Great deal on a book I’ve been recommending!

I am constantly recommending to people the Bible commentary called “The Bible Knowledge Commentary.”  Well, it’s on sale at www.christianbook.com.  Click here to go directly to the special.  You may have to sign up in order to get the best price, but it is going for $32.99 right now (normally $90).  Great deal.  Don’t miss.

CS Lewis Fans

For those of you who may be CS Lewis fans, I thought I’d let you know about a theatrical presentation of “The Screwtape Letters” that I read about in Christianity Today.  An actor by the name of Max McLean has adapted and memorized the text to the story and is performing it in Chicago.  I can only hope that he’ll bring it south so that I might be able to go see it.  Click here for the website about the show and to see a preview video.

For those of you unfamiliar with Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, Screwtape is a experienced demon who is tasked with training a younger demon, Wormwood, in the ways of tempting mankind.  The story and training unfold through a series of letters whereas Screwtape instructs the somewhat inept young Wormwood.  It’s a fun read and should get your mind engaged as well.

The video preview of McLean’s theatre show didn’t really make me want to see the show, but I’d just have to go anyway out of sheer curiosity if it ever came nearby.

I Love this Devotional Magazine

I have written on multiple occasions about the “Indeed” devotional guide that we give away at our church.  I have used all kinds of devotionals over the years: My Utmost for His Highest (still read it), Our Daily Bread, Morning and Evening, etc.  All of these are fine, and i highly recommend Utmost.  But, I’m constantly amazed at how I am challenged by Indeed.  Here is a couple of excerpts from today’s reading entitled “Humility” (I’ll boldface all of Indeed and other comments in plain text will be mine:

“Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:14

This scripture verse is taken from the story of the Pharisee and tax collector.  The Pharisee came boldly and proudly before God – confident of his own righteousness.  The tax collector, stood afar, averted his eyes, and came humbly in prayer to God.  Jesus says the tax collector went away justified.  Then he says the above verse.  We easily become self-focused, wanting to become good in order to represent God well.  Have we forgotten?  God is already represented well by Jesus…The self-ward heart doesn’t get it.  It can’t be transparent about its weaknesses and failures because it is too busy masking them…The Godward soul can relax and proclaim: “God’s doing His wonderful work in the wreck that is me.” 

Both perspectives come from good intentions.  But deep in the heart of man is a reluctance to enhance God’s reputation at the expense of our own.  We don’t want to own up to our weaknesses, failures, brokenness, and sin.  We want to demonstrate God’s grace in our respectable lives…Acknowledging your ultimate dependence and need isn’t always easy.  It will require an honesty before Him and an honest testimony before the world.  Will that reflect well on you?  Probably not, but it will reflect incredibly well on Him.

Anyway…may we all humble ourselves before God and others.  I am a law breaker, worthy of the clink.  I am a sinner, in need of a Saviour.  I don’t represent God very well.   But He is already well represented in His Son.  May He use me in my weakness to reflect Him to a world in need of Him.

Pick up a copy of Indeed this Sunday!

Answers to questions websites and the New Living Translation

We’ve been studying the Bible book of 2nd Peter in my “connection group” so far in 2009.  A lot of the content has been about truth and error, discerning truth, avoiding false teachers, how do we know the Bible is true, etc.  As a result, I’ve been able to recommend to the group a few websites that they may find helpful in answering tough questions.  A couple of them are already listed in the links on this blog as “Answers to Tough Questions.”  Also, add to your list www.probe.org and check out www.Peterkreeft.com as well.

 

On a slightly different note, I’ve noticed a lot of people using the New Living Translation (NLT) of the Bible lately.  I was curious as to its origin and how accurate and what type of translation it is/was.  Sometimes I’ve found it helpful, and other times I’ve found it to be a little inaccurate compared to what I see other translations saying.  Also, there are two version of it already, with fairly substantial differences in many verses, which is frustrating.

Anyway…you can learn more about the NLT at www.newlivingtranslation.com and I particularly like their little chart on the differences in translations at this link.

The Shack

Well my goal of reading (or finish reading) 52 books this year is going pretty well!  I just finished “The Shack” today and I’ve also got “Power from on High” by Charles Finney done as well.

Anyway…more on The Shack.  I had read about 75% of it last fall, and finally picked it up today and finished it.  The Shack has caused a lot of controversy among Christians, but that’s expected.  We Christ-followers don’t agree on much, much less on books that don’t toe the standard party line.  I don’t want to give away the plot to The Shack, but I would really recommend reading it.  So many people I know would not make that recommendation, for fear that people don’t have sense enough to distinguish truth from error on their own, but I have a little more faith in people and in God’s ability to help people search for truth.

If you do read The Shack, be warned – it’s a tear jerker.  Keep a box of tissue nearby if you are prone to tears.  learn more about The Shack at http://www.theshackbook.com/.

What do JFK, CS Lewis, and Aldous Huxley have in common?

I’m attempting to read or complete the reading of 52 books this year.  And by “complete the reading” I mean that I am often known to be reading several books at once and never make it all the way through many of them.

Anyway…Just reread the book “Between Heaven and Hell – A Dialog Somewhere Beyond Death with John F. Kennedy, CS Lewis and Aldous Huxley” by Peter Kreeft.  Kreeft is a professor of philosophy at Boston College.  Incredibly smart dude – www.peterkreeft.com.  The book is Kreeft’s imaginary conversation between these three men who all died within a few hours of each other.  They meet in the afterlife and discuss where they are and where they might be headed.  If you are a CS Lewis fan, you will no doubt love this book.  Lewis plays the part of the Christian theist, Kennedy the modern humanist and Huxley is the Eastern Pantheist.  In Kreeft’s words from the prologue, “The trialog centers on the Center, the hinge of our history: its main question is the identity of Jesus.”

It’s not light reading.  It aims to challenge the thinking of the skeptic.  Hope you’ll pick up a copy.

Keith Green

 

I was boppin’ around youtube.com tonight listening to music and ended up listening to some old Keith Green songs.  For those of you who don’t know Keith Green, he was a 1970’s singer/musician who became a follower of Christ and then began writing and performing some great songs.  He’s probably not the best musician or singer you’ve ever heard, but no one can deny his passion, enthusiasm and “no compromise” attitude about truly living as a follower of Jesus.  If my memory serves me well, he died prematurely in a plane accident.  I believe his wife (Melody) wrote his biography entitled, “No Compromise.“  Even if you’ve never heard of Keith Green and his music, “No Compromise” is a great read.  I think I have a copy at my office if someone wants to buy it.  Check out www.keithgreen.com for more info or search for him on youtube.com.

Besides being an outstanding example of what it means to follow Christ with passion, Keith Green had great hair like my Uncle Phil did when he was younger!

Concerning the Upcoming Election

I’ve just started reading the book “Celebration of Discipline” by Richard Foster.  In the foreward by D. Elton Trueblood (don’t know who he is yet), Trueblood writes,

The greastest problems of our time are not technological, for these we can handle fairly well.  They are not even political or economic, because the difficulities in these areas, glaring as they may be, are largely derivative.  The greatest problems are moral and spiritual, and unless we can make some progress in these realms, we may not even survive.  This is how advance cultures have declined in the past. 

No matter who gets elected in November, they will be no saviour.  Our greatest problems are moral and spiritual and change we can believe in starts with me and you seeking God and how He can transform our lives.

Got to run to doctors office.  I’m late.

Green Bible

So I’m reading TIME magazine the other day, thanks to a generous friend who has paid for my subscription, and I come across an ad for the “Green Bible.”  Most of us know about the “red letter” editions, where the words of Jesus appear in red ink while everything else is in black text.  But The Green Bible is for the nature lover and environmentalist where the over 1,000 verses in the Bible that relate to nature are all printed in a “pleasant shade of forest green.”

The idea behind this new edition is that “creation care”–the Christian catchphrase for nature conservancy–”is at the very core of our Christian walk.”  I’m not so sure that I agree with this “core” value put forth in the introduction to the Green Bible by Evangelical eco-activist J. Matthew Sleeth, but I’ll withhold judgment until I get a chance to pick up one for myself.

Indeed

Every two months we give away as many “Indeed” devotionals as we can.  Each issue has daily devotional readings for two months (thus the reason we make them available every two months!).  If you ever read my blog, you know that the devotional book “My Utmost For His Highest” is still my favorite devotional book ($5 in the bookstore or free online), but “Indeed” is a good companion to Utmost.  We always have extra copies at church – take one for home, office, car, school, etc.  Take one or two to give away.