Skip to main content

Does God Desire All To Be Saved? - Book Review

I finished listening to the ChristianAudio version of John Piper's book Does God Desire All To Be Saved? a few weeks ago, but didn't have a chance to write the review until today.

The question, "Does God desire all to be saved?" is a challenging question and a challenging answer (no matter what your answer) and it made for a challenging book to read.  The question is challenging no matter how you answer it, because whichever way you go there are implications. A simple, "Yes." doesn't even really answer the question.

Some believe that all will be saved... eventually. I don't believe that. I can't. The Bible just doesn't leave room for that interpretation. But nevertheless, some can answer yest to this question, believing that all will eventually be saved.

Others might answer yes, knowing full well that all are not saved, but are doomed to eternal punishment. This leaves a new challenge. Does God have unmet desires? Is God unsuccessful in His attempts? Where does this leave us?

An answer of, "No." brings on a whole new set of challenges to deal with.

In this book John Piper, as he always does, digs deep into scripture. That is my favorite thing about Piper books. I know that I am not going to simply get his opinion, but an expounding of scriptures that are specifically related to the question at hand. You can tell from his books that he genuinely wants to know what the Bible says.

The voice talent on this book does an excellent job of bringing to life the words of this book. I enjoy an audio book much more if I can almost feel as if I am simply listening to a person talking to me. The way the book is written and the way it is read pulled me into this discussion. When I finished listening to it, I almost went back to the beginning to listen again. Piper doesn't dwell too long on any one thought, unless it is absolutely necessary. This left me feeling like I needed to pause and think occasionally or simply go back to the beginning.

If you have a desire to get away from a simplistic answer to this question and dig deep into the scriptures to see how God's Word answers this question, then you really need to get this book. I must warn you though, it is not for the person who doesn't want to think and consider and ponder big thoughts of God.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Seed and The Soil of Education (New Learning Project Part 1)

(This is my entry for the first part of my project for my New Learning course that I am taking.) Introduction Corn Fields in Illinois I have lived the majority of my life in the Midwest: mid-state Illinois to be specific. Where I live, farming is everywhere. My grandparents and great-grandparents on both sides of my family were farmers. My dad grew up on a farm and owned farmland, well into my own adulthood. But, even if it wasn’t in the family, I still would have been surrounded by farming. You can’t go more than a mile outside of my city’s limits without encountering miles and miles of fields. Most of our highways, and even interstates, are located between acres of farmland.

This too shall pass...

Gam zeh ya'avor (Hebrew) "This Too Shall Pass" Welcome!  According to Google Analytics, this is by far the most visited post that I have ever written.  If someone comes here from a search engine, most of the time they are looking for " this too shall pass quote " or simply " this too shall pass " on Google or one of the other search engines. I am sure that most of the time visitors are looking for the originations of this quote, but I have to wonder, why is this quote on people's minds? Why are they pondering the passing of events?   Here is my thought: It is probably because most of us have realized that the adult life is much harder than we ever imagined it to be. There is more pain and more sorrow than we had ever imagined as children, but we have learned that time keeps ticking. And as time continues to flow things pass. In fact, even the really big things and the really hard things will still pass. If you are here because you are thinking ...

The Minnesota Crime Commission wrote:

Every baby starts life as a little savage. He is completely selfish and self-centered. He wants what he wants when he wants it: his bottle, his mother's attention, his playmate's toys, his uncle's watch, or whatever. Deny him these and he seethes with rage and aggressiveness which would be murderous were he not so helpless. He's dirty, he has no morals, no knowledge, no developed skills. This means that all children, not just certain children but all children, are born delinquent. If permitted to continue in their self-centered world of infancy, given free reign to their impulsive actions to satisfy each want, every child would grow up a criminal, a thief, a killer, a rapist.