BOOK: Ready With An Answer

Ready With An Answer: For the Tough Questions About God. (1997) John Ankerberg
and John Weldon. Harvest House Publishers: Eugene, OR. ISBN: 1-56507-618-4

BEGINNING OF QUOTE
A Note from the Authors

Almost everyone is searching for something beyond themselves to give their
lives meaning. However inadequately, many people are searching for the truth.
Indeed, there probably isn't a person alive who wouldn't like to know the
truth, if that were possible.

Despite the religious, political, moral and philosophical confusions of the
modern age, despite the penchant to make personal preference one's truth,
people know intuitively there is more to life and they secretly yearn for it.
We can see indications of this all around us, in cinema, art, literature,
science, philosophy, politics, and just about every other realm of human
endeavor.

That is why we have written this book - to help people find the truth. Of
course, sometimes the truth is hard to take. But of all things in life, knowing
the truth is surely one of the most satisfying. Knowing the truth means knowing
that what you believe is absolutely true, and not just true for you alone, but
for everybody else as well. Not just true for now, but true forever. That's the
truth we are searching for, and that's the truth we are talking about in this
book.

This book is written both for Christians to help strengthen their faith and
non-Christians to help persuade them that Christianity is the truth.

Naturally, there are relativists who deny truth exists. But what if they are
wrong? "A philosophy that denies the possibility of truth is a philosophy that
denies its own truth-claims. No one should take it seriously." 

This book is designed to take the reader through a progression of logical
arguments that we hope will cause him or her to conclude there is a truth and
that it can both be known and experienced. What makes the endeavor a bit easier
is that in the end, there are only two options for explaining our existence:
the natural or the supernatural.

First, there is the supernatural or religious explanation. Is it reasonable to
believe that the universe was created by an infinite God? Second, there is the
natural or evolutionary explanation. Is it more reasonable to believe the
universe arose by chance from nothing, as modern science claims? Interestingly
enough, even the natural explanation is a religious one, tantamount to
requiring belief in the miraculous. Either way we are forced into the realm of
the religious. Further, if a great deal of scientific evidence rules out a
naturalistic explanation for origins, we have little choice. By default we are
automatically required to enter the realm of religious truth claims, at least
if we want to know the truth about who we are. And who isn't at least a little
bit curious?

The difficulty is that all religions claim to be the truth (even naturalistic
ones). Of course, not all religions can be equally true. All might be false, or
one might be true, but all cannot be absolutely true since they all clearly
contradict one another. Indeed, it is somewhat startling that millions of
people today claim that all religions are true. Everyone knows better. And if
all religions aren't true, either all are false or one is true. There are no
other options.

If there is one true God, it is logical to assume there is one true religion.
The purpose of this book is to see just how clearly the evidence leads us to
conclude that there is only one true God and only one religion that is fully
true.

If you really want to examine the case for knowing the truth, you can't afford
to miss this book. Like it or not, we all live out our lives more or less
consistently with what we think is true. And, depending on what we believe is
true, this has major implications for each of our lives. Further, we all die.
To live our lives apart from the truth isn't healthy, but to die without the
truth is a tragedy.

So, if you are currently of a naturalistic persuasion, and you already believe
in one kind of miracle, perhaps it wouldn't hurt you to consider another kind
of miracle along the way. If you are currently of a religious persuasion,
perhaps it wouldn't hurt you to examine your beliefs more critically.

So where do we begin our search for the truth? Although we will discuss other
religions and philosophies, our emphasis in this book will be to examine the
evidence for the truth of biblical Christianity.

Why?

Simply because this is the most logical starting point. There is little need to
examine 500 different religions in A to Z fashion (even if that were possible),
when there is one religion that stands out from all the others in almost every
respect.

Christianity is the only religion that is simultaneously most likely to be true
and, given its claims, the easiest to disprove if false. Given this, there is
no better place to begin.

If biblical Christianity proves true, then we have found the truth.

If it proves false, then the search is still onâ

If nothing else, we hope this book will be a challenge to you personally to
spend some time in the most important endeavor in life.

There is no greater adventure.
END OF QUOTE

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." JOHN 8:32
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