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CURRENTLY IN RESOURCES
Exploring the concept of truth for today’s youth

Michael Dyck

My Truth, Your Truth, Whose Truth? Discovering Absolutes in a Relative World Randy Petersen, Tyndale House & Focus on the Family, 2000, paper, 156 pp., $8.99 US. Focus on the Family & Tyndale House, 2000, video, 30 min., $19.99 US.

Randy Petersen explores the theme of absolute truth in his book My Truth, Your Truth, Whose Truth? Petersen, who has written over 30 books and writes curriculum for youth, presents the theme in a creative way – by taking us into a chat room (an Internet forum in which people can have instant communications) of several teens.

Although his characters are fictional, the issues and attitudes that they deal with are very real. Petersen develops his characters over the course of the book. We listen to their issues and struggles and follow the lives of some of the characters outside the chat room. Along the way, he challenges us to respond to what we have just read. How do we deal with issues such as evolution? What should our values be based on? Where do we find the intellectual support or authority to back up our own thinking?

This book is a great resource that can be used in a small group or on its own for either adults or youth. I would recommend the book to stimulate good group discussion.

The video by the same name and discussion guide (co-produced by Focus on the Family and Tyndale House) can be used separately or with the book. It is divided into four parts: “Right And Wrong: How Do We Choose?”; “Who Decides What Is Truth?”; “Which Religion Has The Answers?”; and “Where Do We Go From Here?” The video offers a collage of interviews with teens and features speakers such as James Dobson, president of Focus on the Family, and Dawson McAllistar, youth speaker and radio program host. The video is sometimes hard to follow and has a strong American flavour.

Michael Dyck is associate pastor of youth and young adults at Elmwood MB Church in Winnipeg.

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Last modified August 2, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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