Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith; they keep faith alive and moving.
~ Frederick Buechner

We must know where to doubt, where to feel certain, where to submit.
~ Pascal

There is a never-known second at which the last link in the chain begins to collapse, at which the tenacity of resistance of the metal begins to wobble around. There is a split second that lifts the gull. A single second when unawareness loses its grip. A single second when faith becomes stronger than fear.
~ Marguerite Reiss

There lives more faith in honest doubt,
Believe me, than in half the creeds.
~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson

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Following the recent events in Fort Hood, it seems that all forms of media are dominated by discussion of the relationship between Islam and Christianity and between Church and State.  The information being scattered via the media ranges from excellent to horrific.  So where do you turn for accurate well balanced information?

The following sources of information on Islam are noteworthy and may be useful to you and those in your care:

1) Available free of charge from BiblicalTraining.org is a seminary level study Introduction to Islam,  by Dr. Timothy Tennent.  24 lectures (about 16 hours) on free downloadable Mp3

2) BeThinking.org has a collection of free helpful lectures and discussions on Islam at  http://www.bethinking.org/islam/ .  Most listeners will find these to be both accessible and interesting.

3) The Veritas Forum has a group of free talks related to Islam, Terror, violence, problem of evil, etc.  They can be found at http://www.veritas.org/media/talks/ .

4) The videos “Understanding Islam” and “Understanding Religious Terrorism” are available as a free movie download from WatchmanFellowship.org

5) There is a four-session DVD based curriculum called Christianity and Islam.  No fancy graphics or  flashing lights but the information is well-balanced and useful.  It is presented by Timothy George of Beeson Divinity School. It runs about $25 from Amazon but it is well worth it.  Topics include:

• The Tenets of Islam
• The Trinity
• The Bible and the Incarnation
• The Cross and Salvation

6) Another related  DVD small group study is volume #3 of Lee Strobel’s Faith Under Fire which addresses Islam.  It doesn’t have a great deal of informational value but does a very good job of creating an environment for pursuing and discussing the topic.

7) Books: One of the very few books on the history of the Middle East that is respected by those on all sides of the issue is Albert Hourani’s History of the Arab Peoples. However, having myself worked through both the text and audio versions, I can tell you that unless someone has an academic bent they won’t get very far into this.  Perhaps the small book written by my friends Ergun and Emir Caner Unveiling Islam or Abdul Saleeb and Norm Geisler’s Answering Islam: The Crescent in Light of the Cross might be a better direction for someone looking for information in a print format.

8.) And, if you are looking for short but informational video clips available on the internet, I have collected several dozen and you can find the index to them at Islam – Resource Links.

If you have additional resources that you would recommend, please feel free to share them in the comment section below.

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• The Islamic Fives

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Recently my colleagues and I attended a debate on the topic “Does God Exist?”.  The primary audience for the debate was private high school and middle school students. In our post-debate debrief one of my friends stated, “If you are going to put on a debate like this for a group of kids, you’d better be sure you win.”  Unfortunately, it was none to apparent that the pro-God side won.  At best it was a draw.

Dinesh D’Souza was the voice of theism in the debate.  I have heard him many times and he is quite competent in such a forum.  However, the voice of atheism, Dan Barker, was also quite effective in planting the seeds of doubt.  And, I am convinced that many a student left the auditorium with the suspicion that Barker was what he claimed to be — the voice of  “reason and kindness”.

The school planned follow-up discussions with the students in their classrooms.  Hopefully, that time was used effectively in exorcising residual suspicions and fears.  Even now I am praying for those who were in attendance.

That is the background, now let me get to the point.  Students need to be confronted with arguments against their own beliefs and worldview.  If they are not exposed to opposing arguments and claims in an environment where those arguments and claims can be effectively debunked then they become prime targets for sophists and philosophical snipers.  Thus, it is a GOOD thing to expose your children to error.  If you are doing so in a controlled environment you are inoculating them against many dangerous viral ideas.

HOWEVER, when attempting to inoculate the young, you must make sure that you exposing them to error in a controlled environment.  Or, as my friend said, you’d better make sure you win.  Truth has nothing to fear in the marketplace of ideas.  But, truth poorly defended when error has a fully loaded arsenal can be as harmful when presented in a Christian environment as it is in the homeland of error.

Careful, careful, . . .

Proof is only applicable to very rarefied areas of philosophy and mathematics…. For the most part we are driven to acting on good evidence, without the luxury of proof. There is good evidence of the link between cause and effect. There is good evidence that the sun will rise tomorrow. There is good reason to believe my mother loves me and is not just fattening me up for the moment when she will pop arsenic into my tea. And there is good reason to believe in God. Very good reason. Not conclusive proof, but very good reason just the same…. I believe it is much harder to reject the existence of a supreme being than accept it.
~ Michael Green, in Faith for the Non-religious