The Unshakable Truth: Deepen What You Believe-Impart What You've Experienced Book

"The Unshakable Truth" is part apologetic, part theology, and part Christian Living book. Overall, it's Bible-based, easy to understand, and has a lot of very good information in it. It's pretty thick, but you can read each of the 12 sections (of 4 chapters each) out of order if desired.

The authors took 12 foundational Christian beliefs from the Nicene Creed and then spent four chapters focused on different aspects of each belief. The first chapter's focus was on theology. The second was on apologetics. The third was applying the belief to your life. The fourth was how to pass this truth on to your family.

The 12 beliefs/topics covered were: God Exists; God's Word\The Bible; Original Sin; God Became Human; Christ's Atonement for Sin; Justification Through Faith; Living the Transformed Life; Jesus' Bodily Resurrection; The Trinity; God's Kingdom; The Church; and the Return of Christ.

The 12 areas of apologetics were: Evidence for God's existence, that the Bible is reliable, that sin has consequences, that Jesus was the Messiah, that Jesus was God's perfect sacrifice for our sin, that Christ has the power to save us, of testimonies of transformed lives, that Jesus physically rose from the dead, that the Holy Spirit exists, that Christian teachings have had a positive influence in the world, that God's authentic church still exists, and for life after death.

The appendix contained information on how to hold three celebrations--which were loosely based on Old Testament Feasts of the Lord--as a way to teach your family these truths.

The authors' focused on Protestant theology. When the authors described a point where there was some variation in beliefs among Protestant churches, they would usually very briefly describe the main two variations.

One time that they didn't do this was on page 58, where they only said that some people don't agree with the view of the person quoted. I'd agree with some of the things said in the quote, but I would have argued that we know God exists because there is a beginning to the universe, which is based on operational science. The person quoted argued that we know that God exists because the Big Bang happened. The problem is that the Big Bang model doesn't match what we actually obverse in the present in a number of critical ways and even atheist scientists are starting to abandon it (For more info: www. answersingenesis. org / articles / wow / does-the-big-bang-fit). And if we base our proof of God on a man-made "historical science" model (as in, a science-related idea on how something occurred in the past, especially something that wasn't directly observed by humans), then our proof of God's existence collapses when the model does.

I don't agree with everything the authors said or quoted, but this book was excellent in many ways, especially in the first half. So I'm not trying to discourage anyone from reading it. However, there was some wording that bothered me.

Page 371: "God imparts his divine nature (godly DNA) to us, which enables us to have an intimate relationship with him and reflect his likeness and image before the world around us."

"Godly DNA" could be misunderstood as teaching that we become part-God.

Page 328: "Instead, [Jesus:] sent himself in the person of the Holy Spirit so we could become an intimate part of God's relational unity. And the more we participate in the Triune relationship the more we are empowered to live and love and relate like he does." Page 329: "Jesus invites you to join the circle of perfect relationship within the Godhead. The Holy Spirit takes up residence in your life with the intent to create a miraculous oneness like that which exists in the Trinity." Page 424: "God is inviting us into [the Trinity's:] perfect circle of relationship."

After how they described the Trinity's internal relationship--which is only possible for God as an all-knowing, all-present, all-powerful, etc., being--this especially caused me some concern. "Join the circle" sounds like they're saying humans can become a part of the Trinity and relate to God as only God can relate to Himself. The Holy Spirit plays a role in enabling us to perfectly relate to God as humans were originally created to relate to Him, but it doesn't make us able to join the Trinity. We aren't God and never will be.

Page 243: "Our purpose in life is to honor our Creator God by living in relationship with him and out of that relationship becoming more and more like him" and "We believe the truth that followers of Christ are meant to live in relationship with God and be transformed into the likeness of Christ, which defines our very purpose for living--to honor and glorify God."

Yes, we do honor and bring glory to God by allowing Him to transform our lives, but this transformation isn't the only way to honor and glorify God nor is transformation into being "more like [our Creator God:]"--or even Jesus--a purpose that God originally created mankind for. Adam and Eve were originally created as perfect humans and therefore their nature was exactly what God intended and they perfectly related to God as He intended. No transformation was originally needed. And when all is restored in the new heavens and new earth, our relationship with God will be restored back to the perfect way it was originally created, so no further transformation will be needed. Growth into a deeper knowledge and relationship with God, yes, but transformation, no.

Page 243: "[God:] created us to relate to him and enjoy all the blessings that come from being godly."

The Westminster Shorter Catechism says that the chief purpose of man is "to glorify God and enjoy him forever." My studies of the Bible confirm this. So we're to enjoy God, not just the blessings we get from Him or from following Him.

I do recommend this book, but if you're looking for an excellent book that's half the size and has the same purpose, I'd highly recommend "In God We Trust" by Steve Ham.