What I write here emerges from several muses. My time in the Word in either Bible study or devotional, things that I am reading, and life experiences. Sometimes all three. There are probably subsets of those but those are the main sources. I say that to say that in each of those arenas there is a lot going on. So there are several directions from which to choose this evening. I choose…
I just got three books for my birthday. David and Goliath
, by Gladwell; The Gift of Prophecy
, by Grudem; Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
, by Piper and Grudem; and I recently obtained Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility
, by Carson. I have finished Gladwell’s book, highly recommend it along with all his other work. I am working through the other three simultaneously.
I respect all of these men. I have read all but one of Gladwell’s books (my son waved me off of What the Dog Saw
). I have read two others by Carson and am working on a third on my iPad. I have not read Piper but have listened to his series Men of Whom the World was not Worthy several times. I think I have read Grudem in journal articles but none of his books. I have heard great things about Grudem though.
I like – check that love, books. I especially like books that challenge my thinking. I have scanned enough of Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood and The Gift of Prophecy, to know that I start those books in agreement with one and at odds with the other. I am far enough into Divine Sovereignty to know that it is going to stretch me.
But you need to know that these books even though I love them are not the source of my positions on any of these topics. I do not accept at face value what I read. The Bible trumps these books. It is my responsibility to come to each of these having already studied the topics. I have. My purpose in reading them is to essentially enter into a dialog with the author, to see what he brings to the topic that either I overlooked, misunderstood, or just missed.
These men are heroes of mine at some level. But they are men. They get things wrong, as do I. So when I engage with them I have to do so on the same basis that the Berean believers did with Paul in Acts 17:11
. I have to check out what they say against what the Bible says about the topic.
That interaction will benefit me greatly. But only if the Bible is the guide.
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| Clockwise from top left: Gladwell, Piper, Carson, Grudem |
, by Gladwell; The Gift of Prophecy, by Grudem; Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, by Piper and Grudem; and I recently obtained Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility, by Carson. I have finished Gladwell’s book, highly recommend it along with all his other work. I am working through the other three simultaneously.I respect all of these men. I have read all but one of Gladwell’s books (my son waved me off of What the Dog Saw
). I have read two others by Carson and am working on a third on my iPad. I have not read Piper but have listened to his series Men of Whom the World was not Worthy several times. I think I have read Grudem in journal articles but none of his books. I have heard great things about Grudem though.I like – check that love, books. I especially like books that challenge my thinking. I have scanned enough of Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood and The Gift of Prophecy, to know that I start those books in agreement with one and at odds with the other. I am far enough into Divine Sovereignty to know that it is going to stretch me.
But you need to know that these books even though I love them are not the source of my positions on any of these topics. I do not accept at face value what I read. The Bible trumps these books. It is my responsibility to come to each of these having already studied the topics. I have. My purpose in reading them is to essentially enter into a dialog with the author, to see what he brings to the topic that either I overlooked, misunderstood, or just missed.
These men are heroes of mine at some level. But they are men. They get things wrong, as do I. So when I engage with them I have to do so on the same basis that the Berean believers did with Paul in Acts 17:11
. I have to check out what they say against what the Bible says about the topic.That interaction will benefit me greatly. But only if the Bible is the guide.
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