Book Review: Ten Questions Every Christian Must Answer, by Elmer L. Towns and Alex McFarland

The following book review was written by a member of our congregation. The views presented here are solely those of the reviewer and may or may not align with the views of other members.

Reviewer

Richard Jones

Summary

I found this book to be very interesting with many thought provoking ideas and the authors to be very knowledgeable about the Bible, mostly (more on this later). Here are a few of the chapter headings, ‘Is There Such a Thing as Absolute Truth?’, ‘How Can I Know There Is a God?’, ‘Are the Claims of Jesus’ Physical Resurrection from the Dead Valid? (Alex McFarland)’, and ‘Is Hell a Real Place That Lasts for Eternity? (Alex McFarland)’.

The first chapters are very complex with logical arguments to be followed, but after that I found the book to be very readable. The authors’s ideas are true to the Bible until chapter 9, ‘Must a Person Believe in Jesus or Make Him Lord of His Life to be Saved?’ By Elmer Townes. In this chapter he completely ignores Peter’s command in Acts 2:38 to "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." He never addresses the question of baptism at all. I found this to be very disturbing in such a book as this.

Recommendation

Read this book, but recognize the authors’ false ideas about baptism.