Kerby Anderson

Pastor Rick Stedman asks, “Is it reasonable to believe that God exists?” He says it is because of zombies, superheroes, music, sports, and science. That is his premise in his book, 31 Surprising Reasons to Believe in God. He begins his book by telling a true story of a family on a rural property in northern California. They found a rusted can by a tree. They ended up finding eight cans containing 1427 gold coins worth an estimated $11 million. Asked if they had any clue of the treasure, they realized in hindsight seeing a tin can tied to the tree where the wood had grown around the can. There was a clue to the treasure, but they just didn’t see it. Rick Stedman says we have many more clues to God’s existence, which we often fail to see. For example, our culture has this fascination with superheroes and fantasy movies. You would think that in a society that has become so secular, popular interest in supernatural heroes would have diminished. In fact, our current interest illustrates the spiritual longing within all of us. In his section on “yearning for a better world,” he talks about how even non-believers believe human trafficking is a vile evil that must be stopped. This provides common ground for discussion. It challenges the secular idea that all morals are temporary and inventions of culture. Our universal rejection of such evil argues for a transcendent standard. In another section, he talks about the glory of the universe, mathematics, and the scientific method. Each of these, in different ways, argues for something more than the natural world and points to the existence of God. He also argues that our desire for something more (love, peace, and immortality) also argue for the transcendent. This is a book that will encourage your faith, but also is a book you can give to your non-Christian friends who have never thought about the clues around them that point to God.