My father was so active in his church that his friends thought he might go into vocational ministry. When World War II began, he enlisted in the Army and was stationed in the South Pacific. He experienced such horrific atrocities that he never attended church services again.

As a result, I was raised in a family that was loving and supportive but with no spiritual life and all my father’s questions. He contracted a skin disease during his military service that plagued him for the rest of his life. He had his first heart attack when I was two years old and died of a second heart attack when I was in college.

Consequently, faith questions have been part of my life for all of my life.

When I was fifteen years old, a Baptist church in our community invited me to ride their bus to church. That’s how I first heard the gospel. I did not understand everything I heard, but I saw something in these Christians I did not find in my life—a sense of peace, joy, and purpose.

I kept attending Sunday school and church. Several weeks later, I asked my Bible study teacher how I could have what she had. She then led me to personal faith in Christ.

However, my father’s questions were still my questions: How do we know the Bible is true? What about other religions? Why does God allow bad things to happen? Over time, I concluded that there was something wrong with my faith because I still had doubts.

Then a friend gave me a copy of C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity and it changed my life. For the first time, I encountered someone who dealt with faith intellectually. I still have that copy and reread it occasionally.

Over time, God drew me into vocational ministry and then into the academic study of my faith. I received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in philosophy of religion and have taught apologetics (methods of defending the faith) with four seminaries over the years. As a pastor of four churches, I often focused on faith questions as well.

In 2009, we launched Denison Forum so I could devote myself full-time to answering cultural questions with biblical truth. Our purpose is to equip Christians to think biblically about contemporary issues so they can use their influence more effectively for Christ.

But the common denominator across these many years has been the same: answering my father’s questions. I’ve learned that my Father’s answers are enough for my mind and my soul.