12 hard questions for the world's largest religion

Citing sociological research, she shows that religious belief is in fact growing on a global scale, while the numbers of atheists, agnostics and “nones” are trending downward. She begins with the common belief that religion is withering in the face of secularism and will soon disappear. She follows an arc from the value and impact of religion to Christianity’s exclusive truth claims, to issues concerning Scripture, science, sexuality and social justice, and ending with the thorniest questions of all, regarding the existence of suffering and hell.Īs she engages these questions, McLaughlin consistently flips the script – with grace and powerful reasoning – on the secularist assumptions underlying them. McLaughlin arranges them in loose conceptual pairs and groups, moving along a path of increasing difficulty. Just as the questions aren’t random, neither is their order. “How could a loving God send people to hell?” “How can you say there’s only one true faith?”

In addition to those above, here are the other six: They’re the ones she hears most often in her work as an apologist for the faith. McLaughlin didn’t choose the 12 questions for her book in a random fashion. In McLaughlin’s hands, these difficult questions aren’t so much obstacles to the faith as they are points of entry into honest conversations about the Gospel. Her boundary-crossing book landed on the TED summer reading list and was named Book of the Year by Christianity Today. She weaves world-class research, personal stories and faithful Bible exposition into a readable blend that tackles the toughest questions facing contemporary Christians. Lewis and Tim Keller, she writes in an appealing style for thoughtful skeptics and for believers who seek to engage with them. McLaughlin holds a PhD in English literature from Cambridge University and a theology degree from Oak Hill College in London. Rebecca McLaughlin’s book, Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion, offers a more compelling approach. They can provoke a fight-or-flight response in us: either dismiss the questions with proof texts and glib answers, or else duck them and change the subject. “How could a loving God allow so much suffering?”įor followers of Jesus, questions like these can make us more than a little uneasy.

12 hard questions for the world's largest religion