First and foremost, I believe, this book has a definite agenda. It is not negative in the sense that most agendas are or seem to be portrayed, but it has a precise focus aimed at educating Christians to think intellectually about their faith. Moreland calls us to use our minds because it is a muscle, which needs to be stretched. We, as Christians, are to challenge ourselves and brothers and sisters in Christ to love God with our minds; unlike what current culture is teaching, which emphasizes loving God with our emotions and with our hearts on our sleeves. We are leaving the reasoning and theological jargon to the pastor and those in seminary. This book continues to emphasis that Christians cannot abandon the search for intellect, reason, and knowledge particular about our faith and evangelism and in our daily lives.

Here Moreland begins with a brief history of how the church started a downward spiral toward anti-intellectualism. We can see in our history the emphasis on personal conversion coupled with a lack of knowledge to the whys and hows of Christian life (as long as you were converted to something you were "good to go"). Christians lacked boldness and knowledge to fight against the philosophies from Kant and Hume limiting life to the five senses of experience. Christians are not equipped to handle intellectual attacks on their faith leaving them looking helpless and weak in the academic world and modern culture.

It is here where Moreland defines our ability to reason as "all our faculties relevant to gaining knowledge and justifying our beliefs about different things"; he is not saying that reason opposes our faith and God’s revelation. God is the revealer of truths unlike the fickle deities and gods in Eastern religions. We are given three important texts from the Bible (Romans 12:1-2, Matthew 22:37-39, and I Peter 3:15), which are to emphasize how important reasoning is to God. We actually find out that God commands us to be prepared for rational arguments. Learning the value of extrabiblical knowledge helps affirm study outside the Bible and stretches our reasoning capabilities. This chapter also refutes those Christians who do not see it as their duty or even ability to really know intellectually the truths of God (the "God said it, I believe it, that settles it." mentality).

According to this chapter, Moreland explains that in a sense human beings are invisible. Sure we all have bodies, but that is not who we are. We are our soul, which is unseen and unseeable by those around us. In this chapter is mentioned five possible states of our soul- sensation, thought, belief, desire, and act of will. Moreland goes into brief detail in the meaning and how we believe, which I could not even begin or try to explain.

Moreland makes an emphasis on the mind as being a muscle in the sense that it needs to be challenged and worked at just as you would with any other muscle in use. He states in this chapter that, "Many people today, including many Christians, simply do not read or think deeply at all." This chapter honestly rebukes us for becoming empty and lists seven traits explaining how to recognize what has emptied us. Television seems to be the main culprit to which I whole heartily agree but I think we should add video games in too. Christians get some practical and advice and tips on how to keep ourselves from becoming empty. Now we are aware of the thieves of the Christian mind according to Moreland- Inferiority, pride, and keeping a sense of control.

To develop a well-ordered soul one does not concentrate solely on reading books, but on skillfully living out the truths and virtues we have learned. This chapter contains a simple logic lesson and how to recognize basic fallacies in many arguments today.

Christian buzzwords and rote learning have become a norm for our forms of evangelism. We need to bring apologetics back to our evangelism plan because it is an absolutely essential ingredient. Also keeping in mind that there is a place for the simple gospel message, which addresses people’s felt needs, should not be overlooked. If we can spend hours upon hours learning a new hobby, playing video games, and watching television then surely we can make the same effort to work at evangelism and apologetics, which have eternal value.

Moreland shows us some realistic examples of three difficult issues held by those Christians are called to witness to. These include skepticism, scientism, and moral relativism. Moreland has a personal example to follow each issue, which is very helpful. The skeptics address the world often without realizing that his or her logic is circular. Those who hold the view of scientism, whether weak or strong, say you can not know anything outside of provable scientific methods and testing.

Seeking to answer the question what is worship? This chapter lays out what worship should be and look like with a few personal side notes from the author. He states, "Worship should never be reduced to an act of intellect—it involves all that we are—but the intellect is more central to worship then we often realize." There is definitely a difference between corporate worship and individual worship. Moreland uses the parallel between marriage and worship, which explains so much about our "Sunday Christian’s" adulterous-like behavior. The author cites Aristotle on the idea of friendship and emphasizes fellowship.

For those who are in a vocational field full of moral challenges, this chapter helps encourage integration of faith into the workplace. Technically all Christians are in a vocational field with moral challenges because our vocation is different from our jobs. Our vocation is our calling and our job is what brings income. All Christians are called to be witness.

I think this quote best explains this chapter- "We are in a war for the hearts, minds, and destinies of men and women all around us." The church is one such battleground in this war. Moreland has interesting views on what he would like to see has the norm for church dynamics.

Conviction can sometimes overwhelmingly turn into guilt. I know that was not the intention of J.P. Moreland, but as I progressed in reading this book those were some of my feelings. I was convicted to live a more intellectually sound life toward God and my faith, but guilty for all the times I have failed to do so. But honesty is the best policy so now that I recognize the problem I can work on improvement in this area. I agreed with the bulk of everything discussed in the book except for Moreland’s view on church dynamics or rather the reality of implementing such a dynamic discussed in the last chapter of this book. Overall this book strengthened me and encouraged me to continue striving for knowledge.

I come from a family with very little intellectual background. As a strong devoted 15 year old Christian, I have been challenged minimally in the church and even less so as a home schooled youth. Most of my learning consisted of buzzwords and maybe a little bit of history to back it up. I wouldn’t say that my family doesn’t appreciate learning, but they definitely don’t support the intellectual and vocational goals as much as they do the feel good and get a stable job mentality. Just as Moreland stated on why parents explain college is important, "This parallels a trend in the same students toward valuing a good job more than developing a meaningful philosophy on life." Reading Love Your God with All Your Mind as positively affirmed all the personal goals I have tried to set for myself over the past few years with or without the support from others.

This book as affirmed what all my college professors have been teaching this whole time, specifically those who taught me Christian ethics, philosophy, and logic. The appreciation I have for the study of humanities was great before I read this book and now they are even more so. I am blessed to have God lead me to Western Baptist (now Corban) College where every day my worldview is reinforced with new knowledge and the professors stretch me to "strengthen and develop my faith" as Moreland argues a Christian college should do.

Personally I have struggled with many thoughts about God, reality, free will and some aspects of creation and our sexual nature, and I have basically dumbed it down to the well-I-guess-we-just- CAN’T-know-everything mentality. But reading this book and specifically seeing that Colossians 2:8 has been distorted to me and that such verses as Matthew 11:27, Luke 10:22, and I Corinthians 2:7 can’t be used as a crutch because I need to "be ready to give a defense to EVERYONE who asks you [me] a reason for the hope that is in you [me], with meekness and fear (I Peter 3:15)."

The most meaningful and useful chapter to me was "Harassing the Goblins of the Mind". I saw many parallels to Fahrenheit 451 and it woke me up immediately to see how far culture has come to believing the reality of TV so much so that we are numbed. We have virtually become that fictional society in Bradbury’s book where we don’t read and if we do it is all Reader’s Digest versions. Many people have come to view knowledge as dangerous and only for those who wish to be superior and egotistic. Christian should never believe this lie. This chapter opened up my personal fear and my struggle as stated so eloquently by Moreland- "Defensiveness and a false sense of pride can arise to protect one from feeling embarrassed about not knowing something. Intellectual embarrassment is one of the worst forms of humiliation—no one wants to come off as stupid or uninformed." Now I know I don’t have to be so afraid or let the thief of pride and insecurity steal my Christian mind.

It was a definite eye opener to see Aristotle quoted on friendship. This will now help me determine a more solid group of friends in the future who will be "formed around a common vision of virtue and the good life, and [friendship] serve to sustain, foster, and strengthen [each friend] me in his or her commitment and progress in a life well lived." I am now motivated not to settle for mediocre relationships and conversations. I am ready for challenges and intellectual stimulation.

We do not ALL have the time, the energy, nor the resources to become intellectual super giants for God (and to get paid for it on top of that!), although that should not be an excuse. But speaking realistically about Moreland’s ideal church dynamic would take a lot of what I referred to above not to mention money. Maybe in the whole scheme of things this is what we should be praying for within the Christian community. Personally it is hard for me to see this dynamic working effectively without people having to take a lot of time off work and/or possibly sacrificing essential things in life (like eating and sleeping). In our current unstable economy and alertness to terrorism, at this time in history, specifically for Americans it makes working towards this type of church almost worthless and dangerous to some. But I don’t think it is an impossible or lofty goal just a little unrealistic and hard to grasp.

Lastly, I will leave you with a question asked by J.P. Moreland, "What would it look like for a church, a parent, a teen, or any individual disciple to try to nurture an intellectual love for God in himself and others?" Ever since I have read this question I have been trying to answer it and I think it would look like a more stable and stimulating future. Christians would be bold. The church would be a faithful bride and an open forum for debate and sharing testimonies. Families would spend more time talking and less time watching television. Christians would tear down their pride and share their intellectual freedom especially to non-Christians.