Interview Questions and Answers for Susan Reinhardt’s interview of
Pamela Christian about her first in a three-book series,
Examine Your Faith! Finding Truth in a World of Lies
What do you hope readers will gain from your book?
Examine
Your Faith! Finding Truth in a World of Lies, takes readers through an
inductive process to honestly reconsider what they believe and why they believe
it. My goal is for them to intentionally arrive at a confident faith
conviction. Since what we believe to be true, dictates every decision we make
in life and as most believe, has direct bearing on our eternal life, it is
extremely important to have a confident faith conviction.
Why do you think people need help in having a confident faith
conviction?
I’ve been speaking and teaching on
the matter of faith for over twenty years. In my experience I’ve learned that
what most people refer to as faith is really wishful thinking or a hope which
is far different from a confident faith conviction. People have been influenced
by a culture of political correctness and many other popular notions that have
actually served to erode true faith.
In starting to write my book I used
the most popular search engines to locate two different highest ranking online
dictionaries. Looking up the definition of the words truth and faith, I
discovered that both these dictionaries had it wrong. With the popular
definitions of these two core words being off the mark, it’s evidence that as a
culture we are too.
How do you help people examine what they believe and why?
By systematically considering absolute
truth against the claim that truth is relative, by exploring religious
pluralism, (the believe that all roads lead to the same God and heaven) and the
various major world religions (Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and
Christianity) and New Age, readers can more confidently determine what
religious belief is truly worthy of their faith. Many people hold ideals, values and
philosophies that have never been held up to the test of scrutiny. This means a
person could easily believe something to be true that in reality isn’t. No one wants to live their life on the basis
of a lie. Yet, I assert that unless we intentionally examine what we believe
and why we believe it, we could be deceived and not know it. It is, after all,
the very nature of deception that the victim is unaware.
What has been your personal life experiences that allow you to offer
the insights that you do in your book?
I was raised to have the freedom to
explore religious faith on my own, with very little input from my parents.
Without realizing it, I adopted various points of view that I thought were
sound and also consistent with Christian beliefs. Had it not been for a
significant life crisis, (which I share in my book), that caused me to question
everything I had ever believed true, I would still be living in deception
today.
Having started my journey for truth
and faith more than twenty years ago, I’ve had many years teaching, writing,
broadcasting and more on this. My interest to learn more led me to enroll in
Biola University’s course in Christian apologetics in 2003 from which I have a
certificate of completion.
As a public speaker one of the
first questions I ask my audience is “Who in this room wants to live your life
on the basis of a lie?” No one ever raises their hand to that question, which
is very revealing. It means that universally we prefer truth over deception and
that we then view truth as “good” and lies as “bad.” Yet, without a deliberate,
and I’ll add courageous, effort to examine what we believe and why, we could be
basing our life—our eternal life—on lies. I don’t want people to come to a
major life crisis, when they need their faith to be in tact, only to find out
as I did, that it is faulty. The way I explain it is to say that faith is a lot
like automobile insurance. You must have it firmly in place before there’s a
need for it.
What makes your book distinctive from other books that cover the same
topics?
My book is written in an inductive
fashion. I disclose up front that I have taken the same journey I seek to take
my readers through and I have concluded that Christianity is the religious
faith that I can wholly accept. However, it is not my goal to tell people what
to think. Rather I help them use their
own intellect through the process of logic and reason to conclude for him or
her self. I write with genuine compassion and respect for the reader because I
know first hand, that embarking on this journey is not easy—but it is so
necessary.
To help my readers begin the journey
I explain that well-meaning people want to believe that all religions are equal
and all roads lead to the same God and heaven. Then I point out that simply
claiming a matter to be true, does not make it so. The first issue to resolve
is an understanding about what truth is, so I tackle that at the start.
Then, I explore religious tolerance
as it is expressed today. Once upon a time religious tolerance meant accepting
people of different religious world views. Today however, it is far from that.
In our post-modern culture we have individuals selecting various tenets of
different religious beliefs to create their own “faith,” according to personal subjective
preferences. I want my readers to truly consider any merits or detriments of
this manner of “acquiring faith.”
Then by providing a general
overview of the five major world religions and New Age, I want the reader to
conclude on the matter of religious pluralism.
I have devoted entire chapters to explain, in an overview fashion, the
basic tenets of each of the world’s religions and New Age so that people can
compare and contrast and arrive at a personally satisfying conclusion
concerning faith. This is not a book that tells people what to think. Rather it’s a book that presents the facts so
that the reader can conclude with a confident faith conviction.
I will add that it takes courage to
intentionally examine what you believe and why. There are many people whom we
love and respect who have helped us shape our faith. To question our faith can
feel like we are betraying these individuals. But since most people believe
that the human soul and spirit are eternal, the ramifications of not examining
our faith outweigh the temporary discomfort. There will be those who read my
book and conclude that their faith is in tact, which will serve to strengthen
their faith conviction and hopefully embolden then to share their faith with
others. Conversely, I already know of many who have read my book and discovered
answers to questions they’ve never secured before that have altered their faith
conviction.
Give us two or three insights from the book that would be helpful to
Christians.
While this book is excellent for religious skeptics and seekers,
Christians can gain a great deal from
the book. Christians are commanded by
Jesus to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching themto observe all things
that Christ has commanded. This is referred to as the Great Commission.
Yet, precious few are
able to sufficiently and effectively share their faith. Many are tripped up
with the first question, “What is truth?” Others are convoluting their faith—actually
rendering it impotent with the collection of popular ideals under the banners
of tolerance and political correctness. This reality means that greater numbers
than ever are not only improperly informed, but have their eternal life at
risk. Each individual Christian has the mandate of the Great Commission. It is
my hopes that this book will better equip Christians to do what we’re called to
do.
What has the response been to the book so far?
Well, to start, the fact that Josh
McDowell, Dr. Craig Hazen and Dan Story, among others have endorsed it means a
great deal to me! Their response has encouraged me to expand this book project.
Examine Your Faith, Finding Truth in a
World of Lies, is therefore the first in a three-book series. It will be
followed by a book explaining effective
faith then one that leads a person to excellent
faith. It could be said that the series is about faith, hope and love.
I have been
exceedingly gratified at the response I’ve received from readers. It was
important for me to write a book that expresses loving compassion. And while I use apologetics, (systematic
approach to defending the truth), this book is not written in an academic
fashion. Rather it is very personal. That’s not to say that the book is void of
any mental challenges! There are those. But anything worthy of our faith
deserves to be seriously considered. So the fact that people have commented on
the loving tone of the book is rewarding.
I especially liked
what one reader suggested, which was to remove the endorsement pages before
giving the book to a non-Christian, skeptic or seeker. The endorsers have read
the entire book and many express their conclusion in their endorsement. It was my goal to offer a good, inductive resource
to guide people, to arrive at a satisfying conclusion about their personal religious faith. So I concur, tear out the
endorsements as needed and give the book out to everyone you want to discover
truth!
How are you promoting your book and where can your book be
purchased?
Certainly fun virtual
parties like this book blog tour is one way I’m promoting it. And I can’t thank
Diane Estrella and you enough for this! We have contests and prizes associated
with this blog tour. I also have a longer running contest from my web site and Rafflecopter
on my Facebook
page where depending on the number of books sold through my web site the grand
prize could be $250.00 cash. No purchase is necessary to win (but it helps the
prize structure!) Only subscribers to my bi-monthly ENewsletter or
my blog are
eligible.
I also have a great
book trailer viewable on my home page that I encourage people to tweet and about
and Like and share. And of course I’m using social media too with Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. And I really
enjoy the interaction on sites like Good Reads
and Book Fun.
Until October 15,
2013 the best price to get the soft cover is from my web store. It’s
priced lower than Amazon
or Barnes and Noble. But after that, my
readers will still get unique value from me with special promotional materials
and preferential treatment. The holidays are right around the corner for many
people. Perhaps the gift of this book will change lives. I certainly hope and
pray so.
Meet the author: Thrills, mystery, suspense, romance: Margaret penned it all. Nothing wrong with this---except Margaret happened to be writing for the church newsletter at the time. After making the church picnic read like a Grisham novel, her former pastor took her aside and said, "Maybe God's calling you to write fiction." So that's what Margaret did. She's now a New York Times bestselling author and a Romance Writers of America RITA finalist with more than 25 novels to her credit. Her first non-fiction book Grieving God's Way: the Lasting Path to Hope and Healing has won much critical acclaim. She is currently working on the third book in her Brides of Last Chance Ranch series. Not bad for someone who flunked 8th grade English. Just don't ask her to diagram a sentence.