If You Believe People Need Jesus…This Book is for You

The book is called, Choosing Your Faith in a World of Spiritual Options.  Mark Mittelberg (author of Becoming a Contagious Church and co-author of Becoming a Contagious Christian) has done a masterful job of writing a book that will help people move forward on a journey through the vast array of spiritual options presented in our pluralistic world. 

I know a book is practical and helpful when I find myself identifying specific people (and groups of people) I would love to have read it.  This happened on three levels as I read, Choosing Your Faith. First, I began thinking of friends and family members who are spiritual seekers or intellectual agnostics who would be greatly helped by this book.  Then, as I read on, I thought of some new believers that could be fortified and encouraged by the content of Choosing Your Faith.  Finally, as I was wrapping up the book, it struck me that I gained a great deal from the content and vision of the book, and I have been a follower of Jesus for about three decades!  I will also recommend it to pastors, Christian leaders, and mature believers. 

What Mark does so well is that he covers valuable information with a refreshing balance of engaging life-narrative and solid intellectual data.  Mark explains the meaning and impact of Logical Positivism, quotes broadly from respected atheists, summarizes classical philosophical arguments for God, and maintains intellectual integrity through the whole book.  At the same time, he weaves in stories of mountain biking, a life-threatening  journey of teenagers camping in the badlands of North Dakota, he quotes from recognizable rock songs, and communicates as a friend really wanting people to find their way through the labyrinth of spiritual options.

Mark adds a new and unique twist to help people choose their faith.  He presents six paths or ways people tend to choose faith:

·        Pragmatism and Relativism

·        Tradition and Truth

·        Authority and Reality

·        Intuition and Knowledge

·        Mystical

·        Logic, Evidence and Science

After walking through each of these he gives twenty different arrows that point to the integrity of embracing faith, and the Christian faith specifically.  He builds a cumulative case that spans topics such as intelligent design, the trustworthy nature of the Bible as a historical book, the evidence of archeology, fulfillment of biblical prophecy, the resurrection of Jesus, the lives and deaths of Jesus’ followers, and much more.  Each of these twenty arrows that point to the Christian faith could be a book in and of itself.  But, Mark gives brief but compelling summaries that carry the reader along (then he gives resources for those who want to dig deeper into these topics).  Finally, Mark focuses on a dozen barriers to belief and and helps the reader identify ways to get over or around these.  Again, the sections are brief, readable, and get to the heart of the matter.

Near the end of the book Mark presents the Gospel and offers a chance for people to respond in light of the evidence.  I believe this book will be a powerful tool to help spiritual seekers and strengthen believers for years to come.  I am confident there will be many people who will read this book and end up choosing to follow Jesus for this life and eternity.