Taking a Short Break & a 1-Question Survey

November 27, 2012 By 31 Comments

I’m going to be taking the next few days off from blogging here. I’ll resume Friday, November 30th. So stay tuned.

One of the reasons for the temporary break is that I’m going to work on my upcoming book, When the Pages Are Blank: How to Bring the Bible Back to Life, which releases in December sometime.

I also want my new subscribers to be able to catch up on what they’ve missed. Just click frankviola.com and you’ll see all my posts on the front page.

Again, if you subscribe to this blog, you’ll receive a free copy of my upcoming book. It will not be available any other way.

Click here to read about the book and subscribe to the blog. Once the book releases, you’ll receive your free copy. But make sure you’re checking out my posts each day. The announcement will be in a blog post. ;-)

Finally, I have a 1-question survey for each of you.

What would you like me to write about in the future most of the time? I’ll be writing on all of these themes, but I want you to pick the one that interests you the most. Here are your choices.

  1. The Case for Jesus – responding to Atheists, Agnostics, and Skeptics. (I wrote two posts on this.)
  2. My musings on pop culture issues. (Movies, entertainment, etc.)
  3. Interviews with authors and scholars. (I’ve interviewed N.T. Wright and Roger Olson so far.)
  4. Book reviews. (I’ve reviewed Al Mohler and Francis Chan’s new books so far.)
  5. My musings on theological issues. (e.g., I’ve written on how Calvinists & Ariminians are similar.)
  6. My musings on political issues. (I wrote an uncommon post on the 2012 USA Election.)
  7. Insert your own topic.

The Blog Manager will approve comments later in the week. This way no one is unconsciously influenced by any else’s answers.

Other blogs to check out:

Joel Miller warns against asking God for justice.

Adrian Warnock discusses the problem of child sex abuse.

Filed Under: Uncategorized 31 Comments
About Frank Viola

Frank Viola is the author of the best-selling, God's Favorite Place on Earth along with many other titles.

  • Francesco

    Number 5.

  • http://seedsinmyheart.blogspot.com randi

    1,2 or 5

  • http://goministry.net Tress

    The case for Jesus

  • http://sometimeshope.wordpress.com Chris

    Frank, let me start with what might sound like fake buttering up, but is actually true. I enjoy your style of writing, the insight you bring to a topic, and your perspective, so it’s hard to choose one topic. I am glad that you won’t limit your focus. My favorite would be the theological concepts, mostly because I have trouble finding cogent thoughtful blogs on these topics, and they are very interesting to me.

  • Andrew Lehenbauer

    I vote The Case for Jesus – responding to Atheists, Agnostics, and Skeptics.

  • Lana

    7. Abuse of power in church and hierarchy

  • David Wilson

    I am most interested in hearing what you have to say about the Case for Jesus and about theological issues.

  • http://www.adventuresofbrian.com Brian Eubanks

    I vote for number 5!

  • http://www.facebook.com/shqippy Jonathan Harwell

    “What preachers learn in seminary but are afraid to preach.”

  • http://libergraphica.com patricius

    I choose number one: The Case for Jesus – responding to Atheists, Agnostics, and Skeptics. One can never have enough good apologia!

  • Matt Sutphin

    Frank,
    I most enjoy reading posts about topics 1 & 2 you’ve listed above… I really enjoyed your recent posts on no proof of God, and also spiritual conversation styles. These really hit home and were meaningful to me. Thanks for blogging and sharing your musings with the rest of us!

    Matt

  • Heather

    My choice would be Other. This is a topic that I am very serious about but can’t get serious answers from most mainstream Christians.

    Things like this are on the news every single day, somewhere, on mainstream media. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKdvBidbwnQ

    and the Vatican even had a 5 day conference to discuss UFO/aliens https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3glaPsDw_A

    So some pastors have told me that if they entertain that this is real then it would undermine their faith and everything they know to be true. I had to back off because they are asking me not to tell them this is real to me, and therefore, I leave them with their faith in tact.

    Other Christians have figured out how to handle this by saying that the aliens are the demons spoken of in Revelations.

    There are plenty of people now who openly discuss at dinner parties things they are reading about aliens coming soon to help us. (I think that is a bit crazy too!)

    But seriously, in this day and age – all you have to do is go on Youtube and do search UFO with any news agency that is your favorite and get non stop reports.

    Could you look into it, and compare what the different perspectives are on this phenomenon? I think to simply say, “I don’t believe in it” isn’t going to fly for people of faith anymore. They are going to want answers, or at least, dialogue that doesn’t make them feel ashamed that they are starting to wonder themselves by all the accounts that people are experiencing first hand.

  • http://www.smidoz.wordpress.com smidoz

    Definitely the case for the real Jesus, I find most arguments a bit glib, almost like they just expect the critics to role over, or to just accept premises that are actually conclusions.

    I’d also be interested to hear some thoughts on theodicy, particularly in light of Stephen Law’s evil god challenge, have my own thoughts on it, just haven’t put them together into a coherent argument, but if as much time was spent on the challenge as has been spent on theodicy itself, it would present a far more formidable argument than the 21 pages Law wrote on it reveal.

  • DeWayne

    #2

  • http://7mpr.org Keith Davis

    The Case for Jesus
    Book Reviews

  • http://umbl0g.blogspot.com John Umland

    Theological issues

    God is love
    jpu

  • Scott Ray

    The Case for Jesus.

  • Joel Noble

    I would love to read more political musings, especially ones that tackle what the proper jurisdiction of the family, church, and civil government are.

  • Ron Lehenbauer

    The Case for Jesus – responding to Atheists, Agnostics, and Skeptics. (I wrote two posts on this.)

  • Dorfl

    I would like to see you about the case for Jesus.

    I’m an atheist, and I know the historical consensus is that a preacher named Jesus existed and was executed, but it would be nice to see a christian fill in the steps from there to “and therefore we know the new testament is accurate description of actual events”.

    • Dorfl

      *”write about”, that is.

  • http://www.faithfulearth.com Kristopher Morris

    I look forward to reading your new book! As far as your one question survey is concerned, I always love a good read about Christian Apologetics with an eye toward equipping the saints to respond to current cultural and political issues. So I guess my answer would be a blend of numbers 1,2, and 6.

  • Sheldon

    5. Musing’s on theological issues, but please don’t limit yourself to any one category.

  • Joyce

    Number five, and then one, would be my primary choices. Thanks for asking.

  • Roberta Jackson

    Definitely No. 1, but apologetics in general. Evolution seems to be an “undeniable scientific fact” to so many now

  • http://www.tangerineskyproductions.com/ Kristen Collier

    DEFINITELY End Times in regards to the current political climate and in relation to Israel! I’m a BIG Israel supporter and believe everything that’s going on politically and in regards to how the world is treating Israel is pointing to Jesus’ imminent return.

  • http://www.kellyjyoungblood.com Kelly J Youngblood

    How do you do this? Just last night I was thinking about something I’d like your opinion on, and I wake up this morning to find this post.

    Anyway.

    I am reading a book in which the author talks about the faith of Christians who are in a particular profession. There’s nothing really groundbreaking in it so far that I can see and it simply shows that the people in this profession have a lot of the same issues in life that “normal” people do. Many of the stories and examples and quotations from people could be heard from a variety of people in a variety of churches. However, much of it seems very simplistic and shallow (I don’t mean that negatively; I just don’t see much depth to their faith) to me. It got me thinking about the whole idea about faith as a child and comparing/contrasting that with depth of faith. Is childlike faith simplistic or does it have depth? Is it important for a person’s faith to really try to understand context and history of Biblical passages (many people don’t want to do this because it’s too much work or seems boring) or is it ok to just say “well, the Bible says…”?

  • Neal

    I would vote for #1 above.

    I would also love to hear you talk about eschatalogical issues within the church. Why the differing views concerning the rapture, tribulation, millenium, eternity. How to properly interpret these subjects, etc.

  • Christine Wolfe

    I vote for option one. I for one struggle with engaging in meaningful, mutually respectful dialogue with non-believers. I’ve encountered such closed-minded or downright verbally hostile behavior (not necessarily directed at me) toward Christianity in general. Fearing I’ll be perceived as an “ugly Christian”, I tend to remain silent on matters of faith.

  • Larry Teasley

    I’d like you to address the nature/problem/challenge of confronting the current cultural worldview – particularly in light of postmodernism and technological developments – with a Christian worldview; and how to wake up the church to the fact that “we aren’t in Kansas anymore” regarding the prevailing postmodern worldview. Let me get specific – please address how we as pastors, servants, etc in the church can help people, who have always thought everyone in the world understands the world from a traditonal “we’ve always been in church” worldview, how we can help them understand that the world is not that way anymore.

  • Daniel Farrow

    I’d love it if you would concentrate on Choice #1 “The Case For Jesus”. Thanks!