Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we are here today representing our client, Christianity. Our client has been accused of making false statements and outrageous claims. The Christian faith has been maligned and defamed by it's detractors for centuries. We are here not to seek retribution or remuneration for harm done but simply to set the record straight. We intend to prove to you that the Christian faith is both reasonable and true, and we shall do this by presenting expert and eyewitness testimony.

So begins the recent book, Why I am a Christian, edited by Norman Giesler and Paul K. Hoffman. If you have struggled with some of the hard questions about the claims of the Bible, this book offers well-reasoned solutions. The questions addressed in this book include the following: "With all the evil and suffering in this world, don’t you have to admit that your God is either weak or evil himself? How could a good and loving God make faith in Jesus the only way to heaven and eternal life? Don’t all religions lead ultimately to God? How can anyone claim to have the truth or to know the truth? Aren’t agnosticism and atheism sound positions, since no one can really prove the existence of God? Even if a god is proven to exist, how does this prove that he (or it) is the God described in the Bible? Honestly now, isn’t believing in miracles silly? Don’t we know, from evolution, that the Bible story about creation is false? How can we accept as historically reliable what followers of Jesus wrote and obviously embellished in the Gospels? Isn’t it just myth? There are many other holy books. What makes you Christians think your book is better than the others?"

Since most critics of Christianity have shallow assumptions about it, Why I am a Christian might be beyond their grasp. This is not light reading for the casual critic. It is a vigorous defense of truth. The timing of such a book is important. In the wake of the terrorist attacks, many have concluded that we must downplay religious distinctions to maintain peace. Numerous sources, for example, have naively suggested that there is little substantive difference between Islam and Christianity. Allah and Jehovah, we have been told, are simply different names for the same God.

After witnessing the radical efforts of certain members of the Islamic faith, people are increasingly fearful of religions that make exclusive truth claims. It is illogical, however, to conclude that any religion claiming absolute truth is destined to engage in jihad. Jesus said, "no one comes to the father but through me" (John 14:6), and he did not try to kill anyone. He was killed by those who hated him.

In these days of fear and uncertainty, we do not need fuzzy conclusions about matters of eternal consequence. We need solid, well- reasoned truth as an anchor for our lives. And holding to the absolute claims of Christianity must be done with love and humility. The true Christian mission is to reach the world with the message of salvation, not to destroy those who choose a different religion. Christians believe that the truth claims of the gospel apply to all people without distinction but they are not called to force those truths on others. Followers of Christ are commanded to present God’s message to their fellow humans and to try to persuade them to believe. Yet each one must make his or her own decision. If some choose to reject the Gospel, Christians must continue to relate to them with love and kindness, remembering that it is the patience and kindness of God that leads us to salvation (Romans 2:4).

For those who have honest intellectual obstacles to faith or have allowed false assumptions about Christianity to keep them from considering it, Why I am a Christian could help remove the barriers. It is offered to people who have wrongly concluded any of the following: "Christians are not very intellectual and are often anti-intellectual. The exceptional intellectual Christian has, of necessity, adroitly compartmentalized his or her intellect and his or her faith so that never the twain shall meet. Anyone who claims to have "the truth" (as Christians do) obviously doesn’t. Even if God does exist, the evidence for his existence is not convincing and certainly not sufficient to compel religious obedience or justify eternal damnation for non-belief. The Christian faith, as with all religions, is irrational or at best non-rational."

The authors acknowledge that, "We do not claim to have all the answers. But we have more than enough to show that our faith in an omnipotent, omniscient, holy, and loving Creator God, who bridged the gap between himself and humankind in the person of Jesus Christ, is not only reasonable, but is, in fact, the most intellectually and existentially coherent option among all others." Christianity is both sensible to the head and satisfying to the heart.