May 2005 Archive
Persistence in Prayer (05.31.05) It is the Lord's delight to give us what we ask of Him in prayer. With David we all ought to cry out, "O God, hear my prayer; give ear to the words of my mouth" (Psalm 54:2). If Christians did not believe this, there would be no reason for us to ask God of anything. He tells us that we can have this confidence. "And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him" (1 John 5:14,15). While most Christian pay lip-service to the superlatives in that sentence ("whatever" and "anything") very few really believe it.
Book Review - A Man of God (05.31.05) Jack Graham is pastor of the massive Prestonwood Baptist Church which boasts a membership of over 23,000 and is thus one of the world's largest churches. He has written several books, the latest of which is A Man of God (which releases today). To provide a clear idea of the target audience for this book, one does not need to look much farther than the list of endorsers. The list includes Roger Staubach, Gary Carter and Pat Summerall. Neil Clark Warren (founder of the online dating site eHarmony.com) is added for good measure. And Chuck Norris enters the fray to write the foreward. And if you still aren't sure, perhaps this quote will bring added clarity. "The Christian life is more important than the Super Bowl, the World Series, the NBA Finals, and the Stanley Cup all wrapped together" (page 12).
Pastors Reveal Their Influences (05.30.05) Love him or hate him, George Barna often presents interesting information to the church. His latest study, dated May 30, 2005, asked pastors to identify "the three books that had been most helpful to them as a ministry leader during the past three years." There were over 200 books listed, but only 9 that were listed by more than 2% of the 614 pastors surveyed. Similarly, there were only 10 authors that were listed by more than 2% of the respondants.
To the surprise of absolutely nobody, The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church, both by Rick Warren, were ranked as number 1 and number 2. Warren was also the author whose books were listed most often, and thus ranked as the most influential church leader.
Book Review - Hedges (05.30.05) In the past couple of years I have read several books written for men to address the issue of sexual purity. I have found these books useful to varying degrees. The solutions that authors suggest to deal with this issue - which, as far as I know, is common to all men - vary greatly. Some books forbid men to engage in even a single look at an attractive woman to whom a man is not married. Some books teach a process of "bouncing" the eyes whereby men learn to avert their gaze from any feminine beauty other than the one to whom they are married. Some teach what is little more than the repetition of mantras - a Bible verse a man can repeat when he sees an attractive woman. Hedges, by Jerry Jenkins, does not fit any of those categories.
Book Review (And Discussion) - Three (05.29.05) Having read almost fifty books so far this year which were predominantly theological in content, I found myself craving some mindless fiction for a Saturday afternoon. Following a brief trip to the local Christian bookstore I came away with Three by Ted Dekker. I remembered reading a positive review of this title shortly after it released and thought I would give it a try, despite knowing nothing about the author or the story.
Three has all the elements of your standard psychological/cop thriller novel – a genre I used to read far too often so know quite well. The book moves very quickly and is guaranteed to keep the reader turning the pages. Both my wife and I read and finished it the very day I bought it and we both enjoyed it thoroughly.
Limericks For The Lord (05.28.05) And now for something completely different.
A couple of months ago I was approached by a potential client and asked if I could develop a site for him. This person leads a Sunday school class and wanted a site where he could post his daily reflections on the Scriptures. The catch? Well, it's not really a catch, but what made this interesting is that his reflections are written in the form of limericks. And so I present to you, Bible Bus Limericks.
Friday Frivolity (05.27.05) Last Friday I encouraged people to post a list of book that currently resided on their desks. Strangely enough, that request turned into something of a meme and ended up being posted on sites through out the blogosphere. It was very odd. I labored all week to write about about putting God in a box, and all people wanted to talk about was the books on their desks! I don't understand you guys...
But I digress.
Book Review - The Passion of Job (05.27.05) There are many companies today that allow anyone with a few thousand dollars (sometimes less) to publish a book. There are few requirements other than a manuscript and money. This is a mixed blessing. On one hand it allows people to publish books who arouse little interest in the handful of major publishers. On the other hand, it allows books to be printed that are sloppily-written, or at times, clearly not deserving of being printed.
The Passion of Job by Dr. Richard Spillman is published by Xulon Press, just such a company that caters to the Christian market. In fact, Xulon publicizes the claim (without substantiation) that it is the world's largest Christian publisher.
Pyromarketing and The Purpose Driven Life (05.26.05) The Purpose Driven Life is a runaway bestseller. In truth, it is in a category all its own. It is closing in on 25 million copies sold and will eclipse this number soon enough. Incredibly enough, it is selling better now than when it first released. Where most titles sell quickly at first and then the sales slow, this book gained sales momentum for over a year following its release. There are those who are sufficiently naive to believe that this success owes to the value of the book. But truth be told, it is not nearly as good a book as the sales would indicate. Warren says little that has not been said before, and has been said better. I'm sure it has changed some lives and has brought encouragement to many people. But this doesn't make a book sell 25 million copies and become the bestselling book of all-time in its genre.
Book Review - A Journey in Purity (05.26.05) It took me seven years to pick A Journey in Grace from my shelf and finally read it. I so enjoyed it that I immediately turned to the sequel, A Journey in Purity which had been sitting beside it all this time. Where the first title in this series of theological novels addresses the doctrines of grace (ie the 5 Points of Calvinism), the second title examines the purity of the church.
The story of young pastor Ira Pointer picks up precisely where it left off in the final pages of A Journey in Grace. Ira is faced with a church with a huge membership, but with low attendance.
Putting God In A Box - Transformationalism (05.25.05) This is the fourth installment in a series of articles discussing the Christian tendency to put God in a box. In the first article we saw that we tend to feel insecure about God unless we have contained Him within a box in our minds and then saw that God has revealed Himself to us in a way that is incomplete, but which we can understand. God’s revelation of Himself provides a framework within which we can understand Him. While incomplete, this framework is accurate and trustworthy. In the second article we examined how we can allow our doctrine to put God in a box through our ignorance, through our imaginations and by making theology and end in itself. In the third article we looked at ways we put God in a box through our attempts to live a life of Christian piety.
Notable Reads (05.24.05) I am trying to recover from a long weekend. While the weekend was relaxing, someone forgot to forward the memo about Victoria Day to all of my American friends and clients. Thus work piled up yesterday and I am at least a day behind. I was hoping to post the next installment of the "Boxing God" series today, but I think it will have to wait until tomorrow.
In the meantime, I wanted to draw your attention to some notable reads elsewhere on the World Wide Web.
Daily Catechism (05.23.05) Here's something new.
How would you like to add a daily Question and Answer from the Westminster Shorter Catechism and Heidelberg Catechism to your site? Or how about having them sent to your RSS Reader? This feed will take you through both catechisms twice per year.
RSS
To add a daily catechism question and answer to your RSS reader, simply add the following RSS feed: http://www.challies.com/catechism.php. It is updated every night.
WRECK And An Emerging New Culture (05.23.05) The following article was penned by Pastor, Doctor, Professor and all-around nice guy Ron Gleason and is posted here with his permission. Ron and his wife Sally are very close friends of my parents and Ron was my pastor back when we were both significantly younger and when we lived significantly closer. You can read more about Ron (and even hear an audio introduction by R.C. Sproul) at his aptly named web site, RonGleason.org. He has written three further articles on Brian McLaren here. From here on out you're reading Ron's article:
My good friend, Tim Keller, has written/spoken about the "cultures" in the PCA. He mentioned three and in an e-mail to me suggested a fourth. In this short article, I'd like to espouse a fifth, which is fitting for Presbyterians based on the premise that where four Presbyterians are gathered, there's usually a fifth.
Book Review - Pocket Guide to the Apocalypse (05.22.05) A few weeks ago Jason Boyett wrote me to ask if he could send along a copy of his latest book, A Pocket Guide to the Apocalypse. I rarely turn down a book, so told him I would be glad to read and review this one. He encouraged me to review it honestly and to pan it if I felt that was necessary. He must believe in the old adage that "no press is bad press."
The Pocket Guide, which is written in a style reminiscent of Douglas Adams' famous five-part trilogy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is a "comprehensive guide to the last days, a must-have for apocalypse watchers, readers of Revelation and all-around Armageddon obsessives" (from the back cover). To translate, it is a book that pokes fun at those who think they have the end-times all figured out and who like to claim they know when the end is coming. It also seeks to bring just a little bit of clarity to the concepts and terminology surrounding the end-times.
Book Review - A Journey in Grace (05.22.05) A Journey in Grace, by Richard Belcher, is billed as being "A Theological Novel." So intrigued was I at the prospect of reading a theological novel that I left this book sitting on my shelf for seven years before I ever thought to read it. And now I can’t help but wish I had read it sooner.
I believe the order of the words in "theological novel" is important. This book is definitely better theology than fiction. In fact, as fiction goes, it is quite poor. But as theology it is exceptional. I chose to read and examine it as theology rather than fiction, since that is clearly its primary purpose.
Book Review - The Forgotten Trinity (05.21.05) I have often admired authors who have written the great biographies of Christian heroes of the past. Arnold Dallimore, Iain Murray and others, who have invested thousands of hours in reading about and seeking to understand their subject. With enough study the biographer can eventually reach a point where he really understands the person he intends to write about. When he understands him, he can share what he knows of the person with others through the written word.
James White, in The Forgotten Trinity has taken on a more difficult task. He has written a book about One who is beyond human comprehension. While there is much we can know about God, we can only know what He has chosen to reveal about Himself.
May DVD Giveaway Wrapup (05.20.05) Thanks to all who participated in the giveaway of Amazing Grace: The History & Theology of Calvinism DVD and the Luther DVD. Response was overwhelming.
Before I reveal the names of the winners, I'd like to once again thank Monergismbooks.com for their ongoing support. You can thank them for their support by visiting the site, even if it is just to poke around and see what they offer.
If you would like to purchase Amazing Grace, that is the place to do it.
Friday Frivolity (05.20.05) A few weeks ago we had some Friday Frivolity and I asked people to grab the closest book, flip to a certain page and post a sentence from that page. It was moderately interesting (at best) to see what books people were reading.
Today I thought it would be moderately fun (at best) to ask people to list the books that are currently on their desk. Just a list of the titles and authors. If you have too many to list, just post a few of them.
On my desk you will currently find:
Putting God In A Box - Piety (05.20.05) This is the third installment in a series of articles discussing the Christian tendency to put God in a box. In the first article we saw that we tend to feel insecure about God unless we have contained Him within a box in our minds and then saw that God has revealed Himself to us in a way that is incomplete, but which we can understand. God's revelation of Himself provides a framework within which we can understand Him. While incomplete, this framework is accurate and trustworthy. In the second article we examined how we can allow our doctrine to put God in a box through our ignorance, through our imaginations and by making theology and end in itself.
Today we will look at Christian piety and how it can lead us to put God in a box.