Tough Topics (Re:Lit) [eBook]

Biblical Answers to 25 Challenging Questions

Will there be sex in heaven?
Are miraculous gifts for today?
Does God ever change His mind?

Such difficult questions often intrigue us, readily confuse us, and sometimes disturb us. Drawing on nearly 40 years of teaching and ministry experience, pastor-scholar Sam Storms answers 25 challenging questions Christians are often too afraid to ask, addressing thorny issues ranging from the eternal destiny of infants to the roles of demons and angels.

The robust, thoughtful answers provided in this book offer a helpful alternative to relying on simplistic explanations, and will encourage you in the search for truth and clarity on such tough topics.

Sam Storms (PhD, The University of Texas) has spent 38 years in ministry as a pastor, professor, and author. He was visiting associate professor of theology at Wheaton College from 2000–2004, and is currently senior pastor at Bridgeway Church in Oklahoma City. He has authored 20 books and founded Enjoying God Ministries. He and his wife, Ann, have been married for 40 years and are the parents of two grown daughters and four grandchildren.

“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 has 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, Hope Reborn and Raised with Christ

“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