53 review for Truth Matters, Life Matters More: The Unexpected Beauty of an Authentic Christian Life

1. 

   4 out of 5

   Alex of Yoe – Oct 20, 2020

   One of the latest books by the "Bible Answer Man", Hank Hanegraaf, this book explores the ideas of Truth and Life as it must relate to the Christian. It is a wealth of information on science, history, apologetics, and the spiritual disciplines. Its goal is to equip the Christian to have both reasonable intellectual defenses for the faith and a life that follows after Christ. The "walk" meeting the "talk". This reads like a college textbook, which is where it lost a star. If studying apologetics a One of the latest books by the "Bible Answer Man", Hank Hanegraaf, this book explores the ideas of Truth and Life as it must relate to the Christian. It is a wealth of information on science, history, apologetics, and the spiritual disciplines. Its goal is to equip the Christian to have both reasonable intellectual defenses for the faith and a life that follows after Christ. The "walk" meeting the "talk". This reads like a college textbook, which is where it lost a star. If studying apologetics and the Bible is your thing and you have experience reading scholarly works, jump right in. This book speaks your language. If not, it is a difficult read. It's like drinking water from a fire hose. I found I could follow it pretty well because of my previous education and study, but the language in here might be above your average layman. This leads me to suspect that Hanegraaf wrote this book for his contemporaries who scoff at his recent conversion to Orthodoxy and not necessarily for the average Joe. It reads like an argument, complete with a myriad of notes and prooftexts, to support his defense. It's well done in that regard but not entirely accessible to everyone. However, I loved how he brought in Intelligent Design and treated it as legitimate science (which it is). Too many Christians buy into false views of this movement and miss all the amazing discoveries it has made that can bolster their faith. To see a big-named Christian fronting ID made me immensely happy. I also loved how he tackled Orthodox theology and especially the concept of theosis or deification which is widely misunderstood in the West. I was personally edified by that chapter and learned so much from it. His last chapter on church unity was powerful and is something I have always thought to be important. It is a message we definitely need to hear right now. I loved how he ended on the power of the Eucharist. That was wonderful to read! I also appreciated his treatment of the spiritual disciplines, though almsgiving was surprisingly absent from his discussion. I like his Legacy Reading Plan as a way to study Scripture and will probably implement that in my own life, but his discussion of the Theotokos needed more. Considering how controversial she is in Western theology, I was surprised that he didn't elaborate more on that. The writing style, apart from being heady, also felt rushed and a tad repetitive in parts. I think it needed a better editing job, honestly. Or maybe Hanegraaf just needed given more time/space to clarify things. I'm not sure. The content is great. The delivery needs a bit of work. I would absolutely recommend this to any Bible college student or seminarian. It's great for the intellectual Christian, but it needs more clarification and simplicity if it's to be grasped by the general public. I respect Hanegraaf a lot as his podcasts were instrumental in my own conversion to Orthodoxy. I enjoyed reading one of his books and found great encouragement from it.

2. 

   5 out of 5

   Isaac – Apr 25, 2020

   As the author admits, it's two books in one, and they don't fit together particularly well. The first is a rehearsal of standard apologetic arguments of Christianity--the validity of the resurrection, the composition of the Bible, etc. Basic McDowell stuff only lightly dusted off. Hanegraaff's tone is tolerable, if a little tiresome. The second half is what got my attention as I was hoping to hear about the author's movement from evangelicalism into Eastern Orthodoxy. He provides little of this, As the author admits, it's two books in one, and they don't fit together particularly well. The first is a rehearsal of standard apologetic arguments of Christianity--the validity of the resurrection, the composition of the Bible, etc. Basic McDowell stuff only lightly dusted off. Hanegraaff's tone is tolerable, if a little tiresome. The second half is what got my attention as I was hoping to hear about the author's movement from evangelicalism into Eastern Orthodoxy. He provides little of this, focusing instead on spiritual disciplines as the way to "an authentic Christian life." The practices he advocates are generally commendable, but certainly unworthy of the billing: "Have you ever wondered if there was something more to the Christian life that you were missing out on? Try prayer!" Granted, the section on prayer was my favorite. I appreciated his passion for the subject, especially evident in the audiobook (read by the author). You know it's heading there all along, but the final chapter on "fusion" is where Hanegraaff makes an understated and haphazard case for Orthodoxy. Biographical elements in the book reveal his longstanding interest in theosis and antipathy toward the Calvinism of his youth, but little else is given detailing his theological shift. For all the emphasis on finding the truth in the first half, the second half gives scant (if any) evidence for his embrace of venerating icons, adopting additional sacraments, Mary's perpetual virginity, and theosis as a controlling metaphor for the Christian life.

3. 

   4 out of 5

   Dawn – Feb 23, 2020

   For several years I caught "The Bible Answer Man" on my local Christian radio station and was always impressed with the depth of his knowledge. No longer living in the area where I heard the program, I forgot about Hank Hanegraaff. When his book "Truth Matter, Life Matters More: The Unexpected Beauty of an Authentic Christian Life," was offered in the Good Reads giveaway program, I signed up. It's been several months since I received my copy and it's been difficult to work through. While Hanegra For several years I caught "The Bible Answer Man" on my local Christian radio station and was always impressed with the depth of his knowledge. No longer living in the area where I heard the program, I forgot about Hank Hanegraaff. When his book "Truth Matter, Life Matters More: The Unexpected Beauty of an Authentic Christian Life," was offered in the Good Reads giveaway program, I signed up. It's been several months since I received my copy and it's been difficult to work through. While Hanegraaff definitely has much to offer, the depth of the writing, the intricate thought processes of faith topics, are not presented for the average reader. This book will find its readership in those who enjoy theological debate and the average pew reader will find it frustrating. I have awarded it two stars because of its limited window of readers.

4. 

   5 out of 5

   John Jelinek – Dec 02, 2020

   Loved Every Moment I have been researching the topics that make up the second half of this book for the greater part of this year. I am so relieved to know that this research had been done and is far more thorough than what I had. I can finally rest with the hope I've learned about the Orthodox faith. Loved Every Moment I have been researching the topics that make up the second half of this book for the greater part of this year. I am so relieved to know that this research had been done and is far more thorough than what I had. I can finally rest with the hope I've learned about the Orthodox faith.

5. 

   5 out of 5

   Julian – Jun 19, 2020

   If you are familiar with Hank Hanegraaffs work a lot of part 1 will seem very familiar. However it is all tied together in part II beautifully and I loved it very much.

6. 

   4 out of 5

   Jerry Smith –

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   5 out of 5

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   5 out of 5

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   4 out of 5

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    4 out of 5

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    5 out of 5

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    4 out of 5

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    5 out of 5

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    5 out of 5

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    4 out of 5

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    4 out of 5

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    5 out of 5

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    4 out of 5

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    5 out of 5

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    5 out of 5

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    4 out of 5

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    5 out of 5

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    5 out of 5

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    4 out of 5

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    4 out of 5

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    5 out of 5

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    4 out of 5

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    4 out of 5

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    5 out of 5

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    5 out of 5

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    4 out of 5

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    4 out of 5

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    4 out of 5

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    4 out of 5

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    5 out of 5

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    4 out of 5

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    4 out of 5

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    5 out of 5

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    5 out of 5

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    4 out of 5

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    5 out of 5

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    4 out of 5

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    4 out of 5

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    5 out of 5

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    5 out of 5

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    4 out of 5

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    5 out of 5

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    5 out of 5

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    4 out of 5

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    4 out of 5

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    4 out of 5

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    5 out of 5

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    4 out of 5

    Beverly –