Probably the world’s most read, and also most misunderstood, book.  Because if people understood it better, they’d take its words much more seriously.

The Bible contains sixty-six books written by approximately thirty-nine authors - shepherds, fishermen, farmers, kings, military generals, sages, scholars, farmers, priests and doctors - over a period of about 1500 years, as they were inspired by God, revealing (amazingly despite its numerous authors) a consistent system of belief, such that "even the most skeptical must hunt to find supposed contradictions" (Mal Couch, "God has Spoken : Inspiration and Inerrancy").

More amazing than that, the Bible inspires me "not because it contains 101 commands on how to lead a perfect life, but because I see in it the lives of Christians who have run before me, stumbled, and were picked up by a God who loved them despite themselves".  That is why I continue to read it regularly to this day.

The "Bible" that Jesus read is what Christians now identify as the Old Testament, and often regard as the obscure, difficult or even irrelevant part of the Bible.  This book helped to open my eyes to the beauty of the Old Testament, and see God’s loving hand in the lives of people recorded in the Old Testament.

There was a time when I became quite tired of and depressed with the failings of the church and Christians.  This book helped me refocus on God’s purpose in establishing the Church - not to be an exclusive community where near-perfect people from the same economic and social background congregate weekly; but to be an inclusive community that, although imperfect, seeks to dispense God’s grace to everyone regardless of the economic and social background that they hail from.

I picked up this other book on church a couple of years after Church, Why Bother ?  Its message is simple, but one that increasingly nomadic Christians often miss - "that faith was never meant to be a solo pursuit.  The church is a place God grows us, encourages us, and uses us best.  Loving Jesus Christ involves a passionate commitment to His church - around the world and down the street" (writeup on back cover).

Other than Church, Why Bother ?, this was the other book by Philip Yancy that helped me get a grip on my spiraling depression with the failings of the church and Christians back in 2002, when I kept asking "where is God now that I’m hurting ?". 

I found this book a compelling read because, for the first time, I heard a Christian ask questions that most church-goers would regard as anathema : Does God play games with my life ?  What can I count on God for ?  Is God invisible, unknowable and not personally concerned about me ?  And for the first time, I heard a Christian admit that maybe the answers aren’t as simple as most Bible-quoting church-goers would like or pretend it to be.

(By now it should be obvious that the writings of Philip Yancy have had quite a profound effect on my Christian outlook.  Other books by him which I’ve found deeply meaningful are What’s So Amazing about Grace ? and The Jesus I Never Knew.)

This was the book that first sparked off my interest in worldviews, ie. perceptions of reality, and introduced me to chim philosophies such as existentialism and post-modernism.  In this book, Godowa makes the case that movies, being projections (whether conscious or not) of a scriptwriter’s or director’s worldview, seek to subtly influence us to think, behave and perceive reality in a certain way - his way !  If nothing else, this book warns us against leaving our brains at the cinema door !

After Hollywood Worldviews, I started reading up on philosophy and worldviews.  The Universe Next Door was probably the best introductory book I had read.  It offers a fairly readable and concise introduction (and critique) of Christian Theism, Deism, Naturalism, Nihilism, Existentialism, Eastern Pantheistic Monism, New Ageism and Postmodernism.  I have to humbly concede that I’m still in the process of figuring out what each -ism stands for.

This book offers answers to over 100 commonly asked questions on the Christian faith.  It is one of the better books on introductory apologetics that I’ve come across.  Great stuff.

I suppose there are two ways one can go about finding compelling arguments for believing in God.  Option one is to read the rather obscure writings (because of the language, if nothing else) of Christian fathers.  Option two is to read this book by contemporary apologist and theologian Ravi Zacharias.  I chose option two.

In this book, Harvard lecturer Dr Nicholi compares the writings of C S Lewis (a Christian) and Dr Sigmund Freud (an atheist), on the subjects of God, morality , love, sex, pain, death, and the pursuit of meaning in life.  Because both men were so brilliant, reading what they have to say on the above topics is quite enriching.

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Are Roman Catholicism and Protestatism the same and / or reconciliable ?  This book offers a basic introduction to the differences between the Roman Catholic and Protestant faiths.  In particular, key Roman Catholic doctrines are explained and examined against what the Bible says in a concise, readable way.  This book, together with Protestants & Catholics : Do They Now Agree ? by John Ankerberg & John Weldon (which is a more difficult read), has steered me to the conclusion that the answer to the question above is no.

The author was born into a Muslim family, was a former professor of Islamic history from the Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, and lived in the faith for over thirty years.  From this background and academic authority, the author offers some very startling reasons for the continuing hatred that the Arabs apparently bear towards the Jews.  I haven’t had the time to verify if what he claims about the Koran is true (but if it is, it is disturbing to say the least).

This very readable book compares the life and teachings of Jesus and Muhammad in a factual / neutral way.  Books comparing Jesus and Muhammad or Christianity and Islam are often viewed as biased, because their authors are not scholars of Islam.  However, this book is authoritative (in my opinion) because the author, who now lives in the US, was a former professor of Islamic history from the Al-Azhar University in Cairo.  The author’s account of his clash with Islamic religious authorities because of the radical teaching methods that he employed at the Al-Azhar University is also fascinating.

Thomas Cahill is (probably) not a Christian (he in fact sweepingly writes that "it is no longer possible to believe that every word in the Bible was inspired by God", without giving further reasons for his conclusion).  However, it is noteworthy that even a non-Christian cannot deny the positive impact that the Jews have had on our world.  To me, this is a affirmation of God’s promise to Abraham as recorded in the Bible, ie. "through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed" (Genesis 22 : 18), that civilisation is where it is today, and not steeped in animism and barbarism (though the conduct of certain extremists of late is cause for believing that some of us are still barbarians), because of God’s grace in revealing Himself to the Abraham, the Jews, and through them, Jesus Christ to the rest of the world.

The Gifts of the Jews is the second in a series of books on the "Hinges of History", a recounting of significant events in history that have altered the course of history, to give us the civilisation that we live in and enjoy today.  Thomas Cahill also wrote Desire of the Everlasting Hills, about the impact of Jesus Christ on civilisation.

I understand that Tony Compolo is a rather controversial Christian leader and that American Christians are somewhat divided over what to think about him.  Whatever the case may be, I found his book thought-provoking and meaningful.  Because in this book he boldly asks (Christians in the US) questions which I believe are close to the heart of God and which I hope I have through the years increasingly adopted as mine as well.  These are questions like can we call ourselves Christians : when we do so little to help the poor in less developed countries ?  when we don’t seem concerned about issues of fairness and justice in foreign policy ?  when we care so little about the environment that we are supposed to be stewards of ?

Reading the book reminded me of Isaiah 58 : 6 - 7, in which God reminds the Israelites that true religiousness (in this case, fasting) is not about mindlessly complying with rituals, but going to the spirit behind these rituals (ie. righteous conduct), as this is what matters to God  :

"Is this not the kind of fasting I have chosen : to loose the chains of injustice, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke ?  Is it not to share your food with the hungry, to provide the poor wanderer with shelter - when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood ?"

Of the many books on dating that I’ve read, I thought that Boundaries was one of the better ones.  It is immensely readable and presents a balanced, practical, Bible-based approach to dating relationships and making them work.  Other than Boundaries in Dating, the authors have penned several other books in their Boundaries series on managing various types of relationships.