Two men have spent the last three years asking people this question.  And now the twelve most frequently asked questions have become twelve chapters in a newly-published book If You Could Ask God One Question. Based on the opening discussion starter of the Christianity Explored course, a course that ‘does what it says on the tin’, the book tries to answer each question directly from the lips of Jesus.
Paul Williams, one of the book’s co-authors, talked about the difficulty of choosing the final twelve: ‘My friend Martin’s question didn’t make it in, unfortunately. He wanted to know if Elvis was really dead. Which I thought was hardly a matter of life and death. But he pointed out that if you are actually Elvis, it obviously is a matter of life and death. And it’s hard to argue with that kind of logic.’
Barry Cooper, his co-author, explains who the book is intended for: ‘It’s for two groups of people, really. We’ve written the book for people with big questions who wouldn’t call themselves Christians, but also for Christians who want to get better at helping their friends with the big questions.’
With that in mind, the book includes such questions as ‘If You’re Really There, God, Why On Earth Don’t You Prove It?’, ‘Isn’t The Bible Just A Bunch Of Made Up Stories?’, ‘If You’re A God Of Love, Why Send Anyone To Hell?’, ‘Why Do You Allow Suffering?’, and ‘Why Do You Hate Sex?’
So how difficult is it to co-write a book? ‘It’s very important to have a clear division of labour,’ says Barry, ‘so we decided early on that Paul would do all the work, and I would take all the credit.’
P If You Could Ask God One Question is published by
The Good Book Company
(www.thegoodbook.co.uk).