The Truth Will Set You Free: The Facts About Christianity and How It Will Lead You to Happiness, Peace, and Comfort

By Zad

Does God exist? Is Jesus the Son of God? Can Jesus give you peace and happiness? And if so, how? What are the facts? What is the evidence from history, society, economy, and politics? What would an impartial study of the influence of Christianity tell us? It is an extensive, broad, and deep examination of the Christian claims. This book poses the most difficult and embarrassing questions and reveals largely unknown truths.

You will certainly be intrigued and entertained, and will learn a lot from it. An experience that may challenge, change, and gratify you. A road to faith through heart and mind.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jan 23, 2015
• ISBN: 9781490859620

Zad

The author was born in Syria in 1967 and grew up in Beirut, Lebanon. In 1984, he returned to Syria and earned a medical degree from Damascus University. In the early nineties, he moved to the United States where he manages his own business. He lives in Cleveland, Ohio.

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Copyright © 2014 Z A D.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-5960-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-5961-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-5962-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014919996

WestBow Press rev. date: 1/23/2015

Contents

Introduction

God

Biographies

Master of the World

Who Wins?

The Possible

The Infinite

Monotheism

Reason without Faith

Faith and Reason

Doubt about God’s Existence

Is the Bible Literally True?

Science and Faith

Why Only Humans?

Instincts

Near-Death Experiences

Everybody Suffers

Enjoying Evil

Materialism

The Devil’s Offer

Judgment

Suffering and God

Rewarded

No Response

God and Compartments

Christianity

Trinity

Incarnation

Jesus’ Character

Sinless

Jesus, the Judge

Is Jesus Divine?

The Lord’s Prayer

Kingdom of God

The Good Samaritan

Love and Christ

The Cross

The Resurrection

Mary and Grace

Judas

Paul

Constantine

Faith Alone?

Predestination

Crimes of Christians

Slavery and Christianity

Religion of the Weak

The Christian West

Facts and Numbers

Comparison

Never Heard of Jesus?

Not Christian

Related Topics

Abortion

Homosexuality

Dealing with Poverty

Optimism

Pessimism

Fear

Relative Morality

Altruism

Envy

Forgiveness

Courage and Loyalty

Any Price

Virtue Made Easy

Simplify

Duties

Nothing Is Easier to Forget Than Nothing

When I Need You

Knowing Someone

Deception

Their Game

Plato

Machiavelli

UFOs

USA

Why Socialism Fails

Predictions

Conclusion

About the Author

Introduction

O ur goal in this book is to find the truth. Seek and you shall find.

Our search will not be perfect or complete, but search we must and an advance in knowledge we will achieve.

One may say, We don’t need the truth—that is, if it even exists. Let’s enjoy sweet illusions. Well, that’s fine if those illusions lead to contentment. But as far as I know, all illusions have led to much more pain, disappointment, failure, desperation, and disillusionment than pleasure.

Does the truth exist? It is unquestionably true that you are now thinking about these words. Therefore, something true exists.

I ask the reader to be intellectually honest. If you believe that American astronauts never landed on the moon, that the American government had a deliberate role in the attacks of 9/11, or that more than a lone killer was responsible for the direct assassination of JFK without pointing to one solid piece of evidence, please do not waste your time reading what I have written. At its best, my reasoning won’t do much to change your mind. If you base your judgments on preconceived, unchallengeable, unquestionable ideas, often deeply influenced by emotions and personal biases, I can’t help you much.

Everything is open to questioning, and anything that rejects questioning on traditional, religious, political, or social grounds has a lot to fear from the light and probably was built on sand. If you have the ability to question your parents’ love for you or how healthy it was or is, this is a good sign. If you don’t have this ability, you still have work to do on your intellectual impartiality.

The most difficult, embarrassing, controversial questions will be asked in this book because if we don’t ask them now, they will certainly be posed by someone else in the future. I know that not everything can be said, but I am certain we can discuss much more than we think we can.

We shall face contradictions and come to a few conclusions that are perfectly clear and internally coherent. But when faced with multiple explanations, we should side with the one that makes the most sense and has the least contradiction (determined with the help of Occam’s razor). Once again, the truth is our goal—not simplicity.

Hundreds, maybe thousands, of my ideas will be expressed; if you agree with all of them and don’t get angered by any of them, you must be my clone. I challenge you to be a tough critic of whatever I write because you won’t have long-lasting convictions unless you go through this harsh judgment.

Most often, the truth is like a bitter pill. It is bitter, but we know the sick body needs it. It is bitter because, most often, it is not what we—or more accurately, our egos—want it to be. But we have no choice.

The only place to build is on solid rock.

God

Biographies

W henever I read the biography of any person, famous or obscure—be it a politician, general, musician, artist, author, king, conqueror, inventor, philosopher, discoverer, neighbor, or stranger—I feel it is an unfinished story. It includes information on the person’s birth, growing up, education, marriage, kids, careers, success, adversity, ups and downs, aging, diseases, accidents, and finally death, but all of these combined don’t complete the story.

To me, any biography seems to be a story whose conclusion doesn’t explain nor complete it. It’s a story whose end is not understandable or reasonable. It is like one of those weird movies whose end comes unexpectedly, leaving the viewer perplexed and wondering whether he has missed something.

Are we humans trying to find meaning in meaningless things, or does the meaning exist and we just can’t get it yet? Well, if we look at the universe, it is obvious that its activities do have meaning: the Earth, sun, moon, stars, wind, sea clouds, rain, animals, and vegetables function for no less reason than the existence and persistence of life. Every organ in the body has a function, and the only one without an important one is the appendix, named for its unique nonfunctioning nature. (However, it was of some use for our ancestors.)

Then life must have a meaning, and biographies don’t explain it. In my opinion, this is a strong indication that there’s something more beyond. What we don’t know or see can exist.

People may say to me, You are the type that believes in fairy tales. My answer is yes, and the biggest, most incredible fairy tale is the true and real existence