Tough Questions About God, Faith, And Life: Answers to the difficult questions teens ask

by Charles W. Colson

Is God real? Where does evil come from? Can we really believe the Bible? Does modern science disprove Christianity? Is there such a thing as absolute truth? These questions and much more are things every teenager will face in high school and college. How will they answer these tough questions for themselves? Premier thinker Chuck Colson gives answers to the toughest questions teens have about God, faith, science, and life.

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Almost 40 years ago, Charles W. Colson was not thinking about reaching out to prison inmates or reforming the U.S. penal system. In fact, this aide to President Richard Nixon was "incapable of humanitarian thought," according to the media of the mid-1970s. Colson was known as the White House "hatchet man," a man feared by even the most powerful politicos during his four years of service to Nixon.

When news of Colson's conversion to Christianity leaked to the press in 1973, The Boston Globe reported, "If Mr. Colson can repent of his sins, there just has to be hope for everybody." Colson would agree.

In 1974 Colson entered a plea of guilty to Watergate-related charges; although not implicated in the Watergate burglary, he voluntarily pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in the Daniel Ellsberg Case. He entered Alabama's Maxwell Prison in 1974 as a new Christian and as the first member of the Nixon administration to be incarcerated for Watergate-related charges. He served seven months of a one- to three-year sentence.

After leaving prison, Colson founded Prison Fellowship Ministries in 1976, which has since become the world's largest outreach to prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families. Today, Colson remains a member of the board of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

A sought-after speaker, Colson has written more than 30 books, which collectively have sold more than 5 million copies. His autobiographical book, Born Again, was one of the nation's best-selling books of all genres in 1976. Another bestseller, co-authored by Nancy Pearcey, How Now Shall We Live, is considered one of the most important books written on the subject of Christian worldview. His most recent book, The Faith, is a powerful appeal to the Church to re-embrace the foundational truths of Christianity.

In 1991 Colson launched BreakPoint, a unique radio commentary that provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends. BreakPoint is currently aired weekdays to more than 1,300 outlets nationwide that reach and estimated 2 million listeners.

Today Colson is focused full time on developing other Christian leaders who can influence the culture and their communities through their faith. The capstone of this effort is The Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview, an online research and training center launched in 2009 for the promotion of Christian worldview teaching. In addition to a vast library of worldview materials, the Colson Center provides online courses and serves as a catalyst for a growing movement of Christian organizations dedicated to impacting the culture. The Colson Center website also hosts Colson's popular weekly Two-Minute Warning video commentary aimed at engaging a younger generation with a biblical perspective on cultural issues.

In 2009, Colson was a principal writer of the Manhattan Declaration, which calls on Christians to defend the sanctity of human life, traditional marriage and religious freedom. Nearly half a million people have signed the Manhattan Declaration. Collaborating with other Christian ministries, BreakPoint aims to launch other ecumenical grassroots movements around moral and ethical issues of great concern.

In recognition of his work, Colson received the prestigious Templeton Prize for progress in religion in 1993, donating the $1 million prize to Prison Fellowship. Colson's other awards have included the Presidential Citizens Medal, the nation's second-highest civilian honor (2008); the Humanitarian Award from Dominos Pizza Corporation (1991); The Others Award from The Salvation Army (1990); the Outstanding Young Man of Boston from the Boston Chamber of Commerce (1960); and several honorary doctorates from various colleges and universities (1982-2000).

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title drew me in and caused me to buy this book for our youth group to study together, as we used to help lead the youth group at our church. Not saying the book had nothing valuable to contribute, but I was overall pretty disappointed. It seemed much more interested in making legalistic claims and rules than actually providing thought-provoking questions to stimulate teenagers thinking through such tricky subjects as abortion, Islam, God in schools, and birth control. All great subjects that I think we need to be talking about with our teens, but the way the book presented these topics left little room for actual discussion. The author was quick to lecture about the way things should be, and I'm not saying he was never right - he often was! - but his writing style was pretty black and white, little to no open-ended questions, and even arrogant and vaguely bigoted at times.

It doesn't matter how much you're right if your demeanor is not actually allowing for honest thought and discussion on the subject. I wouldn't recommend this book for anyone really, but especially not for teens who are thinking through life... They don't need to be told more absolutes, but rather helped through these difficult subjects, allowing for open-ended discussion rather than black and white rules. The goals isn't legalistic teens who just follow the rules because an adult told them to, right!? It's that they learn to think for themselves, even if it means they arrive at some different conclusions... Authentic heart change and conviction is better by far than just following the rules because adults in our lives tell us to, right? The author answers these questions very differently than I do.