Review -The God Conversation-

I am a life-long evangelism learner.  I've discovered that if you want to have a life of evangelism, you have to commit to growing in it always; there's never a plateau that you hit where you can coast from there on out.  (Here I am talking about life-long things, and I'm only 27.  Bear with me now.)

Over the years I've read a lot of books and tried out a lot of resources.  I'll give you a great summary of everything I've learned:  the gospel is simple, God does the heavy lifting, and the Spirit is what you need to rely on when sharing the gospel.  [It's actually  not as much about you as you would think.]

Even so, I've never regretted any time or energy I've put into sharpening myself in evangelism.  This pursuit brought me to the threshold of a recent great read, The God Conversation, by J.P. Moreland and Tim Muehlhoff.


The God Conversation is broken into 5 topics, with 2 chapters on each topic.  The  meat of the book is illustrations you can use to help you explain your faith better.  In my own experience, illustrations like these always help me think about my faith better too.

I found the whole book to be very usable.  The stand-out chapters for me were the 2 on the exclusivity of Christ ("Jesus, Buddha, or Muhammad" Part I and II).  If you read this book and get to these chapters, keep your eyes peeled for the Maze illustration and the buffet illustration.  To me, these 2 were especially excellent, memorable, and beneficial.

In the spirit of full disclosure, only once did the book furrow my brow.  It spoke very strongly to the issue of an 'age of accountability,' which is something I haven't found to be that black-and-white of an issue.  I'm no theologian, so don't ask me to clarify this issue for you.  I just felt that its vehemence was a little tangential, and weakened what otherwise might have been a very helpful book that tread solidly in the grounds of conviction-level Christianity.  I still highly recommend the read, but what good are these reviews if I'm too shy to say what I don't like?

Anyway, if you want to grasp some new ways to frame your faith, in your own head or to others, this is a great resource.  Thanks Moreland and Muehlhoff for the legwork, energy, and editing that must have went into a book of this nature.

Chapters

1.  The Power of Illustrations
2.  Can God Be Good If Terrorists Exist?
3.  Can God Be Good If Terrorists Exist? (Part II)
4.  Jesus, Buddha, or Muhammad?
5.  Jesus, Buddha, or Muhammad? (Part II)
6.  The Resurrection: Conspiracy Theory or Fact?
7.  The Resurrection: Conspiracy Theory or Fact? (Part II)
8.  What Would Machiavelli Do?
9.  What Would Machiavelli Do? (Part II)
10.  Are We An Accident?
11.  Are We An Accident? (Part II)

Final Thought:  The Dangers of Agenda Anxiety