My first published book is entitled, Contradict – They Can’t All Be True. In case you have been wondering what’s inside the book before taking the plunge to order your copy, I have provided a brief overview of the book in this blog post:
Ch. 1 – The State of Pluralism
America’s state of religious pluralism stems from Hindu influence that crept in via the transcendental movement and came full force in the 60s counter-culture movement. The New Age Movement has direct parallels to Hindu beliefs, both of which lead to forms of religious pluralism. I share that the heart behind the movement is love, but that truth and love is lost in pluralism.
Ch. 2 – The Multiple Religious Paths
Many believe religious pluralism is true because Americans are religiously ignorant. Many of us don’t even know Christianity. So I give a 20 word glossary for Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. If you know these 20 terms for each, you will know the basic history, teachings, and practices of the world’s five major religions.
Ch. 3 – Enacting the Law of Non-Contradiction
I then take direct quotes from the authoritative texts of each of those 5 religions and other minor religions and cults and put them under various doctrinal topics such as who God is, who man is, what mankind’s ultimate problem is, what the solution is to that problem to show the contradictions.
Ch. 4 – Finding a Religious Litmus Test
I present the historiographical tests for evaluating claims of the past and that Christianity offers a historical claim to prove or disprove the Christian faith – the resurrection.
Ch. 5 – Testing the Testable
I apply those tests to the Gospels. I present it in a way that I haven’t seen done yet in another book – so I think I’m contributing something new to the vast works that are already out there.
Ch. 6 – The Ring of Truth
I share what I call the ring of truth. The ring of truth can be found in the Bible’s details, its one unified message, its accuracy in predicting future events, and its uniqueness amongst the world’s religions. I close this chapter by quoting Peter from Acts 2 and Jesus from Mark 16, “Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins.”
All of the book so far was in a non-Christian voice. I want anyone reading to not know where I am coming from – what I actually believe. I have not identified myself as Christian until the end of this chapter. It’s all fact based presentations. It turns me off reading most books of this nature because I don’t think my non-Christian friend would get past the first few pages in most cases the way they are written. The bias comes through too strongly in most of the books I have read making a case for the Christian faith.
Ch. 7 – Using Contradict to Share the Gospel
The Christian voice is out. This chapter focuses on sharing the Gospel using Contradict. It explains how I have used Contradict as a witnessing tool on college campuses and I explain the whole process if someone else wants to use it. I then give the 20 most asked questions after the initial conversational starter sharing that all religions can’t be true because they contradict each other, but that I believe Christianity is true and that Jesus is the son of God who died for the sins of all of mankind. Every question has several types of responses that should be utilized in the response. Validation responses show why it’s a good question and how you understand why it is being asked. Socratic method responses are questions that lead the person to the answer based on what they already know. Answer responses give multiple ways to respond to answer the question directly. Scripture responses show the verses that support the answer from God’s Word. Back the Gospel responses must always be used at the end of every answer. The Gospel saves, not our apologetics, so the answers must always be used to get back to the Gospel and often times the Gospel answers the question!
Ch. 8 – Join the Movement.
Why did I call Contradict a movement? The Holy Spirit moves each of us to action as he desires. There isn’t only one way, or method, to present the exclusive claims of Christ to be our only all-sufficient Savior. The Spirit might move some to share the Gospel exactly as I have using Contradict, but others might get other ideas on how to initiate the conversation. We might not all be led to success by the Spirit either. We might be led to persecution. Our role is simply to resign ourselves to will of God as the Spirit moves us to make disciples of all nations.
Andy Wrasman 