(Part 3) Best christian living books according to redditors
We found 7,182 Reddit comments discussing the best christian living books. We ranked the 2,676 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 41-60. You can also go back to the previous section.
49. The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It
11 mentions
HarperOne
Was she raised in a conservative religious family/church/community? Those "Purity" messages can really screw people up. Pregnancy phobia -even when the person knows better - is a thing that happens sometimes.
I recommend you spend some time watching Sexplanations together and get PURE by Linda Kay Klein and read or listen to it together (the audio book is great, and may be available through your library).
In case anyone is not aware, the tweeter, Kevin Kruse, is imo one of our greatest living American historians, currently at Princeton University. His book
One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America is a must read for anyone truly seeking to understand the origins of the left/right divide in this country. It's a history of an insidious intrigue to oppose any social program, which Kruse has laid out with meticulous documentation. It really is breathtaking the way he handles the material.
Imo, you really can't thoroughly understand where we are now, with out reading this book. I can't recommend it enough. Here's his webpage, which has a link to an interview he did with Terry Gross on NPRs Fresh Air. The interview was great and it gives you the gist of the book:
https://history.princeton.edu/people/kevin-m-kruse
In the USA, the profit-motive and religion have been conflated over the years (read One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America for more info).
Welllll as a former atheist I am going to have to tell you that if "wanting to see the world as simpler" is your goal, I certainly don't think Catholicism will help. It turns out that God is complicated, theology is hard, and virtue is extremely challenging. I found atheistic materialism with a healthy dose of liberal politics made for a much simpler and especially easier worldview.
But truth isn't supposed to be what is simple and easy. And almost everything worth doing is going to be hard. Putting your faith in God isn't like having a nice sweet daddy/mommy who will kiss your boos boos any make everything better. Nope. Faith makes demands on you. Everything from not spouting off expletives when some ahole cuts you off in traffic to living chastely to putting other people and Christ first in your life. Anyone who tells you this is easy is lying. Selfishness and self-centeredness is always easier and will always tempt you.
That doesn't mean faith isn't worth having or worth doing. Your conscience convicts you long enough until you die and Christ will. The sooner you get started the better off you'll be.
Start here:
1 Read this to know God exists.
2. Read this to know sin is real and virtue is possible.
3. Read this to learn about truth and the authentic courageous intellectual life.
4. Read this to learn how one of the greatest Saints came into faith.
5. Read this for a little bit of everything.
No war criminal, but he, and his VP Nixon, started the myth that America was founded on Christian beliefs, and "encouraged" the military to behave like Crusaders. Soon thereafter, defense contractors began currying his favor by proclaiming similar claptrap. Eventually, Big Business got in on the action, to cash in on the Cold War between God-fearing America vs. Godless Russia.
Source: One Nation Under God
It is Christian libertarianism.
Bought and paid for by corporates. Pete is the alternate CL. Its apostles to billionaires. ^[1]
>The members of the First Congregational Church were mostly among the wealthy, giving Fifield the nickname "The Apostle to Millionaires". The Church from 1937 to 1942 paid substantial money to Spiritual Mobilization.
You likely grew up in the weird fusion of American Southern culture and a specific brand (Baptist evangelical) of Christianity. Most Christians are not American. They're not even mostly white. They're not even mostly male.
Here's a good book about the history if anyone is really interested.
And here's another.
Yes. 'Murica has worked hard over the last century to demonize socialism in all of its forms. One of the more recent books I read about it was One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America by Kevin Kruse. He also had a good interview on NPR about it.
Scapular and beer. Scapular flavored beer!
You might try the Christian Prayer liturgy of the hours for a real gift that he could come to like.
Oooo this is my wheelhouse!
First, I would recommend looking at the Mormon History Association Best Book awards going back to 1966. Quality scholarship, research, and writing are a mainstay with them.
Required reading:
Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet by John Turner / Brigham Young: American Moses by Leonard Arrington
Considered two of the best books about early Utah and the Brigham Young years. Arrington's book was considered groundbreaking when he wrote it, and Turner's book brings in the valuable perspective of the non-Mormon writing about Young. For many Mormons, Turner's book will be less sympathetic to Young than Arrington's, but Turner also worked closely with the Church Archives (and spoke glowingly about them and that process), so his research had access to some better sources. If you need a primer for Brigham Young, I recommend Arrington's book. For a Brigham Young graduate level course, I recommend Turner.
Early Mormonism and the Magic Worldview by Michael Quinn
To understand much of what happened in early Mormonism, you must understand the role that folk magic played in the lives of Americans in the 1800s. Quinn's research at this time was top notch, and he was a quickly rising star among Mormon historians. Considered one of his best works, and foundational to the understanding things like seer stones, divining rods, visions, and everything else that happened in the early church days.
David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism by Greg Prince
Covers late 1940s - 1960s Mormonism, one of the "rising moments" of Mormonism when we went from a Utah-church to a worldwide church. Prince had amazing access to the journals of President McKay's secretary, which led to some candid discussions about things like the publishing of Mormon Doctrine by McConkie, blacks and the priesthood, ecumenical outreach, and politics.
Spencer W. Kimball by Edward Kimball / Lengthen Your Stride: The Presidency of Spencer W. Kimball by Edward Kimball
Ed was Pres. Kimball's son, and the books cover both the apostle years and presidency years of Spencer W. Kimball. If you had to choose one, get Lengthen Your Stride, but make sure it has the CD that comes with the book. This has the unabridged manuscript prior to the Deseret Book edits, which is much more interesting.
By the Hand of Mormon by Terryl Givens (heck...anything by Terryl Givens!)
I'll admit - I'm a Terryl Givens fanboy. By the Hand of Mormon was the one that first got me in to him, mostly because he took the Book of Mormon as a serious work of literature to examine it's merits. It's not as devotional as many traditional LDS books about the Book of Mormon (it was put out by Oxford University Press), but it really gave me a deeper appreciation for the Book of Mormon as contemporary literature. Also check out Viper on the Hearth (Mormons on myth and heresy), People of Paradox (Mormon culture), When Souls had Wings (the pre-existence in Western thought), and so many others.
And just because I'm a big book nerd, here's the list of books that are on my desk right now that I can give you quick reviews if you want:
I'd highly recommend Kevin Roose's book The Unlikely Disciple for a fascinating, concise glimpse into Liberty's culture. He was then a Brown University student (ie extremely open-minded "liberal") who did a semester at Liberty out of morbid curiosity. It's a super quick read too!
Edit: I seem to have created a downvote-enemy in this thread. Still cannot recommend the book enough! In the words of LaVar Burton: Don't take my word for it!
Because I think the greatest threat to the modern Western world is what C. S. Lewis called "The Abolition of Man", and more generally the denial of the created order. White supremacy, for all its manifest sinfulness and absurdity, is doing something totally different that I don't think has half as much destructive potential(not least because it has so much less chance at becoming the dominant view) in our modern world.
Hah... you can get pieces of it in the following books:
The Book of Mammon
David O. McKay's Biography
some pieces are here: http://bycommonconsent.com/2010/03/03/correlation-an-uncorrelated-history-part-1-the-mormon-underground/
and here: http://www.wheatandtares.org/7190/dumbing-downsimplifying-the-gospel/
You get bits about Grant here: https://www.lds.org/ensign/1979/07/jedediah-and-heber-grant?lang=eng
And about Grant's mother: https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/BYUStudies/article/viewFile/6918/6567
And even a comic book version of Harold B. Lee's christmas miracle here: https://www.lds.org/friend/2001/12/harold-b-lee-shares-christmas?lang=eng
But no, I know of no book that puts the whole thing together quite as succinctly. Once my current book comes out (It's done, just needs some editing); my next one will be "Honest Mormon Nuttiness" or "Nutty Mormon History" and this kind of connected tale comes out from it.
hey there. someone already did this a couple of years ago. his name is kevin roose and he now works for the new york times. he published a book called The Unlikely Disciple .
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also posting this on reddit and boasting about it is probably not your best idea but have fun!
I've heard good things about Simply Christian by N.T. Wright: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0061920622
But I haven't read it myself.
I've heard really good things about the book Pure, by Linda Kay Klein (here's the Amazon link). If money is a concern, see if your local library has it.
I 100% feel for you, I was raised with the same purity beliefs. To this day it impacts my (married) sex life, but I'm actively working through it with a professional. Highly suggest that or a therapist when you're in the financial position. Until then, there are lots of great books and so many other women who can offer you moral support. You're not alone, you're not broken, you can heal and have a healthy, happy sex life! Check out @erica.smith.sex.ed on instagram, she's the sex educator I'm working with, and she has several highlights about purity culture and recovery from it. Education and community will get you a long way until you can work with a sex-positive therapist.
I was an evangelical for 27 years, from age 18 to 45. I wouldn't say that there's one profound argument against Christianity; I would say that Christians and atheists are not even talking the same language. And most of that has to do with Christians having their conclusions in mind when they investigate, whereas atheists are willing to be led wherever the evidence and reason lead them. The end result is that atheists and Christians have completely different mindsets about what constitutes evidence and what they are willing to consider.
The first book I would recommend is Who Wrote the Bible? by Richard Elliot Friedman. Friedman is, himself, a Christian. The book deals with what scholars know about the construction of the first few books of the Bible.
Second book I would recommend is The Bible Unearthed by Neil Silberman and Israel Finkelstein. Have you ever wondered what the archaeological support is for the stories of the Old Testament? Dr. Finkelstein is one of the leading archaeologists in Israel today. This is an excellent place to start. (Here's a 90 minute video if you prefer.)
Third, pretty much any book by Bart Ehrman. Here's a good one, though -- Jesus, Interrupted. Dr. Ehrman is very respected in the scholarly community, and what he writes here, for the most part, represents where the majority of scholars are.
Fourth is A History of God by Karen Armstrong. Ms Armstrong tells the story of how the God the Jews, Christians, and Muslims got his start in Canaan. There is a quick summary of the book here.
For me I'm going to go a bit old school. First "The Abolition of Man" by C. S. Lewis, which argues for a sort of 'Universal Truth'. I thought it was endlessly fascinating, and it's really an easy, short read. (The audio book was only an few hours long). There's also Lewis's "Mere Christianity" which is once again easy and short. In it he sort of starts with a shortened version of the argument found in Abolition, and from there discusses why Christianity itself works as the 'Universal Truth'.
If your looking for something thicker, I would suggest G. K. Chesterton's "Heretics", which blasts away the philosophy of his contemporaries (Which is still applicable today), "Orthodoxy" which discusses his own conversion and his own search for truth, and "The Everlasting Man" which discusses the history of mankind and Christianity's role in it. (This was also the book that converted Lewis' intellect).
Chesterton is not necessarily a difficult read because of lengthy words, or because he references something no longer fashionable, but because of his ideas. I like to think I can understand things fairly well, but I had to pause often to go over a phrase, or to really think about a thought he presented. But both authors are very enjoyable.
Welcome! I appreciate your genuine curiosity to learn more about Catholicism from Catholics.
I would recommend Crossing the Tiber by Steve Ray. Steve has a Baptist background as well and wrote that book to explain why he was converting to Catholicism. I really enjoyed it and it combines Scripture and Early Christian's writings to support his reasons.
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God bless!
Personally, I think there's a lot of garbage, namby-pamby advice in this thread.
As Venerable Fulton Sheen said, "There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church — which is, of course, quite a different thing."
If you believe the Catholic Faith is true, then presumably your end goal is their conversion. If it's not, it should be.
Perhaps the initial explanation won't go well. That's fine. Whatever happens, don't burn any bridges. Unfortunately, since it's today there's not much more prep you can do.
The best advice I can give is to come armed with what they think they know. Beyond the initial, emotional reaction, they will have arguments. Maybe not today, but they'll come. They already know what they're going to say. They already have their "Catholicism is the Whore of Babylon Talking Points" on a 3x5 index card (even if it's just a mental index card.) So what do you do? Surprise them. Steal their lines. Ask questions that they aren't expecting. Since you already know all of the anti-Catholic talking points, you are (hopefully) well prepared to counter them with clarity and charity, using Holy Scripture as your guide.
Also, remember you're not alone in this. LOTS of fantastic people have made this conversion. Here are a few book recs that are relevant.
Catholicism and Fundamentalism
Rome Sweet Home
Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic
Crossing the Tiber: Evangelical Protestants Discover the Historical Church
I haven't read this one yet, but it also looks awesome. Dr. Brant Pitre also writes on this topic:
The Fourth Cup: Unveiling the Mystery of the Last Supper and the Cross
Same girl, same. I remember writing letters to my “future husband” when I was 13 about how I was saving myself for him and I was to remain pure and blah blah blah. Didn’t have my first relationship until about 27 and I was royally a messed up mess with intimacy.
Anyways, there’s this book I’ve been meaning to read about a girl who grew up in the purity movement. Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501124811/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_Ds27Cb5TGHR6Q
At its core, atheism is solely the absence of belief in gods/magic/metaphysical/religion etc.
But there are many related issues that are inextricably linked to atheism. A very common one is opposition to the very idea of faith - defined as belief without evidence. Science, being a rigorous method for the continuous pursuit of knowledge, is a natural ally of many atheists and an excellent counterpoint to the phenomenon of faith.
Further, many people take the position that science has nothing to say on the topic of religion or gods (Gould's NOMA). This is entirely untrue. Just as science can be used to determine if there is an invisible elephant with specific attributes in a specific room, it can also be used to test the hypothesis of the existence of a deity with specific attributes. Research along these lines already occurs, such as studies on the efficacy of prayer.
I highly suggest God: the Failed Hypothesis by physicist Victor J. Stenger for any skeptic.
Edit: I accidentally a letter.
How to Think About God: A guide for the 20th Century Pagan
Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity
Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief
Biblical Games: Game Theory and the Hebrew Bible
The Probability of God: A Simple Calculation That Proves the Ultimate Truth
The Abolition of Man
Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: The Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith
Reading the Bible Again For the First Time: Taking the Bible Seriously But Not Literally
An introduction to Christian doctrine and what Christians believe is completely different than an introduction to the Bible.
For a free, online, scholarly introduction to the Bible I suggest OpenYale's courses on the New Testament and Hebrew Scriptures available here. Both Christine Hayes and Dale B. Martin are excellent. Biblical Literacy by Timothy Beal is an excellent accessible and mostly moderate[1] introduction to the the Bible for someone who's never read it before.
As far as both doctrine and the basis for doctrine go, that'll differ drastically from denomination to denomination. Most Protestant denominations claim that they believe in "sola scriptura" or "scripture alone", but perhaps the biggest blow to this statement may be the fact that you can't read the Bible and instantly divine everything there is to know about Protestants. Understanding the history of Protestantism is necessary. Even within the realm of Protestantism you'll find a diverse spectrum of beliefs. I personally have more in common theologically with some Muslims than I do with fundamentalist Protestant Christians.
Catholic and Orthodox traditions both explicitly state the importance of the church and church tradition, and so simply "understanding the Bible" won't get you very far there.
I'm tempted to offer Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense by N.T. Wright or the famous Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, but I cannot overstate the fact that even given their wide acceptance among the vast spectrum of Christian traditions, they are speaking out of a very particular perspective (they're both Anglican). A fair question, asked by Lamin Sanneh, is, "Whose religion is Christianity?" There are completely separate articulations of Christianity that have nothing to do with the Western culture it is so much associated with today. In his book he explores Christianity beyond the west. C.S. Song's book Jesus, the Crucified People: The Cross in the Lotus World covers specifically ways in which Christianity has risen across Asia.
I've got to run, but last I want to suggest Houston Smith's The World's Religions. He does a great job of highlighting the best of each of the world's major religious traditions.
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[1] When people say "moderate" they don't mean "I believe in it moderately" but rather "In the spectrum from conservative to liberal interpretations of the Bible I fall somewhere in the middle".
I read a book about a Brown student who transferred to liberty. He was the last person to interview Jerry Fallwell. It was pretty interesting.
The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University https://www.amazon.com/dp/0446178438/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_RgixCbZART14J
Look for this book, Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung. It's a good, short book about working through God's purpose.
On a more practical note, what you're feeling isn't uncommon.
I've just finished reading Just Do Something: How to Make a Decision Without Dreams, Visions, Fleeces, Open Doors, Random Bible Verses, Casting Lots, Liver Shivers, Writing in the Sky, etc. by Kevin DeYoung. He does a good job of showing why this is nonsense.
But don't automatically assume that someone is knowingly abdicating responsibility - some people do think that their feelings are trustworthy guides to God's feelings about a particular situation.
Edit: added subtitle and link to the book
Fantastic book. Historian Kevin Kruse has one as well that talks about how big business got in bed with the evangelicals in the 1930s/1940s as a reaction to FDRs New Deal. Prior to the Depression, most evangelicals were focused on social justice and workers rights, and thought the government should have a greater role in helping the poor.
Both evangelicals and big business feared the rise of a godless federal state. This is where the Religious Right laid its roots... it's why we have In God We Trust on our money, One Nation Under God in the pledge, and the National Prayer Breakfast. It was all a part of a revivalist movement that began to marry rugged individualism and Christian evangelicalism.
It includes some revealing chapters on the influence of Billy Graham and Jerry Falwell on US Presidents.
One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America
Was assigned N.T. Wright's, The New Testament and the People of God in seminary (Regent College, UBC) a decade ago. Very readable and a great place to start. Highly recommended.
http://www.amazon.com/Testament-People-Christian-Origins-Question/dp/0800626818/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372290305&sr=1-8
I got a book recently for my birthday called Just Do Something, written by a young pastor named Kevin DeYoung. It does a decent job of arguing that praying for, say, employment, instead of getting up and finding a job, isn't actually Biblical and doesn't fit with God's will for man.
I certainly sympathize if the job market is tough and if your health situation is difficult, and I think it's valid to pray to seek God's will, but if you're actually feeling like you're wasting your life praying for things to happen -- as in, you could have been doing productive things -- then that's something else entirely, and whether or not you're praying to something imaginary, you are wasting your life. We can talk to God all we want in Heaven, but we can only use our body to work in this life.
I don't, but I have a book on it. Aptly titled Jewish Meditation by Aryeh Kaplan.
On this sub yes. There is a book titled like that written by former evangelical 18 years ago .
http://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Tiber-Evangelical-Protestants-Historical/dp/0898705770
Ooo, boy...
So yeah, guy here, but I relate to a lot of this. Both personally (to an extent) and how I've seen it affect my wife.
We were both raised in the "purity culture" movement and came out worse for it. When I lost my virginity at 17 I felt dirty, broken, incomplete...like a piece of my soul was ripped off and I could never get it back. I later comforted myself by saying that I was going to marry this girl (because I was young and stupidly in-love and convinced that this was true). And then when that relationship became toxic and she cheated, I stayed with her because I was convinced that we had to make it work because I'd given her my virginity, that marrying her in eventuality was the only way to "redeem" myself for not saving that until marriage.
Yeah...
And my wife, she did wait until we were married, but all that purity culture stuff warped her sensibilities about sex to where she even felt weird about about "not being a virgin" AFTER we were married. And she didn't get any sense of owning her own sexuality until into her 30s.
Sexual shaming is one of the big scarring effects of Christian orthodoxy. And as mental health issues become more publicly discussed, we're REALLY starting to see the effects.
I recommend this: https://www.amazon.com/Pure-Inside-Evangelical-Movement-Generation/dp/1501124811
My wife says it's helped her a lot.
Your family will still be in heaven together. It's love that keeps a family together, not some ritual. Christians most certainly believe that families will be in heaven together. It's the plain and simple message of Christ, without all the technical difficulties that come with the temple and three heaven teaching. Mormons hijacked and took advantage of the "until death do us part" infusing it with their own meaning that was never intended. When Christians would and do utter the phrase it is not a theological teaching on the state of relationships after we die. It is meant to simply promise faithfulness to one another all the days of our lives. Billy Graham mentioned just how much he is looking forward to seeing his wife again, Ruth.
I have included some links below that will help you think through faith and religious issues outside of Mormonism and most importantly within a logical and reasonable framework. Philosophy of religion and philosophical theology are two academic disciplines that utilize the philosophical method for examining the evidence for God and examining the truth chains of religion. Top universities throughout the world have departments that specialize in it. After years of study, I have come down on the side for the existence of God. Our family is now a part of Protestant Christianity, although not tied to one denomination.
Here are some good sources. Reasonable Faith is a great website with lots of information, I would take some time looking through it. It also has a podcast titled "Defenders" under "Media" that will really begin to ground you in a mature faith. "On Guard" is an excellent book to get you started as well.
https://www.reasonablefaith.org
https://www.amazon.com/Guard-Students-Thinkers-Guide-Christian-ebook/dp/B00U894IGA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1520306101&sr=8-3&keywords=on+guard+william+lane+craig
https://www.amazon.com/Mere-Christianity-Lewis-Signature-Classics-ebook/dp/B002BD2UR0/ref=pd_ybh_a_13?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=ET4M1H0BNR1J0S4RA6ZW
https://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Religion-Basics-Jargon-Free-Beginners-ebook/dp/B0088DXG2A/ref=pd_ybh_a_19?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=ET4M1H0BNR1J0S4RA6ZW
https://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Religion-Anthology-Louis-Pojman/dp/1111305447/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&qid=1520385625&sr=8-22&keywords=Philosophy+of+religion
Best of everything to you. If you have any further questions just let me know. I'm happy to help.
You are not alone, friend. Here are some resources that helped me when I faced a similar set of problems:
The Bible Tells Me So, by Peter Enns
Inspired, by Rachel Held Evans
The Bible Project, for general Bible stuff
The Naked Bible Podcast: Leviticus Intro, for those difficult Leviticus passages
BTW, every time I listen to a lecture/debate from John Lennox, I walk away with more books to read. Here's my list so far:
I am impressed with your serious and thoughtful approach to all of this. You've been through a lot, and I hope you continue to find your way forward.
Two books I would recommend: One is Jennifer Grace Bird's Permission Granted: Taking the Bible Intro Your Own Hands, and another is Peter Enns' The Bible Tells Me So: How Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It.
From slightly different perspectives (Enns is more evangelical in his background and approach), they show how critical readings of the Bible can foster serious and faithful engagement with Scripture, and how the rigid and abusive interpretations of fundamentalists are often rooted more in their own agendas than in the text itself. You can certainly find a middle way through all of this. Good luck and/or many blessings!
Jesus of Nazareth series by Benedict XVI
Handbook Of Christian Apologetics by Peter Kreeft and Ronald K. Tacell
First of all, welcome back, brother. I am especially touched that your fiancée would even suggest to find a Catholic Church. (As an aside, you're not a convert; you're a revert since you're already baptized into the Church. I thought maybe you'd appreciate that factoid.)
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>I am looking for information about your Church, whatever you think is important to know.
There is a lot to know and many here would recommend a million and one things to study, especially since it sounds like you enjoy a good intellectual pursuit. I'm not going to discount others' recommendations, but I do want to highlight one thing: learn more about Jesus first. Find out what He taught, who He is, what His disciples and closest friends said about Him, what the Old Testament said about Him, etc. To that end...
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>I am looking for recommendations for a Catholic-approved version of the Bible, geared towards someone who appreciates philosophy and prefers something close to the original translations, or the most accepted by the Church.
First thing to note, all Catholic Bibles have 72 books. Protestants have 66. If you can't get a hold of a Catholic Bible, a Protestant one will do for now until you do get around to buying a Catholic one. Now, as for Catholic Bibles, if you speak/read Latin you can't go wrong with the Vulgate Bible. It's a Bible that was translated by St. Jerome who was fluent in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin; he had the original manuscripts -- some of which are lost to us today -- so his translations are widely accepted as authentic and faithful.
There's also the English version of the Vulgate Bible known as the Douay-Rheims. It's an almost word-for-word translation of the Latin so the English will sound archaic to our modern ears. It's not as frustrating as, say, reading Shakespeare but it's pretty close. I personally prefer (and currently use) a Douay-Rheims Bible that has the Clementina Vulgata beside it. It's essentially Latin and English side by side. You can find one here.
If want one with plain English, the New American Bible Revised Edition would suffice. (If you use this website, let me know. I have a discount code from my last purchase.)
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>I know nothing of the culture or norms of the Church, or what to expect as a new member.
One major rule to remember is that you can't receive Holy Communion until after you've gone to Confession. Given your situation, I would recommend setting up an appointment with a parish priest so he can give his full attention to you and your needs.
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>I do not know how to introduce myself to the congregation
There's usually no need to introduce yourself to the congregation since parishes tend to be big. If you would like to formally introduce yourself, however, give the parish priest a call and set up a meeting with him. It would also be a great chance to speak with him about your situation and get some pastoral guidance.
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>or tell a good Catholic church from a lesser one
Many here would recommend a more traditional parish. If that's not available, I'd say any Catholic church would do. If you're unsure about a particular church's standing, just give us the details on this sub. I'm sure someone here would be able to double check for you.
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>I know nothing of the Saints or the miracles, or what has been confirmed by the Church and what hasn't.
These are things you can learn later on. Focus on Jesus first. Rebuild your relationship with Him. Start with the basics; if you don't, you might burn yourself out. There is A LOT to learn about the Faith. Some say it's a lifelong endeavour. :P
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>I am also looking for a reading list to explore Catholic philosophy beyond those you typically encounter in standard philosophical reading, such as Aquinas or Pascal.
Hmmm... this depends on what sorts of things interest you. A good one that lightly touches on philosophy is Socrates Meets Jesus by Peter Kreeft (anything by this guy is pretty good, by the way).
A book that may be more pressing to your current situation is Why Be Catholic? by Patrick Madrid and Abraham Skorka, Why We're Catholic by Trent Horn, as well as Why I am a Catholic by Brandon Vogt. (They might need to work on a more original title, though :P) Since you have an Evangelical background, Crossing the Tiber by Steve Ray might be helpful (although it can be a bit dry; also, it mostly deals with the Church's teaching on Baptism and the Eucharist) as well as Rome Sweet Home by Scott and Kimberly Hahn.
You can never go wrong with classics such as a collection of C. S. Lewis' works, The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, The Seven Story Mountain by Thomas Merton, and Confessions by St. Augustine.
If you want a historical examination of Jesus and the Early Church, a good place to start is The Case for Christ by Brant Pitre, The History of the Church: From Christ to Constantine by St. Eusebius, and The Fathers Know Best by Jimmy Akin. I'd like to thrown in Jesus, Peter, and the Keys by Scott Butler, Norman Dahlgren, and David J. Hess. This last one pertains to the Catholic claim regarding the papacy (and which I think is one of the strongest arguments in favour of the Catholic Church being the original one that the Lord founded).
Finally, there are YouTube channels you can follow/binge watch such as Bishop Robert Barron and Ascension Presents. Also, an amazing video about the Catholic Faith is a series made by Bishop Barron when he was "just" a priest called Catholicism.
I'm sorry if that's overwhelming but you raised some good questions. :P Anyway, I imagine it may be a lot right now so take it slowly, don't dive in through all of it at once. Find a local Catholic church, call up the priest, set up a meeting, then take it from there. And remember, you can always pray; God's always willing to talk with you.
Get Shorter Christian Prayer and start praying Compline (Night Prayer) -- there's even a book with just Night Prayer in it. Once you get into the habit, add another hour, such as Morning or Evening Prayer. When you get comfortable with this, you may want to get Christian Prayer, which has more page flipping involved.
Or you could pray The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It's very simple and lovely. All the hours are the same for each day. There is a slight variation during Advent and Christmas.
I've done both the LOTR and LOBVM. Currently I pray LOBVM's Matins/Lauds every morning and Vespers most evenings. I used to pray Compline, but I haven't done so in a while.
It takes about 15-20 minutes to say the LOBVM Matins/Lauds and about 10-15 mins for Vespers.
If you research Christianity with the same goal to find the truth most of us researched Mormonism, it's pretty much the only conclusion. Christianity has just been around a lot longer so the apologists have an easier time. Christians by and large also have no interest in researching anything which might challenge their faith in Christ.... Kinda like Mormons.
Edited to add: History of God did it for me as far as the historical claims, but The End of Faith and Why I Am Not a Christian are good too. History of God is really heavy, but also an amazing experience in itself. I've read it twice. I read The Spiral Staircase by the same author first, which is a much easier read. It is a memoir of her own loss of faith. She was on the verge of graduating from novice to full nun. Studying apologetics did it for her, much as it does for exmormons. It's the beginning of the end for the critical thinker.
You can also read Mother Theresa's letters wherein she often questions her belief in god pretty strongly and for long periods of time. One of the most interesting things Armstrong discovers in her research is that many of the most learned leaders and aesthetics of all 3 monotheist religions are virtual atheists themselves. She interviews several from Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. It's just something that happens when you study it to that degree. She is a really interesting person and an aesthetic in her own right.
Hi, atheist here who is converting to Judaism. Long story, let me see if I can give you the gist of it.
I did not "have a bad experience in the water." I led a perfectly fulfilling life as an atheist, and I gained a lot of respect for atheism and atheists in general. I came to understand how the universe behaves exactly as we would expect it to without a god, and how it is incredibly unlikely that there is a god, given the huge body of evidence against it (a favorite book of mine comes to mind, God: The Failed Hypothesis by Victor Stenger). Nevertheless, I have chosen to convert to Judaism for a variety of reasons, most of which won't make sense to most atheists given that I'm choosing to believe something against truth because it adds meaning to my life (my best friend is an atheist and this is essentially the point he can't understand, and we respect each other for looking at it differently). But there is one psychological explanation I can offer you.
I have a pretty severe case of ADHD. My entire life is constantly in a state of chaos. I generally attribute it to the ADHD but I also believe I have an inherently disordered personality, that leads me to struggle to order my internal and external universe. It's hard for me to explain how profoundly my life is affected by this disorder, especially given the fact that some people don't believe it exists or think the only problem is distraction. I assure you the problems run much deeper, at least for me, and it has lead to problems of both pragmatic concern, and what I'm tempted to call existential concern. It's for this reason that I turned to Judaism. It adds a sort of superstructure to my life, and orders my universe in a way that I've found no secular ideas can. The external moral framework helps me because I really do require external motivation sometimes. The regularity of prayer and services have been immensely beneficial to introducing a state of order into my life. And the day of Shabbat, on which I do not work, write, handle money, or even use electricity, allows me to step back from the busy-ness of everyday life and calmly and objectively look at my life and the world for what it is, not from within the constant need to do but from the outside, reflectively and purposefully. I hope that makes sense to you, and I hope you can see that some people do have actual reasons for being religious other than ignorance. I also hope you see that I'm on your side for the most part...I believe in secularism and I plan to take every opportunity to explain to religious people that atheism isn't the existential nihilistic nightmare that most of the think it is. I understand the problems with religion, and most of people's criticism is deserved. Nevertheless, I wish more atheists could respect people like me and understand where we're coming from here.
TL;DR: Some people have reasons other than ignorance for being religious.
Join a Christian community and read the Bible. You do not need to read the Bible from beginning to end, it's okay to start in the middle because the Bible is an anthology. Most Christians recommend starting at the Gospels in the New Testament because those witness to the significance of Jesus' identity. The Bible is best read with others, in conversation and community.
Oh yeah, and Jesus. If there is anything at the center of Christianity, it is that Jesus shows us what God is like. We believe God's character is marked by a terribly deep and unfathomable love. Christians believe that God wishes to transform the world and human relationships through Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.
Two accessible introductions to Christianity I really enjoy are by Rowan Williams: Being Christian and Tokens of Trust. The first book introduces Christianity through four key practices of Christians, and the second book introduces Christianity through an popular statement of belief called the Apostles' Creed. So I think they're complementary because one focuses on practices and the other focuses on beliefs.
John Stott's Basic Christianity and NT Wright's Simply Christian are also very good.
Sorry that I'm throwing a billion books at you. Best of luck in this journey.
A few other books you might want to add which fit nicely with the Bible (in no particular order):
Here's some resources you might find interesting:
Interview with Francis Chan
[might want to check out his book "Erasing Hell"]
Tim Keller on hell.
Let me be as ecumenstic (sp?) as I can here. Everyone grows up in different circumstances. Everyone has their own baggage. But, we aren't ONLY the products of our upbringing are we? Here's the thing: we don't have a God who is a bureaucrat saying you have to be have x list of forms completed to enter heaven. He is the sovereign judge who knows every heart. He will judge and save according to his wishes and he is perfect. Salvation belongs to the LORD, Jonah 2:9.
Think of it:
God knows every heart. Whether you believe that God predestined those who would be saved or that he, with his prevenient grace, allowed us to simply choose you run into the same problem:
An omniscient God, EVEN one who lets our free will decide, KNEW before he made the earth at all that there would be people who would disobey and be in hell. This is true with both Arminians and Calvinists and anyone who believes, as is taught in scripture, that God knows all.
I choose to believe, because I think scripture is clear about this, that those who are saved did nothing to be saved but rather, God, through his incomprehensible mercy and grace saved those who were to be saved through predestination.
However, if you disagree you are no less my brother or sister in Christ if you proclaim Christ divine and Resurrected.
This is one of the unanswered questions of Christianity: why?
I cannot answer why but I cannot deny what is said about hell either.
But I cannot say that I am so morally superior to God (how base!) that there CAN'T be a reason
for hell. The question is not do you WANT to believe in it but can you trust a God who would
have it?
God can't allow unholiness in his presence and those uncovered by his holiness will have their way--
the slow grinding of denial and egoism that is hell. A great depiction of this is in "The Great Divorce"
by C.S. Lewis which puts it in a light to what our trite metaphors often
cannot invoke to minds who have heard them too many times, even as a work of literary imagination.
(Another argument is Molinism-- which claims that God knows how we would act in ANY situation and God acts based on that)
But, it is against sound teaching to deny hell and we could lead MANY people into awful, awful, things-- believing they don't really need to consider God seriously (for example)-- if we don't take Christ at his word on the reality of hell. We have to be serious about sharing the truth of God's grace and that our actions in this life really matter.
It's a hard teaching. But God will do what is best, what is just, and we have to understand that our understanding of God's love is only as great as our understanding of his holiness and wrath.
What you presented is a reason to Evangelize, to pray, not to judge and to trust in God above all human efforts. It is not a reason, in my opinion, to throw out God and what he says about judgment.
Not sure what sorts of perspectives you're looking for, but NT Wright is a top notch academic writing from a somewhat conservative Anglican perspective, and has written a ton on these two guys:
Jesus and the Victory of God
The Resurrection of the Son of God
Paul and the Faithfulness of God
And if ~3200 pages isn't quite enough to scare you out of attempting the project, you should also read the first volume in this series, The New Testament and the People of God.
I ran across a book recently that spoke to this: Just Do Something: How to Make a Decision Without Dreams, Visions, Fleeces, Open Doors, Random Bible Verses, Casting Lots, Liver Shivers, Writing in the Sky, etc. by Kevin DeYoung. The author is a Calvinist, so despite how the title might sound, he's not at all casual about God's will.
From a review posted a couple weeks ago:
> DeYoung offers some welcome wisdom to Christians paralyzed by an absence of divine guidance, or by conflicting omens. Instead of guessing at the hidden divine meaning of circumstances (essentially a kind of divination) or gullibly taking every passing thought or imagination as a Word or Vision From God... DeYoung suggests making intelligent decisions in accordance with what we know from scripture to be godly goals and wisdom, and then working out those decisions with diligence. Radical, huh?
> He distinguishes between God's secret will (or will of decree), God's revealed will (will of desire) and God's will for our lives (will of direction). God's will of decree is his secret will, ordained from all of time--a will that is going to come to pass and that no man can thwart. God's will of desire is his will as revealed in Scripture--a will we sometimes obey and at other times disobey. God's will of direction is the one that answers those questions we have about jobs and spouses and houses and all the rest. Here's the real heart of the matter, according to DeYoung. "Does God have a secret will of direction that He expects us to figure out before we do anything? And the answer is no." Though we are free to ask for his direction and though we ought to be devoted to prayer in all matters, God does not burden us with seeking his will of direction ahead of our decisions. "God does have a specific plan for our lives, but it is not one that He expects us to figure out before we make a decision." "Trusting in God's will of decree is good. Following his will of desire is obedient. Waiting for God's will of direction is a mess."
You might or might not feel like buying the book But do read the comments at Amazon - you're not the only one who's had these questions, or who's got stuck in a place of guilt or paralysis by people who teach God is a secretive micromanager.
Go read Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung. It's fairly short and will completely make you change your mind about how you view God's will.
God doesn't send neon arrows from heaven. He doesn't send THE ONE to our doorstop when we are doing nothing. We are supposed to pray and seek His guidance. We are also supposed to actively pursue the direction we feel led.
It's also a bad idea to think that there is only ONE person for each of us. As long as the person you marry is a Believer and equally yoked, God is good with it.
Kabbalah is Jewish mysticism, so it’s certainly going to have a place in Judaism. Some of the great Jewish theorists like Nachmanides, Joseph Karo, the Vilna Gaon, etc. were all Kabbalists. Hasidism is a Kabbalistic movement, so every Hasidic Jew partakes in a Kabbalistic philosophy. The prominent Chabad movement is a Hasidic movement and thus partakes in Kabbalah. Hasidism was resisted by the Mitnagdim, but they were also Kabbalists (like the aforementioned Vilna Gaon). I don’t know any rabbis who teach transcendental meditation, but devekut is a Jewish concept. Additionally, the popular Orthodox Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan has authored Jewish Meditation: A Practical Guide.
----
Edit:
Forgot to mention that there are also Jews who are fully traditional and fully reject Kabbalah.
Jewish Meditation sounds like what you're looking for!
Handbook of Christian Apologetics by Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli.
Reasonable Faith by William Lane Craig.
The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions
It's a book of Puritan prayers.
The publisher puts a new one up maybe daily here.
Daymon Smith is the best you will find, especially if your friend is the brainy type. This series of interviews is long but worth the effort. Also, if your friend is patient, I would recommend they listen to the whole Mormon Stories interview with Daymon, episodes 149–52. Even though these interviews are six years old, they are still the best in-depth commentary on correlation. Daymon's writings, including Book of Mammon, were instrumental in my throwing the TSCC out of my life.
You might also recommend the chapter on correlation in Greg Prince's book, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism.
edit: Your friend may also be interested to know that these two sources—Daymon Smith and Greg Prince—approach the topic of correlation from a faithful yet analytical perspective. For another faithful/analytical perspective, I'd recommend reading Matt Bowman's chapter on correlation in this book, or this essay. PM me if you want pdfs of the chapters by Bowman and Prince.
Universalis (app or website) is a good resource for praying the office. There's 6 times per day that a professed religious stops and prays the psalms in the Office, but for laypeople the best ones are probably Lauds (in the morning), Vespers (after work), and Compline (before bed).
Breviaries like this one can help laypeople pray the office.
>What is the general consensus on things such as the Little Office of Our Lady?
As a layperson, you can pray any office you wish. I love the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, especially the one from Baronius Press.
I started praying the LOTH with Shorter Christian Prayer. It's a good way to get into it without all the page flipping. I know priests who use this as their travel edition. ;)
I think most Mormon kids outside of Utah/Idaho/Arizona are more sensitive to these things on balance because they tend to have more friends and acquaintances who are from diverse backgrounds. But not always.
BYU is like Mormonism on crack -- situated right in the middle of Mormon culture -- and exhibits all the worst tendencies, insular viewpoints, and navel gazing that zealously-lived Mormonism can offer.
Be assured that this isn't unique to Mormons or BYU. After reading The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University, you get the sense that most hardcore religious universities suffer from similar problems.
Yeah. They are.
http://archive.org/details/pdfy-kRjTPUdAxESumEWq
https://www.nobeliefs.com/Hitler1.htm
https://www.amazon.com/One-Nation-Under-God-Corporate/dp/0465097413/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=how+corporate+america&qid=1554493169&s=books&sr=1-1
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-researcher-dupont-helped-nazi-germany-out-of-ideology-1.7186636
https://historycooperative.org/nazis-america-the-usas-fascist-past/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Nazi_Germany
https://www.google.com/search?q=dr+seuss+america+first&client=firefox-b-1-d&channel=tus&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiki_mt8r7jAhVpjFQKHTUfA_sQ_AUIECgB&biw=1280&bih=910
etc etc etc etc etc. It's in your face.
Wake the fuck up.
This series can keep you busy: The New Testament and the People of God/ Christian Origins and the Question of God, Vol.1
Wright has lots of other good (and shorter) stuff too. He's a retired Anglican bishop.
Here are two scholarly books for you:
Daymon Smith is the expert on this. His interview at BCC and Mormon Stories interview were big shelf-breakers for me.
You might also check out the chapter on correlation in David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism (another shelf-breaker). One biggie is that RS used to be basically autonomous with its own money and publications; then correlation made them subject to more male oversight—their money and publications were also taken away, as was there autonomy to appoint who they wanted to positions in RS or where to go for world conferences etc without having to ask male leaders.
Since you are coming from a Baptist background, I'd suggest Crossing the Tiber: https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Tiber-Evangelical-Protestants-Historical/dp/0898705770
Zeitgeist is full of misinformation; do not rely on it as a source. If you want a thorough debunking, start here (admittedly, that's a very long read, because there's so much to debunk).
The Old Testament (Torah) is a collection from several different sources, including Babylonian and Canaanite mythology. Here's a decent overview, and I suggest you read its source, A History of God by Karen Armstrong, for details.
In the same vein, check out The Holiness of God.
Also, recently coming to terms with the sovereignty of God leads me to believe that you haven't read much Piper. John Piper is one of the greatest Bible teachers alive. His book Desiring God changed my life. Please read it.
Also, Desiring God's website is worth checking every day. Always edifying, soul-nurturing, God-glorifying stuff.
Apologetics: The Reason for God Tim Keller
Spiritual Life: Desiring God John Piper
Theology: Systematic Theology Wayne Grudem
Discipleship: Christ's Call to Discipleship James Montgomery Boice
Politics: Walking in the Way Joe Tull-Not on politics, but it is an ethics book that I think will give you a grasp on the ethical dimensions that affect some political decisions.
Philosophy: The Love of Wisdom Steven Cowan. A CHristian intro to philosophy, but it includes chapters on aesthetics and political philosophy.
You may want to start outside the Bible. This is an excellent option.
https://www.amazon.com/History-God-000-Year-Judaism-Christianity-ebook/dp/B005DB6LSG/ref=nodl_
Desiring God is, in my opinion, is one of the best modern theology books. Doesn't have any apologetics though, don't know if you're looking more for that or not.
You can check out Karen Armstrong - A History of God and Richard Friedman's books (only old testament I think)
I would suggest the book "Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense" by NT Wright. Wright is a retired bishop in the Church of England and is one of the foremost biblical scholars of this generation. The book is very approachable and may be just the ticket you're looking for. Link: http://www.amazon.com/Simply-Christian-Christianity-Makes-Sense/dp/0061920622/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404691471&sr=8-1&keywords=simply+christian
Also, if I can serve you on this journey in some other way, don't hesitate to message me.
Best wishes and may you be blessed and become a blessing for others.....
N.T. Wright, Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense (New York: HarperCollins, 2006).
Hate to break it to you but someone did something similar and wrote a book about it over 10 years ago.
https://www.amazon.com/Unlikely-Disciple-Semester-Americas-University/dp/0446178438
It’s a good read. I actually know some of the guys he lived with while in the dorms. They were juniors and seniors when I was a freshman. This guy actually got to give Dr Falwell his last interview before he died if you can believe that.
The TL/DR version of the book is he basically concludes that Liberty students have the same struggles and same desires as any other college student in America.
The book that I started with was the Dalai Lama's "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life" which can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/How-Practice-The-Meaningful-Life/dp/0743453360
You may be interested in Francis Chan's rebuttal book called "Erasing Hell".
> Were there/are there today sects of Christianity that don't emphasize hell very much, if at all?
There are actually Christians that don't believe in Hell (Unitarian Universalists come to mind), but that's not true of most denominations that you'll encounter in the US. A pastor named Rob Bell actually published a book recently which suggested that all people might be eventually saved, even after death. It was controversial, and he got torn to shreds by some better biblical scholars.
But that's all very current and you're asking more about the development of the doctrine. I suggest reposting this question in /r/Christianity; there are many scholars there better educated than I, and I'm sure it would provoke some excellent discussion.
These are popular:
Jewish Literacy
Jewish Meditation
Also, many books by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.
I think you need to be a bit more fair. There are lots of versions of the Cosmological Argument, and the one cited by ebonmusings is recognizable. It's the version I'm most familiar with, for instance, and is found in all sorts of books.
The "real" version you cite is amusing because it confuses "inert" with "static." Inert objects are still in motion ("inertia"). In fact, we have never, ever observed something that has not been in motion, which should imply, to the same person fooled by the CA, that the universe has always been "running."
I'm a Christian, but the so-called "God-proofs" are all terrible word and/or logic tricks.
I don't know why you assume that religion cannot have freethinking. I myself am a Roman Catholic. This should answer any questions you have about our conclusions on faith and the existence of God. http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Christian-Apologetics-Peter-Kreeft/dp/0830817743
This is a pretty good start.
I’ve been really enjoying this for daily readings before my Bible time: Daily Readings-the Early Church Fathers https://www.amazon.com/dp/152710043X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_I2VEAbY526C09
Also this for help with prayer: The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions https://www.amazon.com/dp/0851512283/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_33VEAbQ0FRS8S
Check these out! Hope they prove useful to you.
David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism, by Gregory Prince and Robert Wright. Probably the most entertaining and readable of anything in this list, this sociological history masquerading as a biography is probably the best explanation for how we got from the Church of the 1930s (where Utah was the final state to vote to repeal Prohibition against the express and public wishes of President Heber J. Grant and female healing ritual, while getting rarer, was not yet uncommon) to the corporate, standardized, Republican, boring Church of today. It's a truly fascinating book that is also about an equally fascinating man.
Gregory Prince would also be a really good author to look into:
"David O. McKay and the rise of Modern Mormonism" (https://www.amazon.com/David-McKay-Rise-Modern-Mormonism/dp/0874808227/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1480547134&sr=1-4&keywords=gregory+prince)
"Leonard Arrington" (https://www.amazon.com/Leonard-Arrington-Writing-Mormon-History/dp/160781479X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1480547182&sr=1-1&keywords=gregory+prince)
Although I'm traveling for business and not backpacking, I found this to be nice to take along: http://www.amazon.com/Shorter-Christian-Prayer-Four-Week-Containing/dp/0899424082/
If you are praying Morning, Evening, and/or Night Prayer, I'd recommend you starting with Shorter Christian Prayer. It's the one I started with before moving on to [Christian Prayer](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0899424066].
The St Joseph Guide to Christian Prayer is very helpful in navigating this book (note that there is no St Joseph Guide for SCP).
Christian Prayer gives you room to learn how to more fully pray the Hours. You'll also be able to pray a one-week psalter for Daytime Prayer. There's also a four-week psalter for the Office of Readings, but the 1st and 2nd readings are just a selection (I use iBreviary for the OR). You'll also learn how to use the ribbons and learn how to flip around the book. Not too hard to learn, but it takes patience and experience to learn how to get through certain seasons (such as the period between Christmas and Ephiphany -- though the St Joseph Guide helps a lot).
There is, of course, the 4-volume Liturgy of the Hours, but I wouldn't recommend that for beginners. I've been praying the Hours on-and-off again for about fifteen years and I still don't have a copy of it; I'll probably get one when the revisions are done sometime around/after 2020. I use Christian Prayer for MP, EP, and NP and iBreviary for everything else (Office of Readings, Daytime Prayer -- though I recently acquired a standalone book for Daytime Prayer that has the 4-week psalter).
Praying the Hours through an app is great. iBreviary is excellent and free and super easy to use.
For more about the Hours, I'll recommend three books: Daria Sockey's Everyday Catholic's Guide to the Liturgy of the Hours, which is a nuts and bolts approach to it (her blog Coffee and Canticles is good reading); Fr Timothy Gallagher's Praying The Liturgy of the Hours: A Personal Journey, which is a great testament to the power of this prayer; John Brook's The School of Prayer: An Introduction to the Divine Office for All Christians, which is a bit of nuts and bolts but with a commentary on all the psalms and canticles of MP, EP, and NP -- it also deals with the spirituality of the Hours and more topics.
Note that my recommendations are assuming that you are attending the Ordinary Form of the Mass. The Mass is the jewel, and the Hours are its setting. If you go to the EF, you'll probably want to get the older form of the Hours, which I don't have a clue about.
EDIT: link
I'm partial to Christian Prayer. If you buy new it should come with a guide for the current year. The guide makes it easier to learn your way around, and especially helps when you aren't moving the ribbons every day.
Close second would be Shorter Christian Prayer, which is adequate, but not as complete. It does not have a guide, and is quite truncated, so it's harder to learn your way around.
I'm also new to this community, so also sorry if this response is improper! I don't know how useful my personal experience would be to you, but I've come across some resources recently that may help.
I just started reading her book, "You are your own" but look into https://jamieleefinch.com/. I listened to her interview on Episode 95 of the Exvangelical podcast and really enjoyed the conversation.
Another book I've heard very good things about is "Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free" (https://www.amazon.com/Pure-Inside-Evangelical-Movement-Generation/dp/1501124811)
There's also a big community of people online posting their experiences with purity culture in places like https://twitter.com/ikdgstories. You may connect with someone there who's story resonates with you.
I just finished reading Linda Kay Klein’s book Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free. It was very eye opening to me. I came from a Roman Catholic tradition and we weren’t wrapped up in this purity culture that has ensnared the Evangelical community. I mean we had shame about this and that, but it wasn’t anything like what Klein talks about in her book. I feel sorry for the people who went through (or are currently going through) that torture.
I grew up Baptist but became an atheist when I was 17. After 20 years I came back this summer. One thing that really helped me was the new Testament scholar N.T. Wright, he has a book, Simply Christian which I will recommend:
https://www.amazon.com/Simply-Christian-Christianity-Makes-Sense/dp/0061920622
He has a lot of lectures on youtube and the like, easy to google and also commentaries on various books of the New Testament. If you aren't used to reading the Bible it might help to have a commentary to help with the many things that can seem unfamiliar or strange to a modern reader.
I agree with the earlier poster who warned about the King James. The King James is a beautiful translation and a foundational work of english literature but might be a poor choice for a modern reader seeking to understand content. For that I might go with one of the various 'RSV' translations like RSV, NRSV, ESV, RSV-CE, RSV-2CE etc.
Another thing that is helpful is what is called the 'lectionary' which is basically the Bible broken up into readings throughout the church year on a three year cycle. It is easy to follow along on a daily basis and helps get you into sort of a pattern. The lectionary is used by many churches, Roman Catholic, Episcopal/Anglican, Lutheran, some Methodist and Presbyterian, etc.
Daily reading: http://www.dailylectio.net
Full lectionary: http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/
There are also lectionary apps for your phone.
Also if you decide toattend mass/service at a church that uses the lectionary you will basically be following along.
I find reading the Bible every day and praying does change you, maybe in ways you won't expect.
How about something by N.T. Wright, like Simply Christian?
Here’s the relevant Enns book.
https://www.amazon.com/Bible-Tells-Me-Defending-Scripture/dp/0062272039
My first serious faith crisis happened about 7 years ago when I was around your age and attending a Nazarene university. I honestly don't remember what happened at the time for me to continue in the faith, I think I just decided that "God was bigger than the boxes I tried to put him in" and I left it at that.
My second serious faith crisis happened several months ago, where I encountered one thing after another that I just couldn't reconcile. One of the books that really launched my current trajectory was The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It. This book (by Peter Enns, a controversial Christian Bible scholar) reframed how I viewed the Bible and resonated with me on many levels. However, my upbringing was very much that the Bible is the infallible, inerrant word of God, and the contradictions and inaccuracies revealed in Enns' book only added to the multiplying cracks in my rigid foundation.
From here I ended up listening to hours upon hours of podcasts and debates, including the Unbelievable? program, which often brings a Christian and non-Christian together to debate. Time and time again I felt like the non-Christian had the better, more reasonable argument.
I also became more familiar with Dan Barker and Bart D. Ehrman, both former Christians and now prominent atheists. In my naiveté, I had always assumed that atheists were more likely to convert to Christianity than the other way around. I was shocked to learn of former pastors and missionaries (who had served for decades even) that had deconverted, and I felt compelled to know more about why someone that immersed in the religion could feel confident enough to walk away.
So here I am. Agnostic is probably the best term for me now. I am more convinced of some things I don't accept than those I do, but am also learning to be okay with not having all the answers, because realistically we never will.
You are doing it wrong. Never agree to read a book without getting them to read one in return. And they will not read a Dawkins book. Instead go for a Rachel Held Evans book (Faith Unraveled), where the author is still a Christian. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0310339162/
Also, Peter Enns (The Bible Told Me So) is a Christian theologian and is another one to challenge their view of the Bible. Again both are Christians still, but it will challenge their fundamentalism. That's the first step just to get them to learn to safely ask questions of their own faith. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062272039/
Review by Rachel Held Evans of Peter Enns' book:
http://rachelheldevans.com/blog/peter-enns-bible-tells-me-so
Pick one of those books, and promise to discuss it with them afterwards, in exchange for reading a book they pick.
The key is that you want them to realize that you know more about the Bible than they do. When you are ready for it, I recommend Bart Ehrman (Misquoting Jesus). https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060859512/
And finally, watch more Street Epistomology videos on youtube. You need to focus more on the "Why" of what they believe. You are spending too much time arguing, and not enough time trying to learn about "why" they believe. For most, it's fear of death.
When I was first asking these questions, this book helped a lot.
I lived in the area and worked with many students. A defiantly not a party school. You can(could) get expected for being caught drinking even off campus and of age. Even being at a party with alcohol would earn you demerits. You can earn demerits by public displays of affection. You had to dress in business attire when I lived in the area but that was relaxed after Jerry's death. While the majority of students were religious several I knew were able to get free rides. Liberty is one of the few private colleges that had 0 debt in part because of a life insurance policy on Falwell. However that and the cult like education allowed the school to have lower rates.
I haven't given a dam about this school since I left Lynchburg however. http://www.amazon.com/The-Unlikely-Disciple-Semester-University/dp/0446178438 is an interesting read.
Atheism is a position on the existence of gods. There is no "point".
R/atheism is a forum, a community of people who mostly live where christianty is the dominant religion. Our political system has been taken over by these theists because christians are so easily manipulated. Read this book to learn the history: https://www.amazon.com/One-Nation-Under-God-Corporate/dp/0465097413/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
But, yes, there are other religions brought up when they do something ridiculous and/or oppressive. Maybe not today. How far back did you look?
> but the belief that christian people are stupid and atheists are better because a.b.c...
It's not a belief, it's an observed fact...
>Why don't you put some focus on buddhists, or muslims, or jews, or native creator culture, or any other belief in higher authority?
For me, personally, when anyone limits my rights or rights of those I care about I fight it, I complain about it, and I commiserate with like minded people.
Why do you support something that hurts so many people?
Thank You citizen
> as a reaction to communism I believe.
Sort of. More like a reaction to the New Deal. The definitive history of the phrase is the book One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America.
Abridged version is that the corporate fatcats tried to co-opt christianity in order to try to undo the New Deal which they labeled socialism. They put a lot of money into the effort, effectively kickstarting the religious-right. All that corporate money is how guys like Billy Graham got their start.
Here's an NPR interview with the author.
There are great books out there for beginners.
It sounds like something that you would really benefit from is structured practice. For me, it's meditation in the morning and evening. Whatever it is, be consistent.
Until you find a real life community, you can join an online one. If you use the Insight Meditation Timer app, there are some pretty awesome communities on there, too (less-moderated though) but def a cool way to connect.
I also recommend downloading some dhamma/dharma talks or discourses from reputable Buddhist teachers. They're like spiritual podcasts.
>For those of you who have looked in to biblical historicity, on any level,
I guess this technically qualifies me?
>how do you reconcile potential errors and inconsistencies
Such as?
>as well as the concepts that stories of YHWH and Jesus could have been co-opted from other faiths
By asking for primary source evidence for these claims.
>Are there any books or websites you could recommend?
Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes by Kenneth Bailey
Evidence for Christianity by John McDowell
The King Jams Only Controversy by James White (this is actually a book about textual criticism and manuscript transmission).
Jesus and the Eye-Witnesses by Richard Baukham.
The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach by Mike Licona.
This book series by NT Wright.
While not directly about leadership, I think Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung was the most "leadership inspiring" book I've ever read. Incredibly edifying, and a pretty quick read. It's short, about 100 pages iirc, so I'm not sure if that would fulfill your time requirement.
> While I certainly agree that there is value in looking at things in a new light to see a new truth, all too often people do not actually read the actual source material and instead read modern interpretations which are fallacious, and misleading.
Sounds like we'd get along. :)
In the Jewish tradition many English speaking practitioners happily accepted Michael Berg's translation of The Zohar as being canonical.
Luckily a scholar with more of an academic eye grounded in Aramaic named Daniel Matt was willing to spend the better part of a decade trying to capture the nuanced almost poetical nature of the texts for an English audience.
This gets to a point that I think Jorge Luis Borges perfectly described in his short story 'An Examination of the Work of Herbert Quain' and 'Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote'.
The first short explores the idea that the same book may tell many stories or that there is only one story iterated infinitely as a sort of synecdoche. The second portrays how translations are in many ways whole new works that never fully capture the original's essence, somewhat similar to Godel's incompleteness theorem.
To illustrate this look at a single simple Hebrew word that has shaped the better part of the last 2000 years of Western civilization: יֵשׁוּעַ. Most westerners think the correct pronunciation of this word is Jesus. Yeshua is far closer to the truth, but even then it doesn't entirely capture the full Hebrew vocalization on the vowels/nikkud.
How did this happen? The name Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ) comes from Joshua's Hebrew name, Yehoshua (יְהוֹשֻׁעַ) which sometimes appears in its shortened form, Yeshua (e.g., 1 Chron. 24:11; Neh. 8:17). Yeshua, when transliterated into Greek, comes out as ᾽Ιησοῦς (pronounced YAY-soos), with the final sigma being necessary in the nominative case to designate a proper name. In old English, the "y" sound was rendered as "j," and thus we obtain "Jesus".
Put another way all interpretations and translations are necessarily corruptions.
> As an aside I have not read much re; Kabbalah, do you have a recommendation of a good book?
The tradition spans everything from neoplatonism, gnosticism, hermetica, to pythagorean mysticism. It wouldn't be exaggerating to say Kabbalah is the thread that ties together almost all of western esotericism.
There are a number of popular documentaries that give a general overview without being too inaccurate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibuSPtXG5dg
Rav. Michael Laitman's protege, Anthony Kosinec, does a nice job as well,
http://www.kabbalah.info/engkab/kabbalah-video-clips/kabbalah-revealed-a-basic-overview
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan does a stellar job summarizing the traditional Jewish take on Kabbalah in his 1991 book "Inner Space." The book doesn't convey the feeling, however, of what it means to be really "in" the tradition.
The closest thing I think I can share to give a sense of what I'm getting at is this little paper.
Other than that though unless a person has any experience with lucid dreaming or out of body experiences, I am not sure anything I say will make any sense. Kaplan wrote two books, "Jewish Meditation, A Practical Guide" and "Meditation and the Bible", with the hopes that others could have the same sorts of lived experiences. Like anything, though, it requires a little practice. :)
There are other takes on Jewish meditation as well, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan has some great starter books explaining the concept. Jewish Meditation: A Practical Guide & Meditation and Kabbalah
I was curious about this myself about a year ago and did some reading. turns out the ancient Jews were into meditation as well, but their practice differed from the typical eastern meditation practices.
Eastern Meditation is usually performed as a means to an end, or done for the experience itself. The Jewish practice didn't use meditation for the experience in itself, but rather to quiet and focus the mind for prayer. I highly recommend this book for a in-depth look at this history and techniques of Jewish Meditation and how it differs from the eastern practices: https://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Meditation-Practical-Aryeh-Kaplan/dp/0805210377
I've begun to incorporate aspects of the jewish meditation practice (within my own christian context) into my own prayer life. I haven't become regular at it yet, but for someone who is very easily detracted while praying, I can tell you it does work wonders for keeping focused during prayer. Also, I do believe there are emotional and psychological benefits to regular practice, and I hope to become more regular.
Try this
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0805210377/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473133471&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=Jewish+meditation&dpPl=1&dpID=41DhIahkWLL&ref=plSrch
In case it helps, you could:
The handbook of Christian apologetics addresses those topics. I'm going by the back cover as I've yet to read it lol.
If you're serious about looking into it, I think you'll find that, with a good explanation, a lot of the things you have questions about actually make sense. I would highly recommend the Handbook of Christian Apologetics
Also, check out /r/thepuritans for some good quotes. I haven't posted much recently, but the archive is full of some good stuff (not all strictly Puritan, though)
Have you considered going through The Valley of Vision, perhaps following a daily guide?
Not only do I enjoy and benefit from praying the old Puritan prayers, they also help and encourage me to consistently pray personal prayers.
I understand your point and disagree. But really my intent was to use the BCP in private worship and devotions; the RPW only pertains to corporate worship.
I have a copy of The Valley of Vision which is a collection of devotions and prayers of the Puritans. Some have used it for their own devotions. Would you also consider that inappropriate?
There's also this book about a prayer of a guy named Jabez; I think I should try that out for sure. ;-)
Yes, all RUF pastors are ordained ministers with seminary training. I'm friends with a bunch of current and former RUF pastors as well as other staff members (interns, the intern coordinator, assistant to an area director, etc). RUF's an awesome ministry and I'm a little jealous they it wasn't on my campus when I was in college. I'm sure your meeting with the pastor will be fruitful.
As for your concerns. Yep. That happens. Spiritual disciplines are hard. Fortunately we serve a God who knows that. Jesus died for us knowing full well most of us were going to be forgetful, sluggish people who neglect what we've been taught a good portion of the time and don't like to or want to repent. The fact that this troubles you is good! It's evidence of the Holy Spirit working in your life!
So, how do you fix it? There are some ways to become better at spiritual disciplines. Set aside a specific time each day to read scripture and pray. Using a devotional/Bible study guide might help. It's okay to pray printed prayers (The Valley of Vision) is one good source). Being in fellowship with other believers and being intentional about your interactions, talking about spiritual matters, praying together, etc is also helpful. There are tons of strategies. But also remember that these things do not save you (Yes, you almost certainly already know this. But as people we're really good at forgetting things.) There's a good quote from a book by Dallas Willard; "Grace is opposed to earning, not effort."
The Puritans practiced a form of discursive "meditation" (think of Augustine's Confessions and how he talks to God while thinking through something) that has been getting some much needed attention lately. David Saxton's book "God's Battle Plan for the Mind: The Puritan Practice of Biblical Meditation" is a great book on the subject. Joel Berke also has a great summary (in less depth), for free here.
Another Reformed classic is Matthew Henry's A Way to Pray, which is online here. Henry takes the strangely novel approach of creating a "prayer book" composed entirely of Scripture.
Another absolutely essentially "prayer book" is "The Valley of Vision." Just get it.
Finally, not to be to self serving, but I have setup an online liturgical website who's sole intention is to help Christians pray either regular morning and evening services (Psalter once a month), or even the classic hours (Psalter in a week). I created Reformed and Evangelical services that try to combine Matthew Henry's method of using Scripture as the prayers while retaining the classical western liturgical tradition (similar to the Book of Common Prayer) but modified to remove the repetitions and keep the non-biblical content to an absolute minimum. If you're interested, you can check it out here.
One last thing, I'd personally stay away from things like the Jesus Prayer if you're Reformed. There's nothing wrong with the prayer itself, but it's practice in the East is tied into the mystical practice of hesychasm, which is itself tied to the asceticism of the Eastern Orthodox, which is in turn, tied to a very un-Reformed view of salvation as the synergistic healing of the nous (which was just damaged in the fall) through the asceticism of the church, rather than as spiritually dead people being saved by God in spite of themselves and through no action of their own.
May be it would be helpful to point you to some honest source that seeks to give a non subjective and fair evaluation for the claims of the church.
Some of these have been mentioned in this thread, but I wanted to make a thorough list, so here goes:
If you would like books on various topics (The Eucharist, Mary, the Sacraments, etc.), let me know and I'd be happy to provide. Also, feel free to PM at any time. :) I'll say an extra prayer for your journey right now!
DK
haha I did it despite Steve Ray trying to convince me not to.
Your 3 purposes for sexuality make a lot of sense - especially in light of proverbs and song of solomon. Thank you very much!
As to your point about the Roman Catholic Church having too narrow a view of sexuality, do you think that is somewhat a result of the influences of gnostic thinking? Throughout my upbringing in studying the saints and R.C.C. teaching, gnosticism seems to pop up over and over again. For example, Augustine's view of sexuality.
If you like to read, please check out
Upon this Rock This book is about the Papacy. & Crossing the Tiber, a Protestant conversion story, which includes a lot of Church history, and quotes from the early Church.
I would suggest the shorter form of the Divine Office for starters! It can be found on Amazon here http://www.amazon.com/Shorter-Christian-Prayer-Four-Week-Containing/dp/0899424082.
I personally have loved it.
Could it be you disagree with the particular strain of Christianity in which you were raised? There's nothing that says we must forsake science or reason to be Christian. Some of our greatest thinkers were, in fact, believers.
​
Take it for what it's worth, but maybe you could start with some reading about Christianity; its history, its teachings, etc. There are a couple of things I'd suggest (full disclaimer: I was raised Baptist but converted to Eastern Orthodoxy):
​
Lost to the West, not a Christian history book per se, but more an overview of how Christianity, among other things, helped shape the West.
​
Mere Christianity, which maybe you've already read. It helped pull me away from the ledge of my youthful agnosticism.
​
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy, a podcast, admittedly from the Orthodox point of view, providing an overview of all the varied flavors of Christianity.
​
I hope this is in some way helpful.
Victor Stenger wrote an entire book addressing the fine-tuning argument:
God: The Failed Hypothesis
He put the punchline in the title...
Karen Armstrong in History of God talks about how these prophets made it up as they went along. Worth reading but a very dense book and too much detail sometimes.
Oh yeah! This one:
God: The Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist Hardcover – January 2, 2007
by Victor J. Stenger
I haven't read that yet. It's definitely on my wishlist now.
This is why it is called Grace. Grace is something that is given, not earned. It is not deserved or it would be called a reward. I highly recommend reading this book from John Piper called Desiring God. It really dives into this concept.
There are multitudes of explanations.
It totally makes sense that people in the past could've thought of any of the angels as being deities, or that they saw visions of God but misunderstood it, or were hearing demons (though I hate this particular view, because quite frankly its not at all charitable, and what the hell would demons need worship for anyway? brownie points?).
I do think, for the modern religions, its probably the second – that they're hearing the voice of God, but misinterpret it. Every single religion believes this, by the way. So its not at all an uncommon view.
Have you tried out the History of God by Armstrong? She's one of the most respected scholars on religion and does a pretty darn fair overview of the entire history of monotheism (in general), though less fair for the Eastern religions.
My advice is to research research research. Like they say, make the truth your own.
Now that you found out the witnesses don't have the truth and you've spent your whole life deconstructing other christian beliefs you should start looking for the truth.
Look for it everywhere; in history, philosophy, theology, etc. I'm out and I study the bible from secular historians and I feel more spiritual than I ever did in the KH.
I don't know the answers to life, the bible might have a few but its obviously had a tremendous human influence. The cool thing is that we both have the rest of our lives to figure out the truth.
This idea that nobody has the answers is very comforting to me and just drives me to explore and research more and more. I'd suggest starting with The History of God by Karen Armstrong. It's an absolutely fascinating book and pretty easy to read.
http://www.amazon.com/History-God-Karen-Armstrong-ebook/dp/B005DB6LSG/
Feel free to PM with any questions, good luck buddy.
As /u/Kdjsins points out, this deviates a bit from the original question. If you are genuinely interested, I would recommend Lee Strobel's 'Case For Faith' or C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity" for a more philosophical perspective.
There is empirical evidence for many faith systems. For example, there is excellent evidence that Buddhism is very beneficial in Palliative Care, because of their understanding of suffering. Likewise, there was a universal belief that Hittites were not a people group and this comprised evidence for the lack of historicity of the Old Testament, until the last century when other documents were found and archeological digs discovered an entire Hittite city. Finding like this (and there are many) are a great point of evidence for the Bible being a historically reliable document.
I am not saying that faith cannot be unfounded, I am saying it is not necessarily unfounded, and in the case of Christianity specifically, it is definitely not unfounded. You can dispute the evidence and any reasoning person should, but you can't deny its existence.
If you're looking for literary resources, first off I recommend a good study Bible. With scripture alone you can discover some incredible things, but we are fortunate that plenty of people smarter than we have gone through some of that effort for us. (I should mention that while I don't agree with all of John MacArthur's theology, I use this Bible and find many of his notes fascinating.)
Mere Christianity is a short and rich read by a great (albeit sometimes difficult to understand) author and you already have it, so certainly, you should read it. It boils many things down into easily digestible points.
Another resource I recommend is Lee Strobel's The Case for Christ. Think of it as Apologetics 101. It covers some basic Who, What, Where, When, and Whys of scripture and historical accuracies. Strobel has a franchise of books that similarly covers several topics for those looking for insight into Christianity (Creator, Faith, Resurrection, etc).
There are plenty more resources that I haven't personally read that you might want to look into. Here are some authors I would sugest learning more about: Francis Chan, Chuck Smith, Ray Comfort,
Additionally, you may find some interesting (and free0 resources online. Just like book authors, you should use discernment when pursuing authors as plenty of people take some crazy liberties with scripture, but I would recommend Blue Letter Bible and Reasons To Believe. The first has a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips. It can even replace a study Bible if you wanted. As I use it, I read scripture and then expand the tools to 1) understand the original Hebrew or Greek words at a glance, and listen to or read commentaries by a number of people. The second link (Reasons) has been an interesting place to investigate more modern questions I have regarding science and faith. It's mostly a resource for specific questions, but I've read some really thought provoking things there. Again, please use care not to take anyone's opinion whole (my own included!) and pursue truth and what is right and good.
Lastly, I recommend you pray. If you're seeking God, then talk to Him. Ask Him to help. Keep an open mind and expect to be challenged and surprised along the way! I pray something mentioned above helps someone, somewhere in some way.
EDIT: I also wanted to mention Gary Habermas whom I've seen speak and whose work I've read some of. His expertise is apologetics and he identifies some great points. :)
There’s nothing wrong with being stubborn, skeptical or having strong opinions. It’s never to late and I assure you that you don’t have to tie half your brain behind your back to be a Christian. One of my favorite quotes is, “The god an atheist does not believe in is usually not the God of the Bible.” (Gerald Schroeder, The Science of God) I would ask your friend if she could recommend a Pastor to meet with and perhaps discuss some of the major issues you have with Christianity.
It is true that Christianity comes with a built in support system and religion focuses on concerns outside of the self, such as helping others and serving. Potentially self-sacrificing virtues such as forgiveness, love, and gratitude are also highly valued within religious communities. Throughout human history the role of Christianity has been instrumental in who we are today. The Christian church has been a major source of social services, education, literacy, education, theology, philosophy and arts & culture.
Just remember that faith is not opposed by reason; faith is opposed by fanaticism – which is an abuse of reason.
Edit: Oh, and if you want to prepare a little (and you seem like the type) before you talk to someone, I recommend reading some introductory things. Of course it'd be great to read through the New Testament or in the least read the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) but I also I recommend something like C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity.
Did someone say reading list?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005TA7PSG/ - Read
http://www.amazon.com/Revelation-Four-Views-Parallel-Commentary/dp/0840721285/ - Read, which help me also to get…
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YCQ8W0/ - Read parts of it
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004H1UOPE/ - Read
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002BD2UR0/ - Read
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003TXTC22/ - A pastor I follow online recommend this. I haven’t got to it yet.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0079QQ0RK/ - No way am I going to finish this!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003CYLD5C/ - Haven’t started yet.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0030CVQ5I/ - Started, but read some of the low star reviews.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007J71S62/ - I recently got this book, but haven’t started it yet.
http://www.amazon.com/Petrus-Romanus-Final-Pope-Here/dp/0984825614/ - Uh… yeah. I read it.
***
All of that said, I know of a few Messianic Jews on YouTube but don’t know if there is any such congregation in my area. Alas I am at work and can’t dig out the names here. I also like to pick apart how they view the “rest of us” since, IMO, Christmas and Easter is so paganized.
http://www.reddit.com/r/INTP/comments/1dy1ws/intp_christians/c9v2tia?context=3
http://www.reddit.com/r/Christianity/comments/1c3qyk/jewishness_and_the_trinity_confirmations_and/
Anyway, when I got more time and less interruptions (i.e. AT HOME), I’ll check out the rest. I know of Paul Washer already.
Read (or listen to) "A History of God" by Karen Armstrong. I didn't even finish the book, and it cured me of caring about the god of Abraham as anything more than a man-made construct.
https://www.amazon.com/History-God-000-Year-Judaism-Christianity-ebook/dp/B005DB6LSG
​
$5 for kindle or kindle apps.
This skims the surface:
http://www.amazon.com/History-God-Karen-Armstrong-ebook/dp/B005DB6LSG/ref=la_B000AQ72VE_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408205513&sr=1-2
I (24F) definitely understand where she is coming from. I am still a virgin myself at 24 due to religious reasons, but I have been able to reshape my view of sex over time and my sex drive is no longer something that fuels my anxiety and drives me into depression. I had a similar experience growing up and shamed myself in college after every sexual encounter. This way of thinking is not healthy and my religious conditioning harmed me more than it ever helped me in that aspect. I am still a Christian, was able to maintain my faith and I feel like my relationship with Christ is stronger and healthier than it has ever been. It feels raw and honest instead of performative and forced. It feels good to finally be able to date with a healthy mindset. There are many of us out there who have been through this and honestly it is going to take a lot of reading, unpacking, and therapy to repair her mental state. There are plenty of resources out there. Here is a good book to get you guys started if you are interested.
https://www.amazon.com/Pure-Inside-Religious-Movement-Generation/dp/1501124811/ref=nodl_?creativeASIN=1501124811&linkCode=w61&imprToken=xEVExrfxi2zJ9-6gbX1Xfg&slotNum=2&ascsubtag=%5B%5Dc2%5Bp%5Dcjlny9rvd003h0pyeow0y5bfa%5Bi%5DYAs2oz%5Bd%5DM%5Bz%5Dm%5Bt%5Dw%5Br%5Dm.facebook.com&tag=thecutonsite-20
Feel free to message me if you have any questions.
Given the absence of evidence, it is best to accept the null hypothesis - i.e. the position not making positive claims.
A positive claim is something like "God exists" or "This tree exists".
You can touch a tree, take a picture of it, climb it. You can feel a change in temperature when you are walking into its shadow. It is safe to say that it exists.
On to god.
More questions like this can be found in God: The Failed Hypothesis
If you are reserving judgement about god, then are you doing the same for dragons, fairies, santa, the loch ness monster? Why not? All of those mythical things are written about in old books.
This was a pretty good read.
As was this.
Still reading this one.
A fun, quick read.
Haven't read it, but if his other book is anything by which to judge, worth a look.
Good luck.
Thanks for the reply - I apologize that my own response is so late in coming. I was intrigued by how someone might arrive at faith rationally, and had hoped to pick your brains a bit.
I notice that you do not mention empirical evidence. What are your thoughts regarding the evidence (or the need for evidence, perhaps) for a theistic position?
I admit to being a philosophical lightweight - but I find the lack of evidence for any kind of intelligent agency to be insurmountable. Essentially, I cannot distinguish between a universe containing a God who does not measurably affect change, and one in which no such entity exists.
But in fact, the situation is worse than this. Insofar as I am aware of any evidence, it actually weighs against intelligent agency. See, for example, God - The Failed Hypothesis.
With regards to choosing a specific denomination, the lack of evidence similarly strikes me as insurmountable. Without any evidence, I feel compelled to conclude that the prophets were not supernaturally inspired, and therefore did not have access to additional sources of information. And in particular, claims regarding the afterlife, and how God wishes people to live their lives, ring hollowly.
> Naturalistic accounts of mind in addition seemed particularly poor
I assume you're talking about the phenomenon of consciousness? How do theistic accounts improve on this?
> I realized I'd gone on for a page about how unjustly the Ontological Argument is treated
Do you find the ontological argument compelling? If so, then I'd be interested to see a version of the argument that you consider to do it justice. Personally, I'm with Russell when he states (paraphrasing), "It's easier to feel that something must be wrong with the argument than to actually figure out what."
>> It's that I hope there is no God! I don't want there to be a God; I don't want the universe to be like that.
I find the above quote impossible to sympathize with. I am only interested in what is true, and I could never actively hope for one set of facts over another. Similarly, I have nothing invested in naturalism. It's simply the best explanation (fits the facts that) I am currently aware of. I'd love for you to convince me otherwise. Hah, I notice that Wikipedia has a Popper quote that I would agree with:
> A naturalistic methodology (sometimes called an "inductive theory of science") has its value, no doubt.... I reject the naturalistic view: It is uncritical. Its upholders fail to notice that whenever they believe to have discovered a fact, they have only proposed a convention.
Anyway, thanks if you read this far.
No
Victor Stenger: God: The Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist
http://www.amazon.com/God-Failed-Hypothesis-Science-Shows/dp/1591024811
> its funny how everytime I ask an atheist what proof refutes God's existence they find a way to dance around the question.
Maybe that's because the burden lies on the person making the assertion? hmm? The God of the Gaps argument is so lame. That ever decreasing nook where you think your deity lives is not an impressive or convincing argument.
> science still hasn't explained how life is created or where the infinitely dense ball of matter at the source of the big bang
That doesn't mean magic did it. 500 years ago you'd be saying the same thing except thinking earthquakes and disease are a message from your god. And while science can't prove the things you mention, they have made an awfully good start:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImvlS8PLIo
http://www.amazon.com/God-Failed-Hypothesis-Science-Shows/dp/1591024811
On the whole universe expansion thing, this video should help. I apologies in advance for it being introduced by Richard Dawkins—but like it or not he was an eminent biologist long before he became the poster child for activist atheism and the main lecturer, Lawrence Krauss is perhaps one of the best communicators of astrophysics and science in general since Richard Feynman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImvlS8PLIo
Not caring about the nuts and bolts implications of what you say you believe is not an uncommon dichotomy in believers in belief. If that qualifies as yet another snide remark, again I can only repeat that it isn't supposed to read that way as it certainly doesn't sound like that when I say it in my head. Maybe something weird happens between the synapses and the keyboard that makes me think I'm being clear when I read like a wanker. Who knows?
Whatever the reason I seem to have inadvertently made you feel as if I'm selling you something. Nothing could be further from the truth. There's no genuine leather-bound books on their way to you, no 30 day money back guarantee if you order now. All I'm trying to do—all I ever hope comes of my passion for communicating what I've learned—is pass on the fact that all you need to do, to learn about the beauty of the godless universe for yourself, is pick up a book on a topic you know nothing about and start reading.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/God-Failed-Hypothesis-Science-Shows/dp/1591024811
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blind-Watchmaker-Evidence-Evolution-Universe/dp/0393315703/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268026326&sr=1-8
I agree. I think to frame it in doing is all wrong. There is action, no doubt. But I think Piper's way of framing this theology is spot on. See also Desiring God
Crazy Love by Francis Chan
The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee
Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster
Finally Alive by John Piper
Desiring God by John Piper
You have reached the very foundational elements of the faith that are a very large part of why I am a christian, or at least remained a christian once i sought out what the bible had to say about these exact questions.
So philosophically or more so existentially, the truth of why or what it all means has to be an open playing field so to speak. Fatalism, Nihilism or forms of Pessimistic thought have some implications that seem unpleasant or off putting to some, but ultimately hold water within their own logical frame work. Just because an idea is initially off putting does not make it wrong. The difference between those schools of thought vs. Christianity is that they are not built on a foundation upward, but rather a foundation is kind of the conclusion drawn out from an evolving argument. Christianity has a much higher burden in terms of it's foundational consistency.
Instead of being the product of reasoning, Christianity is a product of ancient documents ranging in literary style from history, poetry, theology, personal letters, and prophesy. Out of those documents a cohesive understanding of the universe and the existential impact of that understanding form the religion. That means the documents have to be the source and need to have not changed over the years to support new philosophies. (at least if you're rational)
So if Christianity is true, then the best way to test it would be to examine the most accurate understanding of these ancient manuscripts alone. That's everything from fields of archeology, historical and textual criticism to (what we are touching on in this thread) doctrinal and theological cohesiveness. Do these ancient manuscripts actually form a cohesive philosophy, without the aid of reasoning from a foundation outside of the documents? Also the documents examined have to be the most original copies of these documents along with the most accurate understanding of the way the original authors and readers would have understood them?
It's no easy task and definitely not something to exhaust on reedit. I hope i've given you a better understanding of some deep theological ramifications of biblical christianity and the kind of philosophical impact they have on hypothetical questions. I will now answer your questions, and the answers will no doubt seem trite and unhelpful. But i think i've reached the end of what i can say to a stranger on the internet, having no clue what background you have in biblical study and no idea where to start:
>So the point of Christianity is to glorify God? And if you fail to do this you suffer in hell for an eternity? This seems like a rather conceited concept does it not?
yes it does seem like that within the framework of human interaction and affections. So the way this idea works is not something to understand within the framework of human interaction and affections. God is not human and so again, it's an open playing field. The question is, does the answers the bible gives make any sense?
>So god is willing to punish those who have absolutely no control over whether they survive long enough to reach an age where they could even possibly understand Christianity? Or do you mean he will only punish the babies that would have never become christian?
I have no idea if either of those are true but the plausibility that they remotely could be is built off the theology (a study of the nature and character of god) in the bible. The biblical documents do not flinch in their explanations of seemingly paradoxical ideas. Paradoxical ideas crop up everywhere in the search for understanding meaning, morals, or truth in reality, it's up to you to judge what you think about the answers the bible gives.
>So god is responsible for saving you from a punishment he himself created? The way you depict it makes it sound like what you do is irrelevant in regards to being saved, by this reasoning, is there even a point to try and do ethical actions, since regardless of what you do, you are already saved or damned.
I can defiantly say "trying to do ethical actions" has nothing to do with being saved or dammed. And as far as the seeming paradox of god creating the punishment (what exactly this punishment is is debated between christians) that he himself saves you from? The ultimate purpose is that he gets more glory if he did it this way then just created beings already perfect and ready for eternity with him.
_
Some book ideas about what I talking about.
Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist answers how God's Glory works for our benefit from the bible.
The Reason for God answers some of the seemingly off-puting or paradoxical ramifications of biblical theology.
A trusted source I go to daily is John Piper's ministry, Desiring God. (www.desiringgod.org.) Mr. Piper is theologically sound in my opinion and clearly loves the Lord. He maintains a heaviness about him, almost as if he carries a burden to help others love Christ more dearly.
He and his team reassure me, edify me, provoke me to think deeper, follow more closely, and in general help me cultivate a stronger love for the Lord, daily.
I am currently reading Desiring God by Mr. Piper
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1601423101/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481574814&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=desiring+god&dpPl=1&dpID=41JpAZeSpAL&ref=plSrch
But another one that might be just as applicable would be When I Don't Desire God by the same author.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1433543176/ref=pd_aw_fbt_14_img_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=WYJ2YRD6WW39FQ3SXD0J
"Ask... seek... and knock. And all things will be given to you as well." (Matthew 7:7-12 and Matthew 6:33.)
God bless!
Here are some books I recommend. Some are free on kindle. Check out a library. They will have these books.
Read the 4 Gospels and Acts of the Apostles. Just read them.
http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-St-Augustine-Saint-ebook/dp/B00AQM75SC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1408113491&sr=8-2&keywords=st+augustine+confessions
http://www.amazon.com/Aquinass-Shorter-Summa-Thomass-Theologica/dp/1928832431/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408113525&sr=8-1&keywords=st+thomas+aquinas
http://www.amazon.com/When-Church-Was-Young-Fathers-ebook/dp/B00LWIU1EE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=8-2&keywords=early+church
http://www.amazon.com/Orthodoxy-Moody-Classics-Gilbert-Chesterton-ebook/dp/B00DEUQ9GW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408113746&sr=8-1&keywords=gk+chesterton
http://www.amazon.com/Mere-Christianity-Lewis-Signature-Classics-ebook/dp/B002BD2UR0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1408113766&sr=8-3&keywords=cs+lewis
http://www.amazon.com/The-Screwtape-Letters-C-Lewis/dp/0060652934/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1408113766&sr=8-4&keywords=cs+lewis
People have different theories of heaven. Some believe hell is separation from God. Along these lines, some also believe you can be in hell in the present, while alive. Maybe you are, maybe you don’t notice, maybe that’s okay for you right now. For many people of a spiritual/religious tradition, talking to an atheist - no offense - is like a flying bird talking to a flightless bird about being airborne and the associated benefits. If you don’t buy into the idea of flight, why are you even concerned about it? Why should we talk about the clouds in any depth when you only see them from the ground and even then as an obstruction to enlightenment?
Christ says salvation is available to all who believe in and follow him. No Christians are perfect and that’s implicit in the understanding of corruption. You aren’t expected to be perfect. But if your heart is open to God and you see the world for what it is and desire to hear and be closer to God, the book of John is a great starting point, I think. Or the book Mere Christianity by CS Lewis.
It was only ten here.
The first time I heard of it was this piece of earnest and well intentioned nonsense which in turn has a lot of connections with T. Oilet's late poetry. Like the untranslated Heraclitis he put at the beginning of the Four Quartets.
Also, links in the other post? I typed those up for another eStranger. I should feel bad for trying to indoctrinate you, but I don't. And you listen to my suggestions sometimes.
The conservative viewpoint of the humanities tends to be focussed on the Western Canon and the great books curriculum or Classical education. A common conservatives opinion is that a classical liberal arts education is critically important and valuable, but that modern Academia mired in revisionist theories and nihilism and leaving students adrift in a sea of electives taught by radicals has lost the thread and are now largely useless at best and more often than not are actively destructive.
A few books about the humanities, philosophy, art & education by conservatives and/or approvingly cited by conservatives.
> I haven't yet studied nihilism enough to understand its problems, or even to identify when people are 'selling' nihilism
Well, he's basically bought into & selling a FORM of it -- may not necessarily know that's what he's doing.
--
> If it is defined as 'the rejection of all religious and moral principles, often in the belief that life is meaningless', then yeah, that's a harmful thought virus - and calling it 'not helpful' is a mild understatement.
BINGO.
It's also usually ENTIRELY hypocritical.
--
To wit just the other day over on /r/philosophy they had someone post (yet another) of the post-modern academia's "morality doesn't exist -- there is no right or wrong" bullshit essays.
There is actually a very EASY way to "skewer" any pseudo-academic asshole that dishonestly pushes that -- dishonest, because not a one of them actually BELIEVES* it (in addition to SELLING it, as if it were some "deep thought" -- they simply USE it when it's convenient to them) -- how do you skewer them? Simple just steal his wallet (or car, or cut off his paycheck, slice his tie in two with a scissors, whatever).
In an instant he will reveal his TRUE beliefs: he will claim to have been "wronged" (gee I thought there was no right or wrong?); moreover if what you did was egregious & costly enough to him, he will demand "justice" -- i.e. retribution, revenge, recompense, punitive damages, etc; -- he will even begin to ADAMANTLY argue FOR those most "social constructs" of all moral codes: private property & "civil rights" -- and that HIS rights have been infringed, etc.
--
* You see what one "believes" is not merely what someone "states" or "claims" -- especially not what someone states or claims in some abstract philosophical-theoretical manner -- no, what one BELIEVES is revealed by what one actually DOES.
---
> Selling nihilism to suicidal men seems like seeing them about to jump off a tall building . . . and arguing they should jump. Not what they need to hear, unless you take glee in causing unnecessary death.
Exactly. And HERE -- in this thread -- THAT is the context.
--
OP is not talking about "manning up and marrying whores then being good little corporate slaves"...
He's talking about how a man can "keep his head above water" and work THROUGH the "depression" crapfest that accompanies/follows betrayal and/or the period of "red pill" digestion with it's "dis-illusion-ment."
---
Side note: on THIS topic (suicide, hopelessness, etc) I often highly recommend a little fiction book (often labeled "young adult" but I think it has far greater application) called "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen -- it quite literally (LOL) deals with the whole suicide/nihilism issue in it's own unique (and narratively speaking, very compelling) way, as part of the story of the main (almost sole) character -- it's a very MGTOW book (if ever there was one).
--
Also, rather than studying nihilism -- which I've done, and all I will say is that it is akin to shoving your head up your ass and examining the inside of your intestines in the dark (there is no enlightenment there, in fact there is no "there" there, it's an endless hall of "fun-house mirrors") -- I would recommend instead that you try to read through (at least once) C.S. Lewis's book "The Abolition of Man" ** which deals not only with the end "nihilistic" philosophy, but with it's various roots and tendrils that have been extended throughout academia to entrap people in it's snares.
--
** NOTE: IIRC this is also available online ("FREE") in various forms, PDF, plain text, etc (since I think it is technically now in the "public domain" -- at least in some countries {Lewis died in 1963, and as a result under some nations' post-mortem copyright terms, virtually all of his works are now PD}) -- but even still I would recommend BUYING a copy (physical and/or ebook)... why "buy"? Because it's kind of a "tough to chew" through book, and BUYING it means you're more likely to slog through and get to the "juicy bits" the "meat" of the book (which is near the end, but you CANNOT simply "skip" to the end, as it's arguments make little to no sense without reading/slogging through the prior portions of the book {akin to trying to learn calculus without first learning algebra, or algebra without first learning numbers & mathematical operations}).
SECTION | CONTENT
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Title | The Poison of Subjectivism by C.S. Lewis Doodle
Description | This essay contains the essence of Lewis’ arguments in his fascinating short book ‘The Abolition of Man/Humanity’. http://www.amazon.com/Abolition-Man-C-S-Lewis/dp/0060652942 ‘The Abolition of Man’, a series of three lectures that were published, has been rated as one of top ten non-fiction books of the 20th century, and is a booklet really. (It’s only three chapters long or two hour’s read).
Length | 0:13:54
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Hello, I'm a bit late to this parade (I just heard Dr. Peterson's podcast with Joe Rogan yesterday) but I wanted to weigh in here.
There are a lot of good sources from a variety of Christian viewpoints. Many of the ones already listed are very good, but I don't see anything from my own particular version of Christianity (Eastern Orthodoxy), so I wanted to suggest two resource for you from that perspective as well as another from C.S. Lewis whose words are held dear by most Christians.
The first is a lecture by Fr. John Behr, the current dean of St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary. He holds Masters of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy from Oxford University. This one is on YouTube and is 1.5 hours in length. It is called Death, the Final Frontier.There are a couple of minutes of fluff at the beginning but it starts to really roll into something I think Jordan Peterson fans would enjoy at the 3-minute mark. It is ostensibly about death, but it is a great critique of modern western culture viewed through the lens of liturgical Christianity.
This second is a recording of a lecture provided by a former dean of the same seminary that I think cuts to the heart of what Christianity actually means. It is called "The Word of the Cross" by Rev. Dr. Thomas Hopko and is around two hours total and has been broken into four individual sections by an Orthodox podcast publisher:
Part 1
[Part 2] (http://www.ancientfaith.com/specials/hopko_lectures/the_word_of_the_cross_part_2)
Part 3
Part 4
Lastly, I would direct you toward the writings of C.S. Lewis. When I was a young teenage atheist, his arguments were very persuasive for me and have been very popular amongst most Christians. I know many Protestants, Orthodox, and Catholics who have all found their first theological footing in Lewis' work. Mere Christianity is probably the best source to steer you toward, but I think his best ideas can be found in The Abolition of Man, The Great Divorce, and Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold. Since you've professed a preference for audio content, I will point you toward a YouTube playlist of the series of BBC radio broadcast lectures that C.S. Lewis gave during WWII that were the core of what later became Mere Christianity.
I'm tempted to also suggest that you read Thomas Merton, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Kirkegaard, Dostoyevsky, St. John Chrysostom, St. Thomas Aquinas, and many, many others. Enjoy your journey!
It's the same as when you taste a blueberry you know it's a blueberry or when you put chocolate in your mouth it's chocolate. No one eats chocolate and goes, 'My chemo-receptors are working adequately and I am sensing chocolate'! You're not Data from Star Trek, but what you're experiencing is the loss of your humanity. You gotta take a first step and if you can't start with a Christian book because maybe you've been hurt by some or can't stand hypocrisy. God knows I can't and knows I'm not there yet. Then start here, here (CS Lewis is a Christian and I gurantee you it'll speak to what you're going through) or here. Yet, you will never know how to awake with this philosophy. If you can't get out and someday come to the end of yourself then call on the name of Jesus. Your suffering must be very great to make reality as such so you can bare it. You must be very strong.
Edit: When you read let the book let it be the subject and you be the object. It's called formation reading. Let it become something that is speaking to you. This alone will help you start to move away from just subjective thought and action. Instead of the text being an object we control and manipulate according to our own insight and purposes, the text becomes the subject of the reading relationship; we are the object that is shaped by the text. Just make sure you're reading good stuff when you do this.. don't do this with like google news
> [I] regard Jesus as an enlightened (divine) being the same as a Bodhisattva. Can you make any suggestions for books that will help me to undertand more about Jesus' teachings from this perspective?
I think you'll struggle to understand Jesus from that perspective. A lot of his teachings just won't make sense. You'd be better off approaching him from the perspective of 2nd Temple Judaism, which NT Wright is quite good at explaining http://www.amazon.com/Simply-Christian-Christianity-Makes-Sense/dp/0061920622/
http://www.amazon.com/Simply-Christian-Christianity-Makes-Sense/dp/0061920622/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1302850419&sr=8-5
Maybe I'm crazy, but Simply Christian by N.T. Wright is, in my opinion, a beautifully composed book explaining the Christian faith. It's in the same vein as C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity in that Wright doesn't deal with anything denominational. He merely explains why we Christians have become so and the beauty of the beliefs that comprise the core of our faith.
Here's a link to it on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Simply-Christian-Christianity-Makes-Sense/dp/0061920622/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374349814&sr=8-1&keywords=simply+christian
It's a pretty short read, especially because the language and style are simple.
I hope that all works out for you and your girlfriend for the glory of God's Kingdom, man.
P.S. He also expounds on three different lenses through which to view God's relation to the world. The first two he is trying to refute, them being pantheism/panentheism and dualism. The third, which he propones as more accurate to the Christian/Judaic faiths, is that Heaven and Earth are not the same, as the pantheist might posit, or that they are completey separate (so says the dualist), but that they are somehow closely intertwined. Anyways, I like this book. You should check it out even for yourself.
Simply Christian by NT Wright.
From the back cover:
Why is justice fair? Why are so many people pursuing spirituality? Why do we crave relationship? And why is beauty so beautiful? N. T. Wright argues that each of these questions takes us into the mystery of who God is and what he wants from us. For two thousand years Christianity has claimed to answer these mysteries, and this renowned biblical scholar and Anglican bishop shows that it still does today. Like C. S. Lewis did in his classic Mere Christianity, Wright makes the case for Christian faith from the ground up, assuming that the reader is starting from ground zero with no predisposition to and perhaps even some negativity toward religion in general and Christianity in particular. His goal is to describe Christianity in as simple and accessible, yet hopefully attractive and exciting, a way as possible, both to say to outsides You might want to look at this further, and to say to insiders You may not have quite understood this bit clearly yet.
Edited to add: I see that someone else suggested this. I guess I should have read through suggestions first before suggesting a book.
2nd edit: If you do read this, I would love to hear an atheist's perspective on it.
I think you make some good points there. I just want to add that a lot of Christians have said that its ok not to have absolute belief in Jesus. Most people only have some. That's why there is a classic prayer, "I believe, Lord - help my unbelief." I believe enough to pray for help, and that's the best I've got.
For the innerancy stuff - I would recommend very very highly Pete Enns' book The Bible Tells Me So. It's about how the bible has all kinds of errors and contradictions, but maybe God's ok with that, maybe "inspired" doesn't mean "without error," and we can be Christians anyway.
I had similar doubts. Peters Enns book: The Bible Tells Me So was exactly what I needed. I suggest you check it out. You can read a first couple of pages (which made me end up purchasing it) before you decide if it's for you.
https://www.amazon.com/Bible-Tells-Me-Defending-Scripture/dp/0062272039
Historically, there was no genocide. Of the 12 cities, there was evidence that most of them were already empty when the Israelites arrived. Citation
If you want to have a productive conversation about the problems of the bible, you reallyyy need to read this book first. You're making a number of critical errors, assumptions, and projections about the old + new testaments, particularly about the ancient tribal people who pieced it together 2,500+ years ago (a people, mind you, with an incredibly limited world view and knowledge base). Until you understand the full context of the people who wrote the thing, you can't really start an effective dialogue about the issues you have with it.
>I'm hoping to hear from others, especially Liberty grads, who have had similar experiences of losing/leaving faith while or shortly after receiving an evangelical Christian education.
Not exactly what you asked, but I really enjoyed the book The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University by Kevin Roose -- Roose was actually just a college junior at Brown when he decided, instead of doing a semester abroad like many other students, to instead transfer to Liberty university for a semester, even though he wasn't a fundamentalist, as a kind of cultural exchange that he could write about. This wasn't really a de-conversion story, like Dan Barker's Godless, but it still provided an interesting perspective and I won't spoil the last chapter for you but there were some surprises based on what happened while he was there.
Don't know the name of it. I read about it in this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Unlikely-Disciple-Semester-Americas-University/dp/0446178438
It's briefly mentioned in the summary.
> Shit - Liberty doesn't even require an application.
A kid from Brown faked being an evangelical Christian to spend a semester there, then wrote a whole book about the experience.
As I recall, in order to get accepted all he had to do was write an essay about how Jesus influenced his life. He bullshitted two pages and got accepted. The actually classes were not so easy he claimed - the religious coursework was especially difficult (though perhaps not so for kids who grew up on it). The online programs however are run exactly like the for-profits colleges (easy, useless, expensive, very profitable).
He also made the place sound very cult-like, though the kids themselves seemed like good people (being taken advantage of). It was a truly fascinating read.
This book is a pretty amusing (and insightful) read. An agnostic quaker from Brown takes a year "abroad" to go to Liberty University.
In general, I think they sit with their dorm-mates, so there are RAs to keep track of attendance, etc.
No doubt
Apparently I'm not the intellectual in this crowd ;)
As someone new to Buddhism, this is my current reading list:
I had started reading The Buddha in your Rearview Mirror because it said it was about living as a Buddhist in modern society. I found that I did not like its bias toward the Nichiren sect. I was looking for something a bit more general.
I anticipate reading more of the Dalai Lama's books in the future.
edit: added links
Not sure if this is what you are looking for, but if you are looking for a good "intro to Buddhism" book that puts great emphasis on cultivating bodhichitta (the aspiration to attain enlightenment/buddhahood in order to best help infinitely many beings), then I can recommend 3 of my favorite books by the Dalai Lama, and one book by the famous 8th century Bodhisattva Shantideva:
I ordered the books from lightest to more dense reading. Shantideva's text is all poetry, I derive great inspiration from it but I admit that it may be somewhat difficult to read for someone less familiar with Mahayana Buddhism.
Right. "Three modes of generating an altruistic intention to become enlightened are described--like a king, like a boatman, and like a shepherd. In the first, that like a king, one first seeks to attain a high state after which help can be given to others. In the second, like a boatman, one seeks to cross the river of suffering together with others. In the third, like a shepherd, one seeks to relieve the flock of suffering beings from pain first, oneself following afterward. These are indications of the style of the altruistic motivation for becoming enlightened; in actual fact, there is no way that a Bodhisattva either would want to or could delay achieving full enlightenment. As much as the motivation to help others increases, so much closer does one approach Buddhahood."
"The last two analogies only indicate the compassionate attitude of certain types of practitioners; in actuality there is no case like the boatman, of everyone attaining enlightenment simultaneously, nor like the shepherd, prior to oneself. Rather, enlightenment always comes in the first way, like a monarch, since Bodhisattvas eventually decide to become enlightened as fast as possible so that they can more effectively help others on a vast scale."
I'd suggest you to begin with this book: http://www.amazon.com/How-Practice-The-Meaningful-Life/dp/0743453360
Can I suggest a book or two? I just finished this one:. It answers a lot of questions and is a really good "primer" on non-sectarian Buddhism.
Also, the Dalai Lama's How To Practice is not bad and is a good intro to Tibetan Buddhism, if that's your thing.
Have a look at Love Wins by Rob Bell http://www.amazon.com/Love-Wins-About-Heaven-Person/dp/006204964X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319375309&sr=8-1 and Erasing Hell by Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle http://www.amazon.com/Erasing-Hell-about-eternity-things/dp/0781407257/ref=pd_sim_b_5
They both discuss the issues that you are struggling with.
Erasing Hell is a great, succinct book on Hell. It includes a discussion about the understandable concern that Hell “doesn’t seem right at all” from a loving God. It’s plain spoken, well-researched, and reasonable...not a late-night apocalyptic televangelist hellfire-and-brimstone message. Despite the gravity of the subject, I liked the book a lot.
> Fair enough.
> I guess I just hesitate to include them in the same category because Bell is so far off base in my opinion, and Chan is doing something great.
Fair enough for me also. Just food for thought: As reformers both Chan and Bell don't have to both be right. I mean you may disagree that Chan is reforming, but I imagine the reason you think he's doing something great is because you feel he's better speaking truths. Is that because he's just reading the same old words better, or that he's applying them to modernity better? Of course, if he needs to re-apply them and uniquely does so, he's making adjustments and micro-adjustments so they are fitting today. Make no mistake, he is adjusting.
What happens in belief structures, which can become unbalanced (as with Bell), is a dialog between what's orthodox and what's transforming with culture. Islam is an example of a belief structure that's not transformative enough and fights with modernity to accept the old truth, and Bell as well as atheists are examples of belief structures that transform too rapidly and fight with modernity to accept the new truth. Chan is a prime example of somebody who's balanced transformation of Christianity with a strong enough nod to the creeds, which may be why he seems great to you: He's addressing today's feelings, yesterday's orthodoxy, and joining their hands. This is why people like Chan are relevant at all in keeping eternal truths eternal.
That's also what Paul did. Because so few people have any idea what Jesus' actual theology and context was apart from being "Jewish", and because his death was very confusing to his theology, few people understand how radical and masterful Paul's reforms were and that he started this tradition of updating via doctrines like the Holy Spirit and a dynamic priestly school with a more malleable and evolutionary Jesus. Chan seems to not swing the gavel too hard, disfiguring Jesus beyond recognition like Bell does. Don't think he isn't correcting Jesus for 2015, though; however respectfully.
>Chan is a great imitator of Christ, and it feels like Bell is just furthering his own ego.
I get the sense that Bell might be slightly mentally ill, and not because he's "religious" but because he is making such big changes to something he seems to sincerely believe is God's eternal truth--which requires a certain degree of mania, and he had reported anxiety attacks due to it, snapping, etc.
My personal feeling is that he's sincere, though; highly intelligent and possibly very insane. I like him so far as theology and revivalism is concerned.
>What about John Piper? You mentioned him in your last point, but I don't see the connection (sorry).
I meant that if Francis Chan wasn't a reformer, he'd look more like Piper in his style and image. I'd say Piper is less a reformer and more a puppet and egoist.
I'd like to follow up, this is a great book about the subject. It's not very long and is extremely interesting. I recommend you check it out.
http://www.amazon.com/Erasing-Hell-about-eternity-things/dp/0781407257
It's hard to answer that. Which specific period are you wanting to learn about?
If you want to learn about first century Judaism, IE Paul and Jesus' time. I would suggest New Testament and the People of God or An introduction to early Judaism
God did speak for himself. That's the authority that I case my claims upon.
Ok, links:
https://www.amazon.com/Testament-Christian-Origins-Question-Paperback/dp/0800626818
https://www.amazon.com/Resurrection-Christian-Origins-Question-Vol/dp/0800626796
http://www3.telus.net/trbrooks/garyhabermas.htm
https://historyofphilosophy.net/
So I grabbed my copy of N.T. Wright's The New Testament and the People of God It's his book about the historical context New Testament from a somewhat historical perspective.
Pages 252-254
> Jews in general did not divide the world rigidly into the physical and the noumenal/spiritual (254 - first paragraph).
I think he uses Philo (a Jewish philosopher) to come to this conclusion.
I could probably be butchering this though. N.T. Wright's book might be helpful. https://www.amazon.com/Testament-Christian-Origins-Question-Paperback/dp/0800626818
EDIT ::to clarify the book is about roughly First and early Second Century:: Christianity.
> Ok maybe the source isn't the best but that's not the only one.
Carrier says that it pretty much is. At the end of that review to which I linked, he laments that no one has replicated Grave's work.
But I'm happy to be convinced otherwise.
>So what are your reasons for Christianity not having ties with pagans?
This isn't how arguments work. The one making a claim provides the evidence.
But I won't deny that some pagan concepts influenced how the New Testament authors wrote. For example, Paul's use of ἱλαστήριον in Romans 3:25 almost certainly has some overtones imported from pagan Greek thought. But that's a far cry from Grave's suggestion, popular among the New Atheists today, that the whole notion of the crucified and risen Jesus is a myth taken wholesale from pagan thought.
I'll repeat my exhortation that I edited into my comment above: studying how the New Testament and early Christianity related to its own historical context is a laudable goal that I would commend to anyone willing to put in the effort, and there are good resources out there to help. Go to the scholars who are well regarded in their field, and avoid sensational, popular-level works. Ehrman's undergraduate-level textbook is a good start. For the more ambitious student, N. T. Wright's The New Testament and the People of God contains quite a bit on the historical context of early Christianity in the Greco-Roman and Second Temple Jewish worlds; it appears on many a grad school syllabus.
> I was wondering if anyone has some solid, unbiased sources for serious Bible study?
They don't exist. Everyone has biases. The very best scholars are those who can divulge their biases and give reasons for them and reasons against the biases of others. That's part of the scholarly conversation.
For background stuff, maybe check out:
David Aune's The New Testament in Its Literary Environment
I liked Shaye Cohen's From the Maccabees to the Mishnah when it comes to understanding "Judaism" in the first century AD.
NT Wright's The New Testament and the People of God is very good.
I also really liked Brant Pitre's Jesus, the Tribulation, and the End of Exile - a reworking of his Ph.D dissertation at Notre Dame (under David Aune).
Mark Goodacre's work on Q is good. I read it early in my academic career and it has kept me from believing in the Q theory since.
The biggest journal in the field is probably Journal of Biblical Studies. New Testament Studies is another big one (from Cambridge).
Edit: Also, learn Greek. There are grammars specifically for New Testament Greek (Koine) like David Alan Black's Learn to Read New Testament Greek - which is fine for an NT Greek grammar (though he barely covers the optative since it's so little used in the NT). I would just learn Classical Greek using something like Hansen and Quinn. If you can read Classical Greek, nothing in the Bible (either LXX or NT) will give you a problem.
Kevin DeYoung wrote a great book on this concept called Just Do Something.
While it is an excellent, quick read, the tl;dr is that God is less focused on what we do, than how we do it. For instance, employment. He is less concerned about what are job is than whether we are doing it for his glory or our own.
I just read this book a couple days ago. It short and sweet, and it hooked me in so I ended up reading it all in a day.
Just Do Something: How to Make a Decision Without Dreams, Visions, Fleeces, Open Doors, Random Bible Verses, Casting Lots, Liver Shivers by Joshua Harris and Kevin L DeYoung
I'll try and summarize it:
God has a sovereign will for our lives, not a single man, or animal, or atom deviates from this will.
But God does not expect us to try and sense what this will is via feelings/dreams/signs and obey it. If anything this way of living is not a life of faith; a life of faith is to say that "I do not know what my future hold but God does, and I trust that what is in store for me is good". We live by faith, not by sight.
God does not give us instructions every day of what decisions to make (toast or cereal, TV or conversation, walk by or intervene), He instead gives us wisdom and His Word which we should mull over and struggle with so that with the Spirit it transforms us into someone whose desires are Gods desires.
Gods will is the sanctification of our souls, not just for us to make all the correct choices now.
EDIT: I can answer any question you have on the subject that the book covers if you want.
I've gone through a similar struggle recently. My pastoral care at my church directed me to read a book called "Just Do Something" found here. Essentially the point is there is not one solid path you have to travel in life which if you veer off you're screwed. Whatever decisions you make, God will find a way to work them into his plans. There are not always sign posts along the way. God has a plan that he often doesn't reveal to us and we only see it's shape in hindsight. More often than not with life matters, I've had to pray and place my trust in God and then take a leap of faith by making a decision.
Best of luck on everything either way!
Great question. Part time missionary here, headed towards full time someday. I'd like to share some about my experiences on short term trips (2wk) and some of what several of my Full Time missionary friends have told me. Full Disclosure: I haven't fully read the other responses to your post, so I'm probably repeating at least something.
First off, let me break down the $2k. It is a lot of money. Know that most of that money is to get you into the area. The last flight I booked to Guatemala was $1200 a seat -- group rate, booked 3 months in advance. My most recent trip, to Eastern Europe rang in at over $1600 -- single ticket, booked 4 mo ahead. Now, I'm single, so I don't have to think about doubling that like you do, but just know that $2k isn't some number they pull out of the air. By the time you roll up airfare and food alone, you're pushing that budget. Throw in ground transportation and lodging and you're going to need a miracle. That said, before you go short or mid term with any organization, get a cost breakdown of where your money is going. The team leaders should be fully financially supported, as well as the rest of the organizational infrastructure. ( I ran a HipMunk search on Denver to Cairo, because I live in CO and I picked Cairo, and came up with estimated airfare of $1200, for Nov1 - Nov15 ).
In the thread currently at the top, you mention "it would be more beneficial to just send that money to those in need." You're probably right, especially if you're thinking of paying for this out of pocket yourself. But you shouldn't be doing that. A HUGE part of missions is fundraising, and so sharing your experience with people that don't feel called to go, but instead to send (Romans 10:15ish). Fundraising is hard, but it is a huge blessing. Your church should be a part of this. (You are a member of a church, right?) I also believe that you should contribute a nontrivial percentage of your trip funds. Paul was a tentmaker and he payed for much of his ministry by working hard, but not all of it.
Second, a note about the duration of trips Short term -- the 2wk variety -- is more about you than the people you're serving. Its about getting out of the comfort of your daily life and witnessing God work in the lives of other people in different ways. You work for the people you're visiting, but 2 weeks is far to short to have a lasting spiritual impact. Mid term -- from 3 months to 2 years -- is starting to shift the focus. If your target is 3 months, then you'll be on the ground just long enough to start to understand what is going on and what needs you can fill when you leave. Not long enough to do language school, and not long enough to really get to know people. Beyond that, well, you get the picture. Most 3-month programs are "Summer programs," but they're not exactly geared towards college students.
Third, how I would go about it given my today-knowledge
Edit: Link formatting, Hipmunk link.
Bottom line - Get out there and do it, because way too many people just let it slide by and always think, "I should have XXX." Your personal Faith will be better off for going. The people you serve, including the missionary, will have a new house, less dental problems, better english skills, or whatever and, hopefully, will see Jesus in your heart of service.
If you have any questions, feel free to send me a PM directly.
Yay missions!
If you want to learn about Jewish mysticism, I've heard this is an awesome book:
http://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Meditation-Practical-Aryeh-Kaplan/dp/0805210377/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1319601342&sr=8-10
buy this.
https://www.amazon.com/Valley-Vision-Collection-Puritan-Devotions/dp/0851512283
I don't think the works are primarily a proof of our faith to ourselves but a witness of the authenticity of our faith, already known by us, to those around us. At least, that is what I think James is talking about.
Self-witness, I feel, comes from continuing acknowledgement of Biblical truths to your self, growing desire to obey God's commands, and continual turning away from sin.
I would also add that both the easy-believism and works-based crowds have a higher perceived assurance because they are both point towards actions the have take as opposed to actions God has taken. The Reformed position is indeed less straight-forward but that is because we reliant on God's mercy... and I honestly believe that the recognition of the full need for Jesus to be our righteousness to be very comforting to me personally.
I would recommend getting a copy of [The Valley of Vision*](https://www.amazon.com/Valley-Vision-Collection-Puritan-Devotions/dp/0851512283/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523284721&sr=8-1&keywords=the+valley+of+vision) as this has been very helpful for my own assurance and encouragement.
Have you ever read The Valley of Vision? I think you may enjoy it
Rough Stone Rolling is good but soft-pedals some things.
Some of the stuff from the church historian's press looks worthwhile: https://www.churchhistorianspress.org/publications?lang=eng
Greg Kofford Books has an extensive history line. I've enjoyed what I've read and found it to be well done. https://gregkofford.com/
Natural Born Seer is good, more of a critical lens on Joseph Smith's early years, really intriguing.
Joseph's Temples regarding the Freemasonry connection.
People highly recommend D. Michael Quinn.
Leonard Arrington's stuff is supposed to be classic, Great Basin Kingdom.
David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism by Gregory Prince.
Interesting.
I see a historical parallel here between David O. McKay, Harold B. Lee, and Spencer W. Kimball.
Have you read this book?
[Crossing the Tiber](http://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Tiber-Evangelical-Protestants-Historical/dp/0898705770 "Also available for Kindle!"), by Stephen K. Ray. It's very well researched; sometimes the footnotes and references take up most of the page!
dessinemoiunmouton referenced this elsewhere in the thread, and I agree: [Faith of the Early Fathers](http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Early-Fathers-Three--Set/dp/0814610250/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320271030&sr=1-1 "Also available for Kindle!"), by Jurgens. It's a three-volume set, and best used as a reference, instead of a straight-read. Of immense value is the doctrinal index, which lists various elements of theology, and then points you to the relevant historical writings!
If you really want to learn a lot about the differences, go to YouTube and start listening to Steve Ray and read his book Crossing the Tiber. I have a friend who grew up in the Church of the Bible and they switched the Catholicism. He said this book along with listening to Steve Ray, and another book called Catholicism and Fundamentalism by Karl Keating really helped him understand Catholicism when he was still surrounded by Protestant friends.
Steve Ray was formerly this type of Evangelical/baptist. He is now a devout apologist for the Catholic church. He wrote a book entitled "Crossing the Tiber." If you read this then you will learn the points that likely can get your type of Christian friend thinking outside of his very comfortable and judgmental box. Have fun.
A link to a used book sales summary on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0898705770/ref=tmm_pap_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=&sr=
I recommend the divine office, a.k.a. the Liturgy of the Hours. Mainly because praying Morning, Evening and Night Prayers tend to keep you through the day. If you add a rosary somewhere to that, you'll be in good shape. Here's an online link: http://www.divineoffice.org.
and of course /r/divineoffice
Good resources, but I'd recommend picking up a copy of this:
http://www.amazon.ca/Shorter-Christian-National-Conference-Catholi/dp/0899424082/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411429333&sr=1-2&keywords=shorter+christian+prayer
...because it has Morning, Evening and Night prayer and you don't need to go online. Just avoid going online as much as possible, if you know where it's going to head when you do.
This, confession, and jogging.
Um, no.
I'd advise reading up on Christian sexual ethics: Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics; Sex + Faith: Talking with Your Child from Birth to Adolescence
Also, this one might be helpful: Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062272039/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I am a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism. This is different then Theravada Buddhism in many ways, but both have the same core teachings of the Buddha, also known as Shakyamuni Buddha. In Tibetan Buddhism, we believe in other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. For example, Manjushri, Tara, Medicine Buddha, Chenrezig and many more. We also recite mantras as a form of meditation. Some good books are anything written by the Dalai Lama and other Lamas. I will be happy to assist you through your journey if you ever have any questions that i might be able to answer.
This is a very good book...
https://www.amazon.ca/How-Practice-Way-Meaningful-Life/dp/0743453360
>(I mean seriously? when did christianity become a fear-based religion?).
I wouldn't argue that Christianity is a 'fear based religion', but I hands-down hold that Jesus uses absolutely terrifying language when he describes hell (imagery of a furnace, darkness, a place of lamenting and gnashing of teeth). Here's a book on hell that Francis Chan wrote that I found both very easy to read, and interesting. He addresses the two points you've kind of made ('Christianity is not a fear based religion', and 'God is not going to fail, he is going to achieve exactly what he wants') quite well, and as I'm guessing by your situation that you're in high school, you may find it interesting.
I can't tell you what hell is, all I can tell you us that the imagery for hell in the new testament (and from what we can gather was the 1st Century Jew's understanding of hell) is scary stuff. Is it a place where people are swimming around in fire, like I've heard it described a million times as a little kid? Probably not, but the words used to describe hell are consistently bad.
http://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Meditation-A-Practical-Guide/dp/0805210377
Peter Kreef's Handbook of Christian Apologetics does a much, much, much better job.
I'm going to offer a few suggestions as one who has been on a personal journey from belief to paganism to non belief and into the Catholic church:
GK Chesterton's The Everlasting Man, Robert Spitzer's New Proofs of God's Existence, and Peter Kreeft's Handbook of Christian Apologetics
Also, I'd highly recommend looking at some of Dr. William Lane Craig's speeches and debates over on YouTube as well as his books. You might also want to check out /r/ReasonableFaith and I'd also recommend /r/Catholicism.
I'm only making suggestions because so many people have written so much more of a better quality than I can.
Science is fallible also but that doesn't mean you should abandon it as a source of truth.
As far as race issues, almost nobody was right until about 50 years ago. It's hard for us in a post-racial society to understand just what it was like. David O. McKay's biography talks about how he didn't even know there was a priesthood ban until he was an apostle. No one questioned things like that so it just didn't come up.
The uncomfortable truth is that had you been born 50 years ago, chances are you would have been a racist too.
I liked Francis Chan's Erasing Hell. It clearly went though all the references in the bible as well as many relevant bible-contemporary sources to see what the readers would have understood the passages as saying.