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Enjoying God Blog

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I’m happy to announce that my new book, Tough Topics: Biblical Answers to 25 Challenging Questions, is now available. Crossway, under the Re:Lit label (a ministry of the Resurgence), has done a tremendous job. Lord willing, there will be a second volume to follow in a year or so with answers to 25 more challenging questions. But for now, the 366 pages of this first volume will have to suffice!

Even though Amazon currently lists it as not available until April 30, and thus only subject to pre-order, my guess is that this will change in the next day or so. We received copies at Bridgeway today. The really good news is that Amazon lists it at a 47% discount! You can click on the book at the bottom of the right hand column and it will take you to Amazon.

Here are some of the endorsements it has received.

Tough Topics offers every questioning person an opportunity to press thoughtfully into the Bible’s answers. Sam Storms is that rare guide we all are looking for—fair-minded, with no axe to grind. I cheerfully commend Tough Topics for your tough questions!”

Raymond C. Ortlund Jr., Lead Pastor, Immanuel Church, Nashville, Tennessee

“Let’s face it, the church has not always done the best possible job at fielding the hard questions posed to it by both skeptics and members. In the case of the first group, skeptics end up discounting Christianity, dismissing it as irrational, head-in-the-sand religious fanaticism. In the case of the second group, members become frustrated with the Christian faith and often drift away from what they have found to be a shallow, inconsistent, and quite unsatisfying worldview. Sam Storms is a leader whom the Lord has wonderfully gifted not only to answer the tough questions, but also to provide an accessible resource for Christian leaders to be better prepared to engage skeptics and church members who wrestle with these issues rather than to rebuff them and discount their difficulties. Sam’s passion is to deal with twenty-five of the most challenging questions you will ever face, and do it in such a way that you become convinced of the answers and are prepared to offer help to others who face them as well. He accomplishes this goal, not by offering his own good ideas and the best of human counsel, but by relying on the wisdom of God as found in Scripture.”

Gregg R. Allison, Professor of Christian Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

“Some questions about God and the Bible intrigue us. Others get completely under our skin and frustrate us. The chances are good that if a question is bothering you, you are not the first to ask it! Sam Storms draws on all his pastoral experience in this helpful book as he honestly answers questions some people like to avoid.”

Adrian Warnock, author, Raised With Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything

“Sam Storms’s Tough Topics is equally the work of a deeply concerned and caring pastor, and that of a thoughtful, seasoned, and biblically-saturated theologian. As I read this book, specific people kept coming to mind who would be helped greatly by one of more of its chapters—such wisdom, such balance, and such biblical clarity. Readers will likely differ at points with their pastor-theologian guide, but they will rise up and thank him for offering such wise counsel on such an array of difficult and important questions. There’s something here for everyone. Pick up and read, and see how faithful pastoral theology really does bless the church.”

Bruce A. Ware, Professor of Christian Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

“People are inquisitive by nature. It is the way God made us. We have all kinds of questions about Him. When people learn that I teach theology for a living, the first thing they do is begin to ask questions—tough questions. Sam Storms has given us an incredibly useful resource in his book Tough Topics. He has braved the minefield of some of the most difficult questions people have concerning God, the Bible, Church, and Christianity in general. What I like about this work is not simply its accessibility, but Sam’s gentle and balanced scholarship. When we have questions about God, this is no casual thing requiring the opinions of sages on street corners. These are serious questions requiring someone who is well versed in the Bible. Sam has always been one who I go to when I have questions. Now I have the book! And, as Sam says, the answer to these questions do not drive us to be puffed up in knowledge, they drive us to worship.”

C. Michael Patton, Founder, President, and fellow, The Credo House, Edmond, Oklahoma

“Sam Storms is an ideal guide to help us navigate through difficult theological questions. He brings a pastor’s heart and four decades of caring for souls to the journey. Along with that, he brings the brilliant mind of a trained theologian. He writes because he cares deeply about the truth and because he loves people. The answers in this book bring clarity instead of confusion. The stated goal of the book is knowledge that leads to worship. Mission accomplished!”

__Erik Thoennes, Professor of Biblical Studies and Theology, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University; Pastor, Grace Evangelical Free Church, La Mirada, California; author, Life’s Biggest Questions.

What are the 25 challenging questions? Here is the Table of Contents.

(1) Is the Bible Inerrant?

(2) What is Open Theism?

(3) Does God ever Change His Mind?

(4) Could Jesus have Sinned?

(5) What did Jesus mean when he said, “Judge not, that you be not Judged”?

(6) What is Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?

(7) Does the Bible teach the Doctrine of Original Sin?

(8) Are those who Die in Infancy Saved?

(9) Will People be Condemned for Not Believing in Jesus though They’ve Never Heard his Name?

(10) What can we know about Angels?

(11) What can we know about Satan?

(12) What can we know about Demons?

(13) Can a Christian be Demonized?

(14) Does Satan assign Demons to specific Geo-Political regions? Are there Territorial Spirits?

(15) Can Christians lose their Salvation?

(16) Does Hebrews teach that Christians can Apostatize?

(17) Will there be Sex in Heaven?

(18) Are Miraculous Gifts for Today?

(19) What is Baptism in the Spirit, and When does it Happen?

(20) Should all Christians Speak in Tongues?

(21) What was Paul’s Thorn in the Flesh?

(22) Is there Healing in the Atonement?

(23) Why Doesn’t God always Heal the Sick?

(24) What is Legalism?

(25) Are Christians Obligated to Tithe?

1 Comment

In your next volume why don't you deal with real "tough topics" like the genocides of the Old Testament, the suffering and evil in the world, science vs. creationism, slavery in the Bible, etc.?

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