Jana never expected her college psychology class to go “X-rated.”
When a college professor required the class to write reviews on four hours of pornographic films, Jana refused. Instead, she typed a four-page paper on why she shouldn’t do the assignment as a follower of Christ. The professor accepted it, and gave the class the option of not watching the movies. Half the class walked out with Jana.
“This shows the power of one person with conviction standing up for what is right,” writes Christian author and speaker Sean McDowell in his latest book for teens and college students.
In the Broadman & Holman release, “EthiX: Being Bold in a Whatever World,” Jana’s story is just one example of how young people can defend their beliefs and impact lives. In the 11-chapter book, McDowell tackles the pressures of premarital sex, homosexuality, alcohol, drugs, abortion and a variety of other issues today’s youth encounter.
Tapping biblical insight, statistics and common sense advice, McDowell delivers a straightforward approach to making right decisions and standing up for what is right.
McDowell is the son of well-known Christian author and speaker Josh McDowell. Aside from writing and speaking at various youth events, the younger McDowell heads the Bible department and teaches philosophy and literature at a Christian high school in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. He and his wife Stephanie have a son, Scottie.
One of McDowell’s previous projects involved compiling a book with his father entitled, “The Youth Ministry Handbook.” McDowell applies lessons from his father and his youth ministry experience to answer the many questions young people deal with daily.
The media pounds teens and college students with questions that challenge what they believe. “Why wait?” “What if you were born that way?” “Who has the right to judge you?” How they respond to these and other questions often determines who they are now and who they become, McDowell writes.
One question, however, stands above them all, McDowell contends.
“The most important question we ask in life is not related to our career, or where we live, or even to where we go to college,” he writes.
“The most important question relates to the issue of how we live our lives – what, or whom, do we live for?”
Many young Christians cave under the pressure to be “politically correct” and openly accept lifestyles that go against biblical principles. Others proclaim there are no moral absolutes, a statement McDowell dismisses as a joke.
“Moral absolutes are unavoidable,” he writes. “It is impossible to deny the existence of absolutes without appealing to an absolute.”
A society without standards is a society in disarray, he adds.
“If people could drive on whatever side of the road they desired or as fast as they wanted, society would be out of control,” he writes.
No matter how the world’s standards change, God’s word remains the same, McDowell writes.
“God’s standards never change – even if ours do,” McDowell writes. “And God not only expects us to stand up for what is right, he empowers us with the strength to do so.”