SEEK – Introduction and Contents

My new book SEEK is now published….available at all good bookstores and online outlets.  For the next 52 weeks I hope to put a chapter of the book on this site for you to read….of course I would much prefer if you actually bought a copy for yourself and for any young people you may know!  But here is the intro… (it would also be good if you rated and reviewed it on Amazon, Goodreads etc…especially if you like it! )

 

We start this week with the introduction!

Where was this book when I was in High School?! Even though I was in church most Sundays, I still had many questions about God and life. Being young doesn’t mean that one has unlimited time to seek and search out meaningful answers to the big questions. Besides that, who do you trust and where do you start? Back then, the last thing I wanted to do was spend my free time in the back of the library perusing the dark and dusty “religion” section. But you don’t have to. Included in this book are very important questions and meaningful answers. No judgement, no drama, just good Biblical thought. Everyone has time for that. Thanks David.
Angela MacKenzie
Vice President, SuperChannel, Gospel musician, Pianist

We live in a time when so many questions about the Christian faith and current issues feel like they’ve become weaponised. I love David Robertson’s fearless and friendly way of stepping into the path of sticky and sometimes confronting questions that can flummox, threaten and confuse young and old alike. I love how, with carefully chosen words and a smile you feel rise out of the page, David respects the question and the questioner as he shapes his thoughtful, biblical and economical answers in a way that is so substantial and understandable. And I love how a book David has written for youth turns out to be such valuable resource for all of us!
Colin Buchanan
Christian Children’s Recording artist and author
Sydney, Australia

SEEK is an awesome book for teenagers. It’s filled with great questions and even better answers. The chapters have interesting topics and it helps you see just how amazing God is.
Abby O’Brien
Sydney, Australia (age 13

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to SEEK a second book of questions from teenagers all over the world. In the first, ASK, we found that these questions are ones asked by all kinds of people. The title came from the words of Jesus – ‘Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.’ (Matthew 7:7-8). In SEEK we have fifty-two new questions, covering issues from society, education, the Bible, theology, God and more. The purpose of these books is not to give you a manual with all the right answers – but to encourage you to think biblically for yourself. These are real world questions – and there are real word answers.

The format is the same as ASK. There are fifty-two short chapters. Each contains a question, a Bible passage, a Bible verse, a discussion, something to consider, suggested further reading and a prayer. Please note that just because I suggest a book or books to read, does not mean that I agree with everything in it – nor that you should. Just as you don’t have to agree with everything in this book. There is only one book that is infallible!
We are meant to think for ourselves. We can read and learn from those who we don’t always agree with! Also be aware that books are varied in depth and quality – some were written for teenagers, some short, some long – but I hope that all of them are helpful. Of course I don’t expect you toread them all – but they are there for you to follow up any particular questions.

I love the promise that Jesus gives to those who seek – they shall find! There are people who spend their lives seeking for things that don’t matter – and are dissatisfied when they find them. There are others who spend their lives seeking for things that don’t exist – like the lost city of Atlantis or the Loch Ness monster (I realise that is a little controversial!). But when Jesus talks about seeking, he is talking about us looking for the God who really matters, the God who really exists. In some way, all of our questions lead to him.
Perhaps the most common thing that people say they are seeking is happiness. But what is happiness? How do we get it? How do we keep it? As we go through the questions that young people sent to me, some may appear to be relatively trivial, others really important – but all of them ultimately find their answer in Christ. And that is true about the question of happiness. Jesus says he came to give us life – real life, eternal life, joyous life.
Perhaps it will help us to think of seeking like this:

Search – what is happening? How do we find meaning, purpose, understanding, love and happiness?

Educate – In a world of lies, fake news and fear, how can we know? Education can just simply mean getting instruction – which is what happens at school. But it can also mean ‘an enlightening experience’. I hope that as you read through SEEK and think about things for yourself that you will be educated and enlightened.

Engage – We are not really interested in just learning about things. We really want to know them. Imagine if you could learn all about ice cream – how it was made, what it consists of etc. and yet you never tasted it! I would love SEEK to encourage you to taste and see that God is good.

Knock – I’m going to leave it to the end to tell you what this part is …

There is an old band called The Who who have a great song called The Seeker. In it they state:

They call me The Seeker
I’ve been searching low and high I won’t get to get what I’m after Till the day I die

When you are younger you tend to ask a lot of questions. That is a good thing. Sometimes as people get older, they become more cynical and doubt that there are any real answers. I don’t have all the answers – and some of the questions are complex
– but I do know the One who does. Each of the answers in this book is meant to help you in your search and encourage you to think for yourself and find out answers. You don’t have to wait until the day you die to get answers. As Jesus said, ‘seek and you will find.’
David Robertson

PS. There are some questions in SEEK which are linked to questions in ASK. To avoid repetition where this is the case I mention that in the answer.

CONTENTS
1. Climate Change (Romans 8:18-22) / 11
2. What is a Woman? (Proverbs 31:10-31) / 15
3. Capitalist or Communist? (Isaiah 11:1-9) / 19
4. Disease (Isaiah 53:1-6) / 23
5. Factory Farming (Exodus 20:1-17) / 27
6. Black Lives Matter (Revelation 7:9-17) / 31
7. Being Patriotic (Acts 17:16-34)/ 35
8. Abortion (Psalm 139)/39
9. Obeying the Government (Romans 13:1-7) /43
10. Education and Faith (Colossians 2:1-5) / 47
11. Post-truth (John 18:28-40) / 51
12. Being a Christian Soldier (Acts 10:1-48) / 55
13. The Good Lie (Joshua 2) / 59
14. Family and Christianity (1 Corinthians 7:10-24) / 63
15. Euthanasia (Revelation 21:1-4) / 67
16. Child Death (2 Samuel 12:1-25) / 71
17. And It Was So…(Genesis 1) / 75
18. Bible Mistakes (Psalm 119:153-160) /79
19. Other Holy Books (2 Peter 1:12-21) / 83
20. God and Swearing (Ephesians 4:29 – 5:7) / 87
21. The Book of Job (Job 1) / 91
22. Where to start with the Bible (Psalm 119:9-16) / 95
23. The IPhone Bible (Revelation 22:18-21) / 99
24. Talking Snakes (Genesis 3) / 103
25. 666 (Revelation 13) / 107
26. Boring Heaven (Philippians 1) / 111
27. Jesus and Islam (John 14:1-14) / 11528. Predestination (John 15) / 119
29. God and the Devils (Acts 4:23-31) / 123
30. After Death (Luke 23:36-43) / 127
31. Before Birth (Jeremiah 1) / 131
32. The Second Coming (Matthew 24:36-51) / 135 33. Art (Exodus 35:30 – 36:1) / 139
34. Music and the D.J. (Psalm 150) /143
35. Maths (Colossians 1:15-20) / 147
36. Non–Christian Friends (Luke 7:28-35) / 151
37. Knowing God (Isaiah 40) / 155
38. Evidence Against God (Psalm 14) / 159
39. Forgiveness (Luke 23:26-43) / 163
40. The Perfect God (Deuteronomy 32:1-6) / 167
41. Satan, the Snake and Hell (Revelation 20) / 171
42. God, Humanity and the Angels (Psalm 8) / 175
43. The Church and Women (Romans 16) / 179
44. Evangelism – Why? (Matthew 25:31-46) / 183
45. Evangelism – How? (1 Peter 3:13-16) / 187
46. Jesus on Earth (John 16:1-15) / 191
47. Being Catholic (Hebrews 10:1-18) / 195
48. Christians Disunited (John 17:20-26) / 201
49. Sinning Christians (1 John 1:5-10) / 205
50. Gay Christians (1 Corinthians 6:9-20) / 209
51. Effective Prayer (Matthew 6:5-15)/ 213
52. Knowing you are a Christian (1 John 5:1-13) / 217