Having just moved on from the teenage life a few years ago, I still have a keen interest in the things that Christians are putting out to “help” teenagers. A Guy’s Guide to Life: How to become a man in 224 pages or less is one of the latest. What Jason Boyett hoped to accomplish in this book is to give a summary challenge to teens and almost-teens (12-15 is my guess on the intended age) to take care of themselves mentally, physically, relationally, and spiritually. If nothing else, he manages to write honestly and present his opinion on those areas well.

But, I don’t think those opinions have much biblical grounding. Boyett, it seems, has sacrificed biblical wisdom for the sake of relevance and a “cool” Christianity that, really, amounts to nothing more than a moralistic, therapeutic deism (what Christian Smith highlights as the predominant religious notion among American teens). One would grant that the worries of young teens are often insignificant to adults and so, the topics of books like this may seem insignificant. I would argue they should be addressed, but they should be addressed in a mature way, grounded in biblical discernment, not in how cool (or geeky) a Christian should be.