Thursday, March 15, 2012

An Unsolicited Letter

Dr. Groothuis-

I have just finished reading Christians Apologetics, and wanted to thank you for all the time and thought you put into it. It has been a "ministry-elevating" experience - one of those books read or lectures heard or videos watched after which you know your perspective on God, life, and Kingdom service will never be the same.

A vast majority of the issues you address are ones that I have studied or processed through, whether in a classroom or ministry setting. However, you were able to peel layers off theological onions that I didn't even know existed. I discovered I craved that level of depth, and needed it to deepen my own understanding and confidence. There were plenty of other subjects, too, that you brought up that I hadn't even considered. In both categories, you greatly expanded the available tools that I have in my theological toolbox.

My reason for originally picking up your book was a five-week series on Apologetics I had decided to preach to my congregation. Your statement in the conclusion, "We should hear apologetics ringing out from the pulpit and being discussed in every level of Christian education," has definitely been proven out in the first three weeks of this series. The congregational response has been very strong. So many Christians are uncomfortable with their biblical and apologetic illiteracy. When they are given answers, it's like handing out Gatorade to a marathon runner. In a congregation of 160, I have 60+ who have signed up to receive an email of my sermon notes, so that they can study the subjects with more depth.

So, again, I say thank you. I know how lonely the writing process is. To produce a work such as yours takes endurance, patience, and, most of all, calling. Your book has rekindled in me a passion for apologetics and philosophy that has been lying dormant for some years.

Steve Yohn

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5 comments:

  1. Your books are better than William Lane Craig's and more challenging than Swinburne's. At least I think so. Schaeffer would be proud.

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  2. Thank you for posting this letter. It sums up the effect this book is having on me. I am nominating you as the top apologist of the 21st century!

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  3. I agree.

    This book has been one of the 5 best books that I have read in my life. I have rarely been stirred by a book written in modern times but yours belongs aside the works of Augustine, Aquinas, and Van Til!

    Thank you!

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  4. Hey If you love christian apologetics then you love this book.

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  5. Let me just say that your apologetics book is better than anything Ravi Zacharias, R.C. Sproul, or John Frame has ever written on the topic. This is a 5 star masterpiece without rival. Even "Mere Christianity" is not the tour de force that this is.

    Kudos, Professor.

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