Customer Reviews

Choosing Your Faith: In a World of Spiritual Options

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If you are curious as to why many have chosen Christianity over other religions this book would be an excellent read for you. Of course, it is impossible for a professed Christian to write a completely unbiased book on choosing a faith, but Mark Mittelberg does about the best that one can do. The first few chapters cover the different paths that lead one to a faith:

-Relativism
-Tradition
-Authority
-Intuition
-Mysticism
-Logic and Evidence

The author is quick to admit that Christians use all the first five methods as well as the sixth. In other words, he acknowledged that many Christians cannot give a logical reason for believing in God and they rely on tradition, authority, intuition or mysticism. If faith in the Christin God is the right faith, then it won't hurt them at all. If it is not, they are in big trouble by their own account.

The author opens his discussion on relativism by pointing out that an atheist (Richard Dawkins) was correct when he says that something is either true or not true when he was discussing religion with Bill O'Reilly and that O'Reilly was wrong when he said that Jesus was true for him. The arguments against relativism are fullproof and show that no one really believes that "all religions lead to God" (before you get upset by my comment, read the books arguments, trust me - there is no logical way to hold onto that view - you'll see).

There is no question that the author is more critical of Mormonism, Islam, and Buddhism (among others) than he is of the Christian faith. For a critical analysis of the supposed Christian faith, see Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices. You can also find books that defend these other religions. Of course, a seeker using this book's sixth method of choosing a faith (logic and evidence) would want to read such books. I have and find them insightful and also have seen a lot of errors in the traditional "Christian" faith that I no longer believe in.

Overall, I think this is one of the best religious books to come along in a long time. I highly recommend the book.

Tom Carpenter

I teach a course called Theory of Knowledge at a large public high school in the Midwest and was thrilled to find Mark's new book, which could easily be viewed as a theory of knowledge applied to the area faith. The overwhelming impression one gets from this book is that it is fair and balanced. Does Mark have a particular position regarding? Of course he does. And so does everyone as he rightly points out. Would he like for you to adopt his position? Yes, and he is upfront about that. At no time, however, does he force his position on anyone. In fact, that is the point of this book. Faith is not something that should be forced on someone or blindly and uncritically accepted. Faith, contrary to what many would think, is something that can be evaluated, analyzed, and considered in a thoughtful, intelligent, and logical manner. This idea alone should prompt even the religious skeptic to read the book. Let's face it. Christianity has earned a bad name among many because of an aggressive style of proselytizing among some of its followers. Isn't the notion of a serious, intelligent Christian who wants to explore his faith with you in a rigorous and honest way, with no hidden punches, an intriguing idea?

Mark begins by exploring the nature of faith itself, then moves into a discussion of six common paths to faith. He is quite fair in two different ways. First, he is fair in his representation of these paths to faith, frequently acknowledging where they have strengths. But he is also fair to the truth and will not shortchange the truth for the sake of political correctness. If something is wrong or inconsistent, he will draw that out. What he does not ever do, however, is ridicule any position he disagrees with. He gives it its due, points out shortcomings on solid grounds, and then moves on.

From here he moves into a discussion of the arguments for the Christian faith, including logical and scientific criteria, a solid look at the textual tradition of the Bible, and an examination of the historical and experiential criteria. He concludes with a look at barriers to belief and the benefits of choosing one's faith wisely.

Throughout Mark employs solid logic and reasoning and references some of the greatest thinkers of the ages. What I find particularly admirable is that he makes all this accessible to a broad audience. Mark's background in philosophy shines through every page, but at no time does one feel confused or bogged down by unnecessary philosophical terminology. His study informs his presentation, but never obscures it.

I would end by saying that he achieves a nearly impossible task of showing how much he cares about his readers and how committed he is to truth even when it is unpopular. He never pulls punches, yet is never offensive or arrogant in having obtained some moral high ground. Reading this book is like having a conversation with someone who is truly capable of engaging respectfully and meaningfully your most serious questions.

If you are a skeptic or someone who has been put off by Christians, read this book. Mark will treat you and your questions with the respect they deserve. If you are a Christian, read this book to learn how to respond to your questions and those of others. Read it, too, to learn how a thoughtful Christian engages matters that matter.

Just when I thought we didn't need another book on comparative faith systems and Christian apologetics, here comes Mark Mittelberg and "Choosing Your Faith." I'm pumped! This is truly the book we needed to bridge the intellectual scholarship of apologists such as Craig, Geisler, and Habermas with the postmodern seeker looking for genuine connection. This is apologetics with authentic heart! This is experiential worldview application, rather than mere truth and logic. I heartily congratulate Mark on a fantastic book - I read it earlier this week and already built some of the principles into a college "Comparative Worldviews" class I taught last night. Even if you library is packed with the best in Christian apologetics and Christian worldview, add just one more - "Choosing Your Faith" by Mark Mittelberg!
Randall Niles

This book is definitely one that should be passed on to those who are searching for the Truth. Unsaved family members, friends, etc., should take the time to read this. Mittelberg explains the options in an open and honest presentation and one, I believe, will help all those working out their faith issues.

This book is a great service to all who are walking a faith path and exploring spirituality.
As a chemical engineer who launches rockets for a living, I'm always focused on what works in real life. If someone at work presents an idea that doesn't correspond with the way the world really is, the rocket blows up and soon no one wants to fly our rocket and we are unemployed.
In spirituality it has been less clear to me how to evaluate things. In spirituality I still need to have my beliefs correspond with the way things truly are, since the consequences of being wrong will certainly last this lifetime, and most probably, throughout eternity.
'Your Faith Path' carefully goes through the various ways you can examine the evidence and experiences you have. Just laying it out on paper makes the ways you can know things clearer. You can have more confidence that your conclusions are correct, because your approach to evaluating your evidence was not flawed.
This is a great roadmap for your spiritual journey.

Choosing Your Faith is quite a remarkable book, in that it so aptly summarizes such a wide variety of information in only 254 pages. Where many books dealing with Christian apologetics assume a certain epistemology, Mark Mittelberg provides a common-man's approach to thinking through how we decide what to believe, then unapologetically lays out support for his own position. From there, he takes you through an amazing summary of the evidential and logical support for Christianity.

For many people, this book will suffice to either help them think through what to believe, or to bolster what they already believe. For others, this book will only be a starting place. For this latter group, Choosing Your Faith provides enough information for them to pinpoint where they need to dig further. This book is not by any means an exhaustive analysis of either epistemology or apologetics. That being said, I was amazed at just how much information is available here, in very understandable terms.

I would recommend this book for anyone who is thinking through what it is they believe, and for those who know anyone thinking through these issues.

Mittelberg did a fantastic job presenting logical arguments of how to choose a faith. Though a professed Christian, I found him respectful of religions, and it was clear to me that he has studied other worldviews. I have recommended this book to friends who are on the faith journey and found it useful to ask myself the question, do I really believe that what I believe is really real. Easy read that will challenge your faith, and leave you wanting (For God's sake) to think.

I, like at least one other reviewer, knows Mark and have had the opportunity to work with him up close and personal. I have to say this is a book I would value and recommend even if we had never met. I grew up as an atheist and didn't come across very many Christians who thought critically about what they believed. As I have gotten older I have observed that this is pretty true across the population. All have a faith, belief, worldview of some kind which they have adopted by influence or other means without much consideration for the truthfulness or evidence of the belief system.

Mark does not answer or even attempt to analyze and answer all of the competing belief systems that are available but rather gives some basic tools to be applied by the individual to their belief system whether they are a Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim or something else. Someone once said an untested faith is not worth having. That is true. "Choosing Your Faith" provides simple basic tools with clear understandable descriptions of them. It is a book well worth reading.

Okay: up front--I'm biased. Mark is a good friend and colleague of mine in various conference and training events. But, that doesn't stop me from having an opinion based on decades of reading books regarding spiritual issues.

My big take-away, what I like best about "Choosing Your Faith" is that it perfectly fits a niche of seekers who presently do not, to my knowledge, have an up-to-date spokesperson, advocate or guide. Mark is obviously not "Mr. Postmodern". But he gets what is going on in the postmodern shift. Mark is able to see in our changing culture both the threats to the Gospel and the opportunities for the Gospel.

In my view Mark writes best to those who want to use sound thinking as a part of their journey into faith. There are millions of seekers like this in the world today. These are people who are neither strongly modern (By the way: Mark does a great job examining the weaknesses of "scientism".) nor radically postmodern. Like our culture itself, they are a blend. But these seekers, who are a real and large niche today, intuitively believe that thinking straight is part of their process of coming to faith. Interestingly to me, a large number of these seekers are young. For instance high school students who have not been damaged as much as their older peers by the culture wars, who are interested in religion, and who are going through what Mark went through: how do I know God exists? How do I make sense of this crazy world? How do I relate to, and possibly take on the faith of my parents and family tradition?

Mark knows how to talk to these people. I love his "voice": gently nudging, but always respecting the reader. Mark has the courage to talk about issues that are difficult to broach today. Not all readers will agree with his opinions or conclusions, and no book of this length can say everything or perfectly nuance everything, but at a minimum this book provides a fresh articulation of a conservative, but non-angry, empathetic way to help millions of thinking people choose faith in and followership of Jesus.

This is a very good book for people with questions about their faith. If you choose to purchase this book, get the small booklet that compliments this book called "Your Faith Path" by Mark Mittelberg. It has a small quiz in it that helps to clarify the book. Enjoy!