I Want to Believe: Finding Your Way In An Age of Many Faiths (Amazon) by Mel Lawrenz (Senior Pastor Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, WI) is a book that got me thinking about my faith from a different perspective.
Chapter 2, Why God Wants Us to Believe, was my favorite part of the book. Instead of focusing on why I should believe in God, Lawrenz instead reviews five reasons why God wants me to believe in Him. That gets to the core of Christianity, a personal relationship with God. I found it to be a refreshing perspective.
As reflected in part of the title, An Age of Many Faiths, five chapters are devoted to the contrasts between Christianity and some of the other major world faiths, including Atheism. Lawrenz does a good job here of using real-life examples of the influence various faiths have on their followers. This discussion is useful for Christians who interact with people of other faiths as well as non-Christians who are interested in exploring the differences.
Another highlight of the book for me was Chapter 6, Doubt. I believe we all have doubts about our faith from time to time...sometimes big ones and sometimes small ones. Lawrenz does a nice job helping us to keep those doubts in proper perspective.
Overall this book was a refreshing read for me. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins
