While reading those other books about grace and works I decided that I would reread my personal favorites "Believing Christ" and "Following Christ" by Stephen Robinson. I love these books. While reading them this last time I thought that perhaps I should start giving them out as gifts to young men leaving on missions. I talked to Karen about it and she had the same thought that I did about it. Some mission presidents probably wouldn't mind their missionaries reading them and some might (although I would have a hard time understanding why someone would.) I don't know what I'll do about it for sure.
These books are just too awesome to try and review so I'll just share some stories about them. First it took me a long time to read "Following Christ." I thought that "Believing Christ" was so excellent that "Following Christ" could possible be worth buying, what else could be said? In fact I don't think that I ever read it until I was able to get the PDF version off of the LDS Library and read it on my iPod. How's that for a stupid person? Guilty.
The full title of "Following Christ" is "Following Christ: The Parable of the Divers and More Good News." The full title of "Believing Christ" is "Believing Christ: The Parable of the Bicycle and Other Good News." When I read "Believing Christ" the first time I quickly picked up the 'Parable of the Bicycle.' It's the story where Bro. Robinson tells his daughter in a offhand way that if she saves up all of her money she will one day be able to buy a bicycle. His daughter takes him at his word and starts saving every penny she earns. A short while later Bro. Robinson notices her saving some money from a chore and asks her what she's doing and she reminds him that she's saving everything she earns so she can get a bicycle. Bro. Robinson remembers the promise he made her so he takes her to find a bike and when they find it she realizes it will take her forever to buy the bike. Or as Bro. Robinson puts it, buy the time she's saved enough for a bicycle she'll probably want a car. So he tells her that if she'll give him everything she has and a hug and a kiss it will be enough for a bicycle. That's like the covenant we make with the Savior, except our efforts are even less in comparison to His.
However I read through "Following Christ" and when I got to the end I wondered how I'd missed the 'Parable of the Divers?' This time I was going to pay attention to make sure that I got it, and I was surprised and a little disappointed when I read through it. The parable this time is about a diving competition where Bro. Robinson and his friends are all in a diving contest. They've all had years of practice on the diving boards in their backyards and what not. There is a young man that come from a less well to do part of town and while he hasn't had years of practice in backyards he's got something that they don't have – he's fearless. While they're doing pretty swan dives and what not, he's doing back flips and one-and-a-halfs and gainers and what not, and while they're form is perfect on the easier dives his is not so good on his dives. The scores on the dives make Bro. Robinson and his friends think that they're winning, but when the final score is given the fearless young man has won. Bro. Robinson goes to protest and finds out about degree of difficulty. While the fearless young man might not have scored as high on his dives the multiplier for the difficulty of the dives made him the ultimate winner. Bro Robinson says that we will all be judged on how we handled the life that we were given to live.
I don't know why I missed this. I guess that I thought that anyone that was participating in a diving contest should know about degree of difficulty, so maybe the story just didn't ring true with me, and I didn't relate to it as well as the first parable. Anyway I was pretty surprised when I read it through the second time. I mean I agree with the story and everything it just didn't hit me as hard as the first one on reading through it.
Something else that he said the "Following Christ" really struck me this time. He said that LDS use 'sealing' in the same way that many Evangelical Christians say 'saved.' We're not really 'sealed' yet, but the promise and intent is their and we function as though it is already a fact, and it mostly is a fact. I thought that's a great way to think of it.
One other thing he said that I missed is that when he said some Christians believe in "cheap grace" i.e. that once you've accepted Christ you're not expected to do anything else, but it's not as many as LDS believe it is. I think that I'm finding that to be true.
I give these books 5 stars and would recommend that anyone should read them.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
"Classic Christianity" by Bob George
“Classic Christianity” by Bob George
This is the book that Bob Millet used an example from in his book "Grace Works." I liked the example so much that I looked into the book to see what it was like. I liked the description enough that I felt compelled to buy it. This book is so popular that it has it's own website classicchristianity.org. The book has sold over 600,000 copies and has been translated into a number of different languages. On the web site it gives background about how the book came to be written and there are a number of testimonials about how the book has affected people throughout the world. One of the comments about the book that I really liked (but I can't find where I saw it so this is a paraphrase) was "You should buy this book weather you're an Arianist or a Calvinst. It has a great message."
The example of Christianity that Dr. Millet used was this. There is a house full of people, some of who are deaf and some of who can hear. There is a hearing person in a room that is listening to music on earphones. He has his eyes closed with a smile on his face swaying to the music while tapping his toe and snapping this finger. A deaf person comes in and sees the hearing person and decides that he is enjoying himself so he sits down next to him and starts imitating him, tapping his toe, snapping his fingers and swaying to the music. After a minute he decides that doing all this is allright but maybe all he needs to do is to keep doing it to really get the hang of it, so he smiles slightly and closes his eyes to exactly imitate the hearing person. Another person comes into the room and sees two people performing the exact same actions, but are they doing the same thing? No they're not at all, and that's the difference between someone who is a true Christian and someone who is only going through the motions. I liked that description and still do.
Another great example he had was this. Suppose you own and world famous buffet style resturaunt and you go out back and see a begger who is fighting with the cats and dogs over food in the alley. This man is emaciated and looks like he hasn't had a decent meal in years. His cloths are ragged, he smells bad, and has sores. You call the man over and bring him into your resturaunt and tell him that you don't want him to eat garbage in the alley any more. You say that God has been good to you and you have this successful resturaunt and you want him to eat here whenever he's hungry. The mans eyes open unbelievingly and he asks; I can eat however much I want? That's right you answer. I can eat whenever I want? That right you answer again. I can have what ever I want, desert as much as I want? That's right. Steak? Yes. Lobster? Yes. Suddenly the man gets a sly grin on his face and he asks, Can I eat garbage?
This was a shocking example to me and very apropos. Pastor George says that you'd think the man was crazy why would he want to eat garbage when he could have as much nourishing great tasting food as he wanted? He says that this is the same with the Gospel. If you show people how great following the Savior, or living the Gospel people want to live that way, they’d be just as crazy as the man in the example. The problem with this analogy however, is we know that people do do things like that. They may go back to eating garbage, or using drugs, or cheating on their wives or any of a number of things even though they know they shouldn’t. Sometimes people just need to be given rules to live by to help them reach a point where they don’t go back to eating garbage. Anyway this was a great example, and touched me powerfully.
The whole book talks about an experience that started when Pastor George was on his way to work in tears and was praying to the Lord that he could return to the joyful time in his life when he was a new Christian and the gospel was a joy. At the time we was in full time Christian ministry and the gospel had become a grind in his life. After this prayer the Lord started leading him to a more joyful realization of how to live the gospel.
One thing he points out is that many many scriptures point out that when we’re baptized we put to death the old sinful self so that we can have a new life. Living with the Savior is the point of the gospel. Many scriptures point this out.
Another thing he pointed out was that he often counsels people in his ministry and many people see themselves in a negative life. For example people will say “Hi I’m Bob and I’m an alcoholic.” Or “I’m Sue and I have a big but.” The point is that were all in mortality and we’re all sinners but we should see ourselves as sinners because that’s not the way the Savior sees us, we should see ourselves as beloved children of the Savior who want the very best for us. Many people after they see themselves in this light begin to make great progress.
Pastor George many many times makes the point that we don’t have to do any of the things that he talks about in this book but that we will do them because we love the Savior. His story about the man who likes to eat garbage was one example of this book.
I really liked this book. I’d give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars and would recommend it to many people. The only caveot I would have is that LDS people need to realize that not everything in it is right but there are a lot of great things in this book.
This is the book that Bob Millet used an example from in his book "Grace Works." I liked the example so much that I looked into the book to see what it was like. I liked the description enough that I felt compelled to buy it. This book is so popular that it has it's own website classicchristianity.org. The book has sold over 600,000 copies and has been translated into a number of different languages. On the web site it gives background about how the book came to be written and there are a number of testimonials about how the book has affected people throughout the world. One of the comments about the book that I really liked (but I can't find where I saw it so this is a paraphrase) was "You should buy this book weather you're an Arianist or a Calvinst. It has a great message."
The example of Christianity that Dr. Millet used was this. There is a house full of people, some of who are deaf and some of who can hear. There is a hearing person in a room that is listening to music on earphones. He has his eyes closed with a smile on his face swaying to the music while tapping his toe and snapping this finger. A deaf person comes in and sees the hearing person and decides that he is enjoying himself so he sits down next to him and starts imitating him, tapping his toe, snapping his fingers and swaying to the music. After a minute he decides that doing all this is allright but maybe all he needs to do is to keep doing it to really get the hang of it, so he smiles slightly and closes his eyes to exactly imitate the hearing person. Another person comes into the room and sees two people performing the exact same actions, but are they doing the same thing? No they're not at all, and that's the difference between someone who is a true Christian and someone who is only going through the motions. I liked that description and still do.
Another great example he had was this. Suppose you own and world famous buffet style resturaunt and you go out back and see a begger who is fighting with the cats and dogs over food in the alley. This man is emaciated and looks like he hasn't had a decent meal in years. His cloths are ragged, he smells bad, and has sores. You call the man over and bring him into your resturaunt and tell him that you don't want him to eat garbage in the alley any more. You say that God has been good to you and you have this successful resturaunt and you want him to eat here whenever he's hungry. The mans eyes open unbelievingly and he asks; I can eat however much I want? That's right you answer. I can eat whenever I want? That right you answer again. I can have what ever I want, desert as much as I want? That's right. Steak? Yes. Lobster? Yes. Suddenly the man gets a sly grin on his face and he asks, Can I eat garbage?
This was a shocking example to me and very apropos. Pastor George says that you'd think the man was crazy why would he want to eat garbage when he could have as much nourishing great tasting food as he wanted? He says that this is the same with the Gospel. If you show people how great following the Savior, or living the Gospel people want to live that way, they’d be just as crazy as the man in the example. The problem with this analogy however, is we know that people do do things like that. They may go back to eating garbage, or using drugs, or cheating on their wives or any of a number of things even though they know they shouldn’t. Sometimes people just need to be given rules to live by to help them reach a point where they don’t go back to eating garbage. Anyway this was a great example, and touched me powerfully.
The whole book talks about an experience that started when Pastor George was on his way to work in tears and was praying to the Lord that he could return to the joyful time in his life when he was a new Christian and the gospel was a joy. At the time we was in full time Christian ministry and the gospel had become a grind in his life. After this prayer the Lord started leading him to a more joyful realization of how to live the gospel.
One thing he points out is that many many scriptures point out that when we’re baptized we put to death the old sinful self so that we can have a new life. Living with the Savior is the point of the gospel. Many scriptures point this out.
Another thing he pointed out was that he often counsels people in his ministry and many people see themselves in a negative life. For example people will say “Hi I’m Bob and I’m an alcoholic.” Or “I’m Sue and I have a big but.” The point is that were all in mortality and we’re all sinners but we should see ourselves as sinners because that’s not the way the Savior sees us, we should see ourselves as beloved children of the Savior who want the very best for us. Many people after they see themselves in this light begin to make great progress.
Pastor George many many times makes the point that we don’t have to do any of the things that he talks about in this book but that we will do them because we love the Savior. His story about the man who likes to eat garbage was one example of this book.
I really liked this book. I’d give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars and would recommend it to many people. The only caveot I would have is that LDS people need to realize that not everything in it is right but there are a lot of great things in this book.
"The Discipline of Grace" and "The Pursuit of Holiness" by Jerry Bridges
While I was looking for a book that talked about how evangelicals deal with works I came across the book "The Discipline of Grace" and felt drawn to buy it. I eventually did after reading all the reviews about it on Amazon. Most of the reviews were highly complimentary except that one that said that he thought that it stuck him as being "legalistic."
That's one thing that I've learned in my readings; it seems that no evangelical wants to be "legalistic." In the second book "The Pursuit of Holiness" Pastor Jerry uses the LDS as an example of a "legalistic" cult. Strangely enough he was using us as a positive example of living the Word of Wisdom. He said that if we could live exemplary lives and we were members of a cult then surely real Christians could as well.
I bought "The Discipline of Grace" and I really liked it. Nothing in the book was talked about that couldn't have been talked about in Sunday School, of course we'd use scriptures from the modern revelations as well but that would be about the only difference. This book really struck me and opened my eyes. For some reason I'd thought that all evangelicals believe in "cheap grace," totally forgetting about the Arianism debates in Calvinism.
In reading about the author at the end of the book it turns out "The Pursuit of Holiness" is probably his most popular book. The review said that the book had sold over a million copies and is something of a classic. I decided that I would buy it as well.
I liked this book as well especially the part I talked about above. I like him pointing out Exo 11:44 "...ye shall sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy:" Great scripture. Pastor Jerry points out in this and other scriptures the command is “...sanctify yourself...” as in we need to take part in the process.
I don't remember him ever talking about the scriptures talking about us being judged by our works. But I do know that he quoted the Savior as saying a number of times "Believe on me." I've actually thought about this, that the Savior said this, but in the cases that I can think of he says something like "Whosoever believeth in me and is baptized" so it seems to me that it is usually combined with an action. That seems to me how it works.
Anyway I liked both of these books and would rate them both a 4 out of 5 stars.
That's one thing that I've learned in my readings; it seems that no evangelical wants to be "legalistic." In the second book "The Pursuit of Holiness" Pastor Jerry uses the LDS as an example of a "legalistic" cult. Strangely enough he was using us as a positive example of living the Word of Wisdom. He said that if we could live exemplary lives and we were members of a cult then surely real Christians could as well.
I bought "The Discipline of Grace" and I really liked it. Nothing in the book was talked about that couldn't have been talked about in Sunday School, of course we'd use scriptures from the modern revelations as well but that would be about the only difference. This book really struck me and opened my eyes. For some reason I'd thought that all evangelicals believe in "cheap grace," totally forgetting about the Arianism debates in Calvinism.
In reading about the author at the end of the book it turns out "The Pursuit of Holiness" is probably his most popular book. The review said that the book had sold over a million copies and is something of a classic. I decided that I would buy it as well.
I liked this book as well especially the part I talked about above. I like him pointing out Exo 11:44 "...ye shall sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy:" Great scripture. Pastor Jerry points out in this and other scriptures the command is “...sanctify yourself...” as in we need to take part in the process.
I don't remember him ever talking about the scriptures talking about us being judged by our works. But I do know that he quoted the Savior as saying a number of times "Believe on me." I've actually thought about this, that the Savior said this, but in the cases that I can think of he says something like "Whosoever believeth in me and is baptized" so it seems to me that it is usually combined with an action. That seems to me how it works.
Anyway I liked both of these books and would rate them both a 4 out of 5 stars.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
"Grace Works" by Robert Millet
While I was doing all this reading about grace and what not I came across this book "Grace Works" by Robert Millet. Now I don't usually like reading Dr. Millet's books, and I've never been able to figure out why I don't, but I don't. I decided that I would go ahead and buy this book and reconsider. It was an alright book, but still I just don't like the way that Dr. Millet writes.
I did like something that Dr. Millet said. He said what if we had the Church with all the temples, and ordinances and the organizations and everything, but there was no atonement? Would the Church save us. No of course not only the atonement saves us. Great point.
It's not a bad book and it talked about this one example that he got from a book call "Classic Christianity" that I really liked.
I'd give this a 3 out of 5 stars.
I did like something that Dr. Millet said. He said what if we had the Church with all the temples, and ordinances and the organizations and everything, but there was no atonement? Would the Church save us. No of course not only the atonement saves us. Great point.
It's not a bad book and it talked about this one example that he got from a book call "Classic Christianity" that I really liked.
I'd give this a 3 out of 5 stars.
Friday, July 22, 2011
"Simply Christian" by N. T. Wright
Bishop Wright is an interesting writer. I first heard about him when I started getting interested in the New Paul Perspective (NPP). He was influential in that field. The interesting thing that I found out about Bishop Wright was that he was also active in the "Third Wave" of the historical Jesus movement. If I remember right the "First Wave" was the traditional wave where the Jesus of the New Testament was accepted. The "Second Wave" was when scholars started subjecting Jesus and the New Testament to historical research. Unfortunately this sort of scrutiny mostly does away with the miraculous and Jesus become an itinerant Jewish Rabi and not the Son of God, Creator and Savior of the World. The "Third Wave" is a response where Jesus is placed in historical context but still considered divine.
Bishop Wright had an interesting book about the historical Jesus, but I can't remember it title now, however his main thesis was that Jesus positioned himself as taking the place of the Temple in Jewish thinking. It's a little more in depth than that but that's what I remember. I do remember that I liked the book. (I tired to find the title of the book on Amazon. Man Bishop Wright has written a lot of books and nothing jumped out at me.) I can remember reading something that said that Bishop Wright was very popular with many evangelicals because of his writings on the historical Jesus, but then he upset many of those people when he started writing about the NPP. I also read a NPP book by him but only remember that it was interesting and can't remember anything that jumped out at me. I do remember that after I read the book I started thinking that Paul probably thought of himself as an observant Jew to the day he died, he just considered himself to be a correctly observant Jew, like the LDS consider ourselves to be the correct Christians.
Anyway when I bought those books there was another book called "Simply Christian" on Amazon that looked interesting so I bought 3 N. T. Wright books. I remember someone on the Amazon page comparing "Simply Christian" to C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity." Well I remember reading the first chapter and thinking that it was going to be a rewrite of C.S. Lewis and stopped reading it. What a dope I can be at times.
Basically Bishop Wright says that there are four longings in humans that are fulfilled in Jesus. These are a longing for Justice, for Spirituality, for Beauty and for Companionship. The first four chapters lay out how those longings manifest themselves and the rest of the book shows how Jesus fulfills them.
The idea that there is some human concept of Justice is manifest when you go to a playground and watch kids play and one child will wail "It's not fair!" Generally if an adult is around he'll tell the child that he's right it's not fair, and that we live in a fallen world that's unfair. We don't generally say it that way, but that's the point that we're making. However N.T. Wright says that they fact that the child knows instinctively that that things should be fair shows that their is a standard of fairness that everyone understands because the child is not taught that, we adults do our best to disabuse the kids of the their instinctual quest for fairness. Unfortunately C.S. Lewis used this same example and so I just thought that Bishop Wright was ripping him off.
He wasn't really, it's just that that's a true observation and both men see it. Bishop Wright then goes on to say similar things about the quest for beauty, companionship and spirituality. I'd never really considered the quest for companionship as being an indication of divinity within us. Bishop Wright talks about how we show this desire for companionship. One of his interesting examples is that people continue to get married even though they know that there's a good chance they're going to be divorced, something still drives them to want that close companionship with others. I thought that was a profound thought, especially because Bishop Wright has to go on and say that we want that companionship even though we can't have eternal companionship with anyone except the Savior. Now that's profoundly said that Bishop Wright notices that we're driven by something to seek out close companionship with others, and he doesn't know anything about the sealing power of God, and just how truly indicative that desire if of a loving Eternal Heavenly Father, and His Son. We can in fact have eternal companionship with others, and with the Savior and the Father as well.
It was an interesting book, but I think that I'd only give it about 3 stars out of 5.
Bishop Wright had an interesting book about the historical Jesus, but I can't remember it title now, however his main thesis was that Jesus positioned himself as taking the place of the Temple in Jewish thinking. It's a little more in depth than that but that's what I remember. I do remember that I liked the book. (I tired to find the title of the book on Amazon. Man Bishop Wright has written a lot of books and nothing jumped out at me.) I can remember reading something that said that Bishop Wright was very popular with many evangelicals because of his writings on the historical Jesus, but then he upset many of those people when he started writing about the NPP. I also read a NPP book by him but only remember that it was interesting and can't remember anything that jumped out at me. I do remember that after I read the book I started thinking that Paul probably thought of himself as an observant Jew to the day he died, he just considered himself to be a correctly observant Jew, like the LDS consider ourselves to be the correct Christians.
Anyway when I bought those books there was another book called "Simply Christian" on Amazon that looked interesting so I bought 3 N. T. Wright books. I remember someone on the Amazon page comparing "Simply Christian" to C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity." Well I remember reading the first chapter and thinking that it was going to be a rewrite of C.S. Lewis and stopped reading it. What a dope I can be at times.
Basically Bishop Wright says that there are four longings in humans that are fulfilled in Jesus. These are a longing for Justice, for Spirituality, for Beauty and for Companionship. The first four chapters lay out how those longings manifest themselves and the rest of the book shows how Jesus fulfills them.
The idea that there is some human concept of Justice is manifest when you go to a playground and watch kids play and one child will wail "It's not fair!" Generally if an adult is around he'll tell the child that he's right it's not fair, and that we live in a fallen world that's unfair. We don't generally say it that way, but that's the point that we're making. However N.T. Wright says that they fact that the child knows instinctively that that things should be fair shows that their is a standard of fairness that everyone understands because the child is not taught that, we adults do our best to disabuse the kids of the their instinctual quest for fairness. Unfortunately C.S. Lewis used this same example and so I just thought that Bishop Wright was ripping him off.
He wasn't really, it's just that that's a true observation and both men see it. Bishop Wright then goes on to say similar things about the quest for beauty, companionship and spirituality. I'd never really considered the quest for companionship as being an indication of divinity within us. Bishop Wright talks about how we show this desire for companionship. One of his interesting examples is that people continue to get married even though they know that there's a good chance they're going to be divorced, something still drives them to want that close companionship with others. I thought that was a profound thought, especially because Bishop Wright has to go on and say that we want that companionship even though we can't have eternal companionship with anyone except the Savior. Now that's profoundly said that Bishop Wright notices that we're driven by something to seek out close companionship with others, and he doesn't know anything about the sealing power of God, and just how truly indicative that desire if of a loving Eternal Heavenly Father, and His Son. We can in fact have eternal companionship with others, and with the Savior and the Father as well.
It was an interesting book, but I think that I'd only give it about 3 stars out of 5.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
"Cost of Discipleship" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
I've been having this compulsion to read about how grace and works go together. Actually what has compelled me is to find out how those who say that "We're saved by grace." Well actually LDS say that as well, but some people seem to say that after you accept the Savior there's nothing else that you need to do. What I'd really like to find is a book that explains how they explain the scriptures where it clearly states that we will be judged by our works.
For some reason I remembered this book "Cost of Discipleship" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German theologian that was one of the founders of the Confessing Church in Germany. The Nazi's co-opted the Lutheran State Church during the 30's and started Nazifying it. Dietrich and others then started the Confessing Church as a protest against what was going on. He wrote this book in 1937 I believe (I've returned it to the library so I'm working from memory here) and he was already being scrutinized heavily by the Nazi's. He protested the Nazis and worked against them as much as he could. Friends got him out of Germany in 1939 because they feared for him. However, he felt that if he was going to help rebuild the German Church after the war he had to be with his brothers and sisters during their darkest hours so he went back to Germany. He was arrested in 1943. He so impressed his guards that they smuggled papers and writing instruments into him and smuggled what he wrote out. That is how we have his "Letter and Papers from Prison" which is a famous book. I'm considering reading it. He was linked, somehow, to the conspirators who tried to kill Hitler. He was executed on orders Himmler about two week before the concentration camp he was in was liberated by the American infantry. He's a true martyr, so reading a book like the "Cost of Discipleship" when you know that the writer was willing to pay the ultimate cost for discipleship puts a whole new spin on reading the book.
When Dietrich was young he spent some time in America in Harlem where is met a black pastor that introduced him to Abyssinian Baptist Church where he taught a sunday school class. He is said to have had a profound religious experience while he was in America. It was a pastor in that church that introduced him to the term 'cheap grace.'
In his book at one place he has a quote (paraphrasing) "Grace isn't cheap it cost the most precious blood in existence." I don't think that it's putting it too strongly to say that Dietrich felt that cheap grace was a heresy and was destroying the Christian Church.
Some of the things he said touched me very deeply. For example said that the essence of Christ's message was "Come follow me" and that when he said that to Peter and John they immediately left all and followed Christ which is something that we in the modern world find incomprehensible. That pierced my heart because I've always thought that there had to be more to the story than Jesus saying "Come follow me." and them following him. It was incomprehensible to me. What idiot just follows another person when he says "Come follow me?" Well in our materialistic oriented world it makes no sense at all but that is what we're supposed to do. When Peter saw the Savior walking on the water and he wanted to go to him he said "Lord bid me to come to you" and the Savior said "Come" and Peter did. What faith.
I assume that Dietrich was Lutheran, being a Protestant German. He points out that Luther followed the Savior's admonition to "Follow me" twice in his life. First when he went into the Augustine Monastery and second when he felt that the Lord was calling him to "be in the world but not of it." I've never really considered how much faith it would take to go from being a cloistered monk to being a Pastor of a church but it would take an immense amount of faith, especially when your fighting established society every step of the way.
Dietrich points out that in the Medieval Church there were two levels of Christianity. Everyday Christianity and the "professional" Christians, those who became full time Christians such as priests, monks and nuns. However, Luther thought that the Lord was calling everyone equally and that a brick maker could be called to follow the Savior while making bricks; that there shouldn't be this tiered Christianity. Luther was truly a great man, I keep thinking that I should maybe read some of the stuff that he wrote, but I'm not sure that I'm ready for such thick theological writings. I also think I should read Calvin's writings as well but the same apprehensions apply.
The central portion of the book goes through the Sermon on the Mount very in depth. He said that when Jesus says that he did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill, far from saying that the moral portion of the Jewish law were no longer in force Jesus was strengthening it. He certainly went beyond what was expected in the law during the Sermon.
He also talked about something I've never thought about. First the Savior says that we must be a light to the world. This isn't something we can choose or not choose to do, it is our responsibility. Be a light, be the salt of the Earth. Then in the very next portion of the Sermon he says that we should do all that we do in secret. Our left hand shouldn't know what our right hand is doing. So how are we to be a light and at the same time do everything in secret?
One thing that I found interesting is that this book was written to other pastors, more so than most books that I've read. Towards the end of the book he talked about the need of being able to have and enforce discipline in a Church. He ultimately said something that sounds very much like what is said about an excommunication in the LDS Church. Ultimately taking away someone's membership is a way to get their attention and allow them to repent.
I'm really considering reading his book "Letters and Papers from Prison" but will probably wait to see if I can find it at the library.
I liked this book and would recommend it to anyone. I would rank it a 4 out of 5 stars
For some reason I remembered this book "Cost of Discipleship" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German theologian that was one of the founders of the Confessing Church in Germany. The Nazi's co-opted the Lutheran State Church during the 30's and started Nazifying it. Dietrich and others then started the Confessing Church as a protest against what was going on. He wrote this book in 1937 I believe (I've returned it to the library so I'm working from memory here) and he was already being scrutinized heavily by the Nazi's. He protested the Nazis and worked against them as much as he could. Friends got him out of Germany in 1939 because they feared for him. However, he felt that if he was going to help rebuild the German Church after the war he had to be with his brothers and sisters during their darkest hours so he went back to Germany. He was arrested in 1943. He so impressed his guards that they smuggled papers and writing instruments into him and smuggled what he wrote out. That is how we have his "Letter and Papers from Prison" which is a famous book. I'm considering reading it. He was linked, somehow, to the conspirators who tried to kill Hitler. He was executed on orders Himmler about two week before the concentration camp he was in was liberated by the American infantry. He's a true martyr, so reading a book like the "Cost of Discipleship" when you know that the writer was willing to pay the ultimate cost for discipleship puts a whole new spin on reading the book.
When Dietrich was young he spent some time in America in Harlem where is met a black pastor that introduced him to Abyssinian Baptist Church where he taught a sunday school class. He is said to have had a profound religious experience while he was in America. It was a pastor in that church that introduced him to the term 'cheap grace.'
In his book at one place he has a quote (paraphrasing) "Grace isn't cheap it cost the most precious blood in existence." I don't think that it's putting it too strongly to say that Dietrich felt that cheap grace was a heresy and was destroying the Christian Church.
Some of the things he said touched me very deeply. For example said that the essence of Christ's message was "Come follow me" and that when he said that to Peter and John they immediately left all and followed Christ which is something that we in the modern world find incomprehensible. That pierced my heart because I've always thought that there had to be more to the story than Jesus saying "Come follow me." and them following him. It was incomprehensible to me. What idiot just follows another person when he says "Come follow me?" Well in our materialistic oriented world it makes no sense at all but that is what we're supposed to do. When Peter saw the Savior walking on the water and he wanted to go to him he said "Lord bid me to come to you" and the Savior said "Come" and Peter did. What faith.
I assume that Dietrich was Lutheran, being a Protestant German. He points out that Luther followed the Savior's admonition to "Follow me" twice in his life. First when he went into the Augustine Monastery and second when he felt that the Lord was calling him to "be in the world but not of it." I've never really considered how much faith it would take to go from being a cloistered monk to being a Pastor of a church but it would take an immense amount of faith, especially when your fighting established society every step of the way.
Dietrich points out that in the Medieval Church there were two levels of Christianity. Everyday Christianity and the "professional" Christians, those who became full time Christians such as priests, monks and nuns. However, Luther thought that the Lord was calling everyone equally and that a brick maker could be called to follow the Savior while making bricks; that there shouldn't be this tiered Christianity. Luther was truly a great man, I keep thinking that I should maybe read some of the stuff that he wrote, but I'm not sure that I'm ready for such thick theological writings. I also think I should read Calvin's writings as well but the same apprehensions apply.
The central portion of the book goes through the Sermon on the Mount very in depth. He said that when Jesus says that he did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill, far from saying that the moral portion of the Jewish law were no longer in force Jesus was strengthening it. He certainly went beyond what was expected in the law during the Sermon.
He also talked about something I've never thought about. First the Savior says that we must be a light to the world. This isn't something we can choose or not choose to do, it is our responsibility. Be a light, be the salt of the Earth. Then in the very next portion of the Sermon he says that we should do all that we do in secret. Our left hand shouldn't know what our right hand is doing. So how are we to be a light and at the same time do everything in secret?
One thing that I found interesting is that this book was written to other pastors, more so than most books that I've read. Towards the end of the book he talked about the need of being able to have and enforce discipline in a Church. He ultimately said something that sounds very much like what is said about an excommunication in the LDS Church. Ultimately taking away someone's membership is a way to get their attention and allow them to repent.
I'm really considering reading his book "Letters and Papers from Prison" but will probably wait to see if I can find it at the library.
I liked this book and would recommend it to anyone. I would rank it a 4 out of 5 stars
Monday, July 18, 2011
I've Been Pondering My Reaction to the BKC
I've been pondering my reactions to the Bible Knowledge Commentary (BKC). Overall I think that it's a great book and I've been getting a lot of insights out of it, but I've been considering some of the things that it seems to be making a point of.
First I guess that I read it with a chip on my shoulder. When it says things about how the patriarchs take multiple wives, but only because it's the tradition of the people that they're around. To me that seems to be reading things into the Bible that aren't there, but then I guess that perhaps I might be accused of that as well.
Another thing that really bothers me is they way that the BKC seems to keep harping on the weaknesses of the patriarchs. However, they are are humans and have human weaknesses, perhaps I should be more willing to see that they are humans and as such are people in need of the Savior, and this shows that the Lord is willing to work with people who might have problems.
Another thing hit me while I was pondering about this. While I was reading a Rodney Stark book he pointed out that it seems to be a Semitic trait to just point out everything about their heros. So the Muslims have no problem pointing out that Mohammad was a bandit, and that he massacred Jews, that's just who he was. The Jews also have no problem pointing out that Rueben and his brothers massacred a city of people for raping their sister, or that Judah needed to be tricked into keeping that family line alive, or on and on. Especially saying that they're entire nation was a nation of slaves at one point.
Another thing that has really been brought home to me recently is how far the Greek/Christian metaphysical view of God is different from the Jewish view of God. The Jews tell a story about the Creator that is active and involved in their lives. The Mormons do as well, and say that it really is true what the Bible says about us being children of a Heavenly Father, created in his image. That is a wonderful teaching to myself, and it upsets me that others don't understand it, or worse consider it blasphemy. I guess that I just need to find a way to better explain it to people when it comes up.
I'm excited to be getting to other parts of the Bible with this book. It's going to be a long project, and I'm sure that I'm going to find many many new ideas.
First I guess that I read it with a chip on my shoulder. When it says things about how the patriarchs take multiple wives, but only because it's the tradition of the people that they're around. To me that seems to be reading things into the Bible that aren't there, but then I guess that perhaps I might be accused of that as well.
Another thing that really bothers me is they way that the BKC seems to keep harping on the weaknesses of the patriarchs. However, they are are humans and have human weaknesses, perhaps I should be more willing to see that they are humans and as such are people in need of the Savior, and this shows that the Lord is willing to work with people who might have problems.
Another thing hit me while I was pondering about this. While I was reading a Rodney Stark book he pointed out that it seems to be a Semitic trait to just point out everything about their heros. So the Muslims have no problem pointing out that Mohammad was a bandit, and that he massacred Jews, that's just who he was. The Jews also have no problem pointing out that Rueben and his brothers massacred a city of people for raping their sister, or that Judah needed to be tricked into keeping that family line alive, or on and on. Especially saying that they're entire nation was a nation of slaves at one point.
Another thing that has really been brought home to me recently is how far the Greek/Christian metaphysical view of God is different from the Jewish view of God. The Jews tell a story about the Creator that is active and involved in their lives. The Mormons do as well, and say that it really is true what the Bible says about us being children of a Heavenly Father, created in his image. That is a wonderful teaching to myself, and it upsets me that others don't understand it, or worse consider it blasphemy. I guess that I just need to find a way to better explain it to people when it comes up.
I'm excited to be getting to other parts of the Bible with this book. It's going to be a long project, and I'm sure that I'm going to find many many new ideas.
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