The Innkeeper by John Piper: Book Review

One of the books that my wife gave me for Christmas was The Innkeeper by John Piper.  It only took about 5 minutes to read this book, but I was was already deeply emotionally moved before I was half way through the book.

The inside front cover gives this description:

Only two weeks from His crucifixion, Jesus has stopped in Bethlehem. He has returned to visit someone important--the innkeeper who made a place for Mary and Joseph the night He was born. But His greater purpose in coming is to pay a debt. What did it cost to house the Son of God? 

Through this imaginative poem, John Piper shares a tale of what might have been. The story of an innkeeper whose life was forever altered by the arrival of the Son of God. 

Ponder the sacrifice that was made that night. Celebrate Christ's birth and the power of His resurrection. Rejoice in the life and light He brings to all. And encounter the hope His life gives you for today--and for eternity.

Just like the description, it tells a story of what might have been if Jesus had visited the innkeeper just before he was crucified.  It gives a different take on how we usually portray that innkeeper.  Normally we think of him as being unfeeling or unkind in allowing a baby to be born in a manger, but it didn't have to be that way.  It is quite possible, and maybe more believable that the innkeeper was showing a kindness in allowing the manger to be opened up to travelers.

The book that I have is dedicated to any who have lost a child.  As you read this, you can see why this is mentioned at the beginning.

There is also that great glorification of Jesus.  I love how Piper does this.  He doesn't come right out and say, "Jesus is great!"  Instead, he uses his words to draw you to that conclusion yourself.  You suddenly find yourself thinking, "Jesus is Great!" before you know that you are thinking it!  He pulls on your heartstrings to magnify our Lord.

The version that I have linked is different from the version that I have in front of me.  The version I have in front of me is illustrated by paintings from Glenn Harrington, whereas the version I have linked is illustrated by John Lawrence.

If you have a few extra bucks, this is a worthwhile purchase.  I believe that Amazon has a few of these that are used where you will basically pay for shipping.  Check it out.


 

if it be not God that you seek

From Richard Baxter's The Reformed Pastor :

Your study of physics and other sciences is not worth a rush, if it be not God that you seek after in them. To see and admire, to reverence and adore, to love and delight in God, as exhibited in his works -- this is the true and only philosophy; the contrary is mere foolery, and is so called again and again by God himself. This is the sanctification of your studies, when they are devoted to God, and when he is the end, the object and the life of them all.

Though not as eloquently, I have thought this many times myself.  It has been my philosophical struggle while teaching in a public school.  Even in a "Christian" school, this can be a danger.  Consider the rest of what Richard Baxter has to say on this topic.

And, therefore, I shall presume to tell you, by the way, that it is a grand error, and of dangerous consequence in Christian academies, (pardon the censure from one so unfit to pass it, seeing the necessity of the case commandeth it,) that they study the creature before the Redeemer, and set themselves to physics, and metaphysics, and mathematics, before they set themselves to theology; whereas, no man that hath not the vitals of theology, is capable of going beyond a fool in philosophy.  

Theology must lay the foundation, and lead the way of all our studies. If God must be searched after, in our search of the creature, (and we must affect no separated knowledge of them) then tutors must read God to their pupils in all; and divinity must be the beginning, the middle, the end, the life, the all, of their studies.  

Our physics and metaphysics must be reduced to theology; and nature must be read as one of God's books, which is purposely written for the revelation of himself. The Holy Scripture is the easier book: when you have first learned from it God, and his will, as to the most necessary things, address yourselves to the study of his works, and read every creature as a Christian and a divine.  

If you see not yourselves, and all things, as living, and moving, and having being in God, you see nothing, whatever you think you see. If you perceive it not, in your study of the creatures, that God is all , and in all, and that 'of him, and through him, and to him, are all things,' you may think perhaps, that you 'know something; but you know nothing as you ought to know.' 

Think not so basely of your physics, and of the works of God, as that they are only preparatory studies for boys.

Do you think this way about theology?  Do you believe that it must lay the foundation of all that you believe?  Are all of our other studies worthless without this basic understanding of all that is?

Buried in these thoughts are the challenges that I face teaching at a public school.  What if I succeed in educating a child, but they have no concept of the origins of knowledge?  Should there ever be a secular education?

The deeper question is this... IS there such thing as a secular education?  Do we not teach something of theology when do not mention God?  Do we not teach His attributes when we present a world devoid of Him?  Do we not expound on His nature when we study a nature that is apart from Him?  Do we not tell His story when we teach history without His providential hand?

I know I've talked about this before, but as I read this portion of Richard Baxter's book yesterday, I was reminded once again of my ongoing philosophical dilemma.

The Reformed Pastor

I just started my new book this last week.  It is called The Reformed Pastor and it is by Richard Baxter.  I purchased this book at a used book store while on a short vacation in Brown County.  It sat on my shelf with a few other "to be read" books, slowly making its way to the top of the heap.  So far I am really enjoying this book.  It is mentally stimulating and spiritually challenging.  I would offer a brief synopsis, but I thoroughly enjoyed Richard Baxter's own subtitling far more than anything that I could come up with.  Here is an image I found on the ever-informative Wikipedia.

click to enlarge

I love this first page.  Notice that is says,

Showing the nature of the Pastoral work; especially in Private Instruction and Catechizing. 

With an open Confession of our too open Sins. 

Prepared for a day of Humiliation kept at Worcester, December 4, 1655, by the Ministers of that County, who subscribed the Agreement for Catechizing and Personal Instruction, at their entrance upon that work.

I just love that these ministers had prepared a day of Humiliation to confess their sins!  I wonder how much the ministers of Danville (or your city) need to do this?!

You can read more about Richard Baxter here.  You can even read the whole book for free via Google Books, click here.

God in Action - Book Review

I finished the book God in Action by Karl Barth about a week ago, but haven't had the time to devote to writing a proper book review.  I still don't have the time, but I would like to take a moment to post a quick review, one not quite worthy of the book.

God in Action is one of Karl Barth's early theological works.  It is a compilation of a set of lectures.  I have read that this book is a great way to get an understanding of Karl Barth's theology.  I found that its primary focus was on the authority of scripture and the reality of the Church.  He would define and reiterate the necessity of understanding the doctrines related to these topics.  As he discussed each, there was an emphasis on a logical flow of thought, this is what drew me in.

God in Action made me think.  I've had a couple of posts quoting this book already.  You can read those posts here and here.  There were several other occasions where I felt that a particular statement had earned blog-quote status, but they didn't make it there because of a lack of time.  I was drawn to his statements because of that analytical approach.  It permeated every page.

I was a little disappointed at his lack of scripture use.  In his defense, it wasn't meant to be a scriptural exposition, but a verbal discourse on the topics.  Nevertheless, I always appreciate an appropriate amount of proof-texts in relation to a theological work.  I guess I've been spoiled by Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology.

I would still recommend God in Action to any of you.  It was challenging at parts, but well worth the read.  It is currently less than $3 through Amazon.  Click the link above to go to the purchase page.

Blue Like Jazz - Book Review

Last week I finished the book Blue Like Jazz- Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller.  It was really enjoyable to read.  Donald Miller is a good writer, and he kept my attention throughout.  It was personal and real.  He was able to share some deep feelings and thoughts on various aspects of the Christian message, and it was interspersed with just the right amounts of humor to help you relax as you read the book, but at the same time not miss the points that he was trying to make.

But I may have been tainted when I read this book.  When I picked it up from the Local Library book sale I also picked up books like God in Action by Karl Barth and a commentary series by William Barclay.  I was also skimming through some books that I already had, like The Institutes on the Christian Religion by John Calvin and The Sovereignty of God by A.W. Pink.  To be in the process of filling your mind with deep theological works like these and then pick up a book called Blue Like Jazz can be such a shift in gears that it makes your brain stall out.  Don't get me wrong, his writing was good and he had some deep thoughts, but the key difference is that, on the one hand we are exploring the deep thoughts about Donald Miller and on the other hand we are exploring those deep thoughts about God.  Donald Miller seems like a nice guy, but I find thoughts about God to be captivating.

I also had the repeated experience of reading something that Donald Miller would write and think to myself, "Wow.  That is so right."  But then it would be followed by an immediate, "Whoa.  That is so wrong."  That is where he hovered throughout the entire book, somewhere between those really good critiques of some of American Christianity but then having so many really incorrect conclusions to these critiques.  It was almost as if he abandoned scripture as his primary source of truth and instead relied on his own insights.

What really gets me is how many people that I've heard over time singing the praises of this book.  If you are one of those people, I would ask you why?  What was it about this book that you found to be so enlightening.  I find nothing to be as enlightening as the Bible, the one book that is living and powerful.  If you are reading other things, but they do not point you to a greater love of scripture and the God of scripture, then I would wonder at that book.

The Sovereignty of God - Book Review

The Sovereignty of God
by A.W. Pink.

You may have noticed that I have included a few quotes from this book lately.  I've really enjoyed it, but I might be a little biased because of the "fluff" that I've been reading along side this book.  I only have a couple of pages left in this book, so I thought I would go ahead and type out a short book review.  (Reviews of the "fluff" will come later.)

This book is clearly about the sovereignty of God.  From God's sovereignty in creation, administration, and the natural world, to His sovereignty in salvation.  The book seemed to start a little slow, but that was mostly because it was dealing with topics that most people wouldn't question.  When you deal with sovereignty in creation, that's simple.  Sovereignty in administration (the workings of the world), that doesn't press any buttons.  As the book progressed, it picked up steam as it inched closer and closer towards that inevitable conclusion... God is sovereign in salvation.

I picked up this book with many of those understandings and teachings already, but as I progressed through this book it built in me a love for the topic.  Pink discussed the sovereignty of God the way someone might describe a beautiful painting or the way a husband might describe the beauty of his wife.

Whether you are into old theology books or not, I highly recommend this book.

The Kindle Edition is available for only $0.99!  Click through now to get it: The Sovereignty of God  Use these links that I've provided so that I get credit!

Other Wise than God has Eternally Purposed

A. W. Pink, from his book, The Sovereignty of God, at the end of his chapter on the Sovereignty of God in Administration, states this profound paragraph:

The Lord God omnipotent reigneth.  His government is exercised over inanimate matter, over brute beasts, over the children of men, over angels good and evil, and over Satan himself.  No revolving of a world, no shining of a star, no storm, no movement of a creature, no actions of men, no errands of angels, no deeds of the Devil -- nothing in all the vast universe can come to pass other wise than God has eternally purposed.  Here is a foundation for faith.  Here is a resting place for the intellect. Here is an anchor for the soul, both sure and steadfast. It is not blind fate, unbridled evil, man or Devil, but the Lord almighty who is ruling the world, ruling it according to His own good pleasure and for His own eternal glory. 

Possibly as a moment of worship, he goes on to quote Isaac Watts:

Ten thousand ages ere the skies
Were into motion brought;
All the long years and worlds to come,
Stood present to His thought:
There's not a sparrow or a worm,
But's found in His decrees,
He raises monarchs to their throne
And sinks them as He please.

Amen.

The Church is not a religious society.

"...neither is the Church a voluntary association for the cultivation of impressions, experiences, and impulses which men may have received from divine revelation and by reason of which they have formed definite convictions, condensed them into definite resolutions, rules, and customs of life and made them the center of their piety and morals. 

"The Church is not the result of human election, decision, and disposition toward divine revelation.  It arises from the election, decision, and disposition of God toward man.  In revelation they have become an event.  There God meets men and communicates Himself to men. Men are not gathered into, nor preserved as, the Church by an agreement in sentiments, convictions, and resolutions. 

"Rather, it is the one God, one Christ, one Spirit, one baptism, one faith.  The Church is not a religious society."

Karl Barth
God in Action: Theological Addresses

The Next Story - Book Review

I finished the Christian Audio version of The Next Story by Tim Challies about a week ago.  It took me longer than normal to get through this audio book, but not because of the book.  My phone's ability to read the memory card, where I put my audio books so I can listen to them while on the road, stopped working.  I had to listen to this entire book during spare moments of time in the morning and afternoon.

The Next Story attempts to combine a discussion of technology with the elements of true spiritual discernment.  In other words, Tim Challies helps his readers "think through" technology.  Instead of simply purchasing and using new technology with possibly only a thought as to its price, he urges an evaluation of technology's history, usefulness, affects, side-affects, and connection to the gospel.

I found this book to be very helpful in my own life.  There were aspects of technology that I had never considered; aspects concerning its affects on my brain and its affects on my spiritual life.  I especially enjoyed the flow of thought from discerning and understanding technology and its history in the first part of the book to the connections between our communication and our modern technology from a Biblical perspective in the second part of the book.

If you want to be a person who really thinks about their technology and doesn't simply consume and incorporate new technologies into their life without thinking, then this is the book for you.

Worldliness by C.J. Mahaney

I just finished the audio book, Worldliness by C.J. Mahaney with contributing authors: John Piper (Foreword), Dave Harvey, Bob Kauflin, Jeff Purswell, and Craig Cabaniss.

The book begins with a challenging first chapter by Mahaney, wondering if the verse, I John 2:15, which says, "Do not love the world or anything in the world." is in Your Bible.  Is it?  What does this verse mean?  This is the basic premise of the book, God's call to be in the world, but not love the world or anything in the world.

The following chapters deal with different areas of life and how to incorporate this command in a real way.  Chapter two deals with the media.  Chapter three focuses on music.  Chapter four challenges the place of stuff in our hearts.  Chapter five discusses clothing.  The final chapter of the book really brings it together with a discussion on how to love the world.

As a whole, I found this book to be especially convicting.  The questions that were being asked in each section probed deep into my daily practices to reveal different areas where the love of the world could be creeping in or has already built a lodge within my heart.

I also found this book to be exceptionally practical.  There were real, tangible ways to put the supported principles into practice.  And amazingly, the book didn't degrade into a legalistic mess.  Many times when authors attempt to illustrate principles they tend to be legalistic in their approach.  These authors were able to avoid that trap, and I believe that it is because of their great love for the gospel message that infiltrated every page.

I highly recommend this book... unless of course you aren't interested in being challenged and possibly convicted.

Galileo - Christian Encounters Series - Book Review

I just finished the book Galileo by Mitch Stokes from the Christian Encounters Series.  I received this book from BookSneeze.

I am going to start this review by telling you that I immensely enjoyed this book. I don't normally read biographies, but I was drawn to this one because I feel some small amount of kindred with all mathematicians.  I can't say that I had any specific curiosity about Galileo in particular, but all of the historical scientists and mathematicians grab some measure of my attention.

As I started this book, I noticed immediately a couple of things about the author, Mitch Stokes.  First, I noticed the amount of work that must have gone into this book from the immense amount of footnoting.  The book ends with the 16 pages of referenced footnotes.  When an author goes to that much effort to validate what he is saying, you walk away feeling like you have read an accurate account and not simply one author's opinion.

The second thing I noticed about the author is his, for lack of a better word, personableness.  I don't think that is a real word, at least the spell-checker is telling me that it isn't, but that's the best I could do.  I tell you this because I felt, while I was reading this, as if I was hearing the story from a close friend of Galileo's, someone who really knew him, and someone who cared about his story.

To be able to write about someone in such a way that you walk away feeling you got all of the historical facts in an accurate manner and at the same time you feel as though you were talking to an acquaintance is a hefty task.  Whether or not Mitch Stokes was attempting to accomplish that goal or not, I have no idea, but that is how I walked away from this book.  This leads me to my next point, because of this book, I have a new appreciation for Galileo.

As much as Galileo was a scientist and sought to have his mathematics and his science to correlate perfectly with the observable world, he also had great respect for the church.  This book included example after example where Galileo demonstrated his submission to the authority of the church.  This is one area where the legends have misconstrued the reality of the story.  In Galileo's book, titled Dialogue, he begins to draw to a conclusion his arguments for Copernicanism by also stating that there is an argument before which one "must fall silent."

I know that if asked whether God in His infinite power and wisdom could have conferred upon the watery element its observed reciprocating motion using some other means than moving its containing vessels, both of you would reply that He could have, and that He would have known how to do this in many ways which are unthinkable to our minds.  From this I forthwith conclude that, this being so, it would be excessive boldness for anyone to limit and restrict the Divine power and wisdom to some particular fancy of his own.

In other words, Galileo, after arguing for the motion of the earth (which we now know is true) by saying that the tides were caused by the motion of the earth (which they aren't, they are caused by the gravity of the moon) he states that what he has observed could be explained in an infinite number of other ways because there is an infinitely powerful God.

Galileo also argued for the church (or at least the believers) to be able to give a believable account for what they hold to be true from scripture.  He put it this way (by quoting Augustine):

The distressing thing is not so much that an erring man [i.e., the believer] should be laughed at, but that our authors [of scripture] should be thought by outsiders to believe such things, and should be criticized and rejected ignorant, to the great detriment for those whose salvation we care about.  For how can they believe our books in regard to the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they catch a Christian committing an error about something they know very well, when they declare false his opinion taken from those books, and when they find these full of fallacies in regard to things they have already been able to observe or to establish by unquestionable argument?

This way of thinking presents some challenges and hurdles when considering the consensus science that is around today.

Anyway... Read this book.  It is worth the time.

Anthem - Book Review

A couple of weeks ago I finished the King Raven Trilogy and knew I needed some more fiction.  So, I headed to my local public Library and browsed through the books.  I hit the Science Fiction section and picked up The Last Theorem by Arthur C. Clarke and Frederik Pohl, then I started scanning through the general fiction section.  My eye caught the name Ayn Rand and I picked the smallest book she had, Anthem.

Ayn Rand has been talked about lately because she writes about what might happen if some of the various political trends that we see at work today were carried into the future.  The scary thing about her works is the amazing similarity between the proposed future and what is actually happening now.

On the back cover of Anthem we read this:

He lived in the dark ages of the future.  In a loveless world he dared to love the woman of his choice.  In an age that had lost all trace of science and civilization he had the courage to seek after knowledge.  But these were not the crimes for which he would be hunted.  He was marked for death because he had committed the unpardonable sin: he had stood forth form the mindless human herd.  He was a man alone.

I found Ayn Rand's writing to be really quite engaging.  In fact, I went today and picked up one of her more famous works titled, Atlas Shrugged.  In Anthem, I enjoyed following the hero of the story as he began to discover and find new knowledge, as he groped for the one thing that was missing.  Unfortunately the one thing that Any Rand promotes as the key missing ingredient is the self.

In her own words, in the final chapters of the book, the hero of the story comes to a full realization of the core reality of mankind.  He relates this new understanding, as he has now broken free from the individualess crowd of humanity, in this way:

What is my joy if all hands, even the unclean, can reach into it? What is my wisdom, if even the fools can dictate to me? What is my freedom, if all creatures, even the botched and the impotent, are my masters? What is my life, if I am but to bow, to agree and to obey? 

But I am done with this creed of corruption. 

I am done with the monster of "We," the word of serfdom, of plunder, of misery, falsehood and shame. 

And now I see the face of god, and I raise this god over the earth, this god whom men have sought since men came into begging, this god who will grant them joy and peace and pride. 

This god, this one word: 

"I."

That's it.  That is the crux of the book.  Man is fulfilled when he begins to worship himself.  It was so sad, actually.  I wanted to jump into the story line and tell this character about something bigger, something grander.  I wanted to share the glorious gospel of grace.  Unfortunately it is just a story.  Even more unfortunate is the reality of the crowds of people who have come to the same conclusion. And sadder still is the sinking realization of my own tendency to live out that conclusion.

I know this isn't much of a book review, but I did want to share my thoughts on this book.  This is, after all, a blog called, Harmless Thoughts.

Galileo

Just started my next book from Book Sneeze.  This one is called Galileo by Mitch Stokes.  It is part of the Christian Encounters series from Thoma Nelson Publishers.

The back of the book gives this description:

It's no mystery how profound a role Galileo Galilei played in the Scientific Revolution.  Less explored is the Italian innovator's sincere, guiding faith in God.  In this exhaustively researched biography that reads like a page-turning novel, Mitch Stokes draws on his expertise in philosophy, logic, math, and science to attune modern ears with Galileo's controversial genius.

I have read through the first three or four chapters, and I have to agree that it does read similar to a novel, but the author goes to great lengths to validate everything with the proper footnotes. He also avoids making assumptions about Galileo motives and thoughts, either leaving it up to the reader to decide, or offering a guess, but making sure it is described as a guess.

I am looking forward to finishing the rest of this book during my bus rides!

The Pursuit of Holiness - Book Review

Whether you simply have a vague understanding of "holiness," or you are a Bible scholar that has spent a significant amount of time studying this word's origin, usage, and possible meanings, you know that holiness seems to be an unattainable attribute of men. Yet there it is in the Bible, the command, "Be Holy, for I am Holy." How are we to attain this holiness?  How are we to strive for this holiness?  What is meant by this command? To what degree are we to be holy?

These are the questions that I have struggled with over the years.  No matter how much I have efforted myself to be holy, I am not there.  Take into account all of my thoughts and desires and I am set back even further from the attainment of holiness.  Factor in my deep-seated motives, and holiness becomes a completely foreign country, where I am separated from it by vast oceans of selfishness, impurity, weakness, and the like.

A few years ago I read through The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges, and it really helped me to understand the meaning of holiness, the commands of holiness, and the pursuit of holiness from a Biblical perspective.  Over the last few weeks I have been listening Christian Audio's version of this book and have once again been assisted in my own personal pursuit.

This book is both encouraging, in its ability to relate to everyone's struggle, and convicting, in its confrontation of the lack of pursuit. You see, we must be in this pursuit of holiness.  Sharing the struggles with all mankind doesn't exempt us from striving, it demands that we do so by eliminating the excuse.  Because of this, I also appreciate the fact that this book is very theological without sacrificing its practicality.  In other words, it is very useful.  Jerry Bridges gives very practical applications while building the Biblical basis for those applications.  I was able to walk away with something to do.  I found myself putting the lessons into practice on those days where I had listened to a chapter on the way to work.

I highly recommend this book.  I especially recommend this book for use in a group study or Sunday school situation.  There are many opportunities for discussion as Jerry Bridges is also open and honest about his own struggles.

I would also like to recommend the Christian Audio version of this book.  The voice talents that Christian audio employs for the reading of their books are really quite good.  I always feel pulled in, as if the author was actually sitting there reading the book to me themselves.  I am even considering purchasing a few of the CD versions of these books to keep on the shelves at the church where I am the Pastor.  I see quite a potential for those who have a difficult time reading or are simply looking for a way to fill their commutes to work or the drives to a vacation.  There are many that may not purchase an audio book right now, but would consider listening to one if the church made it available.  I'm telling you, once you've listened to an audio book, you'll be hooked.

In Constant Prayer - Book Review

In Constant Prayer (Ancient Practices Series) by Robert Benson is the first book that I received through BookSneeze.

I liked this book.

In Constant Prayer is one book in a series of books called The Ancient Practices that explores many of those ancient practices of the early Christians.  This book in the series, written by Robert Benson, is meant to be a study of the practice of praying the "daily office."

If I understand it correctly, the Daily Office is the practice of praying a set number of times each day.  This practice brings to mind certain monastic settings.  Images of  monks getting up to say their morning prayers, meeting together to say their afternoon prayers, and seeing each other again to say their evening prayers before they head off to their cells.

As far as the author is concerned, Robert Benson is really a very good writer.  As I read through this book I found each page to be enticing and entertaining, but also very personal.  He opened up his life, in small ways, to reveal his desire to pray, his encounters with the daily office, and his understanding of this ancient practice.  I felt compelled, as I continued through the book, to consider taking up this particular practice.

I did find the book lacking in two specific ways.  One was a lack of specific historical examples.  He would make comments concerning the historicity of this practice, but the actual examples to validate the claim seemed to be strangely lacking.  The second area where I found this book to be lacking was in its use of scripture.  Other than at the beginning of chapters, I don't recall one Biblical quote with a reference.  There were passages that were alluded to, but the only reason I knew that was because I recognized the scripture.  Frankly, without proper historical footnotes and scriptural references, this book falls into the category of opinion.  In no way is it improper to write (or read) a book of opinions, but to really sway this particular reader, I need some validation.