Your relationship with God is just a psychological crutch. Belief in God is dangerous. I used to believe, but I've given it all up. Is God real? Is it possible to know anything, let alone know him? Why do bad things happen to people who worship this God? What about the spiritual experiences of other faiths? All of these accusations, objections and questions have come directly from real-life situations. Amy says, 'I hope that the thoughts offered here will help you see what the Christian faith has to say amid all the pain, confusion and complexity of life.'

Amy Orr-Ewing

But is it real?

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Introduction

1. What about other people’s genuine experience of God?

Buddhism

Christianity

Islam

Tolerance

Arrogance

Exclusion

2. Your ‘experience of God’ is delusional, not real

God – a delusion?

Conclusion

3. Your relationship with God is just a psychological crutch

God as a psychological projection

God as talisman

Only for the weak and inferior

4. How can you say you have found the truth if you haven’t tried all the alternatives?

Logical positivism

Searching for truth

Intolerance

An accident of birth

5. If Christianity is about A relationship with God, why does he let bad things happen to his friends?

Naturalism

Eastern philosophy

If I am suffering, is it because I have sinned?

Why doesn't God always intervene?

6. If Christianity is about a transforming relationship with God, why are Christians so bad?

Why do Christians sometimes fail so spectacularly?

What does my life say about me?

7. If God is so loving and relational, why did he go ahead and create when he knew people would end up in hell?

Justice and judgment

Retribution and revenge

Is hell disproportionate?

8. Belief in God is dangerous

What kind of God don't you believe in?

Belief in God as cruelty to the self

The death of God

Fundamentalism

Tolerare malus

9. I used to believe, but I’ve given it all up

'I've grown out of it. I'm more sophisticated now'

'I don't believe it's true any more'

10. How can I know?

Is it all in the mind?

But can we really know anything?

Immanuel Kant

Relational knowledge

Blaise Pascal

Notes

Chapter 1: What about other people's genuine experience of God?

Chapter 2: Your 'experience of God' is delusional, not real

Chapter 3: Your relationship with God is just a psychological crutch

Chapter 4: How can you say you have found the truth if you haven't tried all the alternatives?

Chapter 5: If Christianity is about a relationship with God, why does he let bad things happen to his friends?

Chapter 6: If Christianity is about a transforming relationship with God, why are Christians so bad?

Chapter 7: If God is so loving and relational, why did he go ahead and create when he knew people would end up in hell?

Chapter 8: Belief in God is dangerous

Chapter 9: I used to believe, but I've given it all up

Chapter 10: How can I know?

"This book challenges the spirit of lazy secularism that is so prevalent in our society." Jane Williams  
   
 "Amy takes you on a journey where the soul is at home, with the hungers of the mind and heart fulfilled." Ravi Zacharias  
   
 "A provocative, informed and challenging book." Alister McGrath  
   
 "Brilliant ... Defends the truths of Christianity with grace and intelligence." Beth Redman

The Good Book Stall

Here is a book that is brilliantly written as a resource to find radical and relevant and really balanced answers to questions and put-downs that are often raised by sceptics, or worse, at events like Alpha courses, pub conversations and other group gatherings. Despite only being 144 pages, Amy Orr-Ewing has an amazing gift to be able to drill down into the core of a clever question and to demonstrate by example how to see what is behind the such topics as: Your relationship with God is just a psychological crutch: Why Does God Let Bad Things Happen to His Friends, or Belief in God is Dangerous. I would recommend this book for anyone who is keen to share their faith with friends and colleagues, anyone going to university or any church member involved in evangelism within their church. It will raise your faith levels by giving the reader greater understanding of the strength and security of their faith and provide a good template for handling and explaining why Christianity is not afraid to stand up to real and honest scrutiny

But is it Real?

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