Here are some recent book reviews. For older reviews, see http://tim223.xanga.com/category/book-reviews/
Making Sense of God, by Tim Keller
Another EXCELLENT book from Keller! He wrote this as a 'prequel' to "The Reason for God" because he realized that millions of millenial Americans have so many preconceived notions about the folly of 'religion' that they would not even bother to read that earlier book. He discusses many reasons people don't think it worth their time to consider Christianity. He begins with the point that secular belief is not a 'default', but is a particular set of beliefs that needs justification just as much as religious beliefs do. He focuses on the fact (with lots of quotes from secular philosophers and popular figures) that secular beliefs do not satisfy in many situations... times of suffering or approaching death... questions of identity and achievement, societal problems such as racism, etc. He discusses individualistic freedom as an ideal (it is lacking), and the question of where do human rights, justice, and our sense of morality come from? I found it a little more dry than some of his other books, and a little less pointed than "Reason for God", rather instead more of a 'conversation'... but it is still vintage Keller, packed with great quotes and good reasoning. Definitely worth reading, maybe also discussing in a group.
Farewell Four Waters, by Kate McCord
This is a semi-fictionalized story of an American NGO worker living in Aghanistan, and the story of how she had to suddenly leave her work as tribal warfare exploded in the last decade. It is based on her own true experiences. She describes the confusion.. both logistical, and also emotional and spiritual... involved, and how she came to find peace in God's presence with her.
The scent of water, by Naomi Zacharias
In this book the author intersperses stories from her life, with stories about various people she met on her trips (primarily nonprofit humanitarian trips, helping to provide restoration for people who had been rescued from slavery or trafficking or prostitution, or other humanitarian ventures). She emphasizes God's grace, His love for the outcast and outsider... and provides stories of people's lives being made whole through God's grace overflowing through other people.
Is It My Fault? by Justin and Lindsey Holcomb
This is an excellent book that presents hope and advice, aimed toward women who are being abused by their husband or partner (i.e. suffering from domestic violence). It emphasizes God's love and grace, the Biblical high value of women, etc. It argues against the most typical rejoinders, such as 'God doesn't care about me' or 'It's my fault that I'm suffering', etc. One of its most helpful points was its catalog of all the places in the Bible where people 'ran away from suffering' when possible, such as Jesus avoiding arrest, Paul using his citizenship to avoid flogging, many others fleeing persecution by running to a different city, etc. In this pattern, separation can often be a helpful thing in domestic violence situations. However, the authors briefly mentioned their support for divorce without any reference to the Bible's teaching that reconciliation after separation is preferred if possible. I would have liked to see more direct _practical_ suggestions for helping people in these situations. It was mostly a few brief suggestions in their appendices. However, the bulk of the book had good theological points and would probably be helpful for an abused wife to read, especially in the context of discussing it regularly with a friend.
The Creation Answers Book, by Don Batten, David Catchpoole, Jonathan Safarti, and Carl Wieland
This is an excellent book going through the most common questions and objections people have to taking the Bible's creation account literally. Its answers are good, succinct, footnoted, Biblical, etc. Highly recommended!
Chapter 1: Does God Exist? Chapter 2: Six days? Really? Chapter 3: What about gap theories? Chapter 4: What about carbon dating? Chapter 5: How can we see stars in a young universe? Chapter 6: How did ‘bad things’ come about? Chapter 7: What about arguments for evolution? Chapter 8: Who was Cain’s wife? Chapter 9: Were the 'Sons of God' and/or nephilim extra-terrestrials? Chapter 10: Was the Flood global? Chapter 11: What about continental drift? Chapter 12: Noah’s Flood—what about all that water? Chapter 13: How did the animals fit on Noah’s Ark? Chapter 14: How did fresh and saltwater fish survive the flood? Chapter 15: Where are all the human fossils? Chapter 16: What about the Ice Age? Chapter 17: How did the animals get to Australia? Chapter 18: How did all the different ‘races’ arise? Chapter 19: What about dinosaurs?
It is available for free online at http://creation.com/the-creation-answers-book-index
Redeeming Love, by Francine Rivers
This is a romance novel set during the 19th century California gold rush. It is loosely based on the Biblical account of Hosea and Gomer. As romance novels go, this one is excellent overall (although with a few problematic/corny/sappy parts). The main character, "Angel", has been abused most of her life, and finds it impossible to trust men. An (unrealistically super-mature) Christian man decides that God is calling him to marry her... and does a great job of continuing to faithfully love her throughout her struggles, and eventually his constant love changes her, and she matures and comes to love him in return. Some will object that the ending of the story wraps up too neatly, but I think that within its genre, it works ok. It does a good job of showing the emotions inside someone who comes from a background of abuse, and why they find it hard to trust again. It presents a good example of a man who surrenders his romantic situation to God and trusts Him to work it out. It is also a great portrayal of God's love for us... He would stop at nothing to redeem us... His love is completely unselfish, and never stops.
A Wind in the House of Islam, by David Garrison
This book discusses each of nine different Islamic areas of the world, and discusses their history, and how very few Muslims had been believing in Jesus over the centurs a ies. If one defines a revival "movement" as 1000 or more baptisms among a people group, there were none until the 19th century (2), then suddenly 13 in the 20th century, then suddenly an additional 69 in the first 12 years of the 21st century. Garrison carefully researched each one, with more than 1000 interviews total, etc. He then goes through each area and talks about the movements, and what seem to be the human factors facilitating each movement. This is very interesting, and it does seem that God is doing amazing things in the Islamic world. A caveat is that Garrison seems very positive on the "insider" approach (having a new convert stay within his/her Muslim community for a while, continue going to the mosque, etc, while quietly learning about Jesus in secret)... many other Muslim-background believers have expressed how harmful this paradigm has been to their (and others') spiritual growth. Garrison generally tries to report in an unbiased way. Two fascinating excerpts... the first from interviewing a Muslim-background believer about how he witnesses to other Muslims- p.216
<<I asked Nasr what he did to open Muslims' mind to the truth. Nasr said, "If I am sitting with a Muslim, I might ask, 'What kind of prophet, when he's 53 years old, takes a 6-year old girl as his wife? And he.... ...it's disgusting- a little girl.'" I probed, "And you actually ask a Muslim these questions?" "Of course. Why not? It's written right there. There's no argument." I continued, "Do you think this is something that you can do, but I, as a Westerner, should not do?" Nasr laughed. "No, no, no, no, no. I can do this, because I am a Muslim." I was struck by this casual admission, 'I am a Muslim', by a man who had now given his life to dismantling Islam. .... "So you can do this because you are in the culture?" "Yes," Nasr said. "There's a barrier against you. The first thought that comes to their mind when you question the Qur'an, is that you are against them, because you are an American.">> I do not necessarily agree with the author's/speaker's sentiment here, but I find it very interesting.
The other excerpt was from the "10 Bridges" that he suggests God uses to establish revivals in Muslim areas. Faith, Prayer, Scripture, Holy Spirit activity (including dreams), Faithful Christian witness, Learning from the body of Christ, Communication, Discovery, Islam itself, and Indigenization. Cool quote from "Prayer" -[Aisha said] "I believe... that the prayers of people all over the world have been rising up to heaven for many years. In the heavens, these prayers have accumulated like the great clouds during the monsoon season. And now they are raining down upon my people the miracles and blessings of salvation that God has stored up for them."
In Order To Live, by Yeonmi Park
The author tells the true story of her life in North Korea, followed by her escape to China with her mother at age 13, then escape to South Korea around age 16. She mentions some of the abusee went through, but in a matter-of-fact way, without focusing on it inappropriately. Her book explains "everyday life" in North Korea well... this is not a book focused on either the prisoners in prison camps nor the rich/elite people but on a family in-between. Especially moving were her accounts of the people (many Christians) who risked their lives to help them escape from China, and ended up in prison for their troubles. It is well-written, and a beautiful, powerful, story, showing the need for the gospel of Jesus in those parts of the world (too). I recommend reading it.
Strange Fire, by John MacArthur
This book examines the problems associated with the charismatic movement, and compares the movement to the Bible's actual teaching on the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. MacArthur points out that modern "tongues" are gibberish, unlike the New Testament gift of actual world languages... modern "prophecies" are considered fallible (unlike Biblical prophecies), and modern "faith healers" (/etc) are generally charlatans and prone to moral failures. He includes a lot of amazing quotes from such (false) teachers. I agree with almost everything he says in this excellent book. One thing in which he may go slightly too far is that he seems to say that 1 Cor 14:39 and 1 Thess 5:20 are no longer applicable today because tongues and prophecies (and other such sign gifts) have ceased, along with apostleship. I am not sure if I would feel comfortable being that dogmatic. However, his points about the problems with the charismatic movement are very well argued and documented, and his emphasis on the Bible and the true ministry of the Holy Spirit is excellent.
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