A Doubter's Guide to the Bible: Inside History’s Bestseller For Believers And Skeptics
Overview
A Doubter’s Guide to the Bible is a concise account of the whole biblical narrative and the lifestyle it inspires, representing a unique and engaging framework for those observing Christianity from the outside, especially those who think there are good reasons not to believe. John Dickson provides a readable and winsome Bible primer, summarizing Scripture’s main themes and addressing tough questions on creation, the Old Testament law, and more.
By presenting the whole of the Bible as an account of God’s promise to restore humanity to Himself, Dickson allows believers and skeptics alike to gain insight into why the Bible has been a compelling, life-changing, and magnetic force throughout the centuries.
From Jesus, to the New Atheism, to Mormonism, get prepared to defend your faith with the Kregel Apologetics Collection (6 vols.).
- Demonstrates the continuity of the biblical narrative
- Defends the authenticity and value of the Bible and Christianity
- Addresses questions of science and creation, Old Testament law, and more
- How Everything Is Good
- Why So Much Is Bad
- Life in Three Dimensions
- The Good Life
- Justice for All
- Kingdom Come
- Hope against Hope
- The Wait Is Over (Almost)
- The Great Work
- How Everything Is Almost Good Again
Top Highlights
“Faith isn’t about cognitively accepting the reality of God; it is about relying on, or trusting, him with our lives.” (Page 152)
“The starting point of the biblical story is not creation’s fall, but its glory.” (Page 29)
“The opening sentence of the Bible contains just seven words in Hebrew (though it obviously differs in translation). The crucial phrase ‘And it was so’ is repeated seven times in this opening ode. The words ‘and it was good’ also appear exactly seven times. And there is the obvious fact that the whole account is structured around seven scenes or seven days. Multiples of seven also appear in uncanny ways. The second sentence of the ode contains fourteen words (2 × 7). ‘God’ appears thirty-five times (5 × 7). ‘Earth’ and ‘heaven/firmament,’ the two halves of the created order, are each named twenty-one times (3 × 7) (so, Gordon Wenham, Genesis 1–15 [Word, 1987], 6).” (Page 19)
“Many scholars suggest that ‘knowledge,’ as it is used in Genesis 2:17, has the nuance of ‘to determine.’ This is the tree of the determination of good and evil. It is not that God does not want Adam to know the difference between good and evil; that wouldn’t make sense of the narrative, in any case, since God’s command not to eat from this particular tree presupposes that Adam was able to comprehend that it would be wrong to go against God’s wishes. The real point seems to be that God does not want Adam to imagine that he is free to choose what is good and what is evil. That prerogative belongs to God alone.” (Page 39)
“The fourth interpretation, and the one I find most convincing, sees Adam as a concrete symbol. This view agrees that Adam is a symbol of humanity and of Israel, but maintains that the narrative speaks of a real event, albeit in obvious picture language. On this view, there was a time in this world when a prehistoric individual or couple was in perfect communion with God and then in some way defied God.” (Page 42)
- Title: A Doubter’s Guide to the Bible: Inside History’s Bestseller for Believers and Skeptics
- Author: John Dickson
- Publisher: Zondervan
- Print Publication Date: 2014
- Logos Release Date: 2018
- Pages: 218
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subject: Bible › Introductions
- ISBNs: 9780310527114, 9780310518433, 0310527112, 0310518431
- Resource ID: LLS:DBTRSGDBBL
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-29T23:12:34Z
Reviews
1 rating
Michael S. Shelton
5/18/2018
Felmar Roel Rap. Singco
2/16/2018
The Holy Bible is not a book of logical deductions, nor a tome of scientific propositions. Rather, it is God's divine revelation to us, revelation of His nature, intentions, and will for us His creation, made by Him through His one and only Son, the LORD Jesus Christ, by the power of Their Holy Spirit, through the instrumentalities of His called and inspired: the Prophets, Seers, Apostles, Kings, Warriors, Elders, Priests, Legislators, Poets, Scribes, Judges, Musicians, Soldiers, and Builders through the ages. We approach and read the Holy Bible, if we want to benefit from it, not with the natural eyes, but with the spiritual eyes, guided and aided all ways by the Holy Spirit through humble prayer and inspiration.
