Last Thanksgiving my wife and I joined six friends for an 11-day tour of Israel. Rather than respond to a postcard in the mail for a typical Holy Land tour and travel around in a huge bus, I wanted a more intimate (and less expensive!) affair. When I couldn’t find what I wanted in the marketplace (although I’m sure they exist), I decided to organize my own. Having never been to Israel before, that was a bit of a challenge. Who should I invite? Who would be our guide? How would we get around? And what sites would we visit once we arrived? Although the logistics were a bit overwhelming, I decided to proceed one major decision at a time. And one of the first was the size of the group. I’d invite four couples and an Israeli guide.
Right off the bat I mentioned this dream-trip to one of the couples I had in mind, Alex and Angie McFarland. Although well-traveled, neither had been to Israel. When I hired Alex to be Focus on the Family’s teen apologetics expert years ago, we became friends. At the same time, I came to realize what a true Bible scholar he is. When Alex left Focus to be president of a Christian college back east, we stayed in contact. I thought a Holy Land trip would be a chance for Alex to quench his never-ending thirst for biblical knowledge. What I didn’t give much thought to ahead of time, but what proved to be true on this trip, was that Alex would often fill in the gaps that our Israeli guide would have regarding biblical history. In many ways, having Alex in Israel was like having two guides: The Israeli guide we hired, plus our very own Bible-Answer-Man.
I bring this up because this week I’m highlighting one of Alex’s books published by Tyndale in partnership with Focus on the Family: The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask About Christianity (And How to Answer Them Confidently). Alex has written 16 books thus far. This one, however, may be the most helpful to parents who are trying to help their children know why they believe what they believe. Think of it as having Alex along as your own personal apologetics guide. Your very own Bible-Answer-Man.
For instance, if your son or daughter approached you with the question, “Why is there suffering in this world?,” do you feel you could comfortably and confidently respond? What if they asked, “How can there be only one God if there is Jesus?” Or what about “Why are Christians such hypocrites?” Questions like these and the other 18 were included because Alex approached hundreds of kids first and asked them what questions they had. Most likely many of them are ones your own children are dealing with. Although not written as a devotional per se, it’s my opinion that the book could function as one, taking a chapter or question at a time.
In today’s world, there are only a handful of men and women who are truly gifted as apologists, among them: Ravi Zacharias. Gary Habermas. Lee Strobel. Frank Turek. Josh McDowell. Also on this short list is my friend Alex McFarland. I wish you could hang out with him (and his wife Angie) as I’ve been privileged to do. But because that’s probably impossible, I would like to invite you to consider the next best thing. Come “meet” Alex (and have your children meet him, too) on the pages of The 21 Toughest Questions. To order a copy, click here.
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