Reasons to Believe: One Man's Journey Among the Evangelicals and the Faith He Left Behind

We as Christians have multiple responsibilities to the world. One is the Great Commission, which calls us into the world to affect human salvation. Another is, as part of the Church, to model Christ so that an unsaved world can "see Jesus" through our lives. Indeed, faith without works is a dead faith, and our actions should inform the world about the nature of God. However, stories such as John Marks' are still heard in places where that dead faith is misunderstood as Christian faith and is on display in the lives of those who call themselves Christians.

The misunderstanding is manifold. First, there is confusion about what a true Christian is and does. Then there are differing views concerning what one must do to become a Christian. Also, there is the common conundrum of what a person is if he professes to be a Christian but does not have a saving faith. Marks experienced many of these professing Christians in his life before being confronted with a question based on a popular book series; "Will you be left behind?" Faced with making a decision, Marks built his honest answer on everything that informed how he viewed Christianity. But the unevangelized (or incorrectly evangelized) often find themselves making misinformed decisions concerning salvation without a consistent Christian witness to base their answers on, and this is just where Marks found himself.

This is the chronicle of a journey through today's nominally-Christian American landscape, one filled with the subjective truth of the postmodern mind. While having had a conversion experience in his teens, Marks drifted from his interest in Christianity, eventually equating sin with sanity and coming to judge the Creator and Savior based on instances of man's fallen nature. As a monument to the inadequacy of much of what passes for evangelism in the modern church, Reasons to Believe casts aspersions on 'easy believism' and 'accepting Jesus' that take the place of biblical repentance and faith in Christ as Lord and Savior. NOTE: To support its conclusions, the book contains some candid discussion of sexual issues and stories with sexual themes. While not gratuitous, they may contain offensive elements to some readers.

From a veteran journalist and former 60 Minutes producer comes an intimate portrait of evangelicals, one of the most influential forces in America today, and the story of how this lapsed believer came to terms with his faith.

"In 2003, while on assignment for 60 Minutes, I interviewed a couple for a piece on the Left Behind series, the bestselling Christian novels about the apocalypse. At the end of that meeting, they asked me a question: would I be left behind? In other words, had I accepted Jesus as my savior or would I go to hell? This book represents the answer to that question."

Born again at age sixteen, John Marks later abandoned his faith. In Reasons to Believe he attempts to cross a deep cultural barrier to understand those who now condemn his way of life. He grapples with the message that millions of evangelicals attempt to deliver to their fellow citizens every day and speaks at length with missionaries, political activists, theologians, Christian musicians, and filmmakers—the rich and powerful, the poor and broken, and the pastors who have turned small congregations into megachurches.

This is familiar and often comforting territory for Marks, and he still has a profound understanding of what it means to be an evangelical. In Reasons to Believe he presents this world from the inside out.

After writing for U.S. News & World Report for a decade, John Marks became a producer for Morley Safer at 60 Minutes. Marks is the author of three novels; Reasons to Believe is his first work of nonfiction. He is a Texas native and a graduate of Davidson College, and has an MA in creative writing from the University of Iowa. He lives in Massachusetts with his family.

Marks's first work of non-fiction began as a segment that he produced for 60 Minutes on the Left Behind phenomenon. During the research, a devout evangelical Christian couple made a deep impression on him, leaving him with the question of whether he would be left behind when Christ returns on judgment day. The problem gnawed at him. After getting laid off from 60 Minutes, the novelist (The Wall; War Torn) embarked on a two-year quest to uncover the wellsprings of America's most popular religion. While this memoir of longing and doubt treads some of the same territory explored by atheists such as Sam Harris, it is the first that doesn't simply reject the evangelical worldview. Marks discovers much that is positive, especially in the way churches rallied to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina. What makes this book most compelling, however, are the ways in which Marks allows his interviewees to engage him as a potential convert. He is so sympathetic to them that until the very last page it is uncertain whether he will decide to abandon his secular life. In the end, Marks gives us a stunning glimpse of American evangelicalism in all its variety. (Feb.) Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

Average Rating:

1 of 1 Reviews Showing:

Reviewed by Rev. Doyle Peyton (Bellville, Ohio), April 04, 2008

A sad but interesting look at evangelicalism by a man coaxed into one of those decision moments in his youth who immediately put Christianity in his rear view mirror. He would make a good poster boy for the Emergent Movement. Critical about evangelical convictions and beliefs but fuzzy about his own. Smoldering anger and resentment, always sniping, but hidden by a mild demeanor. Critical of Christian beliefs but ambivalent and accepting of about every other belief system. Ever contradictory, searching, seeking, and questioning. Masking doubt as virtue. Sadly, seeming to be ever seeking but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Resentful of conservative Christianity but always loitering at the edge of the crowd. Proud to be standing on the outside of the church but with his nose pushed against the window pane.

Write a review of Reasons to Believe: One Man's Journey Among the Evangelicals and the Faith He Left Behind

• Books
• Books >> Biography
• Books >> Missions Evangelism & Apologetics
• Books >> Missions Evangelism & Apologetics >> Missions
• Books >> Missions Evangelism & Apologetics >> Missions >> Biography
• Start A New Christianbook.com Search

I'm the author/artist and I want to review Reasons to Believe: One Man's Journey Among the Evangelicals and the Faith He Left Behind.