{"product_id":"everything-else-you-always-wanted-to-know-about-god-but-were-afraid-to-ask-isbn-9781400071029","title":"Everything Else You Always Wanted to Know About God (But Were Afraid to Ask)","description":"\u003cb\u003eIn his earlier book, Eric Metaxas tackled the questions people had always wanted  to ask about God. His book was well-received, but Metaxas soon realized there was  a long list of questions that still needed to be addressed.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In \u003ci\u003eEverything \u003cu\u003eElse\u003c\/u\u003e You Always Wanted to Know about God…\u003c\/i\u003e, the author answers the rest–and some of the  very best–of the questions that surface when God is the topic of conversation. Metaxas’ s welcoming tone and his skillful use of humor lower readers’ defenses. He presents  biblical truth in the form of engaging answers that can’t help but connect, whether  the reader is an inquisitive skeptic, an open-minded agnostic, or even a new believer  looking to get grounded in the basics of the Christian faith. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e No matter who is  asking the questions, this sequel delivers the goods with disarming candor and biblical  authority.     \u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eEric Metaxas \u003c\/b\u003ehas written numerous award-winning and best-selling children’s books,  as well as scripts for VeggieTales videos. A graduate of Yale University, his writing  has been published in \u003ci\u003eAtlantic Monthly, The New York Times, Books \u0026amp; Culture,\u003c\/i\u003e and  featured on Chuck Colson’s \u003ci\u003eBreakpoint\u003c\/i\u003e radio program. He is a popular guest on various  radio and television programs and lives in New York City with his wife and daughter.\u003cb\u003eChapter 1\u003cbr\u003e Who Exactly Is God?\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhere God Came from; What to Call Him; How He Differs  from Us (and Barry Manilow)\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The world-famous New Testament scholar N. T. Wright  says that when he was a young man he served as the chaplain at a university. He often  encountered students who would tell him right off the bat that they didn’t believe  in God, hoping to be rid of him for the next four years. But Wright wouldn’t let  them off the hook so easily. “Which God don’t you believe in?” he would ask. This  usually took them by surprise and got them to think for a minute. Most of them then  described the God they didn’t believe in. Almost always this non-God was something  of a dyspeptic, white-bearded curmudgeon who sat on a cloud and hurled thunderbolts  at anyone who seemed to be having fun. Wright would listen to their description and  then respond that he didn’t believe in that God either. A conversation often ensued  in which the idea of who God really is–and who God isn’t–was more deeply explored.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Q: Before I ask you who God is, could I ask you another question first?\u003cbr\u003e A: Of course!  You can ask anything you want, remember? That’s the whole point of the book!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Q:  Okay. Where did God come from?\u003cbr\u003e A: Um, actually, I meant to say you can ask any question  \u003ci\u003eexcept that one.\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Q: Why? If we assume God exists, it shouldn’t be hard to explain  where he came from.\u003cbr\u003e A: Well, no one knows for sure, but we’re looking into it. Okay?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Q: Already with the joking?\u003cbr\u003e A: What if I told you we suspect he came from Canada?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Q: Can you be serious?\u003cbr\u003e A: Sorry. But this is one of those frustrating questions  that elude an easy answer. Even to \u003ci\u003etry \u003c\/i\u003eanswering it, I have to get into some heavy  concepts. I just feel it’s a little early in the book to get so heavy. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Q: If it  gets too heavy, I can always skip ahead to the next section, can’t I?\u003cbr\u003e A: I suppose  so.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Q: Well?\u003cbr\u003e A: Okay, here goes. The first thing we have to understand when we ask  a question like where did God come from is that God exists outside of time and space.2  In fact, in case you hadn’t heard, he created time and space.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Q: Yes, I’d heard  that.\u003cbr\u003e A: And of course we exist \u003ci\u003einside \u003c\/i\u003etime and space. So if God is outside time  and space, and we are inside them, then trying to figure out where God came from  gets pretty complicated. It’s certainly more complicated than trying to figure out  where, say, Barry Manilow was born.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Q: Then I’ll assume Barry Manilow is not God?\u003cbr\u003e A: Not that Barry Manilow is not an amazing performer! But, no, he’s not God. And  so when we’re talking about God and where he came from, we can’t just say Canada  or Paramus. It’s not that simple. However, there is one thing we \u003ci\u003ecan \u003c\/i\u003esay, and that  is that God always existed. He existed before time existed and before the universe  existed. He had to, since he’s the one who created time and space. He’s eternal,  and he exists in eternity, which is a completely different dimension, if not several  other dimensions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Q: Okay, so what kind of a world was it before time and space  existed?\u003cbr\u003e A: I’m not sure there was a world. But whatever it was like, we know there  were no watches.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Q: Because there was no time.\u003cbr\u003e A: Bingo. And no closets, because  there was no space. Ha. But beyond that, we’re kind of stumped. On this question,  we face almost exactly the same difficulty that scientists face in trying to understand  what existed before the so-called Big Bang, which is when they say time and space  began.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Q: And who or what do they say was behind the Big Bang?\u003cbr\u003e A: They can be very  touchy on that subject. Let’s just say it happened, okay?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Q: But what were you saying  about scientists being stumped by what happened before time and space existed?\u003cbr\u003e A:  I was saying that scientists can theoretically look back to the very first fraction  of a fraction of a second when the Big Bang happened–and can describe what the universe  was\u003cbr\u003e like in its first few moments. But they can’t go back \u003ci\u003ebefore \u003c\/i\u003ethen. They hit a  wall, so to speak. It’s what scientists call a “singularity,” a point beyond which  it’s impossible to go. And to get back to your question about where God came from,  when we look for an answer to that question, we hit a similar wall.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Q: So we’re  stuck.\u003cbr\u003e A: Yes. You and I can’t see before the beginning of time and space any more  than a scientist can. But we can know that, according to the Bible, God existed before  then because he exists outside time and space.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Q: You were right. This is kind of  heavy for the beginning of the book.\u003cbr\u003e A: Well, you could have skipped ahead.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Q: Okay,  now that we got that out of the way, who exactly is God?\u003cbr\u003e A: In one sense, this is  an odd question. God is God. But so many people mean different things when they say  “God” that it’s important to clarify his identity if we can.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Q: Right. So who is  he?\u003cbr\u003e A: Well, I assume we’re talking about the God of the Bible, and the God of the  Bible actually has many names. Usually he’s called Jehovah, which is just another  way of saying Yahweh.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Q: But can’t I use whatever name I like? And why do I even  have to use the word God? What about Energy or The Force or something like that?\u003cbr\u003e A: First of all, if we’re talking about the God of the Bible, we’re talking about  a God for whom names are extremely important. In fact, in a few places in the Bible,  when something significant happens to a person, God gives that person a new name.  In the book of Genesis, after God reveals himself to Abram, he changes Abram’s name  to Abraham. And in the New Testament, Jesus tells Simon that his new name will be  Peter, which means “rock.”3 Those are just two examples. Names have a lot of meaning  in the Bible, so we’d have to assume that God wants us to take his name seriously  too.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Q: If you say so.\u003cbr\u003e A: In fact, many Jewish people take God’s name so seriously  that they won’t even write or say the word \u003ci\u003eYahweh, \u003c\/i\u003ebecause for them the name of God  is holy. They can write it without the vowels, using just the four consonants, but  they will never write out the whole word.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Q: But Christians are free to say it and  write it?\u003cbr\u003e A: Yes, but for Christians too, God’s name is holy. In the Lord’s Prayer,  when Jesus prays to God the Father, he says, “Hallowed be thy name.” \u003ci\u003eHallowed \u003c\/i\u003eis  another word for “holy,” so Jesus himself is pointing out that God’s name is holy  and that we should acknowledge that when we pray. We’ll come back to what holiness  means later, but the point is that we are supposed to take God’s name very seriously.  There is power in every name, and especially in God’s name. In the Old Testament,  it was said that the one who comes “in the name of the LORD” is blessed, and when  Jesus entered Jerusalem before he was crucified, the people lining the streets identified  him as “he who comes in the name of the Lord!” If you’re around Christians, you will  often hear them pray “in Jesus’ name.” The name itself has power and authority. If  you were in a country that had a monarchy and someone said, “I come in the name of  the king!” his words would have the same effect as if the king himself were standing  there. His authority would be present in an emissary who comes in the king’s name.  It’s just like that when we use the name of God. God’s authority is somehow present  in his name, which is another reason the Ten Commandments forbid taking God’s name  in vain. God’s name is too holy and too important to throw around lightly.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Q: While  we’re on the subject, what exactly does it mean to “take God’s name in vain”?\u003cbr\u003e A:  Most folks think it means swearing, but taking God’s name in vain means using God’ s name lightly–whether you say “Jesus!” when you slam your finger in a car door or  whether you simply say “God!” when you are horrified at something. If we really understood  how holy and powerful God’s name is, we would never use it lightly, or “take his  name in vain,” to use the old-fashioned term. As I said, this goes far beyond swearing.  We are supposed to revere God’s name, but most people in our culture have completely  lost sight of what that means. The Bible makes it very clear that there is power  in God’s name. Demons tremble and cower at God’s name. You have to wonder what they  know that we don’t.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Q: I understand the idea that God’s name is important. But I’ m still not sure why he can’t be called whatever we want to call him.\u003cbr\u003e A: One reason  is that God can’t be whoever we want him to be. We have to know who we’re talking  about when we’re talking about God. He can’t be some entity that we’ve made up, a  God created in our own image, so to speak. He’s real; he’s not just an idea. But  let’s try something. Tell me who you have in mind when you’re talking about God,  and maybe we can figure out who you mean. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Q: Well, I know that if he’s God, he  has to be good. And loving. And he has to be fair. \u003cbr\u003e A: That rules out calling him  Satan, right? Or Lucifer or Mephistopheles or Beelzebub. Just in case you wondered  if any of those names might qualify. You see how names are important? Okay, what  else would you say to describe God?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Q: He’s kind, and he cares deeply about the  poor and the suffering. \u003cbr\u003e A: Okay, that rules out most Hindu gods.","brand":"WaterBrook","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303200837861,"sku":"NP9781400071029","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781400071029.jpg?v=1767726471","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/everything-else-you-always-wanted-to-know-about-god-but-were-afraid-to-ask-isbn-9781400071029","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}