Wednesday

Questions to All Your Answers

Unfortunately, many evangelicals have embraced a Christianized “folk religion” characterized by glib sayings and a bumper sticker theology they’ve never deeply examined. They‘ve done so by simply and blindly accepting what they’ve heard time and time again. Olson, gently but with passionate conviction, states, "We do God no favors by being gullible, credulous, irrational, or uncritical. God gave us minds and expects us to use them."


He examines ten prevalent Christian beliefs and offers Christ-followers the challenge of knowing not only what they believe but why they believe it! In an engaging manner, he addresses commonly held beliefs such as: "It's a Mystery, Just Accept it: So What Do You Say to an Atheist?" "The Bible has all the Answers: So What about Cloning?" and "All Sins are Equal: So is Reusing a Stamp as Bad as Murder?” Olson spotlights these popular Christian cliches and dissects them with the intent of discovering together with the reader whether or not they contain truth. He points out that most have both.

One of the hardest-hitting chapters for me was "God is in Control; So Why is the World Such a Mess?” It definitely caused me to rethink my mindset.
Olson says, “We should be careful about making blanket statements about what God does and does not do.” I’ll need to reread this chapter and to continue reflecting on the author’s words.

I found Questions to All Your Answers at times disconcerting but also delightfully refreshing. It’s conversational, not academic in tone, which makes it inviting for the reader to participate. The discussion questions at the end of each chapter are important to encourage the reflective thinking process continuing in the reader’s faith-walk. There is no doubt I needed to read and process through Olson’s insights.

I highly recommend this book to all who name the name of Christ!

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