Some Reflections on Books

 

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I took a vacation day from work to finish some assignments for my classes. I decided to utilize Liberty’s new library. On the second floor, there is a reading room. I walked in and immediately noticed a blissful, scholarly-looking spot in the corner. The ivory shades were closed and the sun was beaming through upon a brown leather chair, though it was initially green in my mind. I sat down and angled myself so that the sun would shine from behind me, but not directly.

I had a piece of pie that I was determined to finish for second breakfast before I embarked. As I ate my pie, I perused the books in the “reading room.” As I did, I felt again like I did as a child, when I would go to the toy store. There was so much to be explored. I immediately noticed reference books on German and thought about my desires to learn German within the next couple of years. My eyes scrolled down upon Dostoevsky, who I have read some and gleaned from, and Tolstoy, who I have not read, but hope to. I noticed Hebrew references, and thought about this summer, and how I hope to study Hebrew each day, in order to, Lord willing, prepare myself for graduate work. I tried to recall in my mind what I knew about Hebrew so far, which consisted of trying to recite the alphabet, but only getting to daleth before I turned the corner. I saw Lewis and Tolkien, had a vague impression of what I knew about reading their works and longed to read more. My eyes glazed the great writers whose books I have not cracked open, but who, from testimony, I knew had richness of wisdom to share: Bunyan, Shakespeare, Milton, Dickens. I saw Jane Austen and recalled the joy and richness that her works have brought Amanda, longing to understand what Amanda does about her works.

What I encountered in my short perusal was a combination of some things discovered, but much more undiscovered. The limited exposure that I have had to the knowledge on these shelves sent my heart longing to know more. I became, as I always do in libraries, increasingly aware of my own limitations. I realized that I will die before I come close to reading a small percentage of these works. Yet, it sent my heart longing for the God who, in wisdom and knowledge, spoke the world into existence. The God whose own thoughts make these books seem more simple than an infants babble. The God who is the ultimate goal of the knowledge in these books. I had peace that the God who thought all of these thoughts long before these authors did (and much more perfectly), who set the sun in motion that is shining through these shades, is the God with whom I hope to spend an eternity, forever gleaning knowledge and beauty of his Being

Still in Exodus: Acknowledging Suffering with Hope

 

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Many Christians don’t handle suffering well because they are not ready for it. They don’t know how to think about pain, hardships, and disappointment. This is partly because we live in a culture, including our Christian culture, that likes to make things appear better than they are instead of seeing things as they are and learning the truth about them. As an athlete learns better offensive tactics by anticipating defense, Christians are better able to deal with suffering when they anticipate it.

The Reality:

We know the axiom, “those who don’t learn history or doomed to repeat it.” This is true of redemptive history as well. That is part of the value of biblical narrative, especially since the God of the Bible never changes, nor do his plans.

Our current state as Christians is one of suffering and longing for redemption. In order to illustrate this, the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, constantly look back to the Exodus of Israel from Egypt, and their wanderings in the wilderness.

An example is Paul, in 1 Corinthians 10, who warns Christians not to grumble and turn from God as Israel did in the wilderness. Likewise, Hebrews chapters 3 and 4 speak of how the Israelites desired rest in the wilderness, but failed to attain it. The author reminds us that rest is promised us, but that we should “fear lest any…should seem to have failed to reach it.”

The Hope:

If we are in a spiritual wilderness, why should we be happy? Paul speaks beautifully to this.

In Romans 8:18, he says, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

In Ephesians 1:17-19, Paul prays that God would give the believers in Ephesus a spirit of wisdom and revelation, having the eyes of their hearts enlightened, that they may know what is the hope to which he has called them.

Our Wilderness Experience:

This hope is not a fairy tail wish. If you are a Christian, it believes that you mean these things to be literally true.

Expect suffering now. Don’t be surprised by it, but despise it with hope. Let it set your heart longing for the redemption prepared for us in Christ (Rom. 8:24-25) and ask for the Holy Spirit’s help in seeing it in perspective (Eph. 1:17-23).

We await a spiritual Jerusalem (Gal. 4), a heavenly Mt. Zion (Heb. 12:22).

Plato, Nygren, and God's Love for Humans

Kevin Vanhoozer edits a booked titled Nothing Greater, Nothing Better. It is a series of articles covering contemporary issues on the love of God. I was particularly struck by a chapter in the book by Gary Badcock, titled “The Concept of Love: Divine and Human.”

Badcock discusses to two attempts to make sense of God’s ability to love humans. The first is from Plato. Plato described love as “born of need” (Vanhoozer, 31). So, according to Plato’s view, one person loves another person because they need affection. One loves wisdom because they have some foolishness in them (31-32). So, the gods, to Plato, cannot love because they do not have needs. The other attempt at describing God’s love comes from Anders Nygren. Nygren, in reaction to Plato, describes God’s love as the agape love that is “spontaneous and uncaused,” “indifferent to human merit” (33). So, according to Nygren, God sees nothing loveable in humans, but loves them anyway because he is God.

Badcock tries to find a kind of middle ground between these two. I do find his answer striking, but unsatisfying. I will try to deal with two important statements in Badcock’s reconciliation.

First, in reaction to Nygren’s view of man’s depravity, that “he [God] is unable to see any good remaining with human nature after the fall” (35), Badcock argues that “he [Nygren] represents an unduly pessimistic view of human nature and an inadequate doctrine of sin” (35). In response he says, “It is the love of God for the person that is all-important, the divine love that recognizes the goodness or potential for goodness buried deep beneath the mound of perceived unloveliness” (36).

Without saying it, it seems that Badcock is using Nygren as a kind of caricature for what is typically the Reformed view of total depravity. Like the liberal media loves reporting stories of Westburo Baptist church and other crazies, I come across a surprising amount of writers and speakers who tend to cite extreme versions of Calvinist doctrines and use it to knock down what most Calvinists actually say.  What I am saying is that Badcock’s choice of Nygren over a more classic approach, like Augustine, is suspect.  He seems to be setting up a kind of legal straw man. It’s above the belt, but it’s still a gut-check.

I agree with Badcock that the choice between Plato’s view and Nygren’s view is a false dilemma. I sit in the middle with him. He seems to sit a bit closer to Plato and I seem closer to Nygren. I am also arguing, however, that the rest of the Reformed community seems closer to me than to Nygren.

I haven’t read any Reformed theologians who would claim that there is not “any good remaining within human nature after the fall.” Reformed theology typically champions common grace and the imago Dei. There is certainly a great worth to human beings that God is jealous to restore. That remaining good, however, is not the motivation of God’s love. He needs no motivation. So, I think Reformed theology has a medium between these views that is not guilty of the same overstatements as Nygren.

The second statement from Badcock that struck me is that “God is affected by the world-or at the very least he chooses to be so-which is no more than to say that it matters to him, that he loves it” (46).

First, I want to point out some a presupposition to Badcock’s thinking. This statement is assuming that in order for love to exist, it must be affected by the one being loved. Not being affected implies “indifference” (46). It matters to me what Badcock means by “affected.” He isn’t, however, clear on this. If it merely means that God relates, responds, feels, and cares, I am not concerned. If he believes that God is “affected” in a way that implies humans do things that God didn’t expect and that have an impact on God’s experience as God, that is more concerning. He seems to step into this line of thinking when he says, “both positions err in not recognizing that the existence of the world adds something to God’s experience” (46).

While I think that Badcock raises some striking problems, I do not think we need to find answers to them in God’s being affected by humans in the way Badcock is describing. I think we need only look to the Trinity. In Jn. 10:17, Jesus states that the Father loves him. It seems reasonable to assume that Persons of the Trinity have loved each other from all eternity. From this, I would argue, that God’s intra-Trinitarian love for himself propels his love for humanity. His love for himself need not be affected by humans to be legitimate. He has had enough love pouring from his own being from all eternity that it does not seem to lesson his love to say that it is completely self-provoked. That is why I can hold to a Calvinistic view of human depravity are and have no problem seeing God’s love as actual love. Because, when the Father sees his church, he sees Christ.

God's Kingdom vs. Our Perception of It

           

Have you ever been trying to serve God in someway and found yourself angry or disappointed because your plans failed? Or, to put it another way, have you ever been trying to serve God and God seemed to prevent you?

I’m sure we have all encountered that, because, I would argue, it is part of the necessary process of becoming who God wants us to be. Let me try to explain.

Many of us have probably encountered this pattern:

You have a plan to serve God.

Something thwarts that plan.

You feel frustrated and wonder why God didn’t honor what you were trying to do for him.

Has this happened to you? It does to me daily.

Let’s take a closer look at the situation.

Since the situation implies that we are not looking at ourselves objectively, all we can ever do is bring our current state before God. The red-flag that should make us stop and reflect in these situations are our unhealthy emotions, such as anger, anxiety, discouragement, ect. When you are experiencing unhealthy emotions, put yourself in alert mode, something is amiss in your heart.

Before I continue further, one thing should be established. God is sovereign. If we take the “all” in Romans 8:28 to actually mean “everything that happens” (I believe this is true), we have to believe that everything that happens is part of God’s sovereign will for our good.

That being said, what then is happening in these situations is that our will is confronting God’s providence. Even though we may have been trying to serve God, what we perceived to be God’s kingdom plan was confronted by God’s actual kingdom plan.

How to we know what God’s kingdom plan is? God’s will for us always involves meeting our actual circumstances in a way that follows God’s commandments. If we are having a difficult time doing that, we need to check our hearts and adjust our thinking.

For example, let’s say a pastor has plans to spend six hours of his Monday to preparing next Sunday’s sermon for his congregation. He is doing this to his knowledge to serve God by ministering to his congregation. Let’s then say that a situation has arisen with his children that demands his immediate attention, taking him away from his studies. He feels frustration. This was the only time he had all week to complete this. What may be happening is that God’s actual kingdom will is confronting what he thought God’s kingdom will is. God’s will for that day may be for him to minister to his children. Re-aligning himself will take giving up his idols of his will, repenting, and praying to align himself with God’s will.

A biblical example: Jesus was telling his disciples that he must “suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Mat. 16:21). Peter argued with Jesus and was rebuked with the famous line, “Get behind me Satan” (v.23). Peter had good intensions. He didn’t think this this should happen to his Messiah. This wasn’t in his perception of God’s will. God’s actual kingdom, however, was confronting Peter’s idea of the kingdom.

Serving God is a constant process of understanding and aligning ourselves with God’s actual will as it is manifests itself in our lives.

"The Life of God in the Soul of Man" A Review

 

The great Awaking preacher, George Whitefield claims that this book was one of the primary means that God used to awaken him to faith. I can understand why.

Henry Scougal (1605-1678) originally meant The Life of God in the Soul of Man to be nothing more than a letter to a downtrodden friend, to encourage him in his faith. The recognition of its profundity eventually led to its publication.

Content:

The book primarily outlines what Scougal sees to be the three primary Christian virties: Love (both of God and man), purity, and humility. He expounds upon these virtues by 1) elaborating on their excellence by showing what they may look like if fully acquired, 2) showing how Christ perfectly exemplified them, and 3) giving practical advice as to how to cultivate them.

Strength:

The book is short and all the better for it. Scougal wastes no words. Almost every sentence seems quotable. I hope to emulate this is my own discipline. This work is truly an inspiration toward a fruitful heart and mind, such that a casual letter to a friend could be so profound.

The elaboration of the excellence of the virtues is very encouraging. It is helpful for any Christian to think about why the ways of Christ are not just commanded, but actually most realistically beneficial. It is also refreshingly practical, in a puritanical kind of way, in its suggestions as to how the virtues can be cultivated. I often refer back to its advice as I try to acquire these virtues myself.

Weakness:

J. I. Packer points out on of the weakness of the book in his introduction. Being a product of its Christianized era, it assumes many of the gospel truths that a book written today would do well to expound upon. So, while the book did lead to Whitefield’s conversion, I would more likely recommend it to someone well familiar with the Christian faith than a new convert. Its dated and heavy language also recommend it to a more experienced reader. All of this being said, a new Christian would certainly be no worse off for reading it.

Analysis:

I highly recommend this book. It is one of the most influential devotional books for me so far. I have read it multiple times and have committed many of its principles to heart. What I have most gleaned from it is the realization of the priority of heart formation, from which everything else proceeds.

Love for Other Begins in the Heart

You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to council; and whoever says ‘you fool’ will be liable to the hell of fire. –Matthew 5:21-22 (ESV)

Jesus here is not saying anything essentially new. He is citing the Old Testament regulation on the sixth commandment. What Jesus is getting at is what the commandment has always been about: the condition of our heart that the commandment is to incite. One we learn here from Jesus is that in order to follow God’s commands, we must begin with our heart.

I find myself struggling daily to obey the two most essential commandments of Scripture, to love God and love others. One thing that I am learning is that these commandments begin with the conditioning of my heart and mind. Here are a few things that I have found help me condition my mind and heart to obey the commandment to love others:

Remember the gospel grace shown to me: In the parable of the unmerciful servant (Mat. 18:21-35), Jesus reminds us that, when he shows grace to us, he demands that we show it to others. Even more terrifying is his statement, “if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Mat. 6:15).

What I believe the point is of these two teachings is not a works-righteousness that negates our forgiveness if we fall short of repentance, but the reality that, if we do not show mercy to others, we have not understood the mercy shown to us. When I think of what I deserve and the grace God has given me, I am encouraged to be gracious and loving to others.

Meditate on the humanity of others: The 17^th century writers, Henry Scougal, has influenced me on this,

We shall find our hearts enlarged in charity toward men by considering the relation wherein they stand unto God, and the impresses of his image which are stamped upon them. They are not only his creatures, the workmanship of his hands, but such of whom he taketh special care, and for whom he hath a very dear and tender regard, having laid the designs of their happiness before the foundations of the world, and being willing to live and converse with them to all the ages of eternity. The meanest and most contemptible person whom we behold is the offspring of heave, one of the children of the Most High; and however unworthy he might behave himself of that relation, so long as God hath not abdicated and disowned him by a final sentence, he will have us to embrace him with a sincere and cordial affection.

Pray for others: When you are praying that other with know Christ more, it is difficult to act in a way that is contrary to that purpose.

Train my speech: Something that I have become increasingly convicted about is training my speech to be edifying. Paul tells us to “let no corrupting talk come out of you mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” I have come to realize that, if I am truly going to love others, I must restrain my tongue from speaking ill of them (this is particularly difficult when I agree with someone “honest assessment” of another).

In regard, I recommend reading James 3:1-12 on the power and danger of the tongue. I probably need to memorize this.

A Proper Motivation for Discipline and Asceticism

Many of us scorn the idea of discipline or asceticism (temporarily depriving ourselves of something that we desire). This is probably because we don’t see these things rightly. We often look at asceticism for asceticism’s sake (see Doug Wilson quote below). No wonder that isn’t appealing.

We must look at discipline and asceticism as depriving ourselves of something of small importance for the sake of something of great importance.

For an example, let’s look at Jesus’ confrontation with the Satan in the wilderness. There seem to be many reasons why Jesus went to the wilderness (to show himself as a greater Adam, resisting Satan; to show himself as a better Israel, not grumbling in the wilderness; to triumph over Satan to inaugurate his ministry, ect.), but I find his responses to Satan while there really interesting. When Satan offers Jesus bread, Jesus quotes to him Deuteronomy 8:3: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Mat. 4:4).

On one hand, this was probably to contrast Jesus to the Israelites in the wilderness, in that he didn’t grumble for food like they did. For the purpose of this post, however, notice that Jesus did not just say, “I don’t need bread.” He was hungry and he felt the very legitimate desire for food. Rather, he was showing that he cherished every word from the Father more than food.

When we think about whether we should carry out a type of discipline of asceticism, we should only do so to attain something even better.

It is not holy in itself to fast. Jesus made quite a point of this at the “Sermon on the Mount” (Mat. 6:16-18). It is only good to fast if we are depriving ourselves of food because of a genuine realization that we want the better things in life more. In this light, fasting is logical.  It isn’t sufficient in itself to read the words in the Bible. We sit and read from the Bible, instead of being somewhere else, because we believe that we will ultimately glean more from what we discover than by doing other things at the moment. We don’t get magical tokens for praying, but it is blessed by God when we count talking to him and fellowshipping with him as more valuable than other things.

Notice too that this does not negate lesser things. True, the Word of God is more valuable and satisfying than food, but we cannot neglect food. We just shouldn’t treasure is too much. Spending an hour praying is probably more essentially valuable than getting my hair cut, but I cannot never cut my hair. Where I would err is wen I care more about by my image in the mirror than my time with my Father.

What matters is seeing things in their proportionate value. Sometimes, it takes discipline to force ourselves to re-align our values. But, we don’t do so for the superficial sake of the action, we do so because we (rightly selfishly) want the best thing for ourselves.

“Indeed, I count everything as loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” –Paul, Philippians 3:8

“We don’t practice asceticism for asceticism’s sake. We practice asceticism for the sake of greater enjoyment.” –Doug Wilson

“God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in him.” –John Piper

"So, if we wish to follow Christ-and to walk in the easy yoke with him-we will have to accept his overall way of life as our way of life totally. Then, and only then, we may reasonably expect to know by experience how easy is the yoke and how light the burden". -Dallas Willard