Life Management Under God (old)

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Life Management Under God is a more recent incarnation of Managing Your Life Under God, both 11^th/12^th grade texts in the A Beka Bible program. (Specific page numbers as given below will differ, but the content is largely the same.) Unlike the rest of the A Beka Bible high school curriculum, there isn't a lot here too out of the ordinary. Mostly the text is just common sense instruction for young people concerning social relationships, getting a job, relating to siblings and parents, and keeping healthy.

Specific problems we found in the text follow:

• Page vi: "Free from regrets and guilt, William looks back over his life with great satisfaction." How can anyone, even a very saintly person, have no regrets and no guilt? This seems like setting kids up for failure when they make their first poor decision—they'll think something is wrong with them, when in fact they are only human. Doing "everything right" is no sure recipe for success. "God promised Joshua success if he could obey His laws (Joshua 1:7). And He promises in Psalm 1 that the one who meditates on His Word and obeys it will be like a fruitful tree flourishing beside a river and that he will prosper in whatever he does. God longs to give that kind of prosperity to all His children. As you study Life Management Under God, keep in mind God's formula for success." This sounds a lot like the prosperity gospel. While it does cite Scripture, to imply (as the author seems to be doing) that doing right will result in everything going well is contrary to reality, and again, is not an appropriate expectation to set for young people.
• Page 4-7: This section is about dating, and while nothing really objectionable is said many parents may not agree with the methods presented by the author. Not really a warning, just a notification.
• Page 28-31: The publisher's antagonism toward alcohol consumption is evident in this section. While teenagers certainly shouldn't drink, it seems more appropriate to us that they be taught how properly to drink alcohol, not that they simply be told it is evil and to avoid it altogether. Some of the "facts" presented by the author aren't. She says, "The only certain way to not becoming an alcoholic is to never take the first drink." While this may technically be true, there is another way: to rely on the Holy Spirit to grant you the self control to enjoy a drink or two without giving in to the natural human tendency to over-indulge in any of life's pleasures.

There aren't a lot of self-contained volumes like this one, so we can't really recommend an alternative. At any rate, there isn't really enough here for us to actively advise against using this text. In many ways it's only a health text with extra sections concerning social and spiritual health. Of all the A Beka Bible texts for high school students, this one is the most innocuous.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.