Evangelicals Now
<< March 2003 >>

The Top 100 Questions

Questions, questions!

THE TOP 100 QUESTIONS
Biblical answers to popular questions Plus explanations of 50 difficult Bible passages
By Richard Bewes
Christian Focus. 275 pages
ISBN 1 85792 680 3

Perhaps every Christian knows that feeling when put on the spot by someone asking awkward and difficult questions about the Christian faith. The feeling is a mixture of embarrassment, frustration and shame since we are instructed to 'always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have' (1 Peter 3.15).

Here is a book to help us be better prepared!

By the author's own admission the book does not attempt to present a 'coherent systematic body of teaching'. Instead, Richard Bewes gives us short answers to some of the questions he has been most frequently asked over his years in Christian ministry.

The 'top 100 questions' are grouped under five headings:

1. The universe we inhabit. e.g. Are we on our own in the universe? Did God create viruses? 2. The truth we believe. e.g. Is faith just a leap in the dark? Does purgatory exist? 3. The Bible we read. e.g. How did the Bible come to us? Who authorised the Bible? 4. The way we behave. e.g. How dangerous is wealth? What makes a church a sect? 5. The Christ we follow. e.g. Why should Christians suffer? Can I lose my salvation? Each question is stated, then answered in less than two pages.

The last 50 pages are then taken up with explanations of 50 difficult Bible passages, e.g. Genesis 4.17: who was Cain's wife? 1 Peter 3.19: a second chance?
I found Richard Bewes's approach to these questions very helpful, biblical, clear and (obviously) concise! His answers are a distillation of many years' experience. He is always positive and whenever possible brings the questioner back to Christ and to the gospel. His answers have the tenderness of a pastor's heart and the winsomeness of an evangelist's.

The book will help and stimulate anyone who has a hunger after God and after truth and who has a desire to share that truth with others. It might be useful for youth groups or in-house groups. It could be read as part of an individual's daily devotion or it could even be used in family devotions where there are teenage children.

I warmly recommend the book.
Ken McIntosh, Horsley