Photo by Sarah Cook.
Dr. Jason Jack, who works as a plastic surgeon at Plastic Surgery Specialists in Birmingham, recently published a new book, “In Spirit and Truth.”
Like any diligent doctor would do, Dr. Jason Jack applied a scientific approach when he needed answers to some critical questions. He didn’t reach for a text book, however. He reached for the Bible. What resulted from Jack’s studies was a 225-page book.
About five years ago, Jack — who works as a plastic surgeon at Plastic Surgery Specialists in Birmingham — said he did some soul searching and found his spiritual life to be lacking. He had a successful career as a former two-time state championship quarterback letterman at the University of Alabama and was doing well in his career. His faith, however, was put on the backburner, he said.
“I was grounded in the sciences, so I was looking in the wrong place to figure things out,” Jack said. “Family, career, all that was good — but spiritually I was a wreck.”
At that point, Jack decided to visit the literary cornerstone of Christianity, the Bible. When he reached for the text, Jack said there was a layer of dust coating it. He hadn’t dug deep into his faith for at least two decades, he said.
“I just wanted to know the answers to some of the questions I had in the back of my mind,” he said. “I just prayed for God to show me the truth.”
After work and putting his two children to bed, Jack would comb through Scripture in search of answers. As he read, he would take notes of what he uncovered.
“I remember sitting down for an hour or two at night after the kids went to bed, and just typing away on the computer,” Jack said. “After a few months I looked down and thought, ‘Man, I have a few pages on Microsoft Word. I’ll keep doing this and see where it goes.”
Eventually, Jack said, he looked down and saw a book.
“It went pretty quickly,” he said. “About six months.”
After combing through his research, Jack said he saw four chapters forming — the testimony of God’s word, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Spiritual rebirth and discipleship. Those four categories became the roadmap for “In Spirit and Truth,” published November 2016.
The book, Jack said, is a compilation of what he learned after taking a deep dive through what the Bible had to say about topics that previously confused him when seeking answers in his academic studies.
“Looking back, that was a huge stumbling block for me for probably a decade or so,” Jack said about his years in college and residency. “I really didn’t know what to believe and whatever faith I had, it really stunted it.”
Ultimately, however, Jack said accepting God’s word amidst a medical background turned out to be easier than he thought.
“I told myself, ‘I’m going to trust God’s wisdom over man’s wisdom,’” he said. “It was kind of like a lightbulb went off inside me.”
Since making that decision, Jack said he has been able to reconcile his academic background with his newfound spiritual knowledge. His hope, he said, is that by reading “In Spirit and Truth,” others may be able to find some clarity to difficult questions.
“In retrospect, I think that was the whole purpose of writing the book,” Jack said. “I just wanted to get the message of the Gospel out, and that was kind of my way of doing it.”
“In Spirit and Truth” is available online from major booksellers.
