Letters from a Skeptic

We are discussing the book "Letters from a Skeptic" in our Sunday School class (I can't remember if I'd mentioned that before or not) and it makes for lively discussion. Granted, I don't always agree with the defenses that the author makes (or the way he chooses to employ a defense that I do agree with) but that keeps it more interesting for me. The discussion has been really good and Lily has been posting some of her notes here.

A couple things about this class have given me pause to think: 1) The specific "attendees" and 2) The reaction to the book.

The people who have been coming into class for the discussion have been, for the most part, people (like myself) who were raised in church - traditional evangelical church, too boot. The Sunday School teacher, the pastor and myself were all thinking that this would be a good "entry class" for people new to the faith with some still unanswered questions, but we haven't been overwhelmed with "newbies". At first I was dismayed by this. But not any more.

You see, we have been running a "blurb" about the class for a few weeks in the bulletin and I've made sure that a slide promoting the book and class has been in our announcement "slideshow" that runs before the worship service starts. This would generally include cover photo of the book, class location and the next couple specific questions coming up for discussion.

I was so pleased when Lily told me this morning that nearly all the books are gone! My wife and I are sharing a copy and I know that other couples in the class are also sharing a copy and I only knew of one person outside the class that said she and her husband wanted a copy to read. But lo and behold, other people are picking them up!

Okay, so I'm rambling. The point is that people are not afraid to confront this material! One of the guys in class put it really well this morning - he said "as I've grown older, I've been thinking more about things that I used to just accept". (he's younger than me) Some of us sometimes like to "discuss" things too much (that would be me) - I am so charged that people want to "read the hard questions" and I will be perfectly happy if we need to order more books!