Solid An Indestructible Foundation For New Christians Author:  John Myer

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     One of the largest problems Christians face begins at the time of their salvation, a lack of understanding as to what has happened to them or what they believe. In many instances a person is given a brief knowledge of Christ through the Romans Road or any of several ways used to evangelize. Once a person is saved, then most of the time they are told to go to church to continue their education, but they are given no real foundation to understand what has happened to them spiritually (other than that they are saved). For some, just knowing that they are saved (though some don't know what they are saved from) is enough to appease them, while for others it can be frustrating to know that you are now on your own to figure out what to do or where to go next. New Christians just don't have a solid foundation upon which to begin their journey with God. In "Solid", John Myer attempts to provide a solid foundation upon which to build a Christian lifestyle, or at the very least a basic understanding of what the salvation of God is and how to obtain it.

     "Solid" is a basic crash course in Soteriology (the study of Biblical Salvation). Mr. Myer begins his book with explaining the basic need for a solid foundation and then proceeds to give a testimony of his own salvation. Mr. Myer then moves to explain how Jesus is the Savior and how He is unique from any other "religious" leader in history. Mr. Myer then begins to explain what salvation is. He goes through what it means to be forgiven and the need to have our sins forgiven. He explains what we are saved from and why we need to be saved. He explains how we are saved and what we receive as a result (forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit, eternal life, our position as an adopted child of God). Mr. Myer gets very detailed, listing scriptures to support what the Bible says about how to be saved. Then Mr. Myer moves to how to know that you are saved and tackles one of the biggest disagreements amongst Christians, that of eternal security of the believer and predestination. He concludes the book with a small exposition on the Trinity and predestination and then presents a study guide, listing questions to answer from each chapter and how they apply to the reader.

     I found this book to be very easy reading at about the 8th or 9th grade reading and comprehension level. I found the simplicity of his approach to be a great benefit to the reader. John makes it easy to understand some of the hardest questions new Christians have about what has happened to them and what lies ahead. It is a great refresher for those who have been saved a while. For myself, as a man saved for a while, I found his chapters on eternal security to be most interesting and even learned from some of his understanding of scripture. I was pleased to see that the book was laced with scripture. He uses it throughout the book, incorporating it into his own writing style as part of his own thought. Theologically, I found the book to be, for the most part, very sound. I only disagreed with him on two areas, first that Christians would be chastised after death during the millennial reign of Christ for sins they committed in this life (I believe that at the time Christ arrives we will be transformed into our glorified bodies and be perfect like Christ. I believe that punishment or chastisement after death is not needed as Christ's death was sufficient payment for my sins and that any chastisement for them will be dealt with in this present lifetime), and second his interpretation of predestination. Predestination is a topic of dispute amongst Christians. Mr. Myer teaches that God chooses who will be saved and yet somehow preserves man's free will. My understanding of predestination is that God knew beforehand who would be saved Romans 8:29. Mr. Myer also attempts to give a separate and brief explanation of predestination and the Trinity in the appendixes which I found to be a waste of paper, as the explanations gave no real pertinent information that was useful, nor did it enlighten these subject areas. Though I disagree with him on the two issues that I mentioned above and the appendixes, I still believe that his theology is sound concerning salvation, which is the overall topic of the book. I think that this book is a definite read for the new Christian and a good follow up for the growing Christian because from the basis of a basic foundation of Christianity, concerning salvation, the book is just as the title, Solid.
 
Review by: John P. Goble, ThB