Winter Reading List
READING LIST – WINTER 2015
I hope you will check out our new library/bookstore at OBC. Christie Floyd is doing an awesome job in this ministry. Our hope is to provide some good Christian books and classics that most Christian bookstores no longer carry. We want to provide encouragement and direction in building a personal library that will help you share and defend the historical Christian faith.
Here are some books you might want to check out:
Questioning the Bible: 11 Major Challenges to the Bible’s Authority by Jonathon Morrow
This actually is our book of the month for January 2015. We are living in a culture that increasingly raises questions about the Bible’s authority. Most often they are raising old questions that have very good answers but if you don’t know them it can blow up your faith. Morrow has written a very readable book that deals with questions that skeptics like Bart Erhman bring up in an attempt to destroy people’s faith in the Bible and ultimately in Jesus.
Morrow deals with questions like: Is the bible anti-intellectual?, What can we really know about Jesus?, How do we know what the earliest Christians believed?, Why were some Gospels banned from the bible?, Did the biblical writers lie about their identity?, Has the biblical text been corrupted over the centuries?, Are the Gospels full of contradictions?, Is the Bible unscientific?, Is the Bible Sexist, Racist, Homophobic, and Genocidal?, What do Christians believe about the Bible? And Which interpretation of the Bible is correct?
This is a good read for every Christian who wants to be able to share their faith in our post-modern world.
Can We Still Believe The Bible?: An evangelical engagement with contemporary questions by Graig L Blomberg
In many ways this is a more academic study of the issues raised in Jonathon Morrow’s book. Blomberg is a New Testament professor at Denver Seminary and approaches the issues like a seminary professor would. He really goes in depth on issues like can we trust the copies of the bible given to us, what about the books chosen to be in the Canon, can we trust any translation of the bible, what about biblical inerrancy, is the bible historically accurate and what about the miracles in the bible.
This book is a tougher read but for those who really want to go in depth on these issues it is a good book.
ALL IN: You are a decision away from a totally different life by Mark Batterson
I think I have read most of his books and they always challenge me to be more committed to my faith. This is a book that is easy to read and will challenge you to no longer be half-hearted but go ALL IN for Christ. The outline of the book states clearly his challenge: NOW OR NEVER, All IN, ALL OUT, ALL IN ALL, ALL OR NOTHING.
Grand Central Question: Answering the critical questions of the major worldviews by Abdu H. Murray
This is another good book. Murray is an attorney and a former Muslim. He looks at the major worldview in our culture. He looks at secular humanism, Eastern and Western spirituality and Islam. He addresses the big questions addressed by various worldviews and then explains why Christianity offers the most satisfying answer because it is based on truth. This is a book that will equip Christians to be stronger in their faith and answer questions for those who are curious about what it means to embrace the Christian faith.
May you enjoy your reading and grow stronger in your faith.
Pastor Scott