Where did God come from? When did He come into existence? What makes God happy? Does God ever change His mind? These questions and many more are part of Christian Art Gifts’ new book entitled, Is God Real? — Encountering the Almighty by Nancy Taylor & Philip Ryken.
Where did God come from? When did He come into existence? What makes God happy? Does God ever change His mind? These questions and many more are part of Christian Art Gifts’ new book entitled
Is God Real? — Encountering the Almighty by Nancy Taylor & Philip Ryken.
Taylor and Ryken are a brother-and-sister pair, who have endeavored to answer common questions that people ask about God. The book,
Is God Real?, is divided into four sections, including Questions about
What God is Like and
Questions about What God Does. This book also has two companion books,
Knowing Jesus, and
Who is the Holy Spirit?.
Each answer appears in a helpful two-page response and points us to what the Bible says about each question. For instance, the answer to “Is there more than one God?” (pgs. 12-13) includes the Bible’s statement in Deuteronomy 6:4—“Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Or in the comments for “What does it mean that God is holy?” (pgs. 20-21), we find Isaiah 57:15—“For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
Theological Questions
Is God Real? takes us through several excellent questions and answers. There are deep
theological questions, such as:
Does God know everything that will happen in the future? Here is part of the answer:
“Isaiah 46:9-10 makes the connection: “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.’” God’s knowledge of the future is tied to His ability to accomplish His future purpose. He is God because of His ability to know everything from eternity past to eternity future. He knows it because He created it and also has power over it.” (pg. 26)
There are
apologetics questions:
How can I know is God real?“But beyond this
general revelation, as theologians call it, we can see a more particular and full-orbed picture of God in the Bible. We call the Biblical witness special revelation, and it is how God reveals Himself through His character and acts.” (pg. 17)
There are many questions that relate directly to the
gospel:
How can a loving God send people to hell?“But we have to be honest about the wages of sin. God is holy and infinite. Our sin is an affront to Him, a violation of His righteous requirements, and a rejection of His love. God is also just, and the punishment for sin needs to fit the crime. Rejecting the lordship of the infinite Creator who has sacrificed everything for us merits an eternal penalty. Thus the harshness of hell is a just punishment for the horror of rejecting God.” (pg. 59)
In the last section of the book, there are even questions that deal with
names we use for God when we pray:
What does it means
that God is Elohim? (pgs. 108-109)
What does it mean that God is Adonai? (pgs. 114-115)
What does it mean that God is El Shaddai? (pgs. 118-119)
Also included in “Is God Real—Encountering the Almighty” are what many would consider
tough questions:
Does God cause evil? (pgs. 70-71)
Does God love everyone,
or only Christians? (pgs. 56-57)
If God is good, why is there so much suffering in the world? (pgs. 72-73)
Our hope is that this book,
Is God Real?, serves as an excellent resource to help you in your knowledge of who God really is. When we understand more of Him from His Word, our walk with Him deepens. It encourages us to worship Him more richly and to find solace in Him during times of trouble. And as Dr. Ryken’s introduction to this book states, “Our prayer for you is simply this...that you will never stop wanting to know Him better and better.”