It’s Great to Be a Guy!: God has a Plan for You…and Your Body! by Bob Gresh and Jarrod Sechler

This book is written to help pre-teen boys understand which bodily changes they can expect as they approach puberty and how those changes are designed to glorify God. This book covers topics such as body hair growth, body odor, girls, diet, gaming, and exercise. Each chapter follows a similar outline by beginning with a portion of Scripture and asking the reader to highlight or circle some words to better understand it. There is an activity (crossword puzzle, fill in the blank, etc.) and guided questions to help the reader understand what the Scripture is communicating, and the author elaborates on how the reader can glorify God within the boundaries God set for that topic. Each chapter concludes with a prayer about that topic. This model helps provide the framework of asking what does God say, what does it mean, and how does that relate to becoming a godly man.

Reading Level: 8-12 years old

With sexual deviance becoming more celebrated in today’s culture, it is important that young boys understand their bodies are good and made to glorify God as men created in His image. This book does a great job affirming that truth and offers an introductory look at how they will change and develop. It is a very basic introduction, which includes topics like pubic hair, wet dreams, increased attractiveness to girls, healthy food versus junk food, and wearing deodorant. It does not talk about sex, and there are no graphic images of reproductive organs. It also does not mention pornography but does encourage boys to “bounce their eyes up like a ball” if their eyes linger on a body part of a female image bearer. The book mentions masturbation on only one page. The author denotes that action as sinful and encourages boys to reach out to a trusted male. Off to the side, there is a text blurb with masturbation defined by a dictionary. Masturbation is being taught at younger ages, and it is important to address this. However, with it being a bit vague here, this could confuse or make a curious reader more curious.

Something unique about this book is that it begins each chapter with Scripture and has the reader engage with Scripture by circling, highlighting, etc. Some parts did a standup job exegeting such as David & Goliath not being the stars – God is, tying God being one Person in Deuteronomy to a husband and wife becoming one flesh in Genesis, and providing the distinction that being a “guy” is the baseline of being made in God’s image. There were other portions I found that needed more theological clarification.

The first is asking the reader to be a meditator of God’s word. The author makes sure to say yoga meditation is a “cheap fake,” which I heartily agree with. The author then goes on to say he likes to, “sit in God’s presence and really sense Him. I like to sit with my hands open until I am aware that He is there. It takes some time. He’ll never tell you something that contradicts scripture.” While I agree that God will never tell you something that contradicts scripture, being “aware of God” seems a bit vague and subjective. Additionally, what is the litmus test for sensing God in prayer, and where in scripture can one find that modeled? Secondly, I found the Gospel presentation overly simple to a fault. The layout was ABC – admit, believe, confess. The Gospel is good news for all people and doesn’t need to be complicated. However, there was no talk of God’s holiness nor a focus on repentance. The Confess section took Romans 10:9-10 quite literally as saying, “Salvation requires your mouth! You must tell both God and others that Jesus is the Lord of your life.” At this age demographic, the Gospel presentation could have been developed more fully to mitigate confusion and false converts. The last point of theological confusion was a resource used from Campus Crusade for Christ. It had 3 images representing 3 types of people: the unbeliever (self on throne, cross outside of circle), “living sacrifice Christian” (cross on throne, self at bottom of throne), and “unsacrificial Christian” (self on throne and cross at bottom of throne but still in circle). There was no further explanation as to what an “unsacrificial Christian” is nor the place in Scripture where we see New Testament believers modeling that lifestyle. Of course, there will be sin a believer yields to and will repent from on the path of sanctification, but this illustration needed further details.

With all that said, I still enjoyed this book and would recommend it to a friend. I think the engagement activities are exciting for pre-teens, and there is a lot of good theology and information in this book. I would recommend having your pre-teen read a chapter and then discuss it with a trusted male to provide more details and theological clarification if necessary. You could even remove the page on masturbation if your pre-teen may not be ready for that discussion.

Language:
Wet dreams, jock straps, pubic hair, testicles, scrotum, penis, sexual organs, puberty, fart noises, pubic area, sperm, erection, ejaculation, wet dream (nocturnal emission), masturbation

This review was written by Good Book Mom contributor, Emily. To learn more about Emily, click HERE.

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