What’s It About
Is Christmas Unbelievable? Four Questions Everyone Should Ask About the World’s Most Famous Story by Christian apologist, Rebecca McLaughlin, is a short read–just 59 pages–that’s filled with helpful insights and thought-provoking content.
Rebecca walks you through four essential questions about the Christmas story and makes a case that the miraculous story of Christ’s birth is legitimate and believable and, therefore, so are the other biblical claims about His life and ministry. She draws from both biblical and historical sources to offer supporting evidence, and winsomely shares the personal implications of the Christmas story for your own life.
As you read through each chapter, you’ll explore topics such as whether Jesus was even a real person, whether we can take the four gospels seriously, how someone could believe in a virgin birth, and why all these issues matter. Rebecca’s conversational tone, unique ability to make big concepts simple and accessible, and the stories and anecdotes woven throughout make this an engaging read!
How It Impacted Me
Rebecca mentions several historical documents that reference Jesus or events during His life that can be corroborated with the biblical accounts of Jesus’s life found in the Bible (the four Gospels). This wasn’t new information to me, but it did inspire me to do a more intentional study about extra-biblical sources that confirm biblical events so I can be equipped to share that that evidence for my faith even better.
Lastly, I found myself feeling renewed awe over the ways of God. There are so many miraculous and supernatural elements not only to the story of Jesus’ birth, but to all of what Christians believe and how we believe God works in the world and in our personal lives.
Rebecca teaches about the miraculous events described in Scripture and this supernatural story of who Jesus is and why He came right alongside the intellectual, historical reasons to believe it and the personal ways God shows Himself and His Word to be real in the lives of everyday people like you and me.
And as I read it, I was once again reminded that God is eternal and powerful, yet He is near and practical as well. He can send an angel to announce the birth of the Savior, His work can be recorded in historical documents written by people who may not even believe in who He is, and He can reveal Himself to a person in a way that births faith in their heart, and all of it is the beautiful work a loving God who desires relationship with the people He created.
Favorite Quote
“The story of Jesus is the greatest story ever told. It’s also unbelievably good news. And best of all, it’s true. Rather than succumbing to a delusion, joining Jesus’ story is the most real thing that could ever happen to us.”
– Rebecca McLaughlin, Is Christmas Unbelievable?
Why You Should Read It
Whether you are a skeptic, a seeker, or a believer when it comes to Christianity, we all need to ask the kinds of questions Rebecca McLaughlin is provoking us to ask in this book. If you’re not yet a Christian, you need to seriously consider the claims of Christ in the Bible and what they might mean for your life if they are in fact true.
For Christians, we each need to continually grow in our ability to be able to share our Christian hope with others, explain why we believe what we believe, and why we have decided to follow Jesus. That includes not only personal testimony of coming to faith in Christ and being able to communicate the gospel message from Scripture, but also being able to answer some of the intellectual questions we’ll understandably be asked as well.
And it is good for your own faith as a follower of Jesus to think critically about your Christian beliefs and learn that we have a strong faith that can not only be personally experienced but defended intellectually as well. Wherever you are on your faith journey, Is Christmas Unbelievable? is a great place to start if you want a launching pad to explore those kinds of questions.
About The Author
Rebecca McLaughlin holds a Ph.D in English literature from Cambridge and a theology degree from Oak Hill College in London. She is the author of Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion and The Secular Creed: Engaging Five Contemporary Claims. *adapted from Is Christmas Unbelievable? back cover
Connect with Rebecca: Website | Instagram | Twitter
*Get your copy of Is Christmas Unbelievable on Amazon or wherever you buy books.
Let’s Talk: Have you read Is Christmas Unbelievable? What impacted you most from the book? Discuss this post in the comments below.
