This book could not have come at a better time for me. After the hardest season I’ve ever experienced, and through a period of still-unanswered prayerThis book could not have come at a better time for me. After the hardest season I’ve ever experienced, and through a period of still-unanswered prayer... God is still good....more
Pleasantly written, but slightly disappointing- I was hoping for an actual journey through the Psalms of Lament themselves. We love reading and singinPleasantly written, but slightly disappointing- I was hoping for an actual journey through the Psalms of Lament themselves. We love reading and singing the Psalms of joy and victory and praise, but most of the time, our eyes glaze over the laments, and we never acknowledge that yes, the Bible does recognize depression and despair, and the Psalmnist spends (for everyone who is focused on their "best lives now" or living a "victorious Christian life" at least) a shocking amount of time on laying out their woes and (literally!) crying out to God. Christina Fox has a sound and solid foundation in finding our ultimate hope in God, but A Heart Set Free was mostly a friend-to-friend confidential, with a laid-out, step-by-step plan for dealing with emotional troubles (using the Psalms of Lament as a guide). Very little time was spent on the actual Psalms, which were relegated to post-chapter reading "assignments" and guides for personal devotions.
Decent, but not at all what I was looking for....more
Where do the concepts of good and evil, or right and wrong, even come from? Is it simply learned a behavior or thoughtSo, is Christianity irrational?
Where do the concepts of good and evil, or right and wrong, even come from? Is it simply learned a behavior or thought process stemming from a need for survival, or is it something else? How do we judge truth from fiction, or even define our existence as rational beings?
Christ or Chaos explains what exactly Christians believe about the nature of reality and humanity, and would be a great starting point either for a curious skeptic or for a new apologist. ...more
[...] we must remember that we do not cleanse our own consciences, hands, and hearts. This was the arrogancShort but sweet, and packed a great punch!
[...] we must remember that we do not cleanse our own consciences, hands, and hearts. This was the arrogance and condemnation of Pontius Pilate. He tried to wash his hands of the guilt of Christ. The Bible says, “So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood’”(Matt. 27:24). While the dirt may have been removed from his hands, his conscience could not be cleansed with water. Ironically, the blood that he tried to wash away was the only blood that could have made him clean. Contrast that with Paul, who said that he served and worshiped God with a “clear conscience”(2 Tim. 1:3). The difference is that Pilate proposed to wash the blood of Christ away from himself, while Paul knew himself to be washed in the blood of Christ....more
Not the easiest of reads, but perhaps that was just because I've been very easily distracted these last few weeks. Sorry, Dr. Wells! I know you talkedNot the easiest of reads, but perhaps that was just because I've been very easily distracted these last few weeks. Sorry, Dr. Wells! I know you talked about that in the very first chapter... But what an edifying book this was!
"Nothing is more important to our understanding of worship than this: we come to the Lord, not because it is our idea to do so, or even because we like to do so, but because he first came to us. Worship is our response to what he has done."
"Our understanding of [God's] greatness gets worn down, sometimes worn out, by the constant rubbing against our highly modernized life. It is this vision, though, this knowing of God, that puts steel into spines and fire into Christian hearts. When we are God-centered in our thoughts, God-fearing in our hearts, when we see with clarity what his character of holy-love is like, he begins to have weight in our lives. When that happens we become, not just occasional visitors to the eternal, but its permanent residents, its citizens. And that is when the church becomes more than just another organization but, in fact, the outpost of eternity in this wounded world. May the church indeed be all that it is in Christ, so that through its life the glory of God will be seen anew in all its splendor!"...more
Loading...
