- Paperback: 176 pages
- Publisher: NavPress (September 16, 2005)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1576837343
- ISBN-13: 978-1576837344
“Smart Faith” written by J.P. Moreland and Mark Matlock. I wanted to read this book because I first learned of Mark Matlock through a conference he was doing for youth more than ten years ago, called “Planet Wisdom.” Mark is still doing a lot of work with youth but I am not sure they are called the same thing anymore.
This is a great book with a message that we desperately need to share with the world today, starting with the church world. The book is all about loving God with all of our mind and not just with our emotions. There needs to be a foundation from which we believe and then we are able to give an answer to others as to why we are believers in Jesus Christ.
The book is meant for youth, high school age folks to read but it will work for the adult generations as well. Mark is trying to put a tool in the hands of young people so they can combat the person who takes a young person to task over their belief in Jesus Christ. We live in a time when the majority of youth today have no church background and they deserve solid answers for why they should believe in Him.
The authors make a great point that we can argue many things about belief in the bible through using moral and secular arguments and not just arguing from the bible as people are going to question how do we know the bible is true in the first place.
This is a great tool and I am going to immediately pass this book along to a youth in my church whom God has called into ministry. We need to go but it also helps to go prepared.
That being said there is only one area that I disagreed with the authors at all. They discuss the was way we do evangelism and discounted all of the tools such as Evangelism Explosion and The Five Spiritual Laws, and all of those ministries who through the years have given us tools to share the main points of the gospel. I disagree with the authors on this point because I believe that we need to help people by giving them tools. In the end I agree with the authors about how a person comes to know Jesus Christ and it is just a difference in understanding.
Great Book, go get a copy and devour it.
Ronnie
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from NavPress Publishers as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commision’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”