A few years ago, Pastor John was asked a question about reading the Quran and other such religious books. "If I want people in other religions to consider reading the Bible, then should I be willing to return the favor and read their holy book?" That's the essence of the question.

And here's what Pastor John had to say. I think it depends on how serious they are and serious you are and the kind of person you are. Not everybody is gifted or called to be an analyzer of other people's religious literature, and it could be dangerous, I think, especially if they're just provoking you.

But if you've got a serious conversation with an intellectual person, say a professor of Islam, or just a thoughtful work colleague who takes their holy book very seriously, and you want them to consider listening to the Bible or reading it, and they say, "Well, could you trade? You know, talk about mine one week and yours one week?" I think that would be good.

If you're wired to be involved with that kind of person at that level, and they're wired that way, yes, yes. I just want to avoid saying, "In order to be a credible Christian, you've got to read the Quran, or you've got to read the Hindu holy books, or you've got to read the Book of Mormon." I don't think so, because most people, number one, don't have time, don't have the inclinations and the intellectual wherewithal to read all the things in the world.

And if you said the only way to have a credible faith in Jesus is to have read all the options and discovered all the reasons for why those options don't suffice, you'd spend your whole life, or at least a big hunk of it, reading all this stuff. There has to be a way to read the Bible and see enough self-evidencing and validating truth there.

Jesus shining forth from the Scriptures, winning our trust that we know this is true and don't have to be threatened by other holy books, even though we haven't read them. It's like if you've tasted two things, and that's honey, and somebody says, "But I've got another brown thing over here that's honey." You say, "But this is honey.

I can tell this is honey. I've tasted this." You don't need to experiment with every brown, viscous thing that's brought to you in order to be sure this is honey. That was Pastor John a few years ago, and recently he traveled to the Middle East, and when he returned, he had some fresh thoughts for us on Christianity and Islam that he shared on this podcast.

You may remember that in Back to Back episodes 233 and 234. Those episodes were titled "Lessons from the Middle East" and "Muslims vs. Christians on the Sovereignty of God." You can find both of those episodes and over 300 others most easily in the Ask Pastor John apps for the iPhone and the Android, both of which are free for you thanks to our faithful financial donors.

We will return tomorrow with a question about entertainment. Specifically, how can I break my addiction to it? I'm your host Tony Reinke. We'll see you tomorrow. you