A quick little read about seeking God’s will, and making decisions that align with God’s will in our lives. Lots of crossover to Barry Schwartz’s paraA quick little read about seeking God’s will, and making decisions that align with God’s will in our lives. Lots of crossover to Barry Schwartz’s paradox of choice book, as seen through a reformed Christian lens, and within the context of God’s will, in terms of our choices. Interestingly, I actually made a video on YouTube (which can be found HERE) that goes over the same issues, yet not as focused upon finding God’s will, but more about the freedom the Gospel gives us to not be chained to perfectionism and high expectations which accompanies an ever increasing world of options. How to deal with Choice Paralysis, that is. That we can have confidence because of Christ in our choices even if they are subpar, mediocre, or mundane because the Gospel frees us from the chains of expectation that accompany our societal perspective that what matters most is "me" and my fulfilment (happiness). Thanks, Disney! The deeper problem with all of this is likely our societal emphasis in the west on individualism and authenticity, freedom, autonomy, egalitarianism, etc. These are the supreme values of western society now, but that was not the case in previous moments of western history. So books like this, are popular now, but were not very common before our time. There’s a large number of factors at play on why that’s the case, which I won’t get into here, but more simply stated, we are confused about God’s will, his ‘calling’, and our personal fulfillment now more than ever before, and this book addresses our misconceptions about those terms and is a general grounding into a more biblical understanding of what they mean. It would be an ideal book for a youngster fresh out of high school, trying to navigate what to do with his future. Very practical advice. Nothing groundbreaking....more
Always lots of good stuff with Gavin Ortlund. This one is very similar to The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness by Timothy Keller. How humility frees us fAlways lots of good stuff with Gavin Ortlund. This one is very similar to The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness by Timothy Keller. How humility frees us from our egos and in doing so brings us joy....more
Not fully convinced by his methodology or all of the concepts, but despite that this book was a big eye-opener. A systematic theology of the sp*** 1/2
Not fully convinced by his methodology or all of the concepts, but despite that this book was a big eye-opener. A systematic theology of the spiritual realm, utilizing an ancient Jewish worldview, cultural context, and scripture.
Heiser's insight into the spiritual realm makes the read well worth it, even if it is held back in my opinion by shoddy methodology, an unnecessary length brought on by excessive repetition of his thesis, and what at times feels like an elitist confidence in his opinions due to the fact that he had a PhD in Hebrew Bible and Semitic Languages. I acknowledge that his knowledge of the Hebrew language is ultimately what brought him to these wonderful insights about the spiritual realm, but at times it feels as if he is too careless or matter-of-fact about uprooting thousands of years of Christian theology handed down through church history. I found myself questioning his reasoning several times throughout. Heiser tends to be a bit too certain about things that are likely still uncertain or unknown for my taste.
I think that my main complaint with this book is that Heiser writes as if all of these "truths" are self-evident, but in order to come to the conclusions that he has arrived at it would require a PhD in Hebrew as well as a deep understanding and knowledge of the ancient surrounding cultures that surrounded Israel, as well as Israel itself. He writes as if his unveiling of the hidden spiritual realm throughout the bible is exposing the main purpose of the bible from the beginning to the end, from Genesis to Revelation. Yet, I don't think that the main purpose of the bible is hidden to the extent that the only one who could uncover it for us up to this point in history is Michael Heiser. Especially with the amount of extrabiblical writings he is utilizing to help understand biblical texts. Many times he employs the writings of the Ugarit which were discovered in 1928 to better understand biblical text, drawing conclusions from these that are far from obvious. Just to give an example off the top of my head, he argues utilizing the Ugarit writings that Baal is known throughout the ancient world as a cloud-rider, and because of that he draws the conclusion that in Daniel 7, when the son of man comes down with the clouds that this was a clear spiritual attack on Baal, something he argues that would have been obvious to every ancient Jewish person. He makes arguments based on this type of reasoning over and over again throughout the book. And, although it could possibly be the truth, I think it is far from obvious. That sort of confidence on his part rubbed me the wrong way.
Aside from the abrasive qualities of Heiser, I do think that this book had deep insights into the spiritual realm. What Heiser revealed to me about the Council of God, Paul's understanding about spiritual warfare, the Nephilim, Daniel 7, angelic and demonic beings, some of the typology throughout the Bible, etc. They all add richness and depth to many verses in the bible that might not have made sense to me before, or that I might have sped over quickly categorizing them as the mythical/spiritual unknown. This book has changed the way that I will read certain aspects of the bible story, and in that way I am in it's debt....more
Just a quick review here for a quick book. A collection of practical and convicting sermons by Chrysostom on marriage and raising children. I must admJust a quick review here for a quick book. A collection of practical and convicting sermons by Chrysostom on marriage and raising children. I must admit, the language of the translation and the material surprised me. There is nothing that dated it really except for the occasional reference to slavery. It could have very well been written or preached today! One of the best books I’ve read on marriage. It convicted me, and made me want to love Christ more, love my wife more, and love my children more. Can’t beat a book like that! Eternal value. ...more
Extremely short document from the early church that exemplifies the importance of the gospel teachings of Christ to the church and provides interestinExtremely short document from the early church that exemplifies the importance of the gospel teachings of Christ to the church and provides interesting insight into early church rituals such as baptism, prayer, fasting, and the eucharist....more
The penetration of Tolstoy's writing into the profundity of the innermost part of man's psyche in this novella is as proportionately disquieting and rThe penetration of Tolstoy's writing into the profundity of the innermost part of man's psyche in this novella is as proportionately disquieting and realistic as it is profound. I could not help but feel as Ivan Ilych as I read this novella. That Tolstoy had peered into my own soul and wrote about my future demise. As I read, I felt that I (as Ivan) was propelled closer and closer to the ever-enclosing expectation of my own death. The increasing uneasiness fueling the universal outcry in my soul toward the meaninglessness and feebleness of life when faced with the greatest of all existential crises, and the arresting questions that death brings to the heart, mind, and soul. Was it worth it? The money? The wasted time? The selfish pursuits?
Up against eternity, our lives are but a vapor, and death looms before us as a token of our human frailty. We live as if we are eternal, blind to the prospect of our own death until it is upon us. With empty pursuits we delight our hearts in frivolousness and we discount the things that truly matter, the things that transcend our mortal existence, God, love, partner, child, family, and community. Our eternal hope, our faith, and our authenticity. And for what do we sacrifice these things? For a fleeting grasp at the wind, to obtain that which is unattainable, and to maintain an aura of confidence in our heart and mind of human arrogance and pride, but when faced with death the insubstantial house of cards comes tumbling down, and we are left with nothing, only the feeling of utter helplessness, powerless to change the course of our own nature.
And just as Ivan Ilych, our only hope of redemption is to realize this before it is too late....more
Dostoevsky more so than probably anyone else understood the complexities of humanity. He understood with searing clarity the psychology of the people,Dostoevsky more so than probably anyone else understood the complexities of humanity. He understood with searing clarity the psychology of the people, the staggering ideas that they look to uphold, the future that they hope to build from those ideas, and the conclusions of those futures. He understood that man is a collective creature, and that the masses are easily coerced to fall behind the forces of subversion and be used as the main instrument of change through revolution. He foresaw the communist revolution that was to take place nearly 50 years before it happened. Yet, the principals on which he is expounding here are general in their penetration into the mind of man and how he is used collectively by others to pursue their own goals. The book opens with a passage in Luke which brilliantly frames the rest of the story,
“And there was one herd of many swine feeding on this mountain; and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them.
“Then went the devils out of the man and entered into the swine; and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake and were choked.
“When they that fed them saw what was done, they fled, and went and told it in the city and in the country.
“Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.”
Luke, ch. viii. 32-37.
The story then follows the inner-workings of a small Russian town that is a perfect breeding ground for revolutionary ideas. Dostoevsky uses the many varied characters of the town and their interpersonal dialogues to slowly build up to a crescendo of revolutionary destruction and tragedy, demonstrating that this can befall any person and any town. That these ideas of revolution infect the minds of the masses and in that way are like the demons entering the swine in Luke. Thus, the title, The Possessed, or the devils, or demons depending on your translation. Ideas have a way of possessing the collective society and without thinking much about the validity of the idea or the consequence of the idea, they are driven down the hill and plunged into the waters ultimately drowning in tragedy. Dostoevsky demonstrates this at full force in the novel when Stepan Trofimovitch is giving a speech about aesthetics at the end of the reading preceding the ball, but insults the crowd which causes an uproar in the masses and an unknown man gets on the stage and begins to speak in a somewhat vague revolutionary tone that Russia has failed and the people blow up in a frenzy of passion. This is followed by a young girl who gets up to rouse oppressed students to protest. Immediately following is the long-awaited ball which the novel had been building up to, which culminates in someone yelling “fire!” and everyone running for the exits as a failed coup is attempted and a fire breaks out in the town. The governor is hit on the head with a beam because of the fire and loses his sanity, so that he is never again the governor, and we learn later that a Capitan and part of his family was killed. The concluding portion of the novel piles on more death and tragedy, but as is famous of Dostoevsky he does not end on that note. After plunging into the darkness of human depravity and dragging the reader through the muck and filth of sinful man he offers a beautiful transcendent hope to the reader in the concluding sections of his novel.
Dostoevsky is the greatest philosophical novelist because he understands humanity in a way that other philosophers fail to fully realize. He peers into the depths of man’s heart with its selfish ambition, and he asks us to think about the meaning of it all. The purpose of our ideas, the purpose of our desires, of our beliefs, the driving forces behind our politics, behind our ideals, and he rattles the reader’s worldview by the questions he asks. This book asks many such questions, but one of those penetrating questions from this book that held the most weight for me is, if God does not exist what does that mean for man? At the foundation of this question Dostoevsky is in accordance with Nietzsche. In Nietzsche’s The Gay Science he claims by way of the mad man that “God is dead.” The idea that in the wake of the enlightenment and in the birth of modernity, man killed God and the world will now deal with the consequences Dostoevsky and Nietzsche both observe to be true. Where they differ wildly is what that means for mankind. Nietzsche looked at the modern world built on Christian morality and wished that man would release himself from the historic and oppressive chains that bound him to a Christian foundation. Dostoevsky on the other hand peers into the void of Nietzsche’s philosophy and asks what man has to live for if God is not real. What purpose is there to anything at all? In doing so, he stabs a hole through the core of nihilism. He does so most presciently through Pyotr Stepanovitch and Kirillov’s dialogue about suicide:
“Listen to a great idea: there was a day on earth, and in the midst of the earth there stood three crosses. One on the Cross had such faith that he said to another, ‘To-day thou shalt be with me in Paradise.’ The day ended; both died and passed away and found neither Paradise nor resurrection. His words did not come true. Listen: that Man was the loftiest of all on earth, He was that which gave meaning to life. The whole planet, with everything on it, is mere madness without that Man. There has never been any like Him before or since, never, up to a miracle. For that is the miracle, that there never was or never will be another like Him. And if that is so, if the laws of nature did not spare even Him, have not spared even their miracle and made even Him live in a lie and die for a lie, then all the planet is a lie and rests on a lie and on mockery. So then, the very laws of the planet are a lie and the vaudeville of devils. What is there to live for? Answer, if you are a man.”
Dostoevsky comes out with fists up in full swing against Nihilism here when he says,
“Answer, if you are a man!”
And in Stepan Tofimovitch’s last words in the novel,
“what is more precious than love? Love is higher than existence, love is the crown of existence; and how is it possible that existence should not be under its dominance? If I have once loved Him and rejoiced in my love, is it possible that He should extinguish me and my joy and bring me to nothingness again? If there is a God, then I am immortal. Voilà ma profession de foi.”
“The mere fact of the ever present idea that there exists something infinitely more just and more happy than I am fills me through and through with tender ecstasy—and glorifies me—oh, whoever I may be, whatever I have done! What is far more essential for man than personal happiness is to know and to believe at every instant that there is somewhere a perfect and serene happiness for all men and for everything.… The one essential condition of human existence is that man should always be able to bow down before something infinitely great. If men are deprived of the infinitely great they will not go on living and will die of despair. The Infinite and the Eternal are as essential for man as the little planet on which he dwells. My friends, all, all: hail to the Great Idea! The Eternal, Infinite Idea! It is essential to every man, whoever he may be, to bow down before what is the Great Idea. Even the stupidest man needs something great. Petrusha … oh, how I want to see them all again! They don’t know, they don’t know that that same Eternal, Grand Idea lies in them all!”
Dostoevsky reaffirms this idea that man needs God. That God and love are the transcendent pieces to the puzzle of human existence that provide meaning and hope to all people. That this idea of eternal love and life in God is infinitely great and glorious and that it lies within us all in our very nature....more
My first taste of Douglas Wilson's writing, and it did not disappoint. Touching on subjects such as marriage, masculinity, lust, and our modern culturMy first taste of Douglas Wilson's writing, and it did not disappoint. Touching on subjects such as marriage, masculinity, lust, and our modern culture. He writes in a humorous and provocative style that I am partial to. Most of the material here is straight to the point and practical. I will be reading more of Wilson's works....more
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