Adrienne Quahe

00000002309
Christian Religion
Book Summary – More Than A Carpenter by Josh McDowell

There are many people who do not believe in God. There are various degrees of disbelief.
Some merely do not want to pray to him, but still believe that there is a higher power above us.
Others do not believe in God at all, but they accept that other people think that he exists, and
tolerate it in silence. The last group of people are the worst. Not only do they think God does not
exist, they seek to disprove his existence. The author of this book used to fit into the third
category, but miraculously became a child of God instead. This book tells us the story of how
Josh McDowell seeked to disprove the bible, but instead became an avid believer of Jesus and
the bible.

John McDowell was a lonely, overly curious person who found no meaning in life. He
tried to fill in the hole in his heart by keeping himself busy and joining many university clubs,
and participating in many other activities. However, he felt that his happiness was circumstantial,
and thus, it was not true happiness. One day, he noticed a group of people who were always
happy all the time, and he was confused at this fact. He then asked a member of the group why
they were always happy all the time, and the person answered “Because of Jesus.” John was
extremely confused at this answer, as he felt that Christianity was just another religion, and that
people were deluding themselves into becoming happy due to something that does not exist.
However, even though he was skeptical, the answer bothered him enough to actually want to do
something about it. He then set on a mission to disprove the fact that God and Jesus exist, the
bible, and everything in it. He was going to show his Christian friends that everything they
believed in was a lie and a sham. Granted, his way was not right, but it put him on the path
towards God.

John was extremely deadset on disproving the bible. He thought that he should start with
the bible, as if he could find evidence against it, the whole Christianity would crumble with it.
He was so determined that he decided to take some time off school to leave for europe to start
digging for evidence. Josh found evidence. Evidence in abundance. However, instead of tearing
the bible apart, this evidence that he found tore his world apart. He had admitted that the old
testament is one of the most reliable documents in all of antiquety. Finding out that the Bible
really was viable, and that everything in the Bible was true rocked John’s world. Someone that
he had thought was just a mere carpenter, a man who got caught up in his own visions of
grandeur, suddenly became someone extremely important to John.

In the next few chapters, John McDowell tells us how the Bible is indeed correct. John also sets
Christianity apart, as he says that Christianity is the only true religion as only Jesus has ever
directly called himself God. (Son of God, etc) Other religions, such as Buddhism or Islam, has
only ever had messengers, but they have never actually called themselves the son of God or God
himself. He then talks about religion and science, two topics that are greatly debated on. John
says that science has no place in the talk of religion, as science cannot prove the existence of a
person. For example, we know that Cleopatra exists, but mostly through history (Legal –
history), and not science. We cannot prove that she exists with science. We mostly know that she
exists through written words or paintings and pictures of her. This is the same with Jesus. We
cannot explain his existence using science, but we can believe the many scriptures written about
him. In Jesus’s case, we must use the correct tool to determine his existence. Legal history has
proven that there were many witnesses who witnessed the resurrection of Jesus. Science cannot
prove this. However, this does not mean the resurrection of Jesus did not occur. We must use the
right tools to determine what is right and what is wrong, and in this case, science is useless in
determining the existence of Jesus.

A group that was made especially to show the error of Christianity is called the new wave
of atheist. They believe that religion is man made, and therefore, it is a lie. They believe that this
poisons everything and therefore religion needs to be eliminated. This new atheism believe that
the bible is a massive lie, and that there is no rational proof for his existence. They also say that
Christianity is a curse. These new atheist use the abuse of Galileo, the atrocities of the crusades,
the Inquisition and the Salem witch trials in the past history as well as the sexual abuse of the
children by priests as evidence of the cruelty of Christianity. These things were done by people
who claim to be Christian, but I think that they are wrong. I understand that they may have done
these things due to their beliefs, but there is no such teaching in the Bible, or from Jesus. He has
never told us to do such things. I feel that these atrocities were done by Christians who, at the
start, may have loved God, but instead, chose to express it wrongly. These actions may have
been caused by the result of evil in the human nature. Their motives were not based on the
teachings of Jesus, but their motives are the result of their own selfishness, their fear in that
moment, or their refusal to understand. In my opinion, this is the root of all human evil. I feel
that sometimes violence is the result of fear and lack of understanding. These two feelings cause
us to act up, and instead of trying to understand the other party, we choose to show our strength
through violence, as we are scared and want to show superiority. Therefore, the acts of these so
called Christians are due to their human nature, and not the teachings of Jesus.

There are many people who seek out to discredit the bible and call it unreliable.
McDowell was one of these people. The problem , as he found out, is that it stands up to any test
put to it, that tries to verify the accuracy of a historical document. The bible surpasses any other
historical document in these tests, and yet it is the only document that most people try to claim as
inaccurate. The bible is, in my opinion, the most preserved text, as it was passed on by millions
of people, and also because almost everyone has read it. I find it hard to believe that someone
could tamper with something that has been around for so long, and that they could fool them
millions of people who have read it.
 There are many people who refuse to believe in the resurrection of Jesus. They want to
believe that the disciples either went into the wrong tomb, or that they were hallucinating due to
the unbearable grief, or that the body was stolen, or that Jesus didn’t really die, but he merely
fainted. In my opinion, this is a very tough act to fake, as Jesus was a big deal, even back then.
If his disciples went around telling people that Jesus was back, and had no proof, they probably
would have been tortured and sentenced to death for treason. The disciples themselves were
reluctant to believe, until Jesus revealed himself to them. The testimony of the disciples in this
case is something that is trustworthy, as they were the people most involved in this matter.

The miraculous change in Paul the Apostle is something that is very hard to fathom if you
were not a believer. Paul was known as Saul, who was a person who hunted down Christians and
cast his vote so that they would be put to death. This person, who had such hate for Christians,
then became someone who would go on to write many books that would end up in the New
Testament, and who died for his belief that Jesus rised from the dead. This is only possible
because Paul witnessed the rising of Christ. If you were Paul, would you spend twenty five years
of suffering for something that you did not believe? I believe that witnessing Jesus rising from
the dead was the big “happening” in Paul’s life that lead him to having a complete turnabout and
to become the complete opposite of who he once was.

Why do people have such a big problem with Christianity? I think it is because
Christianity claims that Jesus is the only way to God. In modern times, people are offended by
exclusive claims that Jesus it the only way to God and the only way to forgiveness of sins and
salvations. This attitude shows that people still do not understand the nature of God. People do
not understand that God is not only loving, he is also holy and just. He must punish sin.
Fortunately for us, when Jesus died on the cross, he took the punishment for our sins, something
no mere mortal can do. People refuse to believe this, as this makes them feel that they have no
control whatsoever in their lives, and therefore strikes fear in them. It is this fear, and ignorance
that makes them want to disprove God, as it is human nature to want to get rid of anything that
you fear, and yet do not understand.

In conclusion, I feel that this book is a really great book about a man’s testimony of his
search for the truth, and the amazing thing that he realized. He started out a non-believer, and is
now is a child of Christ. He turned his life around, going from someone who was lost, and who
did not know how to find happiness, and is now someone who has found happiness in Christ. I
feel that after reading this book, my faith has been renewed, and that this book has helped me
understand many things. I would recommend this book to anyone who is still unsure of the
Bible’s credibility, as I feel that this book absolutely will abolish any of those doubts.