Would You Believe?

By Tom Harpur

Book Overview

A hundred years ago, most people accepted without question what their priest or rabbi or imam taught them about God, but many people today, educated to think for themselves, find that the concepts of God taught by the world s major religions either insult or contradict their intelligence. At the same time they find that having no faith has left a yawning spiritual void in their lives. In Would You Believe?, Tom Harpur deals with the tough questions raised today by real people, such as how to reconcile the presence of evil, pain and suffering with belief in a loving God. The challenge we face, Harpur writes, is not to find a substitute but to rediscover God under the encrustation of ritual and doctrine that the various faiths have built up. We can go beyond all narrow-minded claims of being the only true religion, the only correct interpreter of God, he says, when we understand that all faiths are simply routes towards God that humans have been inspired to create. We can use our intelligence to believe in God, rather than deny it in order to swallow notions devised for a different people and a different time. From the Hardcover edition. "

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0771039492
• ISBN13: 9780771039492
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.5" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Written Well.

Harpur writes well, and I have always enjoyed his books. Would I believe? ( with the arguments he presents here ) Not a chance.

Response to "Smoke and Mirrors" Reviewer

Ths reviewer entirely misees the point of Harpur's book which is adressed not to those who hold the fundamentalist beliefs apparently held by the reviewer, but by those who have difficulty in doing so. The subtitle(s) should make it clear that fundamentalists and other American style evangelicals need not trouble themselves by reading a book clearly inteneted for an audience willing to think for themselves.

A good place to start your search for the truth...

As with all of Harpur's books, Would You Believe? is not really meant for people with fundamentalist viewpoints. In fact, it's subtitled (on the cover) 'A book for doubters, sceptics and wistful unbelievers'. Harpur, a faith and values columnist with the Toronto Star, is an Anglican minister, Rhodes scholar and former teacher of Greek and the New Testament. So he knows at least a little something about the faiths of this planet. I've read most of his books, and find him a trustworthy viewpoint and a valuable source of information. In fact, one of his other books (the wonderful For Christ's Sake) played a large part in bringing me back into Christianity. In this book, he tackles subjects like cosmic consciousness, blocks to belief, the role of dreams, reaching children with spiritual values and the benefits of a living faith. All of this is done from an INCLUSIVE point of view, and Harpur always makes it clear he has a loving, positive relationship with the Creator. For anyone searching for a spiritual path, Would You Believe is a fine place to start.