This last week, I finished two books. One was the free audiobook offered by christianaudio.com - a book on adoption by Dr. Russell Moore of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. The other was a thin paperback by Cary Schmidt, a local Pastor out of Lancaster, CA, on the subject of music, written from a musically conservative standpoint. My reviews:
Neither of these books is in front of me, so you'll have to trust my memory of the experience. Adopted for Life by Russell Moore was never in front of me to begin with, technically, since it was an audio book.
Adopted for Life: Russell Moore, an adoptive father of two boys from Russia (and birth father of two other boys), has written a fascinating work on adoption. He uses his own adoptions as object lessons throughout. It is not strictly a practical volume on why Christians should adopt, but neither is it a theological treatise on the doctrine of adoption. It is primarily on actual adoption, as opposed to spiritual adoption, but the former is written in the context of the latter.
Dr. Moore explains why Christians in particular should adopt while making sure to establish that it is a calling and not one that everyone is given. His purpose in writing the book is first to couples who want to adopt or are considering it and looking for advice. The secondary purpose is for those who know people who have adopted or want to know more about it, even if they may not be personally called to adopt. There is counsel for relating to adoptive families, as well as advice for adoptive parents on how to respond to various quesions they will face as they raise a new family.
While I didn't agree 100% with Dr. Moore on everything - in particular, he took a few swipes at certain hot-button issues which rubbed me the wrong way - I thought overall, he did a good job of writing a work on the basics of adoption. If you wonder about whether God has adoption in your future, it might be worth checking out (it is free on christianaudio.com during the month of February, after all). In any case, I think the first chapter, which contains a good bit more on the theology of adoption than the rest of the book, is worth a listen, even if you don't read the rest of the book.
Music Matters: Cary Schmidt is an associate pastor at Lancaster Baptist Church. His small book, Music Matters was recommended to me, so I spent two hours reading it Saturday night. Generally, when recommending a book on the subject of music, I suggest Paul Jones' book, Singing and Making Music. However, Jones writes somewhat safely on the subject and rarely jumps into the buzz issues of what can be a highly controversial issue. Pastor Schmidt is by no means afraid to wade in, which made me wonder how good it could really be.
A quick note: Over the years, my views on music have evolved a little from my youth. Primarily, I've gotten less hard-nosed in my criticism of contemporary Christian music. The main reason for that is that I'm passionate about truth and I refuse to hammer my views at others unless I'm convinced that the argument is a reasonable one. On the music issue, given the subjective nature of music, I've moved more into the preference neighborhood on my music stance. My feeling has been that it's difficult to be come up with good defenses for conservative music. I've heard many, many arguments in favor of more conservative music and against the contemporary movement, and the vast majority are, quite honestly, terrible arguments.
That said, Pastor Schmidt makes some good points that I greatly appreciated. For instance, he pointed out how the modern generation idolizes entertainment. Having a preferred musical style should only be acceptable if music is considered amoral as an art - that is, not inherently good or bad. And that is the view today: Music is not morally good or bad, it is simply a preference. Pastor Schmidt attacks that argument and makes some good points. Whether it's ultimately convincing is difficult to say since my views already lie on his side.
His use of Ephesians 5 - pointing out the wording "singing and making melody", is good. Much of music today emphasizes other elements (rhythm, beat) and marginalizes the melody. Rap, in particular (although I'm hesitant to call it music), is guilty of that. I haven't done a study of the Greek in that passage, nor of the music in the first century AD, however, so again, I'm unsure how strong that argument really can be.
Schmidt's biggest problems lie in his too often weak logic. For instance, he states in general terms that young people are leaving church in droves. He argues that the reason for this is that it was the contemporary music that drew them in and they are no longer satisfied with that and are moving on. The trouble here is that he assumes the music is the problem. The fact is that most churches now use more contemporary music and some of them are growing spiritually. (On the reverse end, I'm not sure that minority churches, which do hold to more traditional music, can be shown to be doing better keeping young people in church). In any case, music cannot be pointed at definitively as the problem here.
Another weak argument comes when he talks about his personal struggles with listening to contemporary music and how it negatively affected his spiritual walk. He testified that he was unable to serve God fully until he gave up his bad music. Yet can this be buttoned down to the music being wrong? My personal feeling is that given Pastor Schmidt's own admission that he believed it to be bad music and listened to it anyway, he was violating his own conscience. That being the case, it was wrong for him to listen to that music, regardless of whether it was okay or not. If we feel strongly on an issue and then violate those convictions, we are sinning, regardless of whether the action would be wrong for another person. For instance, if I felt convicted about watching sports - such as if I felt like I should be spending my time on other things instead - it would be wrong for me to watch sports since I would be violating my conscience.
The fact that Pastor Schmidt identifies the problem as the music does not reflect well on him. While the music may be a problem, I know a number of people who listen to less conservative music than I do - one of my favorite pastors, Mark Dever, enjoys listening to Christian rap on occasion, yet I can see that God is blessing his ministry - who seem to have no ill effects from it. I cannot see their heart, certainly, but from my perspective, it seems as though God is blessing their ministry.
In conclusion, I liked Music Matters, but I felt that Pastor Schmidt, could have done a better job. His use of typical, conservative arguments that happen to be poor, damaged the value of the work, unfortunately. There were a number of things that I haven't mentioned that I really liked about it, but it needs to be read discerningly. We, as Christians, do a disservice to God and His truth when we accept poor reasons for our beliefs. Unless our reasons for what we believe can hold up against attack, we would be better off not discussing these issues to begin with.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
December: John Bunyan Month
Sorry to be late on this. I didn't do terribly well in Calvin, making it through less than a hundred pages. I did, however, get farther than I've been in the past. So has my Dad, who made it through 400 pages in the month.
This month is John Bunyan month, because even if you've read Bunyan's work a lot, it's always worth reading again. So, for the holidays, the challenge is to read Pilgrim's Progress and the Holy War.
Since Dad literally just finished Pilgrim's Progress prior to starting this year's book challenge, I'm letting him off on that one and he'll be reading C.S. Lewis' near-allegory, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader since the film adaptation of that book is coming out this month.
Happy Reading!
This month is John Bunyan month, because even if you've read Bunyan's work a lot, it's always worth reading again. So, for the holidays, the challenge is to read Pilgrim's Progress and the Holy War.
Since Dad literally just finished Pilgrim's Progress prior to starting this year's book challenge, I'm letting him off on that one and he'll be reading C.S. Lewis' near-allegory, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader since the film adaptation of that book is coming out this month.
Happy Reading!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
November Reading!
I realize I'm late on this. The reason is that I haven't gotten my two books done and I was hoping to do that before I posted this. However, best case I will only finish one (12 Challenges Churches Face - Mark Dever). The other will be finished as I have time over the next couple of months (The Reformed Pastor - Richard Baxter).
This month is John Calvin month. The reading challenge is to read Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. Why? Because I've always wanted to, so now I'm setting aside time for it. Will I finish it this month? Heh...at 1500+ pages, I'll be lucky to finish the first half of the two book set. But again, I'll try to squeeze the rest in later as I have time. In order to finish it in a month, it would require reading approximately 50 pages a day. Unlikely. Particularly unlikely in a Systematic Theology.
That said, I'd encourage you to find a copy and read some of it. Michael Reaves, author of The Unquenchable Flame, which is an introduction to the reformation, had this to say when suggesting addition reading on Calvin,
"Calvin's Institutes...is a must. The title makes it sound scary; inside, it is easy to read and warm in style."
So...it may not be as hard to understand as you might think. ;)
It is one of the classics of Christianity. Even if you can't read much, find a copy (there's free versions online if you can't get a hard copy) and read through a bit of it. You'll thank me later.
This month is John Calvin month. The reading challenge is to read Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. Why? Because I've always wanted to, so now I'm setting aside time for it. Will I finish it this month? Heh...at 1500+ pages, I'll be lucky to finish the first half of the two book set. But again, I'll try to squeeze the rest in later as I have time. In order to finish it in a month, it would require reading approximately 50 pages a day. Unlikely. Particularly unlikely in a Systematic Theology.
That said, I'd encourage you to find a copy and read some of it. Michael Reaves, author of The Unquenchable Flame, which is an introduction to the reformation, had this to say when suggesting addition reading on Calvin,
"Calvin's Institutes...is a must. The title makes it sound scary; inside, it is easy to read and warm in style."
So...it may not be as hard to understand as you might think. ;)
It is one of the classics of Christianity. Even if you can't read much, find a copy (there's free versions online if you can't get a hard copy) and read through a bit of it. You'll thank me later.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Recommendations for October
For October, we have.... The Church.
Most of us probably wouldn't spend a whole lot of time reading books about the church. Yet it should be noted that our position as believers in Christ is defined by being a member of the body of Christ. Understanding what the church really is and how we are to act as church members represents a significant part of our lives.
The challenge for October is one general book on the church - that is, a book not about a specific area of the church - and one specific book on the church - ie. preaching, music, baptism. A specific area of the church.
Personally, I would recommend 1. Nine Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever for a basic, easy to read, but very informative work on understanding the church. 2. The Church in God's Program by Robert Saucy. This is a bit more indepth on the church and is a bit slower, but interesting for those who really want to dig deeper.
For books on a specific area, I have not read a lot - to my memory - that would apply here. A lot of things would apply, though. One suggestion: Singing and Making Music by Paul Jones. Anyone involved with music in the church...which is, y'know...like, everyone...would benefit from reading this.
Books I'm planning to read include 12 Challenges Churches Face by Mark Dever - Dever goes through 1 Corinthians and relates problems from the Corinthian church to the modern day. Also hoping to read The Church in God's Program by John MacArthur and The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter.
Note. I did previously read Confessions of a Reformisson Rev by Mark Driscoll, which would relate to the general book on the church, but my personal opinion is that there's a limited value to the book. It's not that Driscoll is all that far off theologically, but I have concerns about the way he presents his message. As a result, I think there is definitely value to it, and I did benefit from reading it, but I don't think it's necessarily the best book for everyone to read.
Most of us probably wouldn't spend a whole lot of time reading books about the church. Yet it should be noted that our position as believers in Christ is defined by being a member of the body of Christ. Understanding what the church really is and how we are to act as church members represents a significant part of our lives.
The challenge for October is one general book on the church - that is, a book not about a specific area of the church - and one specific book on the church - ie. preaching, music, baptism. A specific area of the church.
Personally, I would recommend 1. Nine Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever for a basic, easy to read, but very informative work on understanding the church. 2. The Church in God's Program by Robert Saucy. This is a bit more indepth on the church and is a bit slower, but interesting for those who really want to dig deeper.
For books on a specific area, I have not read a lot - to my memory - that would apply here. A lot of things would apply, though. One suggestion: Singing and Making Music by Paul Jones. Anyone involved with music in the church...which is, y'know...like, everyone...would benefit from reading this.
Books I'm planning to read include 12 Challenges Churches Face by Mark Dever - Dever goes through 1 Corinthians and relates problems from the Corinthian church to the modern day. Also hoping to read The Church in God's Program by John MacArthur and The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter.
Note. I did previously read Confessions of a Reformisson Rev by Mark Driscoll, which would relate to the general book on the church, but my personal opinion is that there's a limited value to the book. It's not that Driscoll is all that far off theologically, but I have concerns about the way he presents his message. As a result, I think there is definitely value to it, and I did benefit from reading it, but I don't think it's necessarily the best book for everyone to read.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Four for September
Finished several books lately, so here is a quick review of them.
Completed: The Mortification of Sin by John Owen
The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges
War and Grace by Don Stephens
Almost finished a book I'm reading for school titled The Bible and Future Events by Leon Wood. In this class on theology for Moody, I'm studying eccliesiology (the Church) and eschatology (end times, or last things). I expected the former would be rather dull and the latter very interesting. As it's turned out, I really liked ecclesiology and I'm finding eschatology drudgery to read through.
I suppose because I found a couple of books on the church that I enjoyed reading didn't hurt. I probably need to find a book on eschatology that really piques my interest. For the moment, though, my interest in it is pretty low.
Probably at least part of the problem is that I desire to get to the heart of the truth, and I'm unconvinced that dispensationalists have a corner on it. That's not to say I disagree with them on their core teachings, but a lot of their teachings on the timelines and other end times issues - like what comes where and what different things refer to - is more entertaining than scholarly in my personal opinion. Leon Wood, at any rate, seems pretty positive about all that he is laying forth concerning how the rapture, tribulation and millennium will play out. I'm not necessarily disagreeing with him, but the verses he cites are vague and could easily be applied other things. I think some scholars make far too much from too little.
For my part, my core beliefs are unshaken, but I'm skeptical of how certain we can be of many of the details that certain writers confidently lay out. Another thing that has turned me off of eschatology a bit is the way both covenant theologians and dispensationalists mischaracterize the other side's views. I suppose it's somewhat natural that one side is going to have a weaker explanation of the views of the other side. But it seems like there's a lot of strawmen floating around. Anyway, enough on eschatology.
Still trying to get Dad to write up a quick review for Mortification of Sin by John Owen. We both read it, we both liked it.
It's short. The version I read was slightly abridged and edited for easier reading. It gives a good understanding of sin in the context of the Bible and how we are to respond to it. Obviously it's not a contemporary enough work to be too specific on a lot of issues, but it is well worth a read. The Puritans, as a rule, aren't read enough, and I'm going to try to fit as many into the schedule this year as I can. A couple of places I was a little confused as to what his point was. I suspect that the flaw was in my comprehension rather than his logic, though.
Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges was excellent. A fair bit of my sermon from last Sunday was stumbling through various thoughts he presented in his book. I definitely plan to revisit Pursuit of Holiness in the future and highly recommend it to anyone who struggles with sin - which is, y'know...everyone - or is desiring to cultivate holiness in their lives.
War and Grace didn't strictly fit the guidelines for this month's reading challenge, but I finished that in the two books listed above. It's a book of biographic stories about men and women (actually, I think there was only one) in World War 1 and 2 (primarily 2). I'd actually seen this at the Shepherd's Conference last year and only given it a sideways glance at the time. I think the title put me off a bit. It seemed cheesy, being an obvious play off of War and Peace, so I really didn't even give it a close look. Big mistake. But apparently my Dad didn't do much better - he bought it and never read it. However, I'd heard from my Mom - who did read it - and Drew - who bought it AND read it - who both liked it. So I took another look at it on the shelf and discovered that it actually looked interesting.
I figured I'd read one of the 13 chapters a night and finish it in two weeks. Plans changed, though. After finishing chapter one, I stopped and thought to myself, "You know, Justin, if you read *two* chapters a night, you can finish it in *one* week."
So I read chapter two.
Then I looked at my watch.
Groaned.
Weighed my options.
Decided to forget the time.
Read chapter three.
Two nights later I read the next four chapters. The last six went at a more thoughtful rate. I got slowed down a bit over the week because I was studying for Sunday night's sermon. Finally, on Monday I finished it. The last chapter didn't really look terribly interesting at first. It was about the American minister who was chaplain to the living Nazi leaders during their trial for war crimes. I'd had half an idea how it was going to run out, and I wasn't wrong, but it was a good deal more interesting than I had expected. It would be hard to pick favorites, but that last one was particularly interesting to me. The first chapter about Louis Zamperini was the one that hooked me on the book, so I'd be hard pressed to not remember it. Rounding out the top three would be the story of Mitsu Fuchida, lead Japanese pilot in the Pearl Harbor attack.
Very good book. For encouraging biographies that aren't too long, it was good. Often, short biographes I read are about Christian leaders/missionaries. This one was somewhat different than that. It was encouraging to read about what God was doing during and after the war in the lives of these different people. And the book doesn't just focus on the English - the nationality of the author. There are stories of Germans, Japanese, English, Americans, Jews, and one French man. Some are officers, some are regular fighting men, some are victims of hate, some are civilians who were involved in some way. All in all, an excellent book.
Completed: The Mortification of Sin by John Owen
The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges
War and Grace by Don Stephens
Almost finished a book I'm reading for school titled The Bible and Future Events by Leon Wood. In this class on theology for Moody, I'm studying eccliesiology (the Church) and eschatology (end times, or last things). I expected the former would be rather dull and the latter very interesting. As it's turned out, I really liked ecclesiology and I'm finding eschatology drudgery to read through.
I suppose because I found a couple of books on the church that I enjoyed reading didn't hurt. I probably need to find a book on eschatology that really piques my interest. For the moment, though, my interest in it is pretty low.
Probably at least part of the problem is that I desire to get to the heart of the truth, and I'm unconvinced that dispensationalists have a corner on it. That's not to say I disagree with them on their core teachings, but a lot of their teachings on the timelines and other end times issues - like what comes where and what different things refer to - is more entertaining than scholarly in my personal opinion. Leon Wood, at any rate, seems pretty positive about all that he is laying forth concerning how the rapture, tribulation and millennium will play out. I'm not necessarily disagreeing with him, but the verses he cites are vague and could easily be applied other things. I think some scholars make far too much from too little.
For my part, my core beliefs are unshaken, but I'm skeptical of how certain we can be of many of the details that certain writers confidently lay out. Another thing that has turned me off of eschatology a bit is the way both covenant theologians and dispensationalists mischaracterize the other side's views. I suppose it's somewhat natural that one side is going to have a weaker explanation of the views of the other side. But it seems like there's a lot of strawmen floating around. Anyway, enough on eschatology.
Still trying to get Dad to write up a quick review for Mortification of Sin by John Owen. We both read it, we both liked it.
It's short. The version I read was slightly abridged and edited for easier reading. It gives a good understanding of sin in the context of the Bible and how we are to respond to it. Obviously it's not a contemporary enough work to be too specific on a lot of issues, but it is well worth a read. The Puritans, as a rule, aren't read enough, and I'm going to try to fit as many into the schedule this year as I can. A couple of places I was a little confused as to what his point was. I suspect that the flaw was in my comprehension rather than his logic, though.
Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges was excellent. A fair bit of my sermon from last Sunday was stumbling through various thoughts he presented in his book. I definitely plan to revisit Pursuit of Holiness in the future and highly recommend it to anyone who struggles with sin - which is, y'know...everyone - or is desiring to cultivate holiness in their lives.
War and Grace didn't strictly fit the guidelines for this month's reading challenge, but I finished that in the two books listed above. It's a book of biographic stories about men and women (actually, I think there was only one) in World War 1 and 2 (primarily 2). I'd actually seen this at the Shepherd's Conference last year and only given it a sideways glance at the time. I think the title put me off a bit. It seemed cheesy, being an obvious play off of War and Peace, so I really didn't even give it a close look. Big mistake. But apparently my Dad didn't do much better - he bought it and never read it. However, I'd heard from my Mom - who did read it - and Drew - who bought it AND read it - who both liked it. So I took another look at it on the shelf and discovered that it actually looked interesting.
I figured I'd read one of the 13 chapters a night and finish it in two weeks. Plans changed, though. After finishing chapter one, I stopped and thought to myself, "You know, Justin, if you read *two* chapters a night, you can finish it in *one* week."
So I read chapter two.
Then I looked at my watch.
Groaned.
Weighed my options.
Decided to forget the time.
Read chapter three.
Two nights later I read the next four chapters. The last six went at a more thoughtful rate. I got slowed down a bit over the week because I was studying for Sunday night's sermon. Finally, on Monday I finished it. The last chapter didn't really look terribly interesting at first. It was about the American minister who was chaplain to the living Nazi leaders during their trial for war crimes. I'd had half an idea how it was going to run out, and I wasn't wrong, but it was a good deal more interesting than I had expected. It would be hard to pick favorites, but that last one was particularly interesting to me. The first chapter about Louis Zamperini was the one that hooked me on the book, so I'd be hard pressed to not remember it. Rounding out the top three would be the story of Mitsu Fuchida, lead Japanese pilot in the Pearl Harbor attack.
Very good book. For encouraging biographies that aren't too long, it was good. Often, short biographes I read are about Christian leaders/missionaries. This one was somewhat different than that. It was encouraging to read about what God was doing during and after the war in the lives of these different people. And the book doesn't just focus on the English - the nationality of the author. There are stories of Germans, Japanese, English, Americans, Jews, and one French man. Some are officers, some are regular fighting men, some are victims of hate, some are civilians who were involved in some way. All in all, an excellent book.
Friday, August 27, 2010
A Tale of Two Marks
So several days ago I finished 9 Marks of A Healthy Church by Mark Dever. It defines what a healthy church should look like.
Last night (and, in a technical sense, this morning), I read Confessions of a Reformission Rev by Mark Driscoll.
Some of you are wondering why I was reading a book by Mark Driscoll. Some of you are wondering who Mark Driscoll even is. The rest of you are probably disinterested.
Known as "One of the 50 most influential pastors in America", Driscoll pastors a church in Seattle of 4000+. He has been praised by many for building a megachurch literally from the ground up. He has been criticized by others for his church growth practices (which might be referred to in some circles as accomodation - although not directly accomodation of the gospel) and vulgar speech. He has been nicknamed Mark the Cussing Pastor because of said vulgar speech.
So in answer to the first question above: I got the book for free and I was curious how much God was at work in Mars Hill Church where Driscoll pastors, and how much of his success was church-growth methodology that simply put people in seats with no real fruit in their lives.
After reading it, I have mixed feelings about it. I came away from it with a higher opinion of Driscoll than I had before in some ways, and my feelings confirmed about him in others. I disagree with a lot of his methodology, although he seems to sincerely desire to pattern his life and ministry on the bible.
Mark Driscoll is a funny guy. He is a man who loves God very much. He has devoted his life to building a church whose purpose is to bring people in to save them and train them as missionaries who go out into the culture and continue the process. I'm not fully in agreement with his purpose of the church: He talks very little about holiness or the importance of it.
Much of his success has actually come from the church being centered largely around young married couples and college kids with messed up lives (for various reasons). They are very open about letting people who live in sin come into the church if they are open to hear. He has no interest in those who are simply 'dead weight' - who come in claiming to be saved, but have no desire to minister to others. I actually agreed with him on that.
I also was not skeptical of stories he told of dreams he had received 'from God'. He describes one as showing an event that later took place and scripture came to him in the dream that later prepared him to deal with that situation. He also tells the story of 'bad angels' visiting his young daughter during the night. After this and some personal study, he rejected cessationism - the idea that some spiritual gifts have ceased since the early church. For the moment, anyway, I still hold nominally to cessationism. But at the same time, I don't reject the possibility of exceptions to the general rule. I don't believe it's a regular pattern of God, but it's obviously something we see God using throughout scripture.
In theology, Driscoll studies the bible carefully and uses that as his foundation for making decisions. Where his problem comes, in my mind, is on issues that the bible is less clear about. Obviously, his word usages and poor attempts at humor can be extremely objectionable, and, in my mind, is absolutely unscriptural. I think Driscoll tends to be too worldly, although it's somewhat understandable based on his upbringing and the fact that he really had no strong spiritual mentors while building his church. Let me be clear, though, while I understand it, I don't excuse it. Just to put it in perspective, Martin Luther had similar problems with extrememely vulgar speech and God used him greatly.
While I have doubts about Driscoll's maturity at times, I came away with a profound respect for what God has accomplished through him. I do still have sincere reservations about many of his practices, but I'm not really in a position to criticize a man who has done far more for God in his life than I have. I was able to benefit from the book and to learn things (both positive and negative) from his example. And I was reminded yet again that we are all sinners - it is pointless to focus only a person's shortcomings, as important as they are - our larger goal as believers is to be more like Christ and to seek to draw others to Him. Mark Driscoll is working very hard on the latter part - I'm trusting God to be working on him in the former.
Last night (and, in a technical sense, this morning), I read Confessions of a Reformission Rev by Mark Driscoll.
Some of you are wondering why I was reading a book by Mark Driscoll. Some of you are wondering who Mark Driscoll even is. The rest of you are probably disinterested.
Known as "One of the 50 most influential pastors in America", Driscoll pastors a church in Seattle of 4000+. He has been praised by many for building a megachurch literally from the ground up. He has been criticized by others for his church growth practices (which might be referred to in some circles as accomodation - although not directly accomodation of the gospel) and vulgar speech. He has been nicknamed Mark the Cussing Pastor because of said vulgar speech.
So in answer to the first question above: I got the book for free and I was curious how much God was at work in Mars Hill Church where Driscoll pastors, and how much of his success was church-growth methodology that simply put people in seats with no real fruit in their lives.
After reading it, I have mixed feelings about it. I came away from it with a higher opinion of Driscoll than I had before in some ways, and my feelings confirmed about him in others. I disagree with a lot of his methodology, although he seems to sincerely desire to pattern his life and ministry on the bible.
Mark Driscoll is a funny guy. He is a man who loves God very much. He has devoted his life to building a church whose purpose is to bring people in to save them and train them as missionaries who go out into the culture and continue the process. I'm not fully in agreement with his purpose of the church: He talks very little about holiness or the importance of it.
Much of his success has actually come from the church being centered largely around young married couples and college kids with messed up lives (for various reasons). They are very open about letting people who live in sin come into the church if they are open to hear. He has no interest in those who are simply 'dead weight' - who come in claiming to be saved, but have no desire to minister to others. I actually agreed with him on that.
I also was not skeptical of stories he told of dreams he had received 'from God'. He describes one as showing an event that later took place and scripture came to him in the dream that later prepared him to deal with that situation. He also tells the story of 'bad angels' visiting his young daughter during the night. After this and some personal study, he rejected cessationism - the idea that some spiritual gifts have ceased since the early church. For the moment, anyway, I still hold nominally to cessationism. But at the same time, I don't reject the possibility of exceptions to the general rule. I don't believe it's a regular pattern of God, but it's obviously something we see God using throughout scripture.
In theology, Driscoll studies the bible carefully and uses that as his foundation for making decisions. Where his problem comes, in my mind, is on issues that the bible is less clear about. Obviously, his word usages and poor attempts at humor can be extremely objectionable, and, in my mind, is absolutely unscriptural. I think Driscoll tends to be too worldly, although it's somewhat understandable based on his upbringing and the fact that he really had no strong spiritual mentors while building his church. Let me be clear, though, while I understand it, I don't excuse it. Just to put it in perspective, Martin Luther had similar problems with extrememely vulgar speech and God used him greatly.
While I have doubts about Driscoll's maturity at times, I came away with a profound respect for what God has accomplished through him. I do still have sincere reservations about many of his practices, but I'm not really in a position to criticize a man who has done far more for God in his life than I have. I was able to benefit from the book and to learn things (both positive and negative) from his example. And I was reminded yet again that we are all sinners - it is pointless to focus only a person's shortcomings, as important as they are - our larger goal as believers is to be more like Christ and to seek to draw others to Him. Mark Driscoll is working very hard on the latter part - I'm trusting God to be working on him in the former.
Monday, August 23, 2010
A Book Review and Recommendations for September
Today, I finished 9 Marks of A Healthy Church by Mark Dever. Many who have talked to me in the past about certain subjects are probably aware of my opinions on Dr. Dever. Truthfully, outside of our church, Mark Dever has been one of the more influential...influences on my thoughts; particularly in relation to the church.
I had long wanted to read through this book and finally got around to starting it several weeks ago. I had meandered through a couple of chapters prior to vacation in July, but I really only started reading it in earnest over the last two weeks.
It is, quite simply, excellent. There's very little here, if anything, that I would disagree with, let alone change. Frankly, if you want to know what it means to be a part of the church and are uncertain, he makes it quite clear. It is not exhaustive in any way. What Dever does is go through 9 basic areas that are foundational to the church, but in which we have, in recent generations, dropped the ball.
Those areas are: 1 Expositional Preaching, 2 Biblical Theology, 3 Biblical Understanding of the Gospel, 4 Biblical Understanding of Conversion, 5 Biblical Understanding of Evangelism, 6 Biblical Understanding of Church Membership, 7 Biblical Church Discipline, 8 Biblical Understanding of Discipleship, 9 Biblical Understanding of Leadership.
Do you have a clear understanding of what the Gospel is? Would you be able to present it clearly? Do you know what it isn't?
Do you know what the responsibilities are for you as a member of the church? Do you know what the consequences of neglecting those responsibilities has been in past generations?
Do you understand what discipleship is and how you are involved in that?
If you want to have a clear understanding of any of those fundamental points (and they are fundamental), it is well worth taking time to read. Lord willing, October will be our month to read books about the church. I would highly recommend this one.
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Recommendations for September:
This month Dad and I will be reading books relating to the Christian life and/or sanctification (they're essentially the same thing. The difference being that the former is from our perspective and the latter is more theological: relating to God's perspective - the point is we're leaving it somewhat open in terms of what applies).
I've got a number of books that I'd like to read, among those are:
The Mortification of Sin by John Owen - This one is part of the Puritan Paperbacks collection. Small book, but don't interpret that as meaning an easy read. Puritan works, small or not, are not quick reading material.
Many puritan works would fall into this month's category. One I'd like to finish is Dying Thoughts by Richard Baxter, but that'll probably be held back for later.
The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes is another excellent puritan title.
I'd like to read Holiness by J.C. Ryle at some point, but I'm not certain that that will happen this month. It is long.
The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges is another one I've wanted to read for some time.
Others that I have read and would recommend include:
The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment by Tim Challies is a good book on...surprise: discernment.
The Gospel According to Jesus by John MacArthur.
The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards by Steven Lawson. Not a biography strictly speaking. Lawson takes positive elements from Edwards' life example and uses those to exhort others to follow his lead. Short, but worth reading.
Humility by C.J. Mahaney is a good, easily readable short work.
Most books by Wayne Mack would fall in this category.
This month is probably the easiest to find books that fit the guidelines. The basic goals of this challenge are to encourage reading, and by reading the same types of books to jumpstart conversations on what we're reading. In future months, the goal will be to encourage reading types of books we might not ordinarily get into.
The challenge is for two books this month. For the most part, the year is split up with 2 books per month. If you can't get through two books in the month or you don't have enough time available to finish two books in a month, don't stress over it. #1: Devotions are primary - Make sure you're not cutting devotions time to make room for other books. #2: If you're feeling short of time, dedicate 15 minutes a day, or even every other day, to reading. That's not a lot of time, but you'd be surprised how much you can get through in a month by spending 15 minutes a day.
In setting the guidelines, I wanted the setup to be fairly loose so that we could read either shorter or longer books, depending on how much time is in our schedule.
My personal desire in setting this up initially, was so that I could supplement my devotions time with other christian works. The key is to be reading something: Not how much you can read, or how much you can wish you could be reading, but actually sitting down and spending time and doing it.
God bless.
I had long wanted to read through this book and finally got around to starting it several weeks ago. I had meandered through a couple of chapters prior to vacation in July, but I really only started reading it in earnest over the last two weeks.
It is, quite simply, excellent. There's very little here, if anything, that I would disagree with, let alone change. Frankly, if you want to know what it means to be a part of the church and are uncertain, he makes it quite clear. It is not exhaustive in any way. What Dever does is go through 9 basic areas that are foundational to the church, but in which we have, in recent generations, dropped the ball.
Those areas are: 1 Expositional Preaching, 2 Biblical Theology, 3 Biblical Understanding of the Gospel, 4 Biblical Understanding of Conversion, 5 Biblical Understanding of Evangelism, 6 Biblical Understanding of Church Membership, 7 Biblical Church Discipline, 8 Biblical Understanding of Discipleship, 9 Biblical Understanding of Leadership.
Do you have a clear understanding of what the Gospel is? Would you be able to present it clearly? Do you know what it isn't?
Do you know what the responsibilities are for you as a member of the church? Do you know what the consequences of neglecting those responsibilities has been in past generations?
Do you understand what discipleship is and how you are involved in that?
If you want to have a clear understanding of any of those fundamental points (and they are fundamental), it is well worth taking time to read. Lord willing, October will be our month to read books about the church. I would highly recommend this one.
------------
Recommendations for September:
This month Dad and I will be reading books relating to the Christian life and/or sanctification (they're essentially the same thing. The difference being that the former is from our perspective and the latter is more theological: relating to God's perspective - the point is we're leaving it somewhat open in terms of what applies).
I've got a number of books that I'd like to read, among those are:
The Mortification of Sin by John Owen - This one is part of the Puritan Paperbacks collection. Small book, but don't interpret that as meaning an easy read. Puritan works, small or not, are not quick reading material.
Many puritan works would fall into this month's category. One I'd like to finish is Dying Thoughts by Richard Baxter, but that'll probably be held back for later.
The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes is another excellent puritan title.
I'd like to read Holiness by J.C. Ryle at some point, but I'm not certain that that will happen this month. It is long.
The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges is another one I've wanted to read for some time.
Others that I have read and would recommend include:
The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment by Tim Challies is a good book on...surprise: discernment.
The Gospel According to Jesus by John MacArthur.
The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards by Steven Lawson. Not a biography strictly speaking. Lawson takes positive elements from Edwards' life example and uses those to exhort others to follow his lead. Short, but worth reading.
Humility by C.J. Mahaney is a good, easily readable short work.
Most books by Wayne Mack would fall in this category.
This month is probably the easiest to find books that fit the guidelines. The basic goals of this challenge are to encourage reading, and by reading the same types of books to jumpstart conversations on what we're reading. In future months, the goal will be to encourage reading types of books we might not ordinarily get into.
The challenge is for two books this month. For the most part, the year is split up with 2 books per month. If you can't get through two books in the month or you don't have enough time available to finish two books in a month, don't stress over it. #1: Devotions are primary - Make sure you're not cutting devotions time to make room for other books. #2: If you're feeling short of time, dedicate 15 minutes a day, or even every other day, to reading. That's not a lot of time, but you'd be surprised how much you can get through in a month by spending 15 minutes a day.
In setting the guidelines, I wanted the setup to be fairly loose so that we could read either shorter or longer books, depending on how much time is in our schedule.
My personal desire in setting this up initially, was so that I could supplement my devotions time with other christian works. The key is to be reading something: Not how much you can read, or how much you can wish you could be reading, but actually sitting down and spending time and doing it.
God bless.
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