Part 1
This is not a perfectly structured review, so, as with Part 1, I simply have a string of reflections:
- Dave Miers has also just posted a very positive review of this book, if you want another perspective.
- The book covers a lot of ground, including a significant amount of apologetic territory and some basic advice on how to pray, read the Bible and choose a church. This makes it a very valuable tool for a range of contexts.
- It's not too 'youth'. I could happily give it to someone in their twenties without too many jarring bits.
- Prayer is encouraged every step of the way - from general prayers of thanks for the created world to prayers of repentance, to prayers of conversion. This is a nice structure. It does raise the question - Should we encourage people to pray who don't have access to God through Jesus by the Spirit? That's a whole other theological minefield, but I think the answer is yes, even though I don't have the full answer for why!
- Murray holds back from a strong presentation of hell. The closest it gets is on page 74:
... From the very beginning, people have turned their backs on God. They've said 'thanks, but no thanks', and have tried to live their own way without him. all of us have done this in different ways. Not even the best of us have lived the life we were made to live. The awful result is that our hearts have become sick, and our relationship with God has been ruined. That's bad news.
He comes close to it when explaining the purpose of Jesus' death (pages 90-94), but even then, we are told that forgiveness is costly and that we are guilty, without being clearly told what the cost of forgiveness/guilt is:
We stay in the world of metaphor and the 'price of sin' is never personalised as the personal wrath of a just God.
Jesus knew that forgiveness isn't cheap, yet he spent his whole life offering God's forgiveness to others, free of charge. He did that because he knew that he was going to pay the expensive price for the most wonderful free gift ever offered.
.... In Jesus, God reached out to us and dealt with out problem for us. God was willing to give up his own Son to pay the price for everything we have ever done wrong.
We stay in the world of metaphor and the 'price of sin' is never personalised as the personal wrath of a just God.
This could be fine in many contexts. I don't think that every single gospel presentation has to have a complete presentation of the wrath of God in order to be faithful. However, this is a large book, that covers so much ground. And it is being presented as a introduction-to-Christianity manual. I think it is misguided to leave out a clear explanation of the judgment of God.
7 comments:
i don't understand the timing of this book? is it to use with the Jesus all about life campaign. seems too late for that??!
Hey Mike,
Thanks for this encouraging and honest review. I'm encouraged that you feel the book might be useful in a range of contexts - I certainly wrote it with that hope and prayer.
Can I offer a couple of responses?
1. In terms of your question about encouraging people currently outside of Christ to pray, I obviously agree with your answer: 'Yes, we should'. For me this is grounded in the reality that all people have a relationship with God as creature to Creator. Although this relationship has been severely damaged by sin, such that all people outside of Christ stand under the just condemnation of God, the more basic relationship of creature to Creator remains. All people are still in the image of God, even though that image has been disastrously disfigured. Further, since God loves his creatures, and desires that all people should be saved (1 Tim. 2.4), it is right for us to encourage all people to approach him in prayer. The goal of this encouragement is always, of course, that people might recognize their dependence on God as his dearly loved creatures, recognize also their sin, and ultimately be reconciled to God in Christ through repentance and faith. I certainly tried to lead people in this direction in the book.
I'll post some more in a separate comment ...
Following on from the previous comment
2. In terms of your comments about hell and God's wrath, I'd like to draw attention to the strong statement about this in the last chapter, which you did not mention in your review. On page 117, in the section about 'Where its all headed', I quoted 2 Peter 3.8-9 and wrote the following:
'God is waiting to send Jesus again because he doesn't want anyone 'to be lost'. You see, when Jesus finally comes to finish the job - to clean up the world, to restore God's masterpiece - a judgement will be involved. Jesus will get rid of all the sickness and death and suffering and sin in the world. How else can he clean up the mess? The problem, of course, is that by ourselves we are part of that mess! This means that if Jesus were to come today, he would need to clear out all the people who haven't yet turned around and asked God to forgive them. But God doesn't want to do that. He doesn't want anyone to be lost. He wants everyone to accept his offer of forgiveness.
'(But) don't get me wrong. One day - and we don't know when, but one day - Jesus will come to judge. He will come to judge because he loves his world and he loves us. He will come to judge because he hates all the evil and selfishness and sickness that are ruining his world. He will come to judge, because that is how he will clean up the mess and make everything new. But that will be a terrible day for anyone who hasn't yet accepted his offer of forgiveness.'
The language I used here is obviously consistent with the language of the rest of the book for a youth audience. The terms 'wrath' and 'hell' are not present, but I hope that the idea of judgement as being excluded from God's presence in the new heavens and the new earth is still clear (cf. 2 Thess 1.9). Those outside of Christ will be 'cleared out' from God's presence, and this day of 'judgement' will be 'a terrible day' for those who have not trusted in him.
More to come in a third comment
Following on from previous comment:
The reason I saved the strong statements about judgment for the final chapter was not because I wish to draw back in any way from a strong presentation of the judgement, but for two other reasons:
i. In the NT, the wrath of God against sin expressed in his judgment of sinners is primarily (though not exclusively) a future reality (eg. Rom 5.9-11; 1 Thess 1.10; Col 3.6 etc). God's wrath is primarily directed against sin (cf. Rom 8.3 'he condemned sin') and only secondarily against those who have become willing captives to sin. God's primary attitude towards sinners, therefore, remains one of love. This is why God sent his Son Jesus to bear his wrath against sin for us when he took our place under God's judgement on the cross. The result is that God has opened up a window of opportunity for all who trust in Christ to be saved from his wrath which 'will be revealed' on the 'day of wrath' (Rom 2.5).
Like nearly everything in the NT, the wrath of God is both now and not yet: in one sense, God's wrath was poured out on Christ on the cross, in another sense God's wrath is a present reality (cf. Rom 1.18ff.), and in yet another sense God's wrath is yet to come. Nevertheless, within this now but not yet landscape, the NT understanding is that God is holding off the day of his wrath against sinners because of his deep love for sinners (2 Peter 3.8-9). As I said in the book, this day will come, and it will be a terrible day for those who have refused to trust in Christ. Nevertheless, because it is primarily a future reality in the NT, I attempted to reflect this emphasis in my presentation of the gospel in the JAAL book. The strong statements about judgement therefore come in the last chapter.
ii. As you noted, the gospel can, of course, be presented in a number of ways, and very few, apart from a large systematic theology, can claim to be comprehensive. Although the JAAL book may seem reasonably long, I think this impression is due more to the many pictures than to the length of the text! There are many things I would have liked to say more about!! Certainly, much more could have been said about God's wrath.
Nevertheless, each gospel presentation has its own logic, and the approach I chose in the JAAL book was to encourage those outside of Christ to recognize that they were made for relationship with God, and that they therefore need to be reconciled to him through Christ. That is, I chose to emphasize the doctrine of creation and God's love in Christ. In this context, the human predicament in sin is naturally presented in the biblical categories of 'slavery' to sin, 'guilt' before God, 'broken' and a 'ruined' relationship with God. I emphasized that we cannot save ourselves because we have become 'part of the problem' with the world (pp. 73-74). Likewise, Jesus' life, death and resurrection, are then naturally presented as the means by which God has acted to set us free from slavery to sin, to restore our broken relationship with our Creator, and to begin the renewal of all things. The fear of judgement and hell need not, I think, be the primary motivation we offer to sinners to trust in Christ. Judgement is certainly real and terrible, and we should not shy away from it or hide from it in our presentations of the gospel. For this reason, I included the strong statement quoted above (p. 117). At the same time, however, judgement need not take centre stage in every gospel presentation. I chose, therefore, to encourage people to repent and trust in Christ by emphasizing the fact that they were made for relationship with God and that this relationship has been ruined by sin.
anyway, I hope these brief comments might help to clarify the structure of what I presented in the book. thanks again for taking the time to read and review it.
in Christ
Murray
Thanks for your comments Murray and the spirit with which you received my review!
My apologies for leaving out the very very important quote on p. 117.
I completely accept you explanation for the particular angle of your gospel presentation.
My 'but' here is that I still think it is better to express judgment in personal terms - wrath against wrongdoer, and not merely cleansing/separating concepts.
But thanks for your clear and kind defence!
Thanks again Mikey for your comments. I agree that it is important to talk about God's wrath in personal terms. The JAAL book certainly talks about sin in relational categories, but I will take another look to see if the carry through to the judgement section could be strengthened. It looks like there will probably be a second print run of the JAAL book, so I will certainly keep your comments in mind if I get the chance to review the text before then. Thanks again for your thoughtful engagement. God bless.
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