Big Truths for Young Hearts

I read this book because someone else in youth ministry recommended it to me. Now I am a bit of a systematic theology guy. Last year I read all of John M. Frame's Systematic Theology and I still use Grudem's as a reference today. I think systematic theology helps us in answering questions that people ask. This book is pretty much a systematic theology book for teenagers. There are 10 sections covering the classic categories of God, people, sin, Jesus, Holy Spirit, salvation, church and the end times. Each section had five chapters, each one about two and a half pages, ending with two discussion questions and a memory verse. The idea is that you could do a chapter with your child a night - or they could do it themselves - and be finished in 50 days, or more realistically if you are in my household, it may take you about 12-16 weeks.

Previously I had heard of Bruce Ware, mostly in the context of talk on the Trinity and the nature of God. Ware is a bit of a heavy theologian and tries, mostly successfully, to simplify his language to explain deep truths of God. There are some pretty basic images and some really good analogies throughout. I started to skim through this book but in the end, I thought I was learning stuff from this, so I had to slow down my reading.

Like any systematic, there are nuances and hobby horses that may pop up in the book. Ware is on the Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood so a bit of complementarian stuff comes in. He also may have been a bit technical on the persons and nature of God, but that too is his thing, and I didn't really have a problem with both of these points. He also assumed baptism was by full immersion and in one chapter he raised the idea that Jesus couldn't have sinned. I need to re-read that chapter, as I assumed Jesus' suffering and temptations on earth was really real and there was a possibility He could have given in.

In the end, I thought this was a good book. It presented a good solid overview of Christian beliefs aimed at teenagers. Taking a quarter of a year to finish this book wouldn't be a waste of time. I would be over the moon if I found out that other parents in my church were reading this book with their teenagers together. My oldest is currently seven and I think this is above her now, but I am looking forward to when we can read this book together and talk about what it says.

You can see the table of contents and the first few chapters online here (pdf) to get a feel for the book.