Smart Faith: Loving Your God with All Your Mind

* 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

Have you ever wondered why you aren't taken seriously as a Christian? Or why Christian's are not given more respect in world? Then this is the book for you: Smart Faith by Moreland and Matlock. Moreland and Matlock explain not only the decline of Christianity in the public arena but why we withdrew to the detriment of Christianity in particular and to society as a whole. In Smart Faith, Moreland and Matlock challenge Christians of today to engage their minds when thinking and talking about matters of Faith. The Bible clearly teaches that you are to "study to yourself approved." In order to do this effectively, we need to diligently study the scriptures, study the world around us, and be aware of the shortcomings in modern Christian thought and argument to intelligently make a case for Christ in the workplace, school, neighborhood, and home. Moreland and Matlock walk you through the steps: Finding Complete Faith, Thinking Will Take Us Far, Minding Our Source for Transformation, Melting our Mental Icebergs, Using Logic to Persuade, Evangelizing With Brains, Reasoning Like Scholars, Waking Up Our Personal Study and Devotion, Refocusing Our Worship, and Applying Our Minds to Home, School, Work, and Play. Smart Faith puts into words what I have thought for years. The well-thought, articulate book underscores the imperative call to know that you know that you know the Lord Jesus Christ and can intelligently argue for faith in Jesus Christ. Use the brains God gave you. Ithink this book should be required reading for all believers, but especially teens and young adults. I hope this someday comes out in a curriculum format. I am a blogger reviewer for NavPress.

This is a great book geared towards Teenagers. I really wish the book had been around when I was a teenager. The aim of the book is to challenge young men and women to think about the Christian Faith and not just live off their parents faith or emotion. The book is full of keen insights and practical challenges to help teens grow deeper in their capacity to think about the things of God. The book is a great blend of Philosophy, Theology, and application. The later chapters in the book are especially relevent as the authors move the reader from the realm of deliberate thought to the realm of living a fully integrated life. This book is a great read for any teenager with a desire to grow or for adults with teenagers in their life. I just wish it had been around when I was fifteen.

A wonderful work by two great Christian scholars. To love God with all ones mind is an amazing challenge which is made less frightening by this work. All of my staff has been transformed by this book.

If I was running a church or any religious institution I would make everyone in it read this book. While it is a little too simplistic at times, its overall message is very badly needed by people of faith. Far too many religious people think good faith is believing in something in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. This is not what good sense or the Bible teaches. The authors are attempting to address this by encouraging religious people to rely on reason and logic again. So in summery, if you think you do not need a reason for "faith" you should read this book.