Questioning Faith E-Book

Randy Newman

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: The Gospel Coalition
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Sort through Your Questions and Find a Path from Doubt to Faith Do you have honest questions about faith? Or have you walked away from a faith you once had? Perhaps you've been part of a faith tradition, but you've begun to question parts of what you've been taught. Students and young professionals today are submerged in a culture of cynicism and doubt. Many identify as nonreligious but wrestle with questions about God's existence, the meaning of life, and whether it's possible to find goodness and beauty in this world. After 40 years listening to hundreds of people's stories of faith, Randy Newman has come to see that answering spiritual questions usually involves a series of twists and turns, not a direct ascent from one belief to another. Our political view, family background, understanding of sexuality, and religious background all play a part in our faith journeys. If you or a friend are navigating terrains of doubt, you'll find Newman to be a faithful guide. He'll help you sort through your many questions and find solid answers.   - Culturally Aware: Touches on matters of morality, identity, suffering, sexuality, and science - Accessible: Newman mixes thought-provoking anecdotes with a clear and compelling message about the Christian faith - A Tool for Winsome Apologetics: Written to help those who doubt to answer their questions about the Christian faith; will also help Christians strengthen their beliefs and share them with doubting friends - Written by Randy Newman: Senior fellow for apologetics and evangelism at the C. S. Lewis Institute

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“l found this book riveting, not least because Randy Newman has given so much of his life to really hearing people’s stories. He has listened to their questions and is deeply engaged with their convictions and emotions. The result is a book that profoundly and humanely engages with what is going on beneath the surface in our culture.”

Rico Tice, Cofounder, Christianity Explored; author, Capturing God; Finding More; and The Ultimate Christmas Wishlist

“Atheists like me, and other religious skeptics, are sometimes quick to dismiss popular apologies of traditional Christian faith. But this can be unfair, and in the case of Randy Newman’s new book, it would be. The book is well argued, well informed, and thought-provoking. It is also, I might add, not Pollyannaish. Newman readily acknowledges the weaknesses and uncertainties of some of his arguments but insists that the other side faces even greater problems. As to whether he successfully makes his case—well, the issues here are complicated. Newman does make a strong case that the virtues of faith cannot easily be dismissed. But the virtue that I think matters most is epistemic virtue. Does faith produce knowledge, or at least rational belief, more rational than its denial? Newman offers some interesting and thought-provoking arguments that it does, but I don’t think those arguments ultimately succeed. Still, the book is worthy of serious consideration, and I very much recommend it, including to religious skeptics like me.”

Emmett L. Holman, Associate Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, George Mason University

“A book like this will be enormously helpful, and Randy Newman is the right person to write it. Questioning Faith addresses many of the questions people ask as they consider Christ, and it does so with insight, compassion, sensitivity, and humor. I expect I’ll be giving away copies often.”

Mike McKinley, Pastor, Sterling Park Baptist Church, Sterling, Virginia; author, Friendship with God

“Cynicism and unbelief are easy, particularly when they are trending. But then what do you believe? Do you have any roots or anchor, or do you drift with the ever-changing sentiments of society? Do you have any solid, satisfying hope, any spark of joy in your soul deep enough to withstand life’s successive waves of disappointment and pain? Randy Newman is a reliable voice to engage people who are questioning faith and looking for lasting answers. He himself has journeyed through terrains of doubt. He knows how to help the fainthearted. He has mercy on those who raise tough questions. He has patience to follow the twists and turns of your own story—and to invite you to explore ultimate questions about its destination.”

David Mathis, Senior Teacher and Executive Editor, desiringGod.org; Pastor, Cities Church, Saint Paul, Minnesota; author, Rich Wounds

“In a time of instant outrage, Randy Newman delves into the most divisive of topics with refreshingly earnest, patient, and contemplative attention. This book offers an examination of the self whose usefulness extends far beyond the scope of religious discourse alone. This exploration of faith and the human experience is a great model for how to learn about yourself and the world through discourse.”

Samuel Nealy, Assistant State Director, Virginia, American Atheists

“I remember searching for inner peace. Even more, I was hoping to find some way of making sense of my life, the modern world, and my Jewish upbringing. Somehow, I knew in the depth of my soul that part of the solution to these deeper questions would involve my Creator. I was raised to believe in God, but in fact I was far from faith. It is too bad Questioning Faith was not around at that time, as it would have sped up the discovery of an intimate and personal relationship with God that I have enjoyed now for many years. If you are searching, Randy Newman’s new volume will help you find what you are looking for—and more!”

Mitch Glaser, President, Chosen People Ministries

Questioning Faith

Other Gospel Coalition Titles

For Those Who Don’t Identify as Christians

Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion, by Rebecca McLaughlin

Confronting Jesus: 9 Encounters with the Hero of the Gospels, byRebecca McLaughlin

Does God Care about Gender Identity?, by Samuel D. Ferguson

Is Christianity Good for the World?, by Sharon James

Remember Death: The Surprising Path to Living Hope, by Matthew McCullough

For Confessing Christians

Finding the Right Hills to Die On: The Case for Theological Triage, byGavin Ortlund

Growing Together: Taking Mentoring beyond Small Talk and Prayer Requests, by Melissa B. Kruger

Keeping Your Children’s Ministry on Mission: Practical Strategies for Discipling the Next Generation, by Jared Kennedy

Mission Affirmed: Recovering the Missionary Motivation of Paul, by Elliot Clark

The New City Catechism: 52 Questions and Answers for Our Hearts and Minds

Rediscover Church: Why the Body of Christ Is Essential, by Collin Hansen and Jonathan Leeman

Why Do We Feel Lonely at Church?, by Jeremy Linneman

You’re Not Crazy: Gospel Sanity for Weary Churches, by Ray Ortlund and Sam Allberry

For Children

Arlo and the Great Big Cover-Up, by Betsy Childs Howard

Meg Is Not Alone, by Megan Hill

Polly and the Screen Time Overload, by Betsy Childs Howard

Lucy and the Saturday Surprise, by Melissa B. Kruger

To explore all TGC titles, visit TGC.org/books.

Questioning Faith

Indirect Journeys of Belief through Terrains of Doubt

Randy Newman

Questioning Faith: Indirect Journeys of Belief through Terrains of Doubt

© 2024 by Randy Newman

Published by Crossway1300 Crescent StreetWheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover design: Faceout Studio, Amanda Hudson

Cover image: Shutterstock

First printing 2024

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated into any other language.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-8923-2 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-8926-3 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-8924-9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Newman, Randy, 1956– author.

Title: Questioning faith : indirect journeys of belief through terrains of doubt / Randy Newman.

Description: Wheaton, Illinois : Crossway, 2024. | Series: The gospel coalition | Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Identifiers: LCCN 2023013626 (print) | LCCN 2023013627 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433589232 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781433589249 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433589263 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Faith. | Faith (Christianity) | Trust in God—Christianity. | Christian life.

Classification: LCC BV4637 .N485 2024 (print) | LCC BV4637 (ebook) | DDC 234/.23—dc23/eng/20230808

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023013626

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023013627

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2023-11-29 12:45:30 PM

In memory of Greg Boros,

dearly loved,

greatly missed

Contents

Introduction

Through Many Twists and Turns

1  The Question of Motives

What If We Aren’t Blank Slates?

2  The Question of Trust

What If Faith Is Inevitable, Not Optional?

3  The Question of Confidence

What If Absolute Certainty Isn’t Necessary?

4  The Question of Differences

What If Our Similarities Aren’t as Helpful as We Think?

5  The Question of Pain

What If We Need More Than Reasons?

6  The Question of Pleasure

What If There’s More to Beauty Than Meets the Eye?

Conclusion

How Will You Respond?

Appendix

What Are Some Good Next Steps?

General Index

Scripture Index

Introduction

Through Many Twists and Turns

Years ago, my son David and I scaled the challenging Angels Landing Hike in Zion National Park. It’s only a little over two miles from the parking lot to its magnificent zenith. But the climb conquers over sixteen hundred feet in elevation gain, earning it the distinction of “challenging” in every hiking guidebook you can find. (Truth in advertising: we did not attempt the final half mile, where hikers need to cling to chains to prevent falling to their death—as fourteen people have done since the year 2000!)

At one point, while gasping for air, I asked some climbers passing us on their descent, “How much farther?” They smiled politely and offered encouragements like “You can do it” and “It’s well worth it.” I doubted their reports. A bit later, we arrived at the intimidating start of twenty-one switchbacks known as Walter’s Wiggles. Staring straight up at these zigzag paths of the final ascent of 250 feet, I really hoped it would be “well worth it.”

Switchbacks are ingenious inventions to make steep mountain climbs possible. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary online defines a switchback as “a zigzag road, trail, or section of railroad tracks for climbing a steep hill.” Had it not been for Walter’s Wiggles, I would have needed six more hours, several oxygen tanks, numerous climbing ropes, or—forgetting all that—a helicopter! Though not easy, switchbacks make the task less difficult. Sometimes the indirect route, through many twists and turns, is the best.

When we arrived at our goal, Scout Lookout, we gazed down at the tiny parking lot where we began our hike. Were those people or ants down there? Then we began our descent—far less rigorous but no less glorious. In fact, the views we could now take in, no longer gasping for breath, made the entire experience one of the highlights of my life. Surprisingly, we noted several other series of switchbacks we had failed to recognize on our way up. These were more gradual than Walter’s Wiggles, thus more subtle. Sometimes, when you look back over a past event, you see things you hadn’t noticed before.

Indirect Journeys of Faith

This book is about spiritual journeys, not mountain climbing. But, after listening to hundreds of people’s stories of faith, throughout more than forty years of serving as a kind of spiritual guide, I’ve come to see that spiritual journeys resemble a series of twists and turns more than a direct ascent from one belief to another. My own story certainly fits that description. (I’ll share more about my wanderings later.)

Some of the stories I’ve heard move from unbelief to faith. Others move in a variety of other directions. Quite a few travel through terrains of doubt. I find them all fascinating and illuminating. I think they have a lot to say to a lot of people. They can point searchers in helpful directions. They can encourage weary travelers to keep going. Each chapter that follows shares several people’s stories and tries to identify common themes that tie them together.

Maybe you’ve picked up this book because you once had faith but haven’t for a while. Or perhaps you’ve never had faith and now wonder if it’s worth considering. Or maybe you’ve been part of a faith tradition and find some of it unsatisfying. Then again, maybe you just love good stories. Some narratives might resonate with your own experience or reignite your search or remind you of what was good before you disconnected from spiritual pursuits. Stories of faith can challenge assumptions that stymie the process of searching for answers. Whatever your motivations, my hope is that the stories I recount in this book can help you as you step into the next chapters of your own story. But before someone’s story can be helpful, we must be willing to listen.

Will You Listen?

My father fought in World War II, serving in the Coast Guard on a ship in the Mediterranean Sea. He actually served on three ships—German U-boats sank the first two. I remember hearing my father recount dozens of times when his first ship was torpedoed and sinking. He and his crewmates clung to life vests or flotsam or whatever they could find for thirty-six hours, waiting for rescue ships to arrive. Astonishingly, the horrors of that situation never hit me while my father told the story. There goes Dad again, I thought, telling that story of floating in the Mediterranean. I cringe now as I admit my callous heart.

What must it have been like to grasp desperately to a floating hunk of wood or something equally flimsy, wondering how long you could hang on before drowning? While my father and his crewmen waited those thirty-six hours, it wasn’t as if they had booked a rescue squad. No one assured them: “Just hang on guys. We only have a few more hours before they get here!” They had no idea if anyone anywhere knew their ship had been sunk or that survivors were floating and waiting for rescue. Did some of them fail to hang on and drown? That seems almost certain. Did my father watch comrades slip into the sea, never to resurface? It’s hard not to assume so. How many didn’t survive? Most? How many persevered and climbed aboard a rescue ship—waterlogged, starving, and barely able to move?

It’s possible to hear a story but not really hear it. In fact, repetition may not wake you to the reality of the story. The repeated telling might increase the dullness of hearing. Some of my deafness to my father’s stories came from the culture of anti-war sentiment in which I was raised. Whether we realize it or not, what saturates the culture around us influences what we accept inside us. The same can happen with stories of faith. We can hear them so often, we grow deaf to them. Or our current climate may overshadow our desire to consider different perspectives.

Consider these confusing cultural factors that can keep us from listening well when someone shares his or her spiritual journey:

1.  Many religious traditions are declining or merely maintaining their numbers today, but one category is skyrocketing—the “nones.” Those who say they have no particular religious belief have grown in the US from 5 percent to at least 30 percent in the last forty years.1 Are you in this category? If you were asked in an online survey about your religious beliefs, which label would you select from the multitude of choices in a drop-down menu?

2.  The category labeled evangelical, a camp that once defined itself with specific Christian beliefs, now has people signing on from Jewish, Muslim, Roman Catholic, and agnostic perspectives. They define evangelical primarily as a political category.2 What do the words evangelical or Christian mean anymore? Do they mean anything at all?

3.  An atmosphere of doubt and cynicism pervades our society. You may have noticed that many people “get their news” through comedians who feel no need for accuracy or fairness, so long as their material gets laughs. We could debate whether the comedians are a forming influence on our society or merely reflect a culture that is already cynical, but there’s no doubt that irony and skepticism shape many aspects of peoples’ lives, including their spirituality. As journalist Adam Gopnik observed, “Modern people are drawn to faith while practicing doubt, as our ancestors confessed their doubts while practicing faith.”3 Does this generally skeptical attitude describe you?

Somewhat surprisingly, given the skepticism and confusion of our culture, a lot of people still pursue spiritual answers. Recent research found that a high percentage (79 percent) of people who do not affiliate with any religion are very willing to discuss the topic with a friend—if that friend takes his or her faith seriously.4 My hope is that you’re one of them, that you’ll listen to the stories that follow with open ears and an open mind. Like my climb up Walter’s Wiggles, it may just be “well worth it.”

1  Ryan Burge, “Why ‘Evangelical’ Is Becoming Another Word for ‘Republican,’” New York Times, October 26, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/.

2  Burge, “Why ‘Evangelical.’”

3  Adam Gopnik, introduction to The Good Book: Writers Reflect on Favorite Bible Passages, ed. Andrew Blauner (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2015), x.

4  Rick Richardson, You Found Me: New Research on How Unchurched Nones, Millennials, and Irreligious Are Surprisingly Open to Christian Faith (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2019), 58.

1

The Question of Motives

What If We Aren’t Blank Slates?

Christopher Hitchens, the famed atheist, converted Alex.1 In fact, he converted him twice. From the time he was just fourteen, Alex devoured Hitchens’s scorching atheist rants in Vanity Fair and on an ever-expanding list of skeptical websites. Raised in a rural, anti-intellectual community, Alex grew in rage to match the wrath of his hero, the author of the bestselling God Is Not Great.

I knew none of this when I first met Alex. He was twenty-five at the time and worked for a Christian organization in the same office building where I worked. When I asked him how he got connected to a Christian organization, he told me about his two conversions. I was intrigued. He began with Hitchens. Two journeys—Alex’s and Christopher’s—shape this chapter and help us consider the question of motives. They show us that we all bring more to the table than mere intellectual curiosity.

Alex loved the ways Hitchens mixed brilliant articulation with piercing wit. Alex felt proud in rejecting his parents’ Christian faith, his so-called Christian school, and, as he described them, other “knuckle-dragging Baptists” he knew. Watching hours of YouTube videos of Hitchens skewering his opponents armed him with both substance and style for ridiculing hypocritical Christians.

Hitchens wasn’t just an atheist. He called himself an “anti-theist” and bombarded religious people with relentless attacks, bolstering his claim that “religion poisons everything.”2Older atheists like Bertrand Russell engaged in philosophical arguments that were out of reach for most nonacademics. They seemed tame compared with Hitchens and other so-called new atheists. Hitchens held back nothing. He even wrote a tirade against Mother Teresa. For Hitchens, nothing was beyond the pale. And Alex ate it all up with glee.

As Alex recounted his journey from presumed faith to rejected faith to newfound faith, I kept wondering if there was more to the story than mere changes in intellectual beliefs. In addition to rational arguments, I wondered what other dynamics contributed to this journey. I’d heard enough personal stories to know they include more than just logic and reason. We’re whole persons, not just brains on a stick. And we approach the topic of faith with a menagerie of motives, not just intellectual curiosity.

Below the surface, Hitchens’s message resonated with Alex for more than just intellectual reasons. They both saw and experienced disgusting hypocrisy in the Christianity they were immersed in from childhood. For Hitchens, it came through a nominally Christian school in the UK. For Alex, it permeated a nominally Christian school in the southern US. Both settings failed to live up to the Christian mottos on their walls and the sermons preached in their chapels. Both schools’ administrations merely winked at sexual abuse, leading both young men—Hitchens and Alex—to declare themselves atheists before the age of sixteen, with no shame or felt need to justify the newfound label.

“Hitchens gave me reasons to believe what I believed,” Alex told me, quickening his speech. “More than that, he provided a replacement for the Christianity of my upbringing, an all-encompassing worldview without holes. Atheism also gave me approval to live the way I wanted.” The connection dug deeper than just ideology. “Hitchens was full of rage and so was I,” Alex continued. “It was as if he dismissed Christianity for the same reasons I had. Both of us rejected the so-called Christian faith we saw at our schools and said: ‘If that’s Christianity, I don’t want it. And no one should want it.’”

At that point in our conversation, Alex paused and shook his head in what looked like unbelief. I asked him what was going on inside him and he struggled to find words. “I’m kinda amazed,” he began. “So many twists and turns. I really was a very different person. I almost don’t recognize that guy back there.” I’d heard these expressions of contrasting personhoods before. Even so, I found Alex’s story unique. Our journeys often manifest commonalities with others’. Yet, somehow, every story is unique. There is only one trail to the top of Angels Landing in Zion National Park. But everyone’s experience up that path is distinct.

Christopher Hitchens’s journey to anti-faith involves more ingredients than just intellectual disagreement and condemnation of hypocrisy. In his memoir Hitch 22