Challies Dot Com - Informing the Reforming

New & Notable Music

Tim — Thu, 24 May 2012 18:15:42 +0000

While most of what finds its way into my mailbox is books, I also receive a surprising amount of music. This works out well since I happen to love listening to music while going about my daily work. Here are a few of my favorite recent albums.

Jesus in My Place by The Summit Church. This is an album of modern worship that focuses on the good news of the gospel. The artists say, “Our prayer is that these songs deepen your personal worship of Jesus. The Christian life is ultimately a life of worship, and nothing fuels worship like dwelling on the glorious gospel of Christ. Wherever you are and wherever you go, these songs will help you rehearse the truths of the gospel, allowing the Holy Spirit to stir your affections for Jesus.” You can find lyrics and chords at the church’s web site. Musically, you will find that it is similar to Sovereign Grace Music, Chris Tomlin, and the like.

The Grand Narrative by Heath Hollensbe - Heath is a Christian musician who has worked and traveled with some of the biggest acts in Christian music. The Grand Narrative is a “6 song concept record that encompasses the history of the universe through the future that is in store for Christians. Each song is titled by a word that describes the steps in the movement (Hovering, Creation, Failure, Atonement, Covenant, Re-Creation).” If you are into music that is experimental in the vein of Keane or Sufjan Stevens, you may want to give this one a try. I’ve enjoyed it a lot.

Big Stories for Little Ones by Rain for Roots - Here’s one for the kids. “Rain For Roots is a collective of songwriters, young mothers and friends who came together around a single vision to make new scripture songs for children. Inspired by traditional folk melodies, this band of four set out to make new, timeless songs about the old gospel Story.” These songs are based on the poems of children’s author Sally Lloyd-Jones and appear to be targeted primarily at young children.

Church Clothes by Lecrae - Lecrae is the most popular of all the Christian hip-hop artists and Church Clothes is a new mixtape (which means that it is free). The album has 18 songs that feature Lecrae with other popular Christian rappers. You can read a lengthy and interesting article he wrote in response to the album’s unexpected popularity right here.

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The Hidden Life of Prayer

Tim — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:57:46 +0000

Read on and you will be able to download a free audiobook. That’s a teaser, of sorts. Before we get there, I want to remind you of the new Reading Classics Together project that will begin next week.

John Piper once said, “God brings books at their appointed times. The Hidden Life of Prayer arrived late but well-timed. This little jewel-strewn tapestry has done for me at 64 what Bounds’ Power Through Prayer did at 34. I could be ashamed that I need inspiration for the highest privilege. But I choose to be thankful.” For all the great classics we’ve read as part of the Reading Classics Together program, none of them have focused exclusively on prayer. For that reason, and based on its history and acclaim, we will turn next to The Hidden Life of Prayer. Already hundreds of you have agreed to read along.

The format is simple: Beginning next Thursday will read one chapter of the book each week and then gather here to discuss it. If you want to participate, all you need to do is get a copy of the book and start reading. For next Thursday just read any introductory matter along with chapter one.

There are many ways you can get a copy of the book, some of which are free and some of which will require just a few dollars.

Westminster Books has kindly discounted a print edition to just $5.49. Click the link to take advantage.
The Kindle edition is available for just $0.99.
Chapel Library has the PDF for no charge.
Granted Ministries has a nice new edition that also includes The Prayer-Life of Our Lord, a sequel of sorts. The cost is just $7.50.
A Google search will turn up many online editions.

After I announced that we would be reading this classic, ChristianAudio got in touch with me and said that they would like to record and then give away the audio version of the book. They recorded it earlier this week and it has now been added to their catalog.

Click here to take advantage. Simply add the book to your cart and apply the coupon code HLOP12. That will reduce the price to $0.00. Then follow the checkout procedure and you will be all set. It won’t cost you a dime.

Finally, a word about The Hidden Life of Prayer:

This classic was written by David McIntyre (sometimes spelled M’Intyre) who lived from 1859 to 1938. McIntyre was a Scottish preacher who succeeded Andrew Bonar as minister in Finnieston and later served as principal of the Bible Training Institute in Glasgow from 1913 to 1938. His book was first published in 1913. He describes the book’s purpose in his preface: “Books on secret prayer are without number; but it seems to me that there is still room for one in which an appeal may be taken, steadily, and from every point, to life—to the experience of God’s saints.”

One publisher’s introduction to the book says this: “Upon the foundation of biblical teaching, M’Intyre piles example after example of what has been helpful and effective in the prayer lives of many Christians, from Augustine to Spurgeon. The result is a handbook for prayer based both on Scripture and on the time-tested wisdom of God’s people through the centuries. Reading this book will, therefore, give you an abundance of counselors (Proverbs 11:14) to help you toward a victorious prayer life.”

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A La Carte (5/24)

Tim — Thu, 24 May 2012 11:14:24 +0000

Dancing on the Edge of Finished - Seth Godin has an important word to say here: “Before, when your shift was done, you were finished. When the inbox was empty, when the forms were processed, you could stop. Now, of course, there’s always one more tweet to make, post to write, words with friends move to complete. There’s one more bit of email, one more lens you can construct, one more comment you can respond to. If you want to, you can be never finished.”

The Unteachables - I know some teachers and professors who agree with this whole-heartedly: “The greatest tragedy of progressive education is not the students’ lack of skills, but of teachable character.” This is an interesting and important article.

How to Start at Your New Church - Here’s a top-notch article from Kevin DeYoung about how to start out at a new church.

Hymns for the Ascension - Cardiphonia has released a new album of hymns related to Christ’s ascension. It’s free for the download!

The Bald Leading the Bald - This is a clever article from Paul Levy, and one with a good lesson. “However, as I looked at the screens I could see a man dressed similarly to me, about my height who had a bald spot reflecting from the lights and whose hair was noticeably thinning. I looked around but there was no one else in the shop.” Uh oh.

Love and Serve Your Wife - Brian Croft offers a list of ten practical ways that a husband can love and serve his wife. On a similar note, here is John Piper’s take on words that you just cannot say too often.

He that has doctrinal knowledge and speculation only, without affection, never is engaged in the business of religion. —Jonathan Edwards

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Interviews About Everything Else

Tim — Wed, 23 May 2012 18:54:10 +0000

I have been able to conduct a lot of interviews in the many years I’ve been running this blog. A couple of weeks ago I drew up a list of interviews featuring Christian artists. Today I’ve got a second round-up for you, this one showcasing interviews about, well, everything else.

About Everything

”10 Questions with John MacArthur” and “5 More Questions with John MacArthur”

About Books They’ve Written

”Spiritual Healing in the Midst of a Husband’s Addiction to Pornography” about Vicki Tiede’s forthcoming book When Your Husband Is Addicted to Pornography.

”5 Questions with Josh Harris” about his book Dug Down Deep.

”Who Made God? An Interview with Edgar Andrews,” about his book Who Made God?

”The Gospel: The Key to Parenting” about Bill Farley’s book Gospel-Powered Parenting.

”The Soul in Cyberspace: An Interview with Douglas Groothuis” about his book The Soul in Cyberspace.

”An Interview with Os Guinness” about his book The Case for Civility: And Why Our Future Depends on It.

About Faith in Real Life

”The Most Unlikely of Heroes,” an interview with Lee Dyck about adopting a special needs child.

”The God Who Gives Strength as Needed: An Interview with Terry Stauffer” about the power of the gospel in dealing with the murder of his daughter.

”Memorizing Scripture - An Interview” with Ryan Ferguson about the discipline of memorizing scripture.

”An Interview with Ben Zobrist” about being a Christian and a major league baseball player.

”Interviewing the ProBlogger,” an interview with Darren Rowse about being a Christian and a blogger.

About Theology

“Continuationism and Cessationism: An Interview with Dr. Wayne Grudem,” Part 1 and Part 2

“Tongues! Signs! Wonders! An Interview with Dr. Sam Waldron,” Part 1 and Part 2

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The Ledger

Tim — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:59:00 +0000

Near the center of every religion is a ledger. Every religion acknowledges, on one level or another, that people do good things and bad things and every religion then maintains a tally, supposing that one day there will come a reckoning. Every religion hopes that on the day of accounting, the day of the audit, the good will outnumber or outweigh the bad. There is hope for those who come to that day with a surplus and no hope for those who come with a deficit.

Islam acknowledges sin—deeds that contradict the will of Allah—and calls its adherents to do good that will outweigh the bad. Good deeds are repentance, prayer and certain acts of charity and kindness. Each of these go in the ledger as credits meant to balance the debits.

Judaism acknowledges sin—violations of God’s commandments—and calls on its adherents to make atonement, reparation of relationship with God, through the good work of repentance, through making right the wrongs done to another person, through prayer and devotion. Each of these is a black entry in the ledger that may outweigh the red.

Buddhism acknowledges sin, or something like it, and calls on its adherents to avoid it in favor of something higher and better. Bad deeds bring bad karma which must be outweighed by the good deeds that bring about good karma. When the accounting comes, the good must outweigh the bad, or fate will not be kind.

Hinduism acknowledges deeds that draw us toward and deeds that draw us away, though a Hindu would hesitate to describe such deeds as sin. Still, it calls on its adherents to repent of what they have done that is bad and to restore parity with repentance or acts of contrition.

Roman Catholicism acknowledges sin—acts not in accord with reason informed by Divine law—and calls on its people to be made right with God primarily by grace bestowed through the use of sacraments such as baptism. Great sins, known as mortal sins, destroy the grace of justification which must then be restored through penance and works of satisfaction. Though Catholicism acknowledges the importance of grace and faith, still it demands deeds, meritorious deeds, that may help restore balance.

Christianity, the Christianity of the Bible, acknowledges sin—acts that transgress or do not fully accord with God’s revealed will—and calls on its adherents to avoid sin altogether. There is a ledger in the Christian faith, but a unique ledger. This ledger allows no balancing. The moment there is one red mark, the moment any sin is entered in the balance sheet, the books are closed. Baptism merits nothing; penance and confession merit nothing; good deeds bring no good karma and no merit in the eyes of God. Balance cannot be restored by any human action.

What can be done? The answer is simple: the account must be settled by someone else. Merit cannot be intrinsic, so it must be extrinsic. And this is where we look to Christ in faith, faith that acknowledges that Christ’s merit can be—has been—applied to us and faith that is itself a gift of God. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). The debt is canceled, it is paid, exclusively and eternally by the work of Jesus Christ.

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A La Carte (5/23)

Tim — Wed, 23 May 2012 10:45:54 +0000

Dictionary of the Old Testament - The final volume in the Dictionary of the Old Testament series has been released and for the next couple of days Westminster Books is offering it at a great price.

Rulers of Israel and Judah - Here’s a nice new infographic that displays the rulers of Israel and Judah in the time of 1 Kings and 2 Kings.

An Unexpected Ministry - I enjoyed this interview with Justin Reimer. He discusses his ministry, The Elisha Foundation.

Does Facebook Wreck Marriages? - “Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg changed his status to ‘married’ Saturday and received over one million ‘likes’ from his followers. But the site he founded isn’t always so marriage-friendly. In fact, lawyers say the social network contributes to an increasing number of marriage breakups.”

Where Are They Now? - This article tracks down some of Harold Camping’s followers and, in the aftermath of his failed predictions, asks, Where are they now?

Are You Mom Enough? - This article is a great read for moms. It deals with the mommy wars. “But I am on the frontlines of another war. The battles are raging and the casualties could be my children, my husband, or myself. This war isn’t about me being mom enough. This war is about God being ‘God enough.’”

Christ is so in love with holiness, that at the price of his blood he will buy it for us. —John Flavel

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Visual Theology - One Another

Tim — Tue, 22 May 2012 17:01:51 +0000

I trust you are enjoying this Visual Theology series of infographics as much as I am. The series has now visited the ordo salutis, the attributes of God, the books of the Bible, Philippians 4:8, the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Trinity, Philippians 2:5-11, the Old Testament tabernacle, the fruit of the Spirit and Reformed Theology. Today it continues with a look at the “one another” passages of Scripture.

The New Testament contains at least 40 passages that contain the words “one another” and each one points to a way that Christians are to treat, or are not to treat, each other. This graphic seeks to display the whole lot of them.

(Click on the thumbnail image below to see the complete infographic)

If you are after a high-res version, you can have it here in JPG format (9 MB). Please feel free to download, copy, email, share, or print the graphic; I just ask that you don’t sell it.

If you have other ideas for theological infographics, please feel free to leave a comment. Several more are already in development.

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One Thousand Gifts

Tim — Tue, 22 May 2012 13:21:04 +0000

I guess I’m a little late to the party. Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts was released almost eighteen months ago and since then has been a consistent bestseller. If anecdotal evidence can be trusted, its appeal has been almost entirely to women. Not surprisingly, I’ve received many questions about the book and most of them have come from women—women who have been given the book or who have been told to read it. So at long last I had the book sent to my Kindle and I gave it a read.

The book’s appeal seems to come on at least two levels. In the first place, it features a uniquely poetic form of writing. Voskamp has a style all her own; it appeals to some and is exasperating to others. Just to give you a taste, here is an excerpt from the first page:

A glowing sun-orb fills an August sky the day this story begins, the day I am born, the day I begin to live.
And I fill my mother’s tearing ring of fire with my body emerging, virgin lungs searing with air of this earth and I enter the world like every person born enters the world: with clenched fists.
From the diameter of her fullness, I empty her out—and she bleeds. Vernix-creased and squalling, I am held to the light.

Voskamp likes to use language in unexpected ways, moving around the order of words, blurring the lines between prose and poetry so that a gift isn’t “tied with ribbon,” but is “ribbon bound.” Sentence fragments are acceptable, rules malleable. There is clearly a kind of appeal to it so that those who don’t hate it, love it.

The second level of the book’s appeal involves the topic so that what she writes about resounds with many of her readers.

Voskamp’s story begins with the twin themes of suffering and ingratitude. She recounts the heartbreaking story of the death of her sister and shows how this, along with other great sorrows and disappointments, drove gratitude far away. One Thousand Gifts is a biographical account of first seeing her need for gratitude and then learning to express it not just in spite of life’s trials, but even through them. She refers to this as eucharisteo, a Greek word for thanksgiving.

Voskamp comes to consider ingratitude the very heart of humanity’s fall into sin. “Non-eucharisteo, ingratitude, was the fall—humanity’s discontent with all that God freely gives. That is what has scraped me raw: ungratefulness.” The remedy, then, is to restore thanksgiving. “Then to find Eden, the abundance of Paradise, I’d need to forsake my non-eucharisteo, my bruised and bloodied ungrateful life, and grab hold to eucharisteo, a lifestyle of thanksgiving.” The way she does this, or the way she does this tangibly at least, is to attempt to order all that she has to be grateful for. She begins to scratch out a list of one thousand gifts. She challenges herself with this, to write down 1,000 gifts of God’s grace.

What are these gifts? They are the ordinary and every day things like “morning shadows across old floors, jam piled high on the toast, cry of blue jay from high in the spruce” (those are numbers 1, 2 and 3 on the list). As she writes, she finds that she begins to think and speak the language of gratitude. Her life is transformed as she discovers how to be grateful. She goes so far as to make this very nearly sacramental, saying “If clinging to His goodness is the highest form of prayer, then seeing His goodness with a pen, with the shutter, with a word of thanks, these really are the most sacred acts conceivable.” As she learns gratitude in her own life, she calls on her readers to do the same, to begin that list of one thousand gifts. Perhaps they, too, will ascend to this new level of Christian experience that she has found.

Having now read this book, I want to point to a couple of some significant concerns.

The first pertains to the people who have influenced Voskamp in her journey to eucharisteo. Her theology is an eclectic combination of Protestantism and Catholic or Catholic-influenced mysticism. She either quotes or is influenced by authors like Henri Nouwen, Brennan Manning, Teresa of Avila, Brother Lawrence, Annie Dillard, and Dallas Willard. This brings to the book a deep-rooted mysticism that at times seems even to border on the view that the divine exists within and extends to all parts of nature (a teaching known as panentheism). At heart, mysticism promotes the view that God can be experienced, and perhaps even best experienced, outside of Scripture. This comes in direct contrast to what Scripture itself says, that Scripture is God’s final and sufficient revelation of himself.

Sexuality & Ecstasy

Based on the people who influence her, it should not be surprising that her book ends up leading toward a higher plane of holiness or Christian experience that borders on spiritual ecstasy. This ecstasy comes by way of an almost sexual experience with God.

By the book’s final chapter Voskamp has realized that she still hasn’t put it all together, that something is still missing, and so, in her words, “I fly to Paris and discover how to make love to God.” This closing chapter, “The Joy of Intimacy,” is her discovery of God through something akin to sexual intimacy. In a chapter laden with intimate imagery she falls in love with God again, but this time hears him urging to respond. She wants more of him. And then at last she experiences some kind of spiritual climax, some understanding of what it means to fully live, of what it means to be one with Christ, to experience the deepest kind of union. “God makes love with grace upon grace, every moment a making of His love for us. [C]ouldn’t I make love to God, making every moment love for Him? To know Him the way Adam knew Eve. Spirit skin to spirit skin?”

It is true, of course, that the Bible uses imagery of bride and groom to describe the relationship of Christ to his church, but it does not go as far as integrating the sexual component of marriage. Sometimes it is best to allow God to define the parameters of our metaphors rather than taking them to a much greater extent. Voskamp would have done well to limit herself here.

The sexuality of this chapter is not all that concerns me. I am also concerned with the kind of spiritual climax she experiences. Why should she have to travel to a Roman Catholic cathedral in a foreign land in order to truly experience the Lord? “My eyes follow the stone arches rising over us, granite hands clasped in prayer over souls. I think of all who have gone before, the hands of medieval peasants who chiseled the stone under which I now stand. I think of those long-ago believers who had a way of entering into the full life, of finding a passage into God, a historical model of intimacy with God. I lean back to see the spires.”

What does she not understand about the gospel that her ecstasies have to happen in a place dedicated to a false gospel of salvation by grace plus works rather than a gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone? Why should they happen in a place dedicated to Our Lady (which is what Notre Dame translates to)? She declares that in the cathedral she is on holy ground, but there is nothing more or less holy about this cathedral than any other place on earth. There must be something wrong not just with the destination but with the whole journey if it leads here, of all places.

Conclusion

Though One Thousand Gifts is not without some strengths, in its own subtle way I believe that it can and will prove dangerous, at least to some. Many will read it, embrace their need for gratitude, and genuinely be more grateful to God. This is well and good. There are many books that contain valuable takeaways even if they also contain significant weaknesses. It doesn’t make you a bad person or an immature Christian if you’ve read it and enjoyed it. But perhaps you’d do well to make sure you haven’t bought into it all the way.

I fear that some will see that Voskamp subtly promotes a higher order of holiness, a higher order of relationship with God, and be dissatisfied that they do not have this for themselves. They may grow discontent not with their ingratitude but with their inability to experience the kind of ecstasy and fervor Voskamp models. What she finds, what she models, is absent from the Bible.

One measure of a good book is that it more clearly displays the power of Scripture to show us our shortcomings and display the gospel’s power over them. In this sense One Thousand Gifts simply does not measure up. And for that reason, among others, I would not recommend it.

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A La Carte (5/22)

Tim — Tue, 22 May 2012 11:17:47 +0000

Overcoming Temptation - D.A. Carson talks about some simultaneous steps to take for overcoming temptation, including a deepening delight in Jesus.

A Crossway Opportunity - Crossway is not only a publisher but also a not-for-profit ministry that relies in part on gifts from people like you to accomplish major ministry projects worldwide. They have a unique opportunity they want you to help with.

Four Marks of Fruit-Bearing Christianity - Here’s some wisdom from J.C. Ryle. “The Christianity which I call fruit-bearing, that which shows its Divine origin by its blessed effects on mankind—the Christianity which you may safely defy unbelievers to explain away-that Christianity is a very different thing. Let me show you some of its leading marks and features.”

False Promises - Thomas Sowell is at his quotable best in this article. “The fact that so many successful politicians are such shameless liars is not only a reflection on them, but a reflection on us.” “What is amazing is the implicit assumption that “the rich” are all such complete fools that they will do nothing to prevent their money from being taxed away.”

A Week in the Life - I found this a very helpful article. Stephen Um simply describes what his week looks like when he is preaching the following Sunday.

God does not do many things that he can, but he does all things that he will. —George Swinnock

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Slow to Anger, Quick to Wrath

Tim — Mon, 21 May 2012 16:25:40 +0000

In God’s revelation of himself to Moses on Mount Sinai, he says that he is “slow to anger” (Exodus 34:6). However, later in the Old Testament, in the prophecy about Christ in Psalm 2, we are told to “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled“ (2:12).

So which is it? Is God slow to anger or is he quick to wrath? It can’t be both, can it?

It seems to me that the answer lies in understanding that there is a distinction between “getting angry” and “kindling wrath.” Getting angry refers to the attitude God has toward his creation. Kindling wrath refers to the ways in which he acts out that attitude.

In this sense, we can affirm both: God is slow to become angry, as he tells Moses on Mount Sinai (and repeats throughout the rest of Scripture (see Nehemiah 9:17; Psalm 86:15, etc.). But after he is angered, his wrath, the means through which that anger is manifested, can be kindled quickly.

Romans 2:4-5 captures this distinction powerfully. After mentioning how the people have been presuming upon “the riches of [God’s] kindness and forbearance and patience” (referring to the slowness of God’s anger), Paul says that they are storing up wrath for themselves “on the day of wrath,” which, as we know from Paul’s words in 1 Thessalonians 5:2, will come quickly, “like a thief in the night.”

Ultimately, each of these is true and each of them is a blessing to us. The fact that God is slow to anger means that there is time and opportunity for us to repent of our sin. The fact that he is quick to wrath guards us against presuming upon his mercy and prolonging our rebellion.

(For a look at other apparent contradictions in the Bible, see Justified by Faith or Works?, Who Incited David?, and That Pesky Rooster.)

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