Excerpts

Click on any underlined section in the Table of Contents below to view a selected excerpt. In order to provide you with a fairly broad introduction to the various topics presented in this book, it was decided to print the first 3 or 4 pages of each chapter as an excerpt.

 
Table of Contents
 

PREFACE

The Goal of the Book
The Scope of the Book
The Nuances of the Book
The Purpose of the Book

INTRODUCTION

The Need for Intellectual Honesty

1. THE WORLD OF RELIGION

What Is Religion?
The Origin of Religion
Functions of Religion
Elements of Religion

2. RELIGION AND THE COSMOS

Types of Religion
 - Monotheism
 - Polytheism
 - Pantheism
 - Naturalism
Secularism and Pluralism
Postmodernism
Evaluation of Religion

3. THE ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE

The Problem of Bias
The Perspectives of Science and Religion
The Development of Science
The Laws of Science
The Fossil Record
The Cave Man

4. THE EVIDENCE OF SCIENCE

Radioactive Dating Methods
Evidence for a Worldwide Flood
 - Historical Evidence
 - Logistical Evidence
 - Greenhouse Evidence
 - Water Evidence
 - Worldwide Flood Evidence
 - Dinosaur Evidence
 - Longevity of Life Evidence
 - Carbon-14 Evidence
 - Quick-Frozen Animal Evidence
Three Reasons Why Life Did Not Evolve by Natural Processes
Three Reasons Why Many Scientists Accept Evolution as Fact

5. THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

The Argument of “Cause”
The Argument of “Design”
The Argument of “Morality”
Conclusion

6. THE INCREDIBLE HUMAN BODY

The Eye
The Ear
The Nose
The Heart
The Blood
The Kidneys
The Brain
The Cell’s DNA
Conclusion

7. GOD’S PERSPECTIVE OF ANCIENT HISTORY

Creation and the Fall
 - The Creation of Humanity
 - The Fall of Humanity
The Rebellion of Early Man
The Descendants of Abraham
The Leadership of Moses
The Rule of Judges

8. THE RISE AND FALL OF THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL

The Kingdom of Israel
The Divided Kingdom
The Exile and Return
The Intertestamental Period
 - The Period of the Persians
 - The Period of the Greeks
 - The Period of Independence
 - The Rule of the Romans

9. THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH

The Birth of the Messiah
The Prophecies of the Messiah
The Ministry of the Messiah
 - The Central Message of the Messiah
 - The Miracles of the Messiah
 - The New Covenant of the Messiah
 - The Acceptance of the Messiah
 - The Rejection of the Messiah
 - The Crucifixion of the Messiah
 - The Resurrection of the Messiah
The Formation of the Church

10. THE TRIUNE GODHEAD

The Attributes of God
 - God is Eternal
 - God is Holy
 - God is Unchanging
 - God is Creator
 - God is All-Powerful
 - God is All-Knowing
 - God is Ever-Present
 - God is Love
 - God is Sovereign
 - God is Personal
The Triune Nature of God
 - The Trinity Defined
 - The Trinity Misunderstood
 - The Trinity According to Scripture
 - The Trinity Illustrated
 - The Trinity Differentiated
The Deity of Christ
 - The Claims of Christ
 - The Appellations of Christ
 - The Miracles of Christ
 - How Other Great Spiritual Leaders Compare with Christ
The Holy Spirit
 - The Spirit of God Defined
 - The Spirit of God in the Old Testament
 - The Spirit of God in the New Testament

11. CHRISTIAN BELIEFS AND PRACTICES

Salvation
Christian Virtues
The Church
 - The Purpose of the Church
 - The Structure of the Church
 - The Denominations of the Church
The Sacraments
 - Baptism
 - Lord’s Supper
The Apocalypse

12. SACRED SCRIPTURES AND ANCIENT WRITINGS

The Formation of the Scriptures
The Apocryphal Books
Other Ancient Christian Writings
Textual Accuracy of the Scriptures
Reliability of the New Testament
Writings of First-Century Secular Historians
Archaeology and the Scriptures
Scientific Accuracy of the Scriptures
 - The Earth
 - The Heavens
 - The Body
Fulfilled Prophecy and the Scriptures

13. THE EARLY YEARS OF CHURCH HISTORY
(First through Fifteenth Centuries)

The First and Second Centuries: The Early Church
 - Persecution in the Early Church
 - Heresies in the Early Church
The Third and Fourth Centuries: The Union of Church and State
 - Emperor Constantine Converts to Christianity
 - The Great Theologians of this Era
The Fifth through Fifteenth Centuries: The Middle Ages
 - The Fall of the Roman Empire
 - The Union of Church and State
 - The Emergence of Islam
 - The Great Schism Between the East and the West
 - The Papacy at the Time of the Crusades
 - Historical Events that Led to the Reformation

14. THE LATER YEARS OF CHURCH HISTORY
(Sixteenth through Twentieth Centuries)

The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries: The Renaissance and The Reformation
 - The Renaissance
 - The Reformation
 - The Counter-Reformation
 - Other Reformation Developments
The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries: The Age of Enlightenment
 - Rationalism and the Eighteenth Century
 - The Scientific Revolution and the Nineteenth Century
The Twentieth Century: The Age of Modernism
 - Developments within Christianity
 - Prominent Orthodox Christians of the Twentieth Century
 - Issues of Growth
 - Differences in Buildings, Décor, and Worship
Conclusion

EPILOGUE