27 Questions from a Skeptic: Responses from an Ex-Atheist Scientist (God & Science Book 12)

175 Pages·2015·0.51 MB·English

by  John M. Kinson

Gospel Seeds (Book 1)
27 Questions
from a Skeptic

(Responses to Questions on Faith from a Skeptic)
By
John M. Kinson
Book Description
This book presents 27 hard-hitting questions (on Christian Faith) from a
skeptic, together with respectful and reasoned responses from an ex-
atheist Christian.
Most of these are questions that the author himself had during his search
for ultimate truth, when he was looking into the existence (or non-
existence) of God, and the truth (or falsehood) of Christianity. Over time,
he came to realize that there are reasonable (and rational) answers to his
questions. This helped him to come to the intellectual conviction that
Christian Theism (belief in the Christian God) is reasonable and rational.
Ultimately, this helped him to commit his life to Christ.
This book includes questions on (a) Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, (b) the
size of the universe, (c) God’s slowness, (d) slowness of the gospel, (e)
origin of the Christian notion of God, (f) the Trinity, (g) suffering, (h)
miracles, (i) a mother’s sorrow, (j) eternal punishment, (k) an equitable
hell, (l) worship, (m) the boredom of eternal worship, (n) Bible
contradictions, (o) the Bible as a first century human product of Palestine,
(p) God never answering prayer, (q) hearsay and conjecture in the
gospels, (r) the creation myth being debunked, (s) a logical problem with
omniscience, (t) a logical problem with a perfect God, (u) God and the
flying spaghetti monster, (v) those who haven’t heard the gospel, (w) an
inhospitable planet, (x) smallpox and God, (y) God approving suffering,
(z) God not healing amputees, and (za) terminally ill children.
As mentioned above, there are reasonable (and rational) answers to all
of these questions. This book presents the questions and answers with
this in mind.
---
About the Author:
The description below is from the book “There is a God: How an Atheist
Scientist Changed his Mind” by John M. Kinson.
This book (“There is a God”) presents the questions and answers,
thoughts and discussions that occurred in the course of an Atheist
Scientist moving from an atheistic world-view to belief in God. Many
years of investigation, and an honest and rational appraisal of the
scientific and philosophical evidence led him to the conclusion that God
does exist.
John (pen-name) is a research scientist with more than 100 publications
in the hard-sciences, more than 10 inventions (with patents in various
countries), and numerous scientific and technical awards in the course of
his scientific career. He has collaborated with and published hard-science
research articles with scientists from many of the top research
universities in the world.
In this book (“There is a God”), he presents a brief history of his journey
(intellectually speaking) from Atheism to Theism and ultimately to Christ.
The book is not intended to be a rigorous defense of Theism, nor is it
intended to be a rigorous defense of Christianity, but rather the path
taken intellectually by one Atheist Scientist to a Theistic Worldview, and
ultimately to a commitment to Christ.
---
For more information:
The description below is from the book “Does Science Point to God? Is
there Scientific Evidence for God?” by John M. Kinson.
This book (“Does Science Point to God?”) is the result of a search by
John (an atheist scientist) for ultimate truth. He went through several
years of intense questioning of the meaning of life, and of the nature of
ultimate reality.
Over a period of time he investigated areas such as
· Is there evidence for God?
· Is there Scientific Evidence for God?
· Is it Rational to believe in God?
· Is it Reasonable to believe in God?
This book (“Does Science Point to God?”) briefly discusses some of the
scientific and philosophical evidence that he came across during his
investigation.
In particular, this book (“Does Science Point to God?”) discusses (a) the
origin of the universe, (b) the fine-tuning of the universe, (c) the origin of
first life, and (d) the presence of language and information in DNA, in the
context of Scientific Evidence for God.
COPYRIGHT PAGE
Copyright © 2015
by John M. Kinson
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without prior
written permission from the copyright owner. And, no part of this
publication may be stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any
form, or by any means (electronic, paper, photocopies, printed copies,
recordings or other) without the prior written permission of the copyright
owner.
Cover-image Credit:
NASA, ESA and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
COVER IMAGE
PREFACE
What is the Gospel?
What are Gospel Seeds?
Why Gospel Seeds?
The How of Gospel Seeds
This Book
INTRODUCTION
Introduction (Skeptic)
Questions & Concerns
CHAPTERS
Introduction
Chapter 1 – On Jesus’ Sacrifice
Chapter 2 – On the Size of the Universe
Chapter 3 – On God’s Slowness
Chapter 4 – On the Slowness of the Gospel
Chapter 5 – On the Origin of the Christian Notion of God
Chapter 6 – On the Trinity
Chapter 7 – On Suffering
Chapter 8 – On Miracles
Chapter 9 – On A Mother’s Sorrow
Chapter 10 – On Eternal Punishment
Chapter 11 – on an Equitable Hell
Chapter 12 – On Worship
Chapter 13 – On The Boredom of Eternal Worship
Chapter 14 – On Bible Contradictions
Chapter 15 – On the Bible as a 1st century Human product of
Palestine
Chapter 16 – On God Never answering Prayer
Chapter 17 – On Hearsay and Conjecture in the Gospels
Chapter 18 – On the Creation Myth being Debunked
Chapter 19 – A logical problem with Omniscience
Chapter 20 – A logical problem with A Perfect God
Chapter 21 – On God and the Flying Spaghetti Monster
Chapter 22 – On Those who haven’t heard
Chapter 23 – On an Inhospitable Planet
Chapter 24 – On Smallpox and God
Chapter 25 – On God approving of Suffering
Chapter 26 – On God not healing Amputees
Chapter 27 – On Terminally Ill Kids
SUMMARY
AFTERWORD
FOOTNOTES
APPENDICES (READING LIST)
APPENDIX 1 (GOD & SCIENCE)
1A. Is there Scientific Evidence for God?
1B. Does Evolution Disprove God?
1c. Are there Scientific & Philosophical Critiques of Evolution?
1d. Does Science Disprove Genesis?
APPENDIX 2 (GOD & PHILOSOPHY)
2A. Is there Philosophical Evidence for God?
2B. Is there A Rational Philosophical Basis for Christianity?
APPENDIX 3 (CHRISTIANITY)
3A. Is there a Rational Case for Christian Faith?
3B. Bible, Faith, Theology
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CONTACT THE AUTHOR
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am grateful to the various individuals (Joanna, Audrey, Samantha,
Chandra, Uma, Bart, Dan, Ko, Mike, Donald, Jack and many others)
whose interest, encouragement and constructive criticism have
influenced my thoughts and writing (and my answering of questions from
seekers and skeptics, both in this book and elsewhere).