Books like 50 Simple Questions for Every Christian

To be honest, I did not read this book in completion. I noticed the title while browsing books at the library and read enough to get an idea what it was about, checked it out and then skimmed it while waiting for my car to be worked on yesterday. I read enough to see what the book's real goal is.The author poses "simple" questions for Christians. The author is an atheist and a skeptic (and the way he uses the word, frequently seems to be saying no religious person could be religious and a skeptic at the same time). The author often reminds us he's not trying to upset anyone, so often that I wonder who he's trying to convince that he's not offensive: himself or the Christian reader. Quite honestly, I wasn't offended, upset or even challenged by anything I'd seen here. There are no new arguments. I have not even been a Christian for four years yet and there's nothing here that I haven't been confronted with.The problem I have with the book and the reason I did not read it fully is this: Guy Harrison asks the "simple" questions, then tells us what is the typical Christian answer, then spends several paragraphs explaining why he doesn't like the answer. I often wondered if he is expecting Christians to change their beliefs so they are more comfortable for him or just easier for him to understand. The fact is, even Jesus himself had people turn away from him when he taught. (John 6:60-66.) To me, this is enough to answer one or two questions in Guy's book (such as "why isn't everyone a Christian?") but to him this would not be sufficient since I took it from the Bible and he seems to feel the Bible is not a reliable source. So be it. I don't expect everyone to understand Christianity, nor do I expect to be able to explain it to everyone. To anyone, frankly. I don't understand atheism, but accept atheist's reasons for being atheists. I don't understand Islam, but have talked with Muslims about their faith a few times and didn't become frustrated that they didn't give answers I could completely understand. Now, had I the time and patience (okay, to be honest, if I wasn't so darned lazy) I'd love to write a 350 page book to respond to Mr. Harrison's 350 page book. I am too lazy for that. So, I targeted one paragraph I would love to respond to in hopes to explain why this book was useless to me and would be to any thinking Christian:"Suppose we could identify the most important and deserving prayer request of all and then measure its effectiveness objectively. Would that say something meaningful about the claim that God/Jesus answers prayers? I think so. Consider the prayer of a mother, spoken aloud or thought in silence, as she embraces her suffering and dying baby: "I beg you, God, save my baby. Please, God, don't let her die." This is a prayer for a young child, easily the most innocent and worthy of rescue of anyone. It's about as sincere and unselfish as any prayer could be. I think this is the prayer that provides us with an ideal way to judge whether or not God answers prayers." (Quoted from the fourth chapter "Does Jesus answer prayers?")Notice, first, that Mr. Harrison is trying to play on our emotions, not engaging our intellect. He's created a scenario that is gut-wrenching and a horrid nightmare to most anyone that gives a fig about the welfare of children. Notice, too, that instead of possibly polling a few Christians (he claims over and over that he interviews Christians often) as to what they consider an "unselfish" prayer, he creates one of his own. Notice, thirdly, that he agrees for himself and his reader that this is the "most important and deserving prayer". He's setting up a straw-man, which he goes on in the next few paragraphs to knock down by talking about children living in impoverished countries and how they die often despite the prayers.My reaction to this scenario, as given, is that perhaps God has decided it would be best, it would be more merciful for the child to die and climb into the waiting arms of Jesus rather than to continue to live and suffer. If Mr. Harrison is truly trying to understand Christianity, then he should at least understand that to us dying is not the end of it all. Sure, we're saddened when people die as we will miss them. Sure, we don't believe we should commit suicide so we can see Jesus sooner. We see life as a gift and it isn't for us to take. Only God can make that decision. If Mr. Harrison can't at least acknowledge this as our belief, he will never understand us. I'm not even suggesting he agree with it, just at least acknowledge it. The other mistake Guy Harrison makes in the above paragraph is to take the judgement away from God and make it himself. Harrison concludes that this child is more worthy of rescue than anyone. God would see us all as equally worthy of "rescue". I would repeat again, if God is real and heaven is real, maybe the true "rescue" is to take the child into his arms rather than let it continue to suffer.If Guy Harrison were to ask me what an unselfish prayer is, I would give a very different idea of prayer. Probably the most unselfish prayer I've ever uttered is, "God, show me the best way to serve you." And that is not even the most unselfish prayer I've heard. There's a popular Christian song that says, "break our hearts for what breaks yours". I think the most unselfish prayer I can think of is in the 84th Psalm: "My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God." I will be honest about why I am writing this paragraph. I don't intend for any non-believers to see it and understand it, it is really my hope that any Christian that might be mislead by Harrison's notions of unselfish prayer would see it and be reminded that while there is nothing wrong with praying for the health and well-being of a loved one, all things are in God's hands. If a loved one is ill or dies, it's not because God doesn't love us or doesn't answer prayers. And not only do I find prayers to serve or know God better to be the most unselfish, they've also been the prayers that bring the most peace and happiness to my soul.I won't discount the entire book. There is a chapter in there somewhere stating that many Christians don't read the Bible. I do think we should all read the Bible enough to get familiar with it and make an effort to read it every day. However, if Guy Harrison would take an honest crack at the Bible at some point, he might find the answers to all the other questions in his book.