“Facing the Issues” by William J. Frutza and Philip Di Cicco published by Baker Book House.

Facing the Issues is the first book in the Contemporary Discussion Series. It contains thirteen interesting articles on relevant issues such as body transplants, creation of life, therapeutic abortion, and fashion and clothes. The purpose of the book is to enlighten and guide the reader concerning current issues.

Each article begins by stating facts (for the most part accurate) and supplying quotes from various religious magazines. Next, there follows a section of Bible verses related to the issues. The final section asks ten to fourteen thought-provoking questions intended to stimulate discussion and help the reader come to a conclusion.

One should not use this book as his only guide for discussion. Although for the most part accurate, it does not treat all the issues from a very Scriptural, antithetical point of view. To illustrate my point, I’ll quote a few sentences from the article on therapeutic abortion. “Scripture is silent on the direct question of abortion. Perhaps the closest Scripture passage related to the subject is Exodus 21:22-25, in which the writer implies that the fetus is not considered human.” And a little further on, “The silence of Scripture on matters related to prenatal life forces us to speculate, draw opinions, and make inferences.” In the light of Prof. Hanko’s thorough and informative series on abortion in The Standard Bearer, this article seems to have drastically missed the point.

Although this book has its faults, it also would be very useful for discussion. The questions at the end of each article, suggest problems which, perhaps, we too often avoid with, “It doesn’t personally concern me.” The approach taken to some of the issues is rather different from the approaches most of us have heard and discussed in Young Peoples’ Societies. Part of the reason discussion lags in some societies is because all the young people have subjected these issues to thought and discussion before, and therefore the matter is closed; there is no more to say. But if a member of a society began posing a few problems from this book, the discussion would lag no longer. All that is necessary is that the society leader or a member buys a copy of this book and uses it well. A society might soon find itself deep in discussion on a matter that was closed long ago!