Conviction Without Compromise: Standing Strong in the Core Beliefs of the Christian Faith [Paperback]

Norman Geisler (Author), Ron Rhodes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 2008

Ever wondered about how to talk with believers who disagree with your beliefs without compromising sound doctrine? In this remarkably clear presentation, Norman Geisler, one of the nation's leading apologetics experts, teams with Reasoning from the Scriptures president Ron Rhodes to explore the well-known saying "In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity."

Beginning with essential doctrines such as the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture, Christ's deity, and 14 others, Conviction without Compromise provides solid scriptural defenses while showing how various movements have moved away from historic, biblical Christianity.

Then the authors show why Christians can disagree agreeably about more than a dozen important but nonessential beliefs such as the nature of spiritual gifts, the role of women in the church, and the nature of sacraments.

Finally, the section on charity highlights some "rules of engagement" and explores lessons learned from church history.

A must-read for Christians who care about sharing their faith.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Norman Geisler is author or coauthor of more than 70 books and hundreds of articles. He has taught at the university and graduate level for nearly 50 years and has spoken or debated in all 50 states and in 25 countries. He holds a PhD in philosophy from Loyola University and is the provost and distinguished professor of theology and apologetics at Veritas Evangelical Seminary in southern California (www.VeritasSeminary.com). Ron Rhodes, president of Reasoning from the Scriptures Ministries, is heard regularly on nationwide radio and is the author of Bite-Size Bible Answers, Bite-Size Bible Definitions, Commonly Misunderstood Bible Verses and 5-Minute Apologetics for Today. He holds ThM and ThD degrees from Dallas Theological Seminary and teaches there and at several other seminaries.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Harvest House Publishers (February 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0736922202
• ISBN-13: 978-0736922203
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #195,486 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Norman Geislerr Does It Again! April 3, 2008

By Dr. Mike

Format:Paperback

Conviction Without Compromise is new (2008) and a great one-volume treatise on the Christian faith. The book categorizes the doctrines of salvation, revelation, and interpretation. Dr. Geisler and his co-author, Dr. Ron Rhodes, are of the same ilk and those who have read their books (numbering more than 100) will find this book impelling and thoughtful. It is written for the layman and minister alike. While some scholars may fault the book for its brevity on important issues of Christian doctrine they will find the book well researched and Biblically supported. As the dean of a Christian seminary, we are planning to include it as required reading for several of our post graduate courses. I pre-ordered the book anticipating that it would be a super textbook for our seminary. I was not disappointed.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Analysis of Christianity August 1, 2008

By Robert E. Russell

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This captures why we need to be firm as Christians and why we need not fight over non-salvation issues!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Core beliefs of the Christian faith matter August 14, 2009

By E. Johnson

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Geisler and Rhodes provide a good overview of the different doctrines that make up Christianity. In fact, they do their best to explain the difference between essential and peripheral doctrines, and I think they are successful in doing this. After explaining the importance of the essentials (i.e. Who is God, Who is Jesus, What is Salvation, etc), they give the different sides of the peripherals (i.e. tongues, women in church, etc). Of course, they're biased and give their reasons why, but at least they do give as many points as they can in a limited paperback book. It's not perfect, but it's good enough to help the average Christian think through some of the issues that are debated within Christianity. At the end of each chapter, they explain why unity within the body is vital, despite our differences on the minor (though important) issues. It will make for a very good reference book, especially when these subjects come up.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Something to stand for January 15, 2009

By The Reader

Format:Paperback

This book is about conviction that are rooted in reality. The reality that love is greater than hate. Forgiveness is greater than resentment and God is greater than all the circumstances of life

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars very informative January 2, 2009

By Keeley Shaidnagle

Format:Paperback

This book is an easy read and very informative. This helps provide insight on our true Christian beliefs, both essential and nonessential.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars With so many denominations, how could Christianity be really united? July 10, 2008

By Midwest Book Review

Format:Paperback

Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, Unitarian - so many denominations, how could Christianity be really united? "Conviction without Compromise: Standing Strong in the Core Beliefs of the Christian Faith" is a guide to unify Christianity as a whole through the essential beliefs of the religion, striving to cut down on the squabbles between people who all hold that Jesus is the son of God. Outlining the essential and nonessential teachings of the religion, "Conviction without Compromise: Standing Strong in the Core Beliefs of the Christian Faith" is highly recommended for community library Christian collections.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars basic doctrines explained clearly, but heavily biased August 5, 2011

By a Christian family

Format:Paperback

With this book, Norman Geisler and Ron Rhodes seek to explore the differences between the essentials of the Christian faith (that is, those doctrines that a person must believe in in order to be saved) and nonessentials (those doctrines on which Christians can disagree).

Generally speaking, the section on essential doctrines is very informative, especially for new Christians, or as a quick review on the main doctrines of the Christian faith.

However, when it comes to nonessentials, one would expect that the authors would simply present the different schools of thaught on the various doctrines objectively, with their strenghts and weaknesses, giving the reader enough information to enable him to make up his own mind. Instead, in many cases Geisler and Rhodes clearly push their own theology, and in the process undermine opinions different from theirs.
For example, in the chapter about the extent of salvation, the authors discuss Extreme Calvinism, Arminianism and Moderate Calvinism. What they call "moderate Calvinism" is really just a fancy name for Arminianism plus perseveration of the saints, since it denies unconditional election, limited atonement and irresistible grace. Instead of simply presenting these three doctrines, Geisler and Rhodes try their best to make Moderate Calvinism seem the only reasonable option, disregarding traditional Calvinism as illogical and Arminianism as unbiblical.
Another example could be the nature of sanctification. Apart from the pre-reformation era, they present the views of Luther, Calvin and Wesley, and they provide an response to Luther's and Wesley's view, but not to Calvin's, like his view was obviously the correct one....

According to the authors, the very idea of the section about non-essentials of this book was to "agree to disagree in an agreable manner", yet it is obvious the they do just the opposite, implicitly or explicitly presenting their theology as the only biblically sound one, and all others as lacking biblical or logical support.

Another problem with this book is that, for some reason, the authors decided to consider Roman Catholics as Christians, and they had to be less than objective in order to do so. Roman Catholics are called "orthodox Christians" even though they deny some of the doctrines listed as fundamentals.
A case in point is salvation by grace through faith. About Catholics, the authors say: "meritorious works, then, play a major role in the Roman Catholic view of salvation" (p.124). About Jehova's Witnesses, they write: "salvation is impossible apart from a lifetime of good works" (p.127). The truth is, Catholics and JWs hold the same opinion about salvation: God's grace is insufficient without good works.Why, then, the authors call Jehovah's Witnesses a cult while Roman Catholics are called orthodox Christians? According to the authors, "what saves the Catholic view from utter heresy is its aknowledgement that these works necessary for salvation are prompted by God's grace, which is obtained by the necessity of faith" (p. 143). This view is fallacious because, as the authors explain: "...for a person to be saved, there must be a restoration of sanctifying grace. At the moment of baptism, this is exactly what happens, according to Roman Catholics. Sanctifying grace is infused into the person and he becomes spirituallly alive" (p.124). So the sacrament comes before sanctifying grace, and one cannot receive God's grace and be saved without the sacrament. This is work-based salvation at its worse.
I was very surprised to read this sort of ecumenical reasoning in this book, because Ron Rhodes, one of the authors, in his book "Reasoning from the Scriptures with Catholics", criticized RC's work-oriented system of salvation, and wrote about the necessity to evangelize them (except evangelical Catholics, in his opinion).
Generally speaking, the book is quite critical on some of Rome's unbiblical doctrines, such as the authority of the Pope, his infallibility (p.220), the Catholic Church's autoritarian structure (which they describe as "cultic") (p.221), sacramental view of the Communion ("akin to the monophysite heresy") (p.269-271) etc., yet for some misterious reasons, Catholics are still regarded as brothers in Christ throughout the whole book. Inconsistency at its worst.

The third section deals with the necessity of speaking the truth in love. This last part contains some good thoughts on the subject and I really enjoyed reading it.

Overall, this book contains some good material, but is ruined by the authors' obvious biases, inconsistencies, double standards and their inexplicable inclusion of Catholicism as a Christian denomination. Read more ›

5.0 out of 5 stars Conviction without compromise January 30, 2010

By Eukimon

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

A well-researched and well-explained theology. It helps me understand correctly the most important fundamental keys of the Christian belief and avoid the distorted New Age teaching.