Beyond Belief to Convictions

by Josh McDowell, Bob Hostetler, David H. Bellis

Josh McDowell's Beyond Belief message is the foundation to launch a spiritual revolution among youth. This is a revolution to equip churches and families to raise up a generation of the cross―young people who have been transformed by Christ and the cross, who are empowered to live crossgrain to the culture and are committed to share Christ across all cultures.

Sixteen stand-alone products make up an entire family of resources that churches need to launch a church-wide revolution. These products are directed to every age group from 5 to 105, and help equip church groups and families with the tools to lead their children and youth to become transformed, passionate followers of Christ.

Already a best seller, this book lays the foundations for the CrossCulture Revolution. Every product within this family of resources finds its root here. Beyond Belief to Convictions offers a revolutionary blueprint to raise up a generation of transformed followers of Christ with deepened convictions who knows why they believe what they believe.

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction, Theology, Christianity, Christian Living, Religion, Church

322 pages, Paperback

First published August 9, 2002

About the author

Josh McDowell is a bestselling Christian apologist, evangelist, and author of over 150 books, including Evidence That Demands a Verdict and More Than a Carpenter. Once an agnostic, he converted to Christianity while investigating its historical claims. He went on to earn degrees from Wheaton College and Talbot Theological Seminary. For decades, McDowell has been a prominent speaker with Campus Crusade for Christ, addressing issues of faith, character, and youth culture worldwide. His work emphasizes historical and legal evidence for Christianity and tackles challenges posed by skepticism and non-Christian beliefs. He lives in California with his wife, Dottie, and is the father of four children, including fellow apologist Sean McDowell.

Reviews

[Cesar Santamaria]

Mindblowing! / Te vuela la cabeza!

Buena continuacion para "Mas que un carpintero", pero mas enfocado a cristianos que liderizan jovenes / A good sequel to "More than a carpenter" but mostly oriented to christians that lead youth

[Buddy Draper]

In this book Josh takes his apologetic style and evidence to show that the Bible is reliable and Christianity is worthy of our faith and combines that with his passion for reaching young people. His premise is that when teens and college students see that Jesus is truly the Son of God, that the Bible is fully reliable and that the Resurrection is a historical event, that they will be able to have a deeper, more relational faith. We all need to go beyond simple head knowledge that has no basis in the way we live. This generation of students has been shaped by the postmodern thinking of our culture. They don 19t believe that there is any absolute truth, so they also don 19t believe that Jesus is the only way to a relationship with God. When they study these three key pillars of Xnty, they will see that God 19s desire is relationship. They will be able to answer the key questions in life: Who Am I? Why Am I Here? Where Am I Going? This relational apologetic was easy to wrap my mind around.

[Ij Losito]

With schools & the world being a major influence in each & every individual, our belief towards God blurries. Truth's objectivity is now reduced to one's subjectivity because of lack of knowledge & awareness. Jesus' sacrifice becoming just a story to tell :( More of than not, nagkakabaliko-baliko pa.

A line here that strucked me was, paraphrased, '

'we turned the Bible into a suggestion book or a self-help book. We choose what we want to use & discard the others.'

The statistics shown here of our Christian youth is eye-opening. This is why parents, pastors & teachers of the Word of God must not exclude kids from learning the proof of Jesus Christ & the credibility of the Word of God. We must not think that these things are not for their age. This is the only way for each & every Christian to be confident of their faith.

[Berenice Navarrete]

Lo encontré tediosamente largo de leer, da muchas vueltas y muestra situaciones algo extrañas que no estoy segura que aporten algo, llegando a apelar al sentimentalismo. Esperaba un texto más apologético, pero se llegó a sentir como si estuviera leyendo alguna novela random. Si fuera quizá un poco más directo estaría mejor. Toca buenos puntos, más al final con él asunto de la tumba vacía, pero es un no para mi.

[Marguerite Harrell]

Interesting book but not 5-stars though. Got some idea but not the way I would do this. This is written for the Youth pastor. There are other great books to read for reaching the lost. Too long and not short to the point.

[DavidD]

Algunos consejos algo repetitivos, pero que nunca está de más leerlos de vuelta, así por lo menos se le afirman a uno, es un buen libro, lo recomiendo, fácil y sencillo de leer.

[Nicole]

3.5 ⭐'s

[Pati Altamirano]

Me gustó mucho. Los datos de la Biblia y de la resurrección me dieron ganas de leer mas sobre eso.

[Lina Zidneser]

Para líderes de jóvenes, este 2do libro es para ustedes.

[Dale]

Disappointed in the abridged audiobook

I've seen Josh McDowell speak many times and I know that he can be a strong speaker and I do wish that he had read this book. This book has strong attributes, but when combined with the reader (Greg Wheatley) it can be tedious.

The audiobook seems poorly put together at times but I suppose that is due to a poor abridgement.

The reader is very poor, which is surprising since the cover notes note that he has a wealth of radio experience. He fails to do basic things like pause. For example, most readers would read like this:

Chapter One
(pause)
It was a dark and stormy night...

This book is more like this (in a monotone):

ChapterOneItwasadarkandstormynight.

Other negatives:

McDowell includes a fictional story of friends at college that are struggling with their faith. Those stories are stilted and read like they were written for ...well, like they were written for a Sunday school book. The people don't talk like kids (I teach high school and those kids spoke more like 60 year olds than teenagers) and the reactions of some are so emotionally secure that it seemed fakey.

Following the climax of the fictional story came a sermon that was not all that hot either. Perhaps it was the reader, but it didn't do much for me.

What was good: ...

Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2011/...

[Vegan Viajo]

This book was very enlightening, but doesn't address half of the issues that arise in college courses ( history and religion courses). I would have liked to have seen the authors arm their young Christians with much more facts regarding how many old testament stories were found in religions prior to Christianity and what that means as well as the argument over Lilith, how the bible claims slavery is ok ( how we know its not and what that means for many other things like women not cutting their hair submitting to spouses as well as gay marriage rights) and how historically the Hebrews were never enslaved and the Red Sea was not located where the bible days it is as well as a few other pointers. This book was too light hearted and needs to answer many more questions our college students are faced w today. I believe in Houston Smiths teachings and am not a literalist when it comes to the bible, but would also like to know how personal interpretation of the Bible can be avoided when everyone reads it differently even w the guidelines given by Dowell and Hostetler

[Erica]

This book was just okay for me. I received this book several years after leaving Atheism behind and turning to Christ. My bias is clearly as a former Atheist, but I will say that I'm entirely grateful I already converted before reading this book. While he does his level best to paint a clear picture of why the Bible is what it claims to be, he assumes that every reader already believes in a Greater Power/Divine Being/ anything greater than ourselves. Again, having been a former Atheist, this was a terrible assumption to make. While there may be a large group of Agnostics or seekers that could benefit from his teachings, he is short-sighted in assuming all readers believe in a Higher Power. He could have at least added a single chapter to address this issue.

Again, this book may be helpful for some people. However, I am wholly grateful I was already a Christian when given this book. I was insulted by the lack of quantifiable evidence to support his presuppositions, and I already identified with Christ.

[Robert]

I consider it unfair for me to rate a book that I only listened to the first three minutes of, but the first three minutes of Beyond Belief to Convictions were so bad, I'm making an exception. I was expecting a thoughtful, well researched apologetic. Instead I found a lowbrow rant against postmodernism. It's essentially another Our kids are all having sex and doing drugs because they're postmodernists! spiel.

Wanting to be more fair, I skimmed ahead and found half formed arguments, unexamined claims, and poorly repackaged apologetics taken from better thinkers. I wish McDowell and Hostetler had gone beyond belief to well supported arguments.

If you were considering this book, you may want to check out Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis and/or Letters from a Skeptic by Greg and Ed Boyd instead.

[Cass Ratliff]

So powerful! This book is a must read for anyone craving factual evidence that Christianity along with God and His Word are truth. Personally I don't need facts and numbers as evidence that God is real because the things he has done in my life are more evidence than I will ever need.But as a Christ follower it is essential for me to know these things because while my personal faith may be enough for me, it may not be enough for someone else; and really, when I am supposed to be spreading God's love, I should be more foucsed on what works for othes and not as much with what works for me. When spreading the Gospel to nonbelievers I am now able to share not only why I believe that God is real, but why it can be proven that God is real.

[Jennifer]

There is some good apologetics information here, but I have to believe that there are better books out there if that is what you're looking for. I read this as part of a group discussion at church.

[Hannah]

It was an okay book, it wasn't really the best. Very modern dayish, if you know what I mean. But it still had a pretty good message.

[Obed Huerta]

bien, me gusto mnachonm

[Waterstone's Camberley]

In the face of so much that seems to be dragging many of our young people towards a path of self destruction this book offers an oasisi of hope.

[Linda]

Couldn't finish.

[Mark S.]

Wonderful book!

[Nicolas Valin]

Impresionante e imprescindible. Te parte la cabeza en mil pedazos.