# Apologetics for teenagers



## MarquezsDg

My son is getting prepared to enter his last yr of middle school. He's interested in apologetics. Is there any good apologetics books or DVDs geared toward teens. I have Bahnsen " basic training for defending your faith" along with a bunch of debates and grudens syst Theo book. Was just wondering of anything else you guys might suggest.


----------



## Quatchu

Although not particularly reformed, Lee Strobel has Teen Editions for most of his "Case for...." books. I have a few and they have helped allot when working with teens, there good both for teen readers and anyone trying to communicate with teens.


----------



## MarquezsDg

Great thanks a bunch


----------



## Romans922

MarquezsDg said:


> My son is getting prepared to enter his last yr of middle school. He's interested in apologetics. Is there any good apologetics books or DVDs geared toward teens. I have Bahnsen " basic training for defending your faith" along with a bunch of debates and grudens syst Theo book. Was just wondering of anything else you guys might suggest.


 
Westminster Shorter Catechism


----------



## rbcbob

MarquezsDg said:


> Is there any good apologetics books or DVDs geared toward teens



Every Thought Captive, by Pratt. He wrote this specifically for Teens.


----------



## MMasztal

I would second Bahnsen’s stuff. I teach an apologetics/critical thinking class in my school. I use a couple books to help develop a logically thinking mind which is helpful in dealing with some of the questions posed by unbelievers.

"The Fallacy Detective" (Fallacy Detective). This book is quite entertaining and deals with informal (practical) logic. The other book is Greg Koukl’s “Tactics” (Stand to Reason: Stand to Reason: Equipping Christian Ambassadors with Knowledge, Wisdom, and Character.) which is excellent as it explains how to force the unbeliever to believer to defend his/her ultimately irrational beliefs using a few logic skills.


----------



## MarquezsDg

Really do appreciate it guys! Thanks for all the quick responses!!


----------



## Philip

Romans922 said:


> MarquezsDg said:
> 
> 
> 
> My son is getting prepared to enter his last yr of middle school. He's interested in apologetics. Is there any good apologetics books or DVDs geared toward teens. I have Bahnsen " basic training for defending your faith" along with a bunch of debates and grudens syst Theo book. Was just wondering of anything else you guys might suggest.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Westminster Shorter Catechism
Click to expand...

 
I have to second this one. The first step to defending the faith is to know the faith inside and out. It would also be helpful to be familiar with theology outside the Reformed tradition for the sake of clearing up misconceptions.

Apart from this, I'd recommend _The Reason for God_ by Tim Keller, _Mere Christianity_ by C. S. Lewis, and _The Everlasting Man_ by G. K. Chesterton.

I would also recommend _Proper Confidence_ by Lesslie Newbigin with the caution that Newbigin does not accept inerrancy and is rather hard on those who do. Nevertheless, he does a wonderful job of exposing the real issue behind the apparent need to defend the faith.
here
If he's going more in a technical philosophical direction, I might recommend _Warranted Christian Belief_ by Alvin Plantinga. There are some theological issues in places, but the basic argument is powerful. However, be warned that sections of the book are fairly technical analytic philosophy.


----------



## cih1355

I would recommend the book, _Ask Them Why_, by Jay Lucas. Jay Lucas writes from a presuppositionalist perspective. The first part of the book deals with methodology and the second part of the book features fictitious dialogs between a Christian and various non-Christians. The last part of the book contains the appendixes. The CDs that come with the book contain the fictitious dialogs that are in the book.

In one of the appendixes, Lucas talks about the formal debate he had with a philosophy student on the campus of a public university in Pennsylvania. Lucas had asked the philosophy department if he could debate one of the faculty members, but the philosophy department chose one of their best students to debate Lucas. Lucas gave a presuppositionalist defense of God's existence and the philosophy student was unprepared for the line of argumentation that Lucas gave. This philosophy student believed that the faculty had done him a disservice.


----------



## Frosty

rbcbob said:


> Every Thought Captive, by Pratt.



I will second Bob's recommendation. This book has been a blessing to me. It is rather short and easy to read but also rather technical and challenging. Lots of pictures and diagrams to convey the information, too. Each chapter includes discussion questions at the end.


----------



## epdenja

John Frame's Apologetics to the Glory of God is not that difficult to understand, read some of it 2 years back when I was in 8th grade.
Amazon.com: Apologetics to the Glory of God: An Introduction (9780875522432): John M. Frame: Books


----------

