Dear Bible I Have a Problem

A highly imaginative book, in which the author draws on his years of experience as a school counsellor and tutor to devise a 'problem-page' approach to applying Bible teaching to everyday life. It tackles difficult issues facing many Christians, especially younger people, including unanswered prayer, loneliness, unwanted pregnancy, stress, euthanasia, peer pressure and debt. It indicates sensitively that there are not always easy answers but, with humour and tact, reviews each situation in the light of the fact that God's promise and hope is always with us.

Mike Coles is Head of RE at Sir John Cass Church of England Secondary School, Stepney, East London. He has written four other books for BRF: The Bible in Cockney (2001), More Bible in Cockney (2002), So You Think You're A New Testament Writer (2004) and God's Reality Show (2005).

From: The Methodist Recorder - 08 December 2005

The head of RE at a boys' secondary school in Stepney, London, Mike Coles has a wealth of experience from his years as a school counsellor about the problems encountered by young people during adolescence and beyond. In Dear Bible I have a Problem he "shares some 'agony aunt' letters to the Bible ... and the replies!". These problems, expressed in 28 letters, range in intensity from the difficulties of making friends in a new town to the suicide of a parent - but the Bible can always provide words of comfort. Written with empathy and compassion, and with a detailed index supporting the biblical quotations, this would be a helpful resource for any one who finds themselves listening to accounts of other people's difficulties.

From: The Church of England Newspaper - 14 October 2005

For younger teenagers, certainly the most original books on offer in the last few years have come from Mike Coles, the head of religious education at Sir John Cass' Church of England secondary school in Stepney, East London... With the popularity of such shows as Little Britain and The Fast Show, young people certainly have an appetite for the kind of quirky humour on offer in these books."

From: The Church Times - 26 August 2005

Harry, 24, white, is going out with Doyin, black. Both are Christian. 'Should colour have nothing to do with it?' Harry wants to know, writes Bill Bowder.

Like debt and desertion, true love and ugliness, his racial concern is a topic that a new agony aunt is ready to tackle. 'There is no teaching within me whatsoever which states that you cannot marry this girl!'

Mike Coles, in Dear Bible, I Have a Problem has taken on the persona of the Bible itself - rummaging for wisdom in its own pages, and transformed by an unaccustomed tone of voice into a middlebrow dispenser of comfort and advice.

David, 23, thinks he's really ugly. 'But there will be many who see you for what you are - a unique child of God - and that, David, is special and beautiful.'

Becky, 21, has found her true love, and wants to marry him. But can she be sure? 'Well, Becky, there is a passage in one of my books that immediately springs to mind;' says 'the.Bible': 1 Corinthians 13.

Alex, 15, asks: 'I want to know if l have a problem. . . The thing is, I have started to masturbate.'

'You'll be surprised at how many people want advice on this topic, and not just teenagers;' says 'the Bible' brightly. 'There are laws about-adultery, fornication, who you can and can't have sex with, laws about sex with animals, the list goes on, but masturbation does not get mentioned.'

Hannah, 16, is sitting her GGSEs, and doesn't know what job to look for afterwards. 'As it is written in one of my books: he hears us if we ask him for anything that is according to his will'. Talk with teachers, parents and friends, and to God through prayer. Then 'you will know which way to go.'

Roger, a Christian, married with two children, has over-borrowed to pay for his lifestyle. 'The Bible' talks about falling house prices and stock markets, tells him to be realistic, and says he has grown to love money. He should share his predicament with his wife, who might come up with a plan. Wives can be very good like that...'

From: Reform - October 2005

A highly imaginative book, in which the author draws on his years of experience as school counsellor and tutor to devise a 'problem-page' approach to applying Bible teaching to everyday life. It tackles difficult issues facing many Christians, especially younger people, including unanswered prayer, loneliness, unwanted pregnancy, stress, euthanasia, peer pressure and debt. It indicates sensitively that there are not always easy answers but, with humour and tact, reviews each situation in the light of the fact that God's promise and hope is always with us.

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