Soli Deo Gloria » Book Reviews

Tempted and Tried

Jay — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 02:37:42 +0000

I am working my way through an excellent book by Dr. Russell Moore entitled Tempted and Tried: Temptation and the Triumph and Christ. Below is a snipper from the chapter entitled Starving to Death where Moore gives excellent Biblical insight into the root issues behind sin and how Satan works in the lives of believers. It’s refreshing to see a book that highlites the reality of the war with sin and temptation in the lives of believers and how God often uses that struggle to conform us more into the image of Christ. I also admire Moore’s understanding of how important it is for the community of the church to bear one another’s burdens through a biblical understanding of the struggles with sin in believer’s lives. I highly recommend this book. It’s well written and also gives some very excellent O.T. insight that often has the reader saying, “oh now I see the connection!” I know I’ve already had some “aha!” moments as I plow through this book.

Enjoy this snippet:

Sometimes we actually empower Satan by the way we speak of Christian conversion. We highlight the testimony of the ex-alcoholic who says, “Since I met Jesus I’ve never wanted another drink.” Now that happens sometimes, and we should give thanks for God’s power here. But this liberation is no more miraculous, indeed in some ways less so, than the repentant drunk who says, “Every time I hear a clink of ice in a glass I tremble with desire, but God is faithful in keeping me sober.”

The girl with the same-sex desires might conclude she is doomed to be a lesbian because she isn’t drawn to boys and still fights her attraction to girls. Family members who have to cut up their credit cards to keep from spending every paycheck on what they see advertised may conclude they’re just not “spiritual” enough to follow Christ because they still war against their wants. Nonsense! You are not what you want. You are who you are. And that’s defined by the Word of God. It might be that God frees your appetite from whatever it’s drawn toward, but usually he instead enables you to fight it. This might go on for forty days, for forty years, for an entire lifetime. That’s all right. There must be room then in our churches for a genuine bearing of one another’s burdens when it comes to appetites. Pretending the appetites are instantly nullified by conversion is a rejection of what God has told us – that we are still in the war zone.

True Revival

God is the Most Offended Party

Jay — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:18:16 +0000

“What makes sin sin, what makes it so profoundly heinous, what makes it so deeply repugnant and culpable, is that it is [an] offense against God. We dare not forget that the first commandment, according to Jesus, is the commandment to love God with heart and soul and mind and strength. This the first sin - first sequentially, first in fundamental importance – is not to love God with heart and soul and mind and strength. It is the sin we always commit when we commit any other sin. At the most profound level, whenever we sin, God is the most offended party. If, like David, we commit adultery, God is the most offended party. If we cheat on our income taxes, God is the most offended party. If we puff ourselves up in pride, indulge in slander, demean a colleague, or nurture bitterness, God is the most offended party. If we watch porn on the internet, God is the most offended party.”

- D.A. Carson from his book Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus

I highly recommend this book – especially as we approach Easter. Carson does an outstanding job unpacking just a few of the glorious truths of Christ’s death and resurrection from a reformed, Biblical perspective.

The Shack – Take Two

Jay — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 12:29:36 +0000

I’ve already posted a while back on the problems with the popular book “The Shack” that so many professing believers claim to be a wonderful book. In fact, Eugene Peterson, author of the translation weak paraphrase “The Message” claimed it was equal to the classic book, “Pilgrim’s Progress”. I’m sorry, this book comes no where near the theological beauty of “Pilgrim’s Progress”. In fact, it’s at the complete other end of the spectrum with its heretical views of the Trinity.

Dr. Albert Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary says, “This book includes undiluted heresy.” It doesn’t get any clearer than that.

The real truth is that the endorsements of the book from popular musical artists and liberal Christians is just one more indication of the complete lack of spiritual discernment in our world and the condition of the church visible. Maybe pastors should spend more time preaching the gospel and less time endorsing junk like “The Purpose Driven Life” and “The Shack”. It’s so concerning to see the state of the majority of professing believers in America.

Tim Challies has written an update to his review of “The Shack” and it is an excellent, Biblical review. If you or a loved one has this book (and from what I hear some churches are handing this book out like they did the “Purpose Driven Drivel Life”, I urge you to carefully read this excellent review.

So head on over to challies.com and check out the updated review. Tim has also provided his review in an elegant pdf format that you can send to your friends or maybe even your pastor. And while you’re at it grab a copy of Challie’s excellent book on discernment because it is clearly a lack of Biblical discernment that has caused books like “The Shack” to become so popular among the American church.

The Shack – Is It a Healthy Read?

Jay — Sat, 10 May 2008 18:07:33 +0000

“The Shack” by William P. Young is a popular book – a top seller on Amazon.com and unfortunately a book that many young evangelicals are racing to often with support within the Evangelical church. We seem to see a lack of Biblical discernment within the church – often from leadership. Just like Rob Bell, Young’s book attracts the young crowd and just because “everyone is reading it” does not make it a Biblically sound book. “The Shack” has some serious theological problems that include promoting a false view of the Trinity and a heretical concept called modalism.

As I scour the reviews of this book I am amazed at the diverse support for it. There are the so called “heresy-hunters” that most on the liberal front consider “armed and dangerous” with solid doctrine and then there are those on the other end who say, “it’s just a book”.

Some have even be so bold as to compare this book with Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress” for its symbolic imagery. I must disagree with this comparison as the teachings (whether intentional or not) are clearly wrong. William Young’s intentions are probably very noble in his book but that does not excuse the clear theological error the book illuminates. Today’s youth (especially in the evangelical church) are starving for truth and since the church visible seems to refuse to give them solid truth they will turn to popular books like this.

Of all the Christian book reviewers out there I must say Tim Challies always gives a solid, Biblical approach to his reviews. His review of “The Shack” is long and detailed and clearly covers the problems in this book.

Tim Challie’s in his excellent review of this book writes

Overall, I had to conclude that Young has an inadequate and often-unbiblical understanding of the Trinity. While granting that the Trinity is a very difficult topic to understand and one that we cannot know fully, there are several indications that he often blurs the distinct persons of the Trinity along with their roles and their unique attributes. Combined with his novel but unsupported conjectures, this is a serious concern.

If anything, the popularity of this book inside the church shows a constant lack of discernment and the lack of knowledge of core Biblical theology. It is so sad that we do not read our Bibles enough nor do American churches focus on good doctrine so as to equip their flocks to properly discern heresy when they see or read it.

Challies continues:

Because of the sheer volume of error and because of the importance of the doctrines reinvented by the author, I would encourage Christians, and especially young Christians, to decline this invitation to meet with God in The Shack. It is not worth reading for the story and certainly not worth reading for the theology.

Please take a moment to read Tim Challie’s full review of “The Shack”.

It’s time the church was more discerning in what they hear, read and see. There are those out there that will intentionally try and lead people down the wrong path and there are those that unintentionally do. I personally believe that “The Shack” falls into the latter group. But regardless of the intent, bad doctrine is bad doctrine and when it comes to essential doctrinal teachings there is no middle ground.

Update …
This post has gotten so much traffic that I have decided to also include an excellent video by Mark Driscoll on The Shack. He breaks this book down and exposes the theological issues excellently…

Another update:
Dr. Al Mohler has also put together an excellent critical review of this horrible book called “The Shack”.

Soli Deo Gloria!