Are you facing doubting dilemmas that challenge you, doubts you find extremely annoying, the kind that are messing up your Christian life? Do you want to discover real solutions that are biblical, effective, and easy to understand? If the answer is yes, then this book offers the answers you are seeking! Readers will discover the reasons why believers in Christ, like everyone else, have doubting quandaries about such significant topics as God, the Bible, especially the story of creation. In presenting the only effective solution that comes through God's grace, this book will unveil the intimate relationship between heaven's rebellion and the creation event. It will also reveal why there is such an aggressive, present-day effort to present the creation story as a myth or parable rather than a literal, historical event.

My book's objective is to describe the beliefs, practices, and ventures of the Adventist church that have had or still have a significant impact on my life. Looking back, I now have a better understanding why ancient Israel was repeatedly told to remember what God had done for them. For this reason, there will be much reminiscing, retelling of personal experiences, and evaluating church teachings and decisions, all in the endeavor to make sense of what has happened. That can only take place if we bathe our words and expressions in grace, love and understanding. The book endeavors to answer the underlying question: what do we mean when we use the term "church"? What are the primary reasons for its existence? When you ask Adventists such a question, we hope they answer with a reply that is inspiring and practical. In presenting my view of Adventism over the past seventy-five years, it's had a positive effect on my knowing and understanding Jesus-and I hope the same goes for you!

Many years ago Bob Dylan wrote: "The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind," but we've learned that really important answers don't come that easily. Asking questions is a sign of a healthy, growing faith, a faith that drives us deeper into God's Word. That's the reason God's first question in the Old Testament is "Where are you?" while the first question the wise men ask in the New Testament is "Where is He?" It's been observed that God answers just enough questions to get us through the day, while leaving us with enough unanswered questions so we can look forward to learning more tomorrow. This book is designed to deal with some of our most difficult questions or troubling issues . . . from a biblical perspective. At times it may appear that some questions have no answer, or maybe have more than one, or perhaps have answers that contradict each other. That's one reason we're not only to confront knotty questions, but willingly accept God's unraveling answers.

While this story reads like a short police report, Cain and Abel's tragic narrative plays a definitive role in the biblical saga called the great controversy. As we review their story, we might assume that if we had a chance to meet Cain and Abel, just by looking, we could easily determine who was the kind Abel and who was the mean-spirited Cain. Are you sure? Would you be surprised to learn Abel was guilty of viewing Cain from a superficial perspective that gave him a misleading impression of his brother? As we study their lives, it's easy for us to have preconceived ideas because we don't know what was going through Cain's mind until Cain's behavior plainly displays it for all of us to see. It's human to be biased. But that's not God's way of judging! This book dives deeper into the story to reveal God's perspective. I invite you to dive in with me as objectively as possible. Don't prejudge. Be persuaded by biblical evidence-wherever it leads you!

A distinguished scholar urges scientists and religious thinkers to become colleagues rather than adversaries in areas where their fields overlap Each age has its own crisis--our modern experience of science-religion conflict is not so very different from that experienced by our forebears, Keith Thomson proposes in this thoughtful book. He considers the ideas and writings of Thomas Jefferson and Charles Darwin, two men who struggled mightily to reconcile their religion and their science, then looks to more recent times when scientific challenges to religion (evolutionary theory, for example) have given rise to powerful political responses from religious believers. Today as in the eighteenth century, there are pressing reasons for members on each side of the religion-science debates to find common ground, Thomson contends. No precedent exists for shaping a response to issues like cloning or stem cell research, unheard of fifty years ago, and thus the opportunity arises for all sides to cooperate in creating a new ethics for the common good.

"The Book of Psalms is often seen as an anthology of prayers and hymns from which the reader may extract a selection as need or interest dictates. However, a recent development in Psalms scholarship has been a discussion of whether the collection of psalms has some overall structure. Is the whole of the Book of Psalms greater than the sum of its individual parts? This commentary argues that it is and presents a continuous reading of the Book of Psalms. Moreover, the long-standing tradition, found within both Judaism and Christianity, of associating the psalms with David is used as a reading strategy. In this volume, the Psalms are presented sequentially. Each has its place in the collection but thirty-five are treated at greater length. They are read, at least in the first two books (Psalms 1-72), as if they were David's words. Beyond that a more complex and developed association between David and the Psalms is demanded. David becomes a figure of hope for a different future and a new royal reign reflecting the reign of Yahweh. Throughout, David remains a model of piety for all who seek to communicate with God in prayer. It is in light of this that later disasters in the life of Israel, especially the Babylonian Exile, can be faced. In the Book of Psalms, the past, in terms of both David's life and the history of Israel, is the key to future well-being and faithfulness."--Back cover.

Cynical Sons & Doubting Daughters is a book giving the reader a close encounter with some biblical trailblazers who all responded to the surprises of life differently. While each character had an intimate relationship with God some of their responses to life looked more like emotional relapses. This book is to encourage every son and daughter of God to resist the temptation of becoming cynical and doubting when unexpected situations are thrown their way.

This book collects eight articles on the thought and method of Gersonides (Provence, 1288-1344). They deal with: his methods of inquiry and composition; his use of introductions; his method in the supercommentaries on Averroes; and his methods of biblical exegesis.

We are all familiar with the stories of what happened at the first Christmas and Easter--or are we? The Crib, the Cross and the Crown strips away the wrapping-paper of tradition and folk-lore from the stories of the birth and death of Jesus Christ, and takes a fresh look at what the Gospels themselves say. It describes the real Jesus of the New Testament, and reflects on the ways in which the recurring themes in his story can shape our own lives and faith.

Faith, doubt, and reason are universal human faculties, yet they are frequently misunderstood, denigrated, and even abused. What does it mean to have faith, and what distinguishes faith from belief? Can someone have faith without religious commitments? What is doubt, and what is its relationship to faith and belief? How do we make sense of evil and suffering? What roles does reason play in our lives? What do we do when we have the sneaking suspicion that life is absurd? What do we love, and what do we fear? How do faith, doubt, and reason interrelate? Faith, doubt, and reason not only can work together: they must work together if we are to live lives of meaning and purpose. This book explores the significance of these three universal human faculties and the central role they play in our quest for the meaning of life. Drawing on classic texts in theology, philosophy, literature, and the Bible, Faith, Doubt, and Reason invites readers to delve deeply into the quest for the meaning of life in all its ambiguity, mystery, and tragic beauty.