The Thinking Person's Guide to God: Overcoming the Obstacles to Belief

by Tom Harpur

Book Overview

Author Tom Harpur asked the readers of his syndicated newspaper column on ethics and religion for help with some research. He invited them to submit brief descriptions of their stumbling blocks to faith, spirituality, and religion. Soon scores of letters flooded in from readers who would like to have a vital faith in God (regardless of denomination or religion) but honestly cannot because of some doubts or difficulties. C.S. Lewis's Screwtape Letters...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0761507078
• ISBN13: 9780761507079
• Release Date: September 1996
• Publisher: Prima Lifestyles
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

What a wonderful guide it is indeed!

I saw this book at a "Book Market" store in the "inspirational" section. The name, "The Thinking Person's Guide to God", attracted my attention. I picked it up and thought: "Aghh, it's just another "spiritual", find-God-for-yourself, one-of-the-many book. Oh, man, how wrong I was! I had never heard of the author, but I thought: "what the heck? I am a thinking person, and I sure have a lot of questions, so why not?"I made a good choice. As read this book (by the way, the language is very accessible and easy to follow), I was more and more convinced that I was reading my own thoughts! I agreed with almost everything the author had to say, I got a list of good books to read about the subject and, most importantly, I got a strong feeling that I am not alone here! There is an army of people, who share very similar ideas and doubts about God's nature and existence.I especially liked the chapter called "Cosmic Consiousness". Very thought-provoking. By the way, you can read this book by chapters: just look in the contents and pick the one you want to read at the moment. There was one chapter though, called "Fuzzy Logic", which contained ideas that I would call controversial and even questionable. On the whole, I agree with its premise, but I think there are still a number of values that no "if"s or "but"s can be applied to. For example, human life. It has a unique and absolute value, of which you can't say: "it starts with conception, but it also starts with birth". Sorry, human life starts only once.Overall, though, I would highly recommend this book to anyone sincerely searching for meaning in his/her life.Also recommended: Tom Harpur, "For Christ's Sake" and "Life after Death"; Leo Tolstoy, "The Kingdom of God is Within You", "Confession" and "Critique of Dogmatic Theology" (by the way, sometimes I wonder if Tom Harpur has ever read these works by Tolstoy. If he hasn't, then this book is one more proof that men can make the same discoveries quite independently: Tolstoy and Harpur have very similar ideas on some things.)

Forty years of questions were answered in this book.

I think one enjoys a book when it agrees with ones own thoughts; with what one has learned so far. This book taught, with the greatest simplicity, about the most profound subject. The title is the greatest clue of the contents. Anyone who has read for a lifetime, searching for the answer that one is comfortable with, will feel at home with the thoughts in The Thinking Person's Guide to God. When you read this subject matter you always meet the same people on the way. They are in this book too, but new, exciting people are introduced and new ideas left for one to study. It wraps up the past, present and future into one understandable vision of a God one can trust. Not any God of the masses but a close, personal God. A God that when you can look out of your window, you know He is there. It is full of references to take you further on your journey. It puts you at the crossroad of your search and you can't wait to go on.

Absolutely life-changing. Why haven't I heard this before?

Tom Harpur put words (and more importantly, justifications) to the faith I have been struggling to understand my entire life. For the first time, I am comfortable in believing in God but not necessarily all of the dogmas of mainstream Christianity. He writes in a style that is easy, smooth and intelligent, and he speaks to us not on a level of a religious leader (which he is) but a searcher like the rest of us. He supports a brand of faith that I can respect and understand. Harpur writes of a religion that is tolerant and loving, emotional and smart. The sphere of religious believers is much wider than it sometimes seems, but the lack of anything other than the most extremist voices is often an insurmountable obstacle to religion. Christianity would claim many more excited believers if it were made more accessible. What an incredible service Tom Harpur is doing. Reading this book gave rest to the chaos I have felt for years. And what joy I found along the way! If someone asked me to describe my faith, I would hand them this book.