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Author of Squanto and 30 other children's books.
Author of books and video scripts for Big Idea Productions, producers of VeggieTales
His book and movie reviews, essays, and poetry have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, New York Times, Washington Post, Christianity Today, and National Review Online
Former editorial director and head writer, Rabbit Ears Productions; Scripts narrated by Mel Gibson, Robin Williams, Danny Glover, Sigourney Weaver, John Candy, Jodie Foster
Former writer and editor of Chuck Colson's syndicated daily radio program Breakpoint
Graduate, Yale University; "Class Day Speaker"
Everything
You Always Wanted to Know About God (But Were Afraid
to Ask)
(WaterBrook Press)
CBN.com – Eric wanted to write a book that every Christian could give to unsaved friends. The book came about because there was nothing out on the market that he could give to his unsaved friends, and Eric wanted to write that book. In most of the books he found, the Gospel was presented in a heavy, hard to understand way. He wanted to provide a light, safe place for people to ask questions about God, because everybody has these questions. Eric's approach to these questions opens people to the bigger picture of God and shows that there are no easy answers. Eric says every path to discovery leads to more questions, even science. Also, just because there are more questions about God and Christianity doesn't mean one shouldn't accept this as truth. Eric presents in a dialogue question and answer form with some humor injected. For example, when discussing a question about seances and talking to the dead he inserts a little quip that says, "When talking to the dead, you should talk very loudly, because the first thing that goes when you're dead is your hearing." Eric says people don't accept black and white answers and people need to chew on things for a while. The ultimate questions he has found are in regards to God and suffering.
SPEAKING THE LANGUAGE
Christians seem to speak a different language than the average Joe and when sharing the Gospel, we as Christians speak the same language but don't make ourselves clear to nonbelievers. Like missionaries have to learn the language and the culture, Christians need to learn to communicate. Eric says Christians are misunderstood partly because of how we are perceived and we must learn to reconnect with the mainstream. Humor can be used and Christians need to be conversational and use plain English. Because of how the Christian culture is perceived and the "language barrier," people haven't really learned what the Gospel is. As a part of the Christian culture, Christians have gotten too serious and too intense. Eric says the intensity is a result is a result of bad theology. The theology is we have to ascend to Jesus which takes the beauty and joy out of the salvation message and makes it humorless. Although the Cross is not funny, there is joy. God is a loving God and there are feasts and celebrations we will have with Him. We as Christians need to give the bigger picture. Christians are shown as being moralists, and only a piece of Christianity allowed. Eric says his biggest challenge has been that some people haven't really found the Gospel or are rejecting the true Gospel. Sometimes Christians are unaware or their theology is wrong, which does not always make witnessing very effective.
Eric says this book is for the church as well as the unsaved. People in the church need this kind of approach and need to know it. Christians need to be compassionate, but they've allowed anxiety in the faith. Christians need to be calm and loving when presenting the gospel, we don't always have to be serious.
DREAMS HIS SALVATION
Eric was raised in church, but never heard about salvation. Expecting to conquer the literary world after graduation from Yale, he found himself at age 24 living with his parents & working a "horrible" job as a proofreader at Union Carbide. The culture at Yale had really sophisticated people that thought the big questions of life (like why are we here?) have no answers and it is folly to pursue such questions. It was a kind of unspoken attitude, but it was in the air. He worked with a born again Episcopalian, Ed Tuttle, who consistently witnessed to Eric. When Eric's uncle was hospitalized in a coma, Ed told Eric that people at his church were praying for his uncle. And then he asked Eric if he could pray with him about his uncle. Eric was deeply touched that people he did not know were praying for his uncle and that they really believed that their prayers would be heard & answered. Several weeks
later around his 25th birthday, Eric dreamed that he had found what he was looking for - God - in the person of His Son Jesus Christ. Telling Ed about his dream, Ed asked Eric what he thought the dream meant. Without hesitation, Eric said it meant he had accepted Jesus. Eric had no doubt. Instantaneously, though some areas were a gradual process, Eric knew he could know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God was God. As more time passed, he found the truth about God to be true. He's never looked back and now he wants to share the Good News.
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