As mentioned during the start of this blog, I based its name off of Gregory Boyd's apologetics book, Letters from a Skeptic. It was over 10 years ago that I remember reading it, and what I believed back then is very different from what I believe now. I don't think I was nearly the skeptic then as I am today. Letters is a collection of correspondence between a Father (an atheist) and his Son (an apologetics professor), discussing the various problems with faith and the potential answers to those problems.
Over the Christmas Holiday, I had another long discussion with my Dad. It was one that started out innocently, but quickly evolved into a philosophical/theological debate. One of those discussions involved me trying at length to explain what evidence is, and why I require evidence in order to believe something. I was doing my best to explain to him why skepticism is at the foundation of my belief system. I told my Dad that he should read Carl Sagan's Demon Haunted World, which I believe is a great "Skepticism 101" book. I told him that all my beliefs are based on a foundation of skepticism, an that hopefully this would give him more insight as to why I believe what I do.
He, in turn, asked me to re-read Letters from a Skeptic. He says that book covers many of the things he believes about his faith, much of which he claims is not aligned with mainstream Christianity. I agreed, with the condition that he read the entire book that I suggested. Of course, to be fair, that means I have to read Letters from front to back as well.
I'm about 30% of the way through, and I must say it's very difficult to not abandon this book at this point. I have pages of notes already full of my objections Boyd's sophomoric statements. I've always believed if I can't agree with the premises of the author's arguments, then there's no point in finishing it. I'm going to try my best, however, to power through it, and come out with a full understanding of each of his arguments. Once I'm done I'll post a thorough book review here, so stay tuned!
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