verle sutton writes:

Subject: Faith and Doubt

I attended Willow Creek when Ortberg was a teaching pastor. He is the best teaching pastor I have ever been exposed to. He was the favorite of most of us at Willow.

I was, however, very disappointed in this book. If there is a central theme, it is that we can not know that our Christian beliefs are true so doubt is a condition we must learn to live with. A second and related emphasis is that, in support of Pascal, it is reasonable to "choose" Christianity because if we are correct, we gain everything, but if we are wrong, we have lost nothing.

My emphasis is apologetics so this pandering to non-believers "Smart people disagree, so how can I know I am correct" is, in my view, counter productive. We have the facts are on side, but John is really not interested in that debate - "we are not logic machines". That is true, but our objective should be a rational, non-emotional, analysis.

John is an "amiable". He wants to be liked and to get along. Insisting on the exclusive truth of Christ as the only way to God is the basis of our Christian faith. And yet John, in this book, is not willing to come across as that stereotypical, obnoxious, "I am right and you are wrong" Christian. But that is what we are.

verle sutton