GRILL A CHRISTIAN
By Roger Carswell
10 Publishing. 117 pages. £5.99
ISBN 978 1 906 117 311
Roger Carswell, as a travelling evangelist, visits many churches and is frequently challenged with questions about life. ‘Whether from a university professor or the drunk in the gutter’, he says, ‘I have sought to answer them honestly but not exhaustively – with clarity and simplicity. I have gone to the Bible for answers’.
The answers are short, so the reader needs to refer to books on the specific subject for greater depth. A bibliography at the end of each chapter would have been helpful.
It is divided into sections – questions about God, about the Bible, about Jesus, about morality, about suffering, about religion, about life after death, about church and about becoming a Christian. The first section contains questions like: ‘Who made God?’ ‘How do you know there is a God?’ ‘Isn’t faith just a leap in the dark?’.
The next section answers questions about the Bible such as: ‘Why do we believe it?’, ‘Isn’t it full of contradictions?’, ’Hasn’t science disproved it?’ ‘Hasn’t Dan Brown proved that the Bible is just a legend?’.
In the section on Jesus, he answers such questions as: ‘Is the account of Jesus reliable?’ ‘Why did he die on the cross?’ ‘Did he really rise from the dead?’. Morality questions range from ‘Who decides what is right and wrong?’ and ‘Why all the fuss about homosexuality?’ On suffering, he answers: ’Is suffering pointless?’,’’Is God punishing people?’’Why do some get away with great wickedness?’.
Other questions are: ‘How can a God of love send people to hell?’ and ‘Can a person be a Christian and not go to church?’.
He answers with sanctified common sense, not glossing over nuances or sweeping statements that conceal rather than deal with critical issues. He admits we do not have all the answers. Some things are God’s secret.
The book reveals the author’s evangelistic zeal, turning many answers into a challenge to the questioner to get right with God through Christ. He concludes with a question to the reader, ‘Who do you say Jesus is?’ and expounds on John 3, our Lord’s encounter with Nicodemus.
This book will help Christians to have an answer to commonly expressed problems. It will be a great encouragement, too, for those seeking the truth.
