Book Recommendtion for Unbeliever

[Hamalas]

I'm looking for a book recommendation. I've been training a young man to take over my job at the Law firm and I want to give him a gift when I leave next week. He's a very nice, polite, thoughtful guy. He's interested in mental health/social work long term. He had a tough upbringing with a difficult father and a lot of what he's now doing seems to emerge out of a desire to "raise himself up" so to speak. He grew up Jehovah's Witness but rejected that at a young age and was baptized at a Protestant church. He sees himself as a Christian but I don't know that there is very much content to his belief. He doesn't really see any difference between Catholic and Protestant (his fiancée is Catholic) and seems to think that all religions are legitimate paths to God. He and his girlfriend are living together as well and don’t attend any church. Since he would call himself a believer I'm looking for something that would address him as such but that is also very basic and foundational. I was thinking J.I. Packer's "Knowing God". What do y'all think?

 

[ZackF]

Or something by OS Guiness like "The Call." Paging Jacob.

 

[Ray]

J.I. Packers Knowing God i second.

 

[JimmyH]

I once gave a mocker and scoffer a copy of Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. It was mainly milk, but he couldn't have digested meat. Coming from CSL, a former atheist it was just what he needed, and he became a devout Christian before he passed away a few years hence.

 

[Pilgrim]

Or something by OS Guiness like "The Call." Paging Jacob.

Since he points to the syncretist John Coltrane as an example, I don't think that would be a good choice. (Maybe the book is better than I remember, but that part sticks out after all these years.) Maybe Stott's "Basic Christianity."

 

[Josh Williamson]

This is an excellent book to use: https://www.amazon.com/Story-God-World-You/dp/1909611948

 

[ZackF]

Since he points to the syncretist John Coltrane as an example, I don't think that would be a good choice. (Maybe the book is better than I remember, but that part sticks out after all these years.) Maybe Stott's "Basic Christianity."

Well, I haven't read it for years. Maybe it is isn't a good choice in this case. The old-school Labri' folk (Guinness, Barrs & Co.) tend to be excellent at reaching the lost. Guinness is a fairly sound yet broad brush thinker like his mentor Schaeffer. Such men can have their weaknesses in precision but are also some of the most used men by God. More precise men often can't be followed by beginners but are used later to sharpen iron.