The Teenage Years of Jesus Christ by Jerry L. Ross
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
If I could give this book negative stars, I would. It is one of the worst books I’ve read. From premise to conclusion, it is poorly conceived and done badly.Ross starts by clearly addressing the book to teenage Christians, then echoing their supposed question: “Wouldn’t it be great if the Gospels contained a record of the teenage years?” He states, “The most repeated statement that I make to young people of our church is, ‘The ultimate goal of the Christian life is to be like Jesus!’” He then goes on to explain that Luke 2:51–52 summarizes the activities of Christ during his teenage years: Increasing in wisdom, increasing in stature (maturity), increasing in favor with God, increasing in favor with men, remaining subject to his parents, and learning a wage-earning skill.Ross goes off base from the very beginning by telling young people that their ultimate goal (their chief end) is to be like Jesus. It may sound like a semantics issue, but the ultimate goal of the Christian life is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. And the statement that young people should be hearing is, “God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in Him,” because young people (and old people) are driven by desire—and our desire for more of God is a potent one. The Bible tells us to follow Christ—discipleship—and to be holy—which Christ was. But basing our model for life off of Christ is misguided at best, and more likely dangerous. Christ never married—but obviously, celibacy isn’t the perfect option for every Christian. Christ performed miracles—something most Christians will never do, and certainly never in the way He did. Christ’s way of life is worth following, but the exact model of his life is certainly not to be our model.But Ross makes another grievous error right in his foundational text. He cites Luke 2:51–52 as a prescriptive list of things teenagers should do. In my view, this is a very poor interpretation. As far as I can tell, Luke 2:52 is descriptive, not prescriptive. It describes a result, not a cause. This removes four of the six items from Ross’ to-do list for teens. The remaining two (subject to parents and work) still remain, and a valid case for each can be made using other Biblical texts. A better approach would be to evaluate what led to this descriptive results and look at the context in which Christ was raised.With this inauspicious start, Ross then proceeds down a path of unsupported, legalistic, rules-driven prescriptions for teens. His text has a carefree, condescending tone that masks the fundamentalist standards-driven prescriptions he imposes on teens. He makes little distinction between advice based on Scripture and advice based on opinions of others, and his hermeneutics is horrible. His interpretations of Scripture are shallow and frequently out-of-context.In the end, Ross imposes on teens a heavy burden of rules and directives with the only incentive being, “It’s your duty.” This book brings to mind typical fundamentalist churches with tame men and women wearing drab, out of style clothing, and making little real difference in the world today. God doesn’t need more people doing their duty. He needs Christians with a passionate, deep thirst for Him and a desire glorify him. Ross is right in his assessment that most teenagers want truth from their pastors, not words to tickle their ears. Here Ross serves up an interesting amalgamation of Scripture truth and personal opinion set communicated in way that is not likely to reach many young people.