A Sneaking Suspicion

A Sneaking Suspicion
By John Dickson
St. Matthias Press. 180 pages. £4.99
ISBN 1 875245 30 8

'It might seem strange to start this book by talking about sex, but it seemed to me that wherever I put this chapter, you'd probably read it first anyway.' This is the opening sentence of this evangelistic book for young rank outsiders, and shows immediately that the author, John Dickson, has a fairly realistic understanding of the average 1990s late teenager or 20-something.
John is Australian and that means there is no beating around the bush (!), but this ex-rock musician goes straight for the throat of things. The book divides into four sections.
It starts by looking at the sneaking suspicions youngsters sometimes have - that today's view of life regarding sex, beauty and moral choices doesn't really add up. The author closes this section by relating how such suspicions put him on the track of Christ. Part 2 clears the ground by answering some of the questions which commonly keep youngsters from even considering the Christian faith - such areas as science vs. God, other religions and the problem of suffering. Here the author shows himself to be quite a master of reducing fairly complicated ideas to simple compelling terms. This leads to 'The guts of it all' (the third section), in which straightforward explanations of the cross, the coming judgments and the resurrection are set out in a calm but pointed way. For those who want to pursue their aroused suspicions that there could be something in this Christianity, the book closes with a series of topical and Bible discussion questions and passages which direct the reader to faith.
The particular strength of this book is that it is soundly biblical, without fudging the unpalatable truths of the gospel, yet at the same time is well in touch with what young people are up to and about these days. The version I read was heavily Australian in its illustrative references, but there is an updated Anglicised version on the way for us Pommies. Humorous cartoons at the beginning of each chapter make their points well. This is one of the best evangelistic books for youngsters around - groovy and godly.

JEB

Dr John Benton