. But we do not find glib answers or an easy road. Instead, we find a call to come and die.”[1]
The questions are hard, and the answers are, too. But the journey is worth it. If you’ve been asking some hard questions about Christianity or you know someone else who has, I would definitely recommend reading this book and discovering the truth about the Christian faith.
[1] Rebecca McLaughlin, Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion (Wheaton: Crossway, 2019), 222.
