“Your Questions, God’s Answers,” by Peter Kreeft, Ignatius Press, $ 11.95
“We are all only mail carriers,” writes author Peter Kreeft. “God wrote the letter. The Bible is the ‘Word of God’ to man, not man’s speculations about God. All I do in this book is a little matchmaking, bringing together, the Word of God (which is first of all Jesus, secondly the Bible, the book about Him) and the teenager.”
Catherine Seele of St. Wenceslaus Parish in Iowa City, offers this recommendation:
“Your Questions, God’s Answers” is an insightful, interesting and highly relevant book for teens that I thoroughly enjoy. I am a teenager myself, and I often have questions about God, the Catholic Church and morality. In this engaging book, renowned author and Catholic philosopher Peter Kreeft tackles 64 of those questions in a straightforward, clear and concise manner. The questions range from “How can I be sure God is real?” to “How do I stop following the crowd?”
One question that I found particularly interesting was, “Aren’t right and wrong up to the individual conscience?” It’s a popular question in today’s world and one surrounded by a lot of confusion, so the clarity of Kreeft’s answer really hit home with me. He says that while our consciences dictate whether we believe an action is good or bad, they are not infallible and don’t have any actual control over the reality of right and wrong. He explains that God wrote the moral law and, while he gave us free will to obey or disobey that law, nothing we can ever do will change or influence this law in any way.
One of my favorite things about this book is that Kreeft not only answers questions, but encourages the reader to ask them.
It takes real courage to raise questions, especially when we know the answer will make us uncomfortable, but Kreeft encourages teens to take up this challenge. He says in the introduction, “Religion isn’t about hiding anything; it’s about truth. Questioning is a road to truth. All honest questions are good questions. Jesus never discouraged His disciples’ questions. He gave them straight answers, even though some of the answers weren’t easy to accept. I want to do the same.” Throughout the book, Kreeft uses an easy-to-read Q&A format that makes “Your Questions, God’s Answers” perfect for reference whenever I or my friends have a question.
This is a helpful and fascinating book that I happily recommend to other teenagers or anyone looking for straight answers to tough questions.