Why does GotQuestions.org sometimes give questionable recommended resources?


I am surprised at how often we receive complaints about the resources we recommend at the bottom of articles on GotQuestions.org. All we are trying to say with the recommended resources is this: "If you want to study the issue in more depth, the following resource would be a worthwhile study."

By giving a recommended resource, we are not saying any of the following:

• "We agree with everything the resource says."
• "We agree with everything the publisher of the resource has ever published."
• "We agree with everything the author of the resource has ever done, taught, or said."
• "We agree with everything anyone who is quoted or referenced in the resource has ever done, taught, or said."
• "We agree with everything the second cousin of the associate editor's ex-wife has ever done, taught, or said."

It is distressing how often the complaints are not related to the resource itself, but to something or someone loosely connected with the resource. If we could only recommend resources from authors who have never done, taught, or said anything wrong or questionable, there is not a resource in the world we could recommend, aside from the Bible of course. We ourselves would be disqualified if perfection is the standard.

We strive to only recommend resources from biblically and theologically sound authors who are in agreement with our statement of faith. But, that is not always possible. We are never going to recommend anything we believe to be heretical, or even anything that we strongly disagree with. But, we are comfortable with encouraging people to examine resources that come to a different conclusion than we do, as long as that conclusion is biblically plausible.

So, no, we are not going to remove a recommended resource just because it quotes from a Bible translation you do not like.

No, we are not going to remove recommended resources by an author because he or she once appeared on TBN over a decade ago.

And no, we are not going to remove a recommended resource because it doesn't say that God absolutely never speaks or guides people outside of the Bible.

If you don't want to read Christian authors to supplement your study of God's Word, that is fine. If you only want to read Christian authors that agree 100 percent with your own doctrinal persuasions, that is your decision to make (although we would disagree with the decision).

We strive to keep our articles brief and to the point. That often results in us not covering everything that could be covered on a given issue. So, we give recommendations of resources for further study to complement the answers.

If you notice a recommendation that is truly doctrinally questionable, please let us know. If you think a resource is questionable due to the author having once been photographed carrying a copy of The Message into a Starbucks, please don't waste your or our time by sending us a complaint.

S. Michael Houdmann

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Why does GotQuestions.org sometimes give questionable recommended resources?