It is something you see often in the world of Christian publishing and no doubt beyond as well—a book that proves especially helpful for adults will often be adapted into a book for teens. That usually requires condensing the book and adapting its style of writing. It sometimes requires reformatting the content to suit a different kind of reader.
Paul Tripp’s Do You Believe? proved especially helpful to its intended audience of adult readers, so it was not a surprise to see it adapted for teenagers. The result is 12 Truths Every Teen Can Trust: Core Beliefs of the Christian Faith that Will Change Your Life. Those 12 truths are each given a chapter, and each chapter is divided into seven parts of about a page each, ideal for brief daily reading and meditation. There is a short passage of Scripture and a question for reflection at the end of each. Well and good. So what’s the book all about?
As you may surmise from the title, the book is meant to teach Christians some of the core truths of the Christian faith. Those core truths are laid out in the Westminster Confession of Faith, which Tripp paraphrases at the beginning of each section. After the excerpt from the Confession, he quotes Scripture to show how the Confession does not teach anything novel but simply summarizes the Bible. Then come those brief daily readings meant to instruct the reader.
The 12 truths every teen needs to know and trust are the truths about Scripture, God, God’s holiness, God’s sovereignty, God’s power, God’s creation, God’s image, sin, justification, sanctification, perseverance and glorification, and eternity. In other words, they are a well-rounded look at distinctly Christian doctrine. They are, in fact, the major headings for what Tripp wants teens to understand as a story. “The way you think, what you desire, the things you say, the decisions you make, and the actions you take are all shaped by the story you tell yourself.”
Of course, “there is one story that is better than any story you and I could ever tell ourselves. It is the story that God tells us in his word. When you hold a Bible in your hands, you are holding the greatest story that has ever been or ever will be told. This story has been recorded and preserved for you because God loves you and wants you to know him, and in knowing him, to thrive.” The story is one of God creating and redeeming humanity through his Son, Jesus Christ. The doctrines in this book are meant to describe the essential components of that story and help the reader locate his or her place in it.
Tripp’s wish is that the book will help teens understand how to live out their story, no matter who they are or what they are facing—and, of course, help them to know and love Jesus more than they ever have before. And I believe it will succeed at that very thing. These are truths every Christian needs to know, written specifically so teens can encounter them, believe them, and apply them. If you’re a teen, this is an ideal book for you to read, and if you’re not, this is an ideal book to hand to someone who is.
