Book Review: Surviving Religion 101
I shed matter of just how several of my buddies ignored Christ in college, and also I left with them.
Christian scientists release grim stats every year about the college exodus of church-fleeing teenagers, yet increasing the alarm system never ever appears to stem the tide. Pupil ministries concentrate on apologetics, addressing worldview questions, and defending the realities of Scripture. School ministries canvas the quad to attract having a hard time Christians into joyful spiritual communities with pizza as well as frolf.
When I walked away from Christ in university, I wasn’t won to the world by “soaring appearing disagreements.” I just desired buddies. My experience given that then confirms that I had not been alone. Though lots of pupils yield to gnawing intellectual questions concerning the trustworthiness of the Bible while in university, lots of others stray from Christ searching for relational and psychological fulfillment. Obviously, Christian students avoiding to university need greater than just one more Case for Christ; they require to safeguard both their heads and their hearts.
That’s why every Christian university student and graduating senior high school elderly must check out Michael Kruger’s new book, Surviving Religion 101: Letters to a Christian Student on Keeping the Faith in College.
You might understand Michael Kruger from his work defending the canonicity as well as accuracy of Scripture, but in this publication, he places on a different hat. Kruger composes as a papa who wants his daughter to maintain loving Jesus. Each phase takes the type of a letter to his little girl, Emma, who is just beginning her studies at UNC Chapel Hill. So, while Kruger casts his letters as “intellectual preparation” (p 24) from a seminary prof (which they certainly are), he can not aid being a father, as well. He understands that his precious little girl will face greater than atheist debates on her university campus, so he also creates to help her make it through relationally, intellectually, mentally, and spiritually. The product is fifteen winning, thoughtful, wholistic solution to a few of the toughest concerns that Christian university student encounter on their universities today.
In the opening chapter, Kruger talks directly to the fear of dropping away in university and also does so with inflammation as well as candor. Kruger goes on to remind his 18-year-old little girl that she is, in reality, just 18 years old. Kruger will, of program, go on to offer numerous robust responses to serious quandaries with Christianity, but he premises his guidance in the doctrinal and also useful reality of regrowth.
Kruger’s adult and also pastoral understanding into this issue is extensive. Kruger goes on to show just how a biblical anthropology assists us see that people are necessarily a “mix of merit and also vice,” as well as that to associate evil habits with ugliness of individuality in fact can mirror an unpleasant presumption– that gay individuals should necessarily be awful individuals (p 79). Kruger shows just how Christians can rather come close to all individuals with biblical nuance as well as understanding, as well as therefore prevent the emotionalist catch of peer pressure.
Those are simply two instances, yet the list takes place. Kruger takes on the complying with huge inquiries with treatment and also wisdom in this book (these are really just a few of the phase titles):
The Concept of Hell Seems Barbaric and Cruel– Wouldn’t a Loving God Save Everyone? Science Seems Like It Can Explain Everything in deep space– Do We Really Need to Believe in God? Every Little Thing I Believe Seems to Hinge on the Truth of the Bible– How Do We Know It’s Really from God? Some Parts of the Bible Seem Morally Troubling– How Can a Book Be from God If It Advocates Oppression or Genocide? Sometimes It Feels Like My Faith Is Slipping Away– How Do I Handle Doubts regarding What I Believe? You can tell just from this sample that this publication doesn’t hide from the hard questions. Rather, Kruger faces them head-on, however with gentleness, genuineness, clearness, as well as a riches of knowledge on early church history. As well as he on a regular basis summarizes huge, complicated concepts by claiming, “The point is this …” putting the cookies on the bottom rack for his readers. Kruger writes like a daddy that likes his child, but that additionally educates church history for a living. It’s a powerful mix as well as effective for resolving these big subjects with college-aged viewers.
If you’re a student of apologetics, you’ll likely recognize some of Kruger’s arguments as acquainted, however it’s additionally most likely that you’ll be aided by some of his fresh understandings. In the chapter on Christianity as the one correct religion, Kruger dispatches with typical objections by pointing out the logical oppositions of relativistic worldviews. In his chapter on the Gospel accounts, Kruger reveals just how a number of outside and interior proofs show the authenticity of the authorship of the Gospels.
Currently, to be clear, I’ve met an university pupil in the past, and also I realize that a 241-page publication on Christianity will not naturally increase over Call of Duty on the to-do checklist. Nonetheless, I still assume this book is worth offering to an university student for two reasons: 1) It can work as a recommendation material for whenever the pupil actually encounters among the fifteen inquiries, and also the phases do not take more than 15-20 minutes to read. 2) A positive parent or various other discipler might function with this book a chapter each time with an university student, opening possibilities for more inquiries as well as conversation. That being claimed, I would not anticipate most trainees to read this job front-to-back, regardless of its ease of access.
The inquiries Kruger addresses in Surviving Religion 101 are exactly the problems I’m asked about each week by the university student at our church. Even more than that, Kruger accesses the subsurface issues, the refined lures that lead well-meaning Christian trainees step-by-step down the dark road of apostasy, as well as in this book he serves as a sure guide back to the narrow path. I very compliment Kruger’s inviting, comprehensive letters as a great assistance to any kind of anxious grads or struggling collegians as they persevere through the unique obstacles of the college years. May God utilize this book in your life or the life of someone you recognize to maintain them Christian in college.