Reading a book does not imply that I agree with the books, condone it, like it, or recommend it. Keep visiting the site, as I hope to publish reviews of my readings along with select quotes from each book as I finish it and digest its contents.
I need to write. If I don’t write, I don’t think that I think--at least not thoroughly. Thus this blog is simply an outlet for me to think. My goal is to be thinking about those things and only those things that are in line with Philippians 4:8.
Apologetics for the Glory of God by John Frame (Review)
I have read almost a dozen apologetics texts over the last year, and in my estimation, Apologetics for the Glory of God by John Frame should be the first book you read on the subject. Let John Frame guide you as you learn the particulars of apologetic argument from other apologists. John Frame describes what principles should be guiding the use of any evidence or line of reasoning as the apologist seeks to reason with the nonbelieving skeptic. Frame's apologetics would rightly be characterized as presuppositional in nature; he is not shy to be aligned with Cornelius Van Til. However, for those who think that a presuppositional apologetic eschews evidence, you will be pleasantly surprised. I recommend that any reader of Apologetics for the Glory of God get a copy of Frame's masterpiece Doctrine of the Knowledge of God as frequent reference is made to it and you will find ideas hinted at fully expounded in that larger volume. All of Frame's thinking is influenced by his tri-perspectival way of looking at things (which DKG goes into much detail), where he realizes the helpfulness of considering truth from different angles. His apologetics is no different; the perspectives into which he breaks the apologetic task (and the chapters of the book) are:
Apologetics as Proof
Apologetics as Defense
Apologetics as Offense
Classical apologists seek to find commonground between the believer and the nonbeliever and work from there to convince the skeptic of the plausibility of existence of the God of the Bible; therefore, the classical apologist argues, the Bible is not the appropriate place to start in apologetic encounters. The presuppositionalist argues on the other hand, that the unbeliever is acting in rebellion to God as manifested by his desire to think autonomously and place himself as the ultimate criterion of truth. The apologist should not encourage this thinking; neither should the apologist adopt it. The skeptics basic heart commitment is that Jesus is not Lord; the apologists basic heart commitment is that Jesus is Lord. "Our argument must be an exhibit of that knowledge, that wisdom, which is based on the 'fear of the Lord,' not an exhibition of unbelieving foolishness. Therefore apologetic argument is no more neutral than any other human activity. In apologetic argument, as in everything else we do, we must presuppose the truth of God's Word....Even if neutrality were possible, that route would be forbidden to us" (p. 9).
There is no common ground apart from mutual knowledge of God of which Romans 1:19ff way. The thing that the apologist is most sure is true is that which God has told him in the Bible. Therefore, the apologists argument will be based on Scripture. Frame writes, "The preacher-apologist is to present the word...to expound it, to apply it to his hearers, to display its beauty, its truth, its rationality. [He] seeks to combat the unbeliever's false impressions and present to him the word as it really is. It is to this testimony that the Spirit also bears witness" (p. 17). This does not mean, however, that natural evidences or rational argumentation are out of line, just that they must be submitted to Scripture, "The obedient Christian apologist will show the unbeliever the various ways in which nature reveals God, without claiming neutrality and without allowing the use of non-Christian criteria of truth" (p. 25). The main attack against this line of reasoning is that it is circular; the teachings of the Bible are true because the Bible is true. We must recognize the truth of this statement but recognize that every system of thought is circular when it seeks to defend its ultimate presupposition: the Bible, reason/logic, sense-experience, relativism, or otherwise.
Frame spends the rest of the book working his presuppositional line of reasoning out as it relates to proving Christianity to be true, defending Christianity's truth, and attacking the irrationality of all other belief systems. Frame includes very little actual argumentation, with the exception of the problem of evil in the world. He admits this. His goal in this book is to provide the framework into which all other arguments or lines of reasoning will fit, and he does so masterfully. It is for this reason that I recommend that you read Frame before any other apologists, because fit into this framework the apologist can use any true line of reasoning or evidences (whether it comes from a presuppositionalist or not) and use it in a way that recognizes Jesus and not man as Lord.
Finally, the book ends with an exceptional transcript from a faux dialogue between Frame and a man on an airplane where Frame demonstrates how each item he has discussed throughout the book might work itself out in actual apologetic discussion with a real life person.
Nicholas Carr asks, "What is the internet doing to our brains?" in a very insightful aticle in the Atlantic. He notices that same thing that I notice, "Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle."
He ties this into the type of reading that we are encouraged to do as we surf the web, quickly skimming for the content and moving on. It isn't necessarily a worse way to read, just a different way; it is strengthening different muscles than are strengthened when you sit down and thoughtfully digest and interact with long chunks of reading. But those muscles need to be strengthened as well; I think that's why we have such a difficult time reading older writers, especially the Puritans, who would take a long time to make their point, but put more thought, support, and explanation into it than any modern editor would ever allow.
Anyway, the article looked really interesting, but how would I know, I got bored and surfed away after a few minutes....then I decided that my brain needed a workout, and I pushed through and finished it, skimming only once or twice. A recommended read to make you think about the way that you read and think.
Review: Financial Shock by Mark Zandi
Financial Shock is a timely read in in light of today's economic crisis. It has served me well in educating me as to the behind-the-scenes causes of the financial shock that we are all feeling. Dr. Mark Zandi, chief economist and cofounder of Moody's economy.com, gives simple and helpful advice on how to avoid/mitigate the damages of the next bursting bubbles. He ably identified time and time again that "Americans aren't as smart about money as we should be. Financial illiteracy was a fundamental cause of the subprime financial shock" (p. 236). This book, which is imminently readable, will go far to help educate any member of the public who spends the time to read it.
He begins the book with a very simply yet insightful summary of the recent history that led to the perfect storm. The remaining chapters go into detail on each one of the players. The book is full of helpful charts that convey simply pertinent information without confusion. Zandi is a master at making the complex understandable, at defining terms, and writing for the layperson (but I have no doubt that this would be helpful for the well-versed as well). Finally, although he misjudged the state of the market writing, "the worst of the crisis appears to be over," (published in July '08), he does give 10 "policy steps" based on all that he's written to help us fix this problem and to avoid or mitigate the damamges of bubble bursts in the future. This list will help you get a flavor for what he writes about in the previous chapters (don't worry if you don't understand the terminology - I didn't either - but if you read the book you will):
Adopt a voluntary mortgage write-down policy
Establish clear mortgage lending rules
3. License mortgage brokers
4. Expand data collection
5. Reform the fractured foreclosure process
6. Invest in financial literacy
7. Modify mark-to-market accounting
8. Raise financial transparency and accountability
9. Overhaul financial regulation
10. Pay attention to asset bubbles.
If I could summarize Financial Shock, it would be: Simply Helpful. Simple, but not Simplistic. And although it is writing about a scandal, it is not scandalous. History is used more to help us learn lessons than to point fingers. I have learned much from this book. It has given me the basis to digest most of what I'm reading in the paper and hearing on the news.
On a similar note, I found this roller coaster animation plotting housing prices exceptionally enlightening in regards to the financial state we find ourselves in (HT JT):
The Design of Sin Is Domination & Death
The design of sin lies not in the particular temptation, but to make it a means to obtain dominion over the soul. And the consideration hereof should keep believers always on their guard against all the motions of sin, though the matter of them seem but small, and the occasions of them such as are not like to return; for the aim and tendency of every one of them is dominion and death, which they will compass if not stopped in their progress.
This dominion of sin is that which we have here security given us [true believers] against. Though it will abide in us, though it will contend for rule by deceit and force, yet it shall not prevail, it shall not have the dominion.And this is a case of the highest importance unto us. Our souls are, and must be, under the rule of some principle or law; and from this rule our state is determined and denominated. We are either “servants of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness,” Rom. 6:16.
Praise God for ChristianAudio. Each month they give away a free downloadable, high quality audiobook. This month they are giving away Spurgeon's All of Grace. This is actually the second time that they are giving away this book. It was originally made available in November of 2006 and I have listened to it a couple times since and have found it an excellent audio-book type book. It is an excellent book for seasoned Christian, new Christian, or non-Christian as Spurgeon spends the entire book speaking of how all in the life of a Christian must be and is of grace and only of grace. To get the book, simply add it to your cart at ChristianAudio, check out, enter the coupon code OCT2008, download and enjoy.
Keywords: audiobook,free,spurgeon
Review: Amazon Kindle for Christians
After one month and a dozen books of using my new Amazon.com Kindle, I can recommend it most enthusiastically. The Kindle is basically an electronic book reader with wireless connectivity. Using Amazon's Whispernet (powered by Sprint EVDO), the Kindle can download full text of books, subscribe to receive digital editions of periodicals or blogs, receive emailed digital texts, and browse the web. Everybody who has seen my Kindle is immediately impressed by the amazingly easy-to-read screen, called electronic paper, which displays a very high quality grayscale viewable in both lowlight and direct sunlight situations. The search function allows basic searching for terms within all of your loaded books or online. The onboard dictionary allows lookup of full definitions with etymology of most common words.
Pros
Super easy to read screen in all lighted conditions
Always connected to internet wherever Sprint has service; (makes up for high cost of device)
Perfect for reading text-based webpages
Long battery life (days when wireless is disabled)
Easy to turn on/off; easy to enable/disable wireless (switch at back)
Amazon or Mobipocket converter will convert HTML & Microsoft Word documents to be readable.
PDF texts are able to be converterted but often lose formatting
Mp3 player and Audible Audiobook player (either through speaker on back or through headphones)
Easy to navigate with huge Next page, Previous Page, Back buttons. Very simple navigation; grandparents in their 70's have used it without problem and minimal introduction.
QWERTY keyboard easily allows typing/notetaking easily exported to computer
Comes with nice leather carrying case
Easy to "clip" sections of text for export to computer
Cons
No native pdf document support (conversion often destroys formatting)
Easy to accidentally push the navigation buttons
No backlight (can purchase clip on light which works well)
Battery life only about 12 hours with internet enabled
Web browser very limited in formatting capabilities/unable to work with complex pages
Kindle for Christians
The above comments are not unlike most of the other thousands of reviews of the Kindle. My primary concern is for Christians, especially for Christian leaders. Is it easy to read the Bible on the Kindle? Are new Christian releases available on Kindle? What about the books published in the last decades? What about older works, public domain? The following is a brief summary, I will be blogging much more extensively on this topic in the upcoming weeks and months and going into more detail.
Bibles
I have downloaded and used a few translations of the Bible. They are all plagued by the same problem. The Kindle doesn't show you what chapter of a book you are on, so it is easy to get lost and difficult to check what book or chapter you are in. They all have common navigation scheme: Navigate to the books via the table of contents. Then the superiorly formatted ones (ESV, NASB, & NIV) let you click on links to navigate to the appropriate chapters (I can usually find a verse in these versions in under 15 seconds). (NET & KJV) make you click next page until you get where you are trying to go (this can take a very long on the order of minutes if the verse is later in a book) In summary, the Kindle is not very effective as a look-up-stuff Bible, but excellent in any translation to read straight through a book of the Bible or to read a long section.
Modern Christian Books
Crossway and some other publishers are releasing their books in Kindle format, downloadable in under a minute by navigating on the Kindle to the Kindle Store or by ordering online at the Kindle Store. It seems like most new books are being released digitally. However, books published in years past are only slowly making their way onto the Kindle, and most (but not all) of these are the doctrinally deprived best-seller types. I will be releasing recommended Kindle reading in the coming weeks and months. Additionally many authors release their books digitally for free and these are easily converted to Kindle format and read. Some of these authors that do this are John Piper, Frame & Poythress, and some from Sovereign Grace. Similarly Crossway often will email you a pdf of the physical books that you buy direct from their site.
The best part of reading digitally is that many of the best books available are public domain. Christian CLassics Ethereal Library, Gracegems, Spurgeon.org, Google books, and others are great to get digital texts which you can then paste into a Word document or pdf and send it to your Kindle, or you can browse some of the texts directly on the web-browser on the Kindle.
I have a very extensive digital text collection in Libronix and as I am studying, if I find something that I want to read later when I'm not at the computer screen, I have found myself pasting it into a Word Doc and emailing it to my Kindle to read later. It has made my Libronix Digital Library much more useful to me.
Commentaries
I have not found many commentaries for sale for use in Kindle, however, I have found myself during my study times on Libronix pasting the commentary sections that I want to read in more detail into Word and sending it to my Kindle. There are many public domain commentaries that are available online that the Kindle user can take advantage of. Overall, however, the Kindle is not a good standalone reference tool as it is very slow to navigate section to section (as discussed in the Bible section above). My opinion is that the Kindle is best used to read large sections and not flip around within a resource as is done in a reference book.
Blogs
Most blogs have pretty complicated formats; Kindle does not do well with this. As far as I know, Kindle has no way to read RSS feeds; so I have not found any easy way to read blogs effectively on the Kindle. Amazon does have an option to serve blogs to your Kindle at a cost if the blog chooses to participate. This may be the future of blog reading on Kindle, but I hope that soon there will be an easy way to read simple RSS feeds on the Kindle.
Overall, I highly recommend the Kindle for all who love to read. I have loved mine and find myself using it for hours and hours almost each day.
Keywords: kindle
We Are All Very Committed and Gifted Self-Swindlers (Quote: Paul David Tripp)
Sin lives in a costume; that why it's so hard to recognize. The fact that sin looks so good is one of the things that make it so bad. In order for it to do its evil work, it must present itself as something that is anything but evil. Life in a fallen world is like attending the ultimate masquerade party:
Inpatient yelling wears the costume of a zeal for truth.
Lust can masquerade as a love for beauty
Gossip does its evil work by living in the costume of concern and prayer
Craving for power and control wears the mask of biblical leadership
Fear of man gets dressed up as a servant heart
The pride of always being right masquerades as a love for biblical wisdom
Evil simply doesn't present itself as evil, which is part of its draw...Now, what this means personally is that as sinners we are all very commited and gifted self-swindlers...We're all too skilled at looking at our own wrong and seeing good. We're all much better at seeing the sin, weaknesses, and fialures of others than we are our own. We're all very good at being intolerant of others of the very things that we willingly tolerate in ourselves....Accurate self assessment is the product of grace. It is only in the mirror of God's Word and with the sight-giving help of the Holy Spirit that we are able to see ourselves as we actually are.
Paul David Tripp
Whiter Than Snow: Meditations on Sin & Mercy (Amazon | Kindle | WTS)
Chapter 6
As Read on my Kindle
Review: The Truth of the Cross by R.C. Sproul
In The Truth of the Cross, R.C. Sproul effectively communicates the truth of the cross, its significance, its necessity, and its accomplishments. The Truth of the Cross is a short little book packed with doctrine related to the cross (with a focus on substitutionary atonement), a topic that no Christian can spend too much time thinking about rightly. R.C. Sproul's aim throughout the 10 chapters of the book is to ensure that the reader correctly understands what transpired at the cross, why it was necessary, and what God accomplished there. He makes extensive use of church history, historic Christian philosophers and theologians, (Augustine, Aquinas, Anselm, Luther, & Calvin), philosophy, and logic. Sproul, as usual, is excellent at taking complex statements and whittling them down so that they seem simple. I do wish, however, that the book was more Scripture-packed and that Sproul's appeals were based more explicitly on Scripture than on logic. It seems that Sproul's modus operandi is to demonstrate where his reformed theology logically directs his thinking on an issue. Then he may point to Scripture to show how his position is not at odds with Scripture. This seems backwards to me and is my concern with Sproul and underlies all of the areas of disagreement/caution that I have with this book (On pp 159-161, Sproul's need to teach that Jesus the man and not Jesus God was crucified at the cross seems to be more theologically driven than textually driven and is a good example of this observation as not one verse is cited or interacted with to defend his position, Acts 20:28 & 1 Cor 2:8 would have been nice). Nevertheless, this book is an excellent devotional treatise on cross of Christ that does make frequent use of Scripture. It served me well as I slowly read it, wondering anew at the amazing love of this Holy God who would crush His Son in my place and give me His righteousness to free me from Hell and to reconcile me to Him.
The first few chapters were written to demonstrate to the reader that the atonement was absolutely necessary if man were to have any hope to come to God. Sproul writes, "If we are defective in understanding the character of God or understanding the nature of sin, it is inevitable that we will come to the conclusion that an atonement was not necessary" (p. 15). It is not merely enough to know the facts of the cross, we must know the meaning of the facts, he says, otherwise we will miss the significance of the cross (p. 102). Sproul does a masterful job at simply and understandably laying out this significance. In summarizing what he has taught, at the end of the book, Sproul writes, "[The cross] is not an afterthought or an attempt to correct a mistake. Rather, from all eternity, God determined that He would redeem for himself a people, and that which He determined to do was, in fact, accomplished in the work of Jesus Christ, His atonement on the cross."
In the face of many modern heresies, such as New Perspective on Paul, postmodernism, and Open Theism, that attack the very significance of the cross and are being embraced by many in evangelical circles, Sproul's book is well-timed and well written. We would do well to read it, recognize the truth of the cross, and guard ourselves from believing these gospel-attacking wolf-doctrines dressed in academic sheep's clothing. We would do well to sit at the foot of the cross everyday and recognize the importance of the doctrines that first brought us life and are meant to sustain us through our Christian life. For these ends, you will be served well by Sproul's The Truth of the Cross.
"Earn This" Lesson On the Cross from Saving Private Ryan
In the final battle scene from the World War II film, Saving Private Ryan, mortally wounded Captain John H. Miller whispers his last words into Private James Ryan's ears: "Earn this," he says between agonal breaths before he slumps his head, his task complete. His task was to find private Ryan and bring him home, a mission of mercy planned to give his mother some solace after she hears that three of her four sons died on the field. Miller and his specially picked squad end up completing their task, at the cost of most of their own lives; yet they successfully complete their mission, to bring Private Ryan home alive.
In the final minutes of the movie, after Miller's passionate imperative, "Earn this," the camera cuts an elderly James Ryan standing over Miller's grave. Tears in his eyes, Ryan speaks to the departed Miller at his grave saying, "Everyday I think about what you said to me that day on the bridge; I've tried to live my life the best that I could. I hope that that was enough. I hope, that at least in your eyes, I earned what [you] have done for me."
Miller and his group of men sacrificed much for Private Ryan. They died so that Ryan could live. Their deaths for Private Ryan were not based on anything good in Private Ryan; it was a mission of mercy. Picking up on these themes, I heard a sermon shortly after the movie's release in which the preacher showed the clip and said that this gives us a glimpse of what Jesus did for us. Then with dramatic pause he asked each of us in the crowd, "Have you earned it? Do you live life the best that you can so that in God's eyes He will say you have earned what He did for you?" Then he dismissed everyone. I wanted to stand up and scream, "No! No! You've missed the point!"
This is precisely NOT the message of the cross. Jesus' death is completely different. Jesus died precisely so that we didn't have to earn it.
Just like private Ryan remembered his saviors' deaths every day, we must daily remember our Savior's death. But Jesus said something far different hanging on the cross than Captain Miller said on the bridge. Miller said, "Earn this." Jesus said, "It is finished." In essence, "I just earned what you never could and must not now try." When you remember the cross do you remember Christ's words? We must remember the cross and if you remember the cross rightly you will never try to earn anything. If Christ died for you, he died to earn you that which you never could earn. If you could have earned, Jesus wouldn't have had to die (c.f. Gal 2:21).
Just like Ryan's memory of those who died for him affected his day to day life, so your memory of the One who died for you must affect your day-to-day life. But the motive for it affecting you must be completely different. To try to earn Christ's death through your good works or righteous life is to ignore the true meaning of all the Jesus did there as he died. On the cross, Jesus bore the wrath of God that you and I deserve and Christ's righteousness was applied to us (2 Cor 5:21). We have earned and can earn nothing but Hell. Precisely because we can't earn heaven by our own righteousness, Christ died to give us His.
If you look at the cross and try to earn it, Christ didn't die for you. That's not faith; that's works. Repent.
Rather, recognize Christ's finished work, and trust that it is sufficient to reconcile yourself to God. Christ's death purchased us out of the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His Beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Col 1:13-14). There is nothing left that you have to do. So now live like the new creature that God has made you, not to earn the cross but because of what the cross has earned for you.
Let's change Ryan's words spoken at the gravestone and say, from the foot of the cross, "Everyday, I think about what you said that day on the cross, 'It is finished.' I now live my life as one forgiven and freed from sins. I could never do enough, and I praise you that Christ has made me righteous in your eyes."
Keywords: atonement,cross,gospel
Fellowship as a Smallgroup
I have a deep desire for deeper fellowship within my smallgroup. Many relationships that I have within my group are the deepest I know, but some are regularly superficial. How do I remedy this? Spending time together is certainly part of the answer? Like C.J. Mahaney says in the quote below, "Social activities can create a context for fellowship, but they are a place to begin - not a place to remain." So as I plan the social activities in which I desire fellowship to occur, I must remember that hanging out, being friends, and having fun is not fellowship. We must push through in the midst of those activities to true fellowship - not formalism, religiosity, fakeness, or spirituality. If I spend the afternoon with you, fellow Christian, no matter what we are doing, I want to leave with a fresh understanding of and passion for God. I desire that that would be the effect of an afternoon (or smallgroup meeting) spent with me.
The depth of our personal
relationship with God determines the degree of fellowship
possible with each other. Thus, in order to know true fellowship,
one must maintain a passionate relationship with
and experience of God. Perhaps that is why biblical fellowship
is so rare.
Fellowship is not just another word for social activities.
I really enjoy watching the Washington Redskins or
Baltimore Orioles with my friends. This can be a healthy
part of small-group life…but it isn’t fellowship. And you
don’t have fellowship talking about the latest opinion
from Rush Limbaugh or Jesse Jackson, either. Social
activities can’t be equated or confused with fellowship.
They are distinctly different. Nothing compares to the fellowship
we enjoy when we worship together, study and
apply Scripture together, encourage and correct each
other, and communicate to one another our current experience
of God. Nothing. Social activities can create a context
for fellowship, but they are a place to begin—not a
place to remain.
When I spend an extended time with another Christian,
my main desire is that we know fellowship. I want to hear
of his relationship with God, and how God is revealing
himself to him. I want to communicate
my current experience of God as
well, and impart a fresh passion for
God.
Is that your desire? If someone
spent an afternoon with you, would he
or she leave with a fresh understanding
of and passion for God? If not, you
need to change.
With this definition of fellowship in
mind, consider your small group. Are
you experiencing fellowship? How
much time do you spend in the meetings
talking about your current relationship
with God? When you meet
together outside the meetings, how
often do your conversations revolve
around God’s work in your life? If you are relaxing together more than you're relating together spiritually, you're not enjoying true biblical fellowship - and you have something to look forward to.
Reading according to CJ Mahaney, Jeff Purswell, & Josh Harris
I finally got a chance to listen to the third installment of the Sovereign Grace Leadership Interview podcast. The three speak in a pastoral way to pastors to help them to prioritize the practice of reading in their own care of their souls. It is great advice that is applicable for all, not just pastors; in fact, it may be advice that is most overlooked by non-pastors. I highly recommend the Christian reader of this blog, stop reading this blog, and download this installment (and all installments) of the Leadership Interview Podcast.
Most of the books recommended can be found linked here,
Also, while thinking on the topic, you must surf over to T4G blog and read some of the great posts there on reading that are designed to be read in order:
I hope these resources serve you well, convince you of the importance of reading, and motivate you to make the necessary adjustments in your schedule in order to reflect this priority. It certainly has renewed my motivation in this regard.
Keywords: reading
Free Commentary for Libronix (Matthew, Mark Cornerstone Biblical Commentary)
I have another freebie. For a limited time, you can get a digital version of Cornerstone Biblical Commentary Series' commentaries on Matthew (by David Turner) and Mark (by Darrel Bock) for free. Just go it the product page and then checkout using the coupon code: CORNERSTONE
First add the book to your cart, then add the coupon code to the field on the lower left, then click proceed, enter credit card info (you will not be charged; don't be thrown off by the total on the right, it'll go away on the next screen.), click proceed, verify that the total is $0.00, click submit order, and finally download your resource. You have to have Libronix installed first. Check the product page to tell you how to install the free software (the software is free but resources are not. I recommend you purchase one of the libraries).
God does not do you good out of some constraint or coercion. He is free! And in his freedom he overflows in joy to do you good. He exults over you with loud singing.
Can you imagine what it would be like if you could hear God singing? Remember that it was merely a spoken word that brought the universe into existence. What would happen if God lifted up his voice and not only spoke but sang! Perhaps a new heaven and a new earth would be created. God says something almost just to that effect in Isaiah 65:17-18,
Behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth ... I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
When God spoke at the beginning, the heavens and the earth were created; perhaps at the end, the new heavens and the new earth will be created when God exults over his people with loud singing.
When I think of the voice of God singing, I hear the booming of Niagara Falls mingled with the trickle of a mossy mountain stream. I hear the blast of Mt. St. Helens mingled with a kitten's purr. I hear the power of an East Coast hurricane and the barely audible puff of a night snow in the woods. And I hear the unimaginable roar of the sun 865,000 miles thick, one million three hundred thousand times bigger than the earth, and nothing but fire, 1, 000, 000 degrees centigrade, on the cooler surface of the corona. But I hear this unimaginable roar mingled with the tender, warm crackling of the living room logs on a cozy winter's night.
And when I hear this singing I stand dumbfounded, staggered, speechless that he is singing over me. He is rejoicing over my good with all his heart and with all his soul (cf. Jeremiah 32:41)!
A Baby Preaching: Less Content; Less Error; More Excitement!
In what was described by his brother as a "powerful move of God" a baby, the son of the preacher, takes the mic and begins to "preach". It is far better than what the congregation was used to and better than much of what you'd find on TBN:
Slightly less content
Much less error
Equal or greater emotional rise.
Amen! Sad, huh? This just reinforces how grateful I am for the expository preaching I am blessed with each week.
I had never really thought about it, but I guess--even though it is
contrary to my longing and belief that God can be and is glorified
through all of the Christian's life--that I had always just assumed
that business wasn't good in and of itself. In fact like Grudem asserts
of those who are like I was, we believe, "that from a moral perspective
[profit, competition, money, and business are] 'neutral' at best." I
guess that when I was pursuing a degree in engineering, I thought that
I could glorify God through it by sharing the gospel at the work place,
earning enough money to free my wife up to be a stay-at-home mom, and
being able to give moreo the church. But Grudem's view is so
much balanced and biblical than money t these views, exposing my blindness that
would have kept me from obeying 1 Corinthians 10:31, "So, whether you
eat or drink, or whatever you do (including business), do all for the
glory of God." (On a side not to 1 Cor 10:31, read "How to Drink Orange
Juice to the Glory of God," chapter 5 of John Piper's book, Pierced by
the Word.)
The topics in which Grudem covers in this book, with a chapter devoted to each one are:
How God is glorified by...
1. Ownership
2. Productivity
3. Employment
4. Commercial Transactions
5. Profit
6. Money
7. Inequality of Possessions
8. Competition
9. Borrowing and Lending
and he then includes two chapters on
10. Attitudes of Heart
11. Effects on World Poverty.
Grudem is not blind to the abuses of business, the ways in which we
idolize money and success and become gracious losing sight of the fact
that we are operating with God's stuff not ours. He regularly comments
throughout the book on concerns to balance the view, but the real
wealth of attitude-changing information comes from
not-often-talked-about fact that business can in-and-of-itself be
glorifying to God. We don't have to feel "vaguely guilty" about
business but can use it to both glorify God while we're doing it and
advance the Kingdom through it.
My only complaint is the size of the book, and for that I wish I
could give it four-and-a-half stars. The book is really small (83 pages
of text) and oftentimes when it seems like he is just beginning to
develop a thought or when a proposition could use a little more
defense, he needs to move on to the next topic of discussion. However,
he can be excused because he has let the reader know that he is working
on a larger edition saying in the preface, "The Bible says much about
these topics, and a thorough treatment deserves a much larger book than
this, one that I am still in the process of writing."
In summary, if you are in business or are a student studying or
considering studying business, read this book. It should have a
profound and God-glorifying effect (if read as it is written and not
taken as a license to idolize business or success and withhold God's
grace from people) on your life, studies, and career.
Mahaney and others from Sovereign Grace Ministries attack
love-for-the-world head on in this book. Based on the premise that many
Christians have "cut" 1 John 2:15 - "Do not love the world or anything
in the world" - out of "their Bibles" in the way that they act, C.J.
Mahaney and the other authors call for Christians to renew their
efforts to avoid worldliness. All too often when Christians have sought
to avoid worldliness, they have done so with law. By this I mean that
God's grace is viewed only as what originally ushered the believer into
the kingdom, but God's grace is not viewed as instrumental in the fight
against sin. Rather, individual efforts are given the bulk of the
weight. This book is categorically different; there are no signs of
legalism here, but the call to avoid wordliness is radical,
unflinching, and must grab your attention. C.J. Mahaney writes in the
first chapter, "While resisting wordliness is this books theme,
exalting Christ is its aim." They hit the bull's-eye they were aiming
for.
Word of caution: We rarely view
ourselves as worldly; rather, wordliness is defined by those who do not
meet up to our artificial criteria of what a Christian life in the
world should look like. Usually something like ourselves serves as our
epitome of that standard. Therefore, my temptation in coming to a book
entitled Worldliness is to read it "for someone
else." Without shepherding my thoughts, I would tend to think as I
read, "This book is perfect for so-and-so," or "I can't wait for my
friend to read this." This must not be your first thought. This book
will reveal sin you were oblivious to, and it will give you the
gospel-saturated tools you need to overwhelm the appeal of the world
with love for Christ. Then properly and continuously applied to
yourself, this book surely will serve entire churches well. The one who
loves what this book calls us to - The grace and glory of God revealed
at the cross - will attack worldliness most God-glorifyingly and most
effectively. They will recognize, as Mahaney writes, that, "Eradication
[of worldliness] is not an end in itself. Resisting wordliness is
absolutely vital but it is ultimately not most significant. Jesus
Christ is most important. We must fight worldliness because it dulls
our affections for Christ and distracts our attention from Christ.
Wordliness is so serious because Christ is so glorious." So let God use
this book first and most in your own life, and then I guarantee that
you will be giving it to many others, and then you can fight the sin of
worldliness together, not through legalism, but motivated and empowered
by God's grace.
Here's a rundown of the contents of the book:
Chapter
1- "Is This Verse In Your Bible": C.J. Mahaney introduces the topic of
worldliness, explains why this book is important, and sets the
gospel-tone that saturates every chapter.
Chapter 2 - "God, My
Heart, & Media": Cabaniss, noting the unavoidable and ubiquitous
presence of media in Americans life, warns us, "As followers of Christ,
we cannot afford to take lightly the media's pervasive presence in our
lives." The message of almost all of this media is the message of love
for the world of which John warned us in 1 John 2:16, "The desires of
the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions." It is
not a legalistic calling of media sin, but instead a pastoral urging to
sharpen our biblical discernment and evaluation of our media intake for
the glory of God. The danger for legalism regarding media is real and
it is really dangerous. We must therefore be selective, and the "why"
of our selectively it crucial. Guarding us from legalism, Cabaniss
roots the what and the why or selectivity in media in the guarding of
our hearts and the glory of God.
Chapter 3 - "God, My
Heart, & Music": Bob Kauflin, a great lover and maker of music,
warns of the many danger of the love of music and commends proper use
of music to us. Music is not inherently good or bad, but because music
immediately engages our emotions, its effect on us can be far more
profound than we realize. "Listening to music is never neutral, because
our sinful hearts are involved." Kauflin comments, "A wise Christian
understands that listening to music without discernment and godly
intent reveals a heart willing to flirt with the world." Yet "it's not
uncommon for Christians on Sunday...to worship Jesus for his
substitionary death on the cross, then sing songs during the week that
exalt the sins he died for" (see James 3:10). So we must ask, does the
music we listen to "dull our conscience" or direct us to "glory in the
cross." He is clear that this does not mean that "non-Christian" music
is off-limits, nor does it mean that all that passes for "Christian"
should be listened to without discernment. The chapter was very helpful
to me to encourage me to be thoughtful with my listening or
not-listening. Refusing to give a list of examples of acceptable and
unacceptable music or bands, he instead encourages us to ask the
following two questions and then gives us tools to guide us in finding
and listening to music that won't encourage worldliness:
First, does the music you listen to lead you to love the
Savior more or cause your affections for Christ to diminish?
Second, does your music lead you to value an eternal
perspective or influence you to adopt the mindset of this
“present evil age”?
Chapter 4 - "God, My Heart, & Stuff": Dave
Harvey warns us against trusting in possessions and hoping in things by
reminding us of eternity and the joy of laying up treasures in heaven.
This puts stuff in its proper perspective and lets us enjoy it more
fully and more rightly recognizing its insufficiency to bring happiness
and recognizing things as gifts from God. He warns that "stuff stokes
our desire but doesn't satisfy." Getting stuff is never enough for a
heart in love with the world. We must guard ourselves against finding
our identity in possessions, taking pride in possessions, placing our
security in stuff, and measuring worth with money. He teaches us to
fight covetousness with hope of inheriting the kingdom of God, a
treasure of immeasurable worth that will never pass away. This is more
difficult to implement than to talk about, so Harvey ends the chapter
with some examples
of how to guard your heart from love of stuff in light of grace. This
chapter ending may well be the most helpful portion of the entire book,
as it applies to most of the other chapters, and shows the reader how
to fight worldliness with the gospel. Excellent chapter.
Chapter 5 - "God, My Heart, & Clothes": C.J. Mahaney has graciously provided this chapter as a publicly available excerpt
from the book. C.J. with the gracious heart of a pastor, shepherds the
reader's heart to see that God really does care about what we wear,
particularly about the heart behind what we wear. He begins with
modesty (the appendix contains two documents regarding modesty: Modesty
Heart Check & Considering Modesty on Your Wedding Day). Going
straight to the heart and addressing love-of-the-world motivations, he
comments, "Your wardrobe is a public statement of your personal and
private motivation...Modesty is humility expressed in dress." In order
to serve men whose war with lust is more profound than many recognize,
C.J. gently and effectively lays out the issue, making regular
reference to Scripture (particularly 1 Tim 2:9-10), and even charging
parents to get involved in the process with their children from a young
age. Replete with personal anecdotes from a family of women
who have learned this lesson well, this chapter will serve many
churches well in their fight for increased holiness expressed in
clothing choices. Dealing with a difficult topic to address, C.J. does
a masterful job of avoiding (and helping the readers to avoid) the
pitfalls of legalism while encouraging grace-empowered heart obedience
that has the gospel as its aim (1 Tim 2:5-6).
Chapter 6 - "How To Love the World": To end the
book, Jeff Purswell ends the book recognizing that the reader may feel
like everything around him is off limits. He reminds the reader of the
intent of the book: "To impart biblical discernment in areas that
increasingly escape the scrutiny of the evangelical world so intent on
'relating to the culture.'" The prohibition to not love the world nor
the things in the world must not be the only word we heed on what to
love. In order to help us think rightly about the world and
worldliness, he tells the story of the world: Creation, fall,
redemption, consummation. This section is a an excellent summary of
redemptive history that I will likely return to often. Drawing from the
story of redemptive history, Purswell gives the reader 3 tasks to
fulfill as we live in this world: 1. Enjoy the world (as we enjoy God,
not the fallenness of the world, 2.Engage the world (through work, home, education, leisure, and sleep), and 3. Evangelize the world. In a book telling us how not to live in the world, this is a very compact and appropriate reminder of how we are to live. I would like to see this chapter expanded into a book someday...I was constantly left begging for more.
This book has served me well and it will serve the church well. I thank
these pastors for helping pastors everywhere shepherd the hearts of the
flock through the treacherous waters of worldliness. Each author pays
attention to address the calls from many in evangelicalism to "redeem
the culture" or "contextualize the message" acknowledging the truth but
helping to protect the reader from the unseen dangers the lurk down
that path. I have already noted sanctifying fruits in my own life from
reading Worldliness, and I am excited for this book
to get into the hands of all of those in my church and watch God use it
as an instrument of transformation.
This blog is my corner of the web where through writing I force myself to to diligent in thought. It acts as a diary of sorts, documenting through quotes what I'm reading, through essays what I'm thinking, and through photos what I'm doing. I have been told by others that this has been a blessing to them as well. For this I praise God.
I certainly do not run the blog for the money. If I did, it would be a losing proposition as I'm sure the money made through ads compared with the time spent writing and working on it would make my take-home pay pennies per hour. I barely make enough to pay for hosting the site.
Nevertheless, I do have ads on the site and when you click on them (or follow some of the links to products I review), I get a very small amount of monetary remuneration. Also, many people I know and love read the blog; some of these people even buy me birthday presents. Now i get to the point of the post:
Amazon is offering a very good commission this month on sales of gift certificates. These gift certificates can be used whenever and make great birthday gifts for your favorite friend, family member, or blogger (in fact they would be the preferred gift of many friends, family members, and bloggers). You don't have to worry about losing Amazon gift certificates as you can add it to your Amazon account and automatically withdraw funds with each purchase, an excellent way to budget and keep track of Amazon spending. They probably even make good stocking stuffers. All of this and you support me and my blog for free...sort of. Just click the banner below to stock up.
Apologetic Method
The following paper can be downloaded in an easier-to-read pdf version with additional footnotes and bibliography. It is may be easier for you to read that document than this:
Most of the discussions relating to the methods of apologetics are centered around how to do apologetics. However, the most important issues surrounding the methods of apologetics are the character of the apologist and the presuppositions of the apologetic. Christian apologetics must do more than convince one of the plausibility or probability of theism; apologetics must point apologist and skeptic alike to a true knowledge of the God of the Bible and the worldview that flows from that knowledge.
Super-Bowl-winning coach and bestselling author, Tony Dungy, tries his
hands at a children's book with You Can Do It!. Written and illustrated for children in
probably 1-3 grade, Dungy tells a true story from his childhood.
Linden, Tony Dungy's younger brother, didn't know what he wanted to be
when he grew up. He only knew he liked to make people smile. The
Dungy's dad would regularly tell them, "Whatever it is that you want to
do, you can do it. Trust God and dream big!" Tony knew he wanted to be
a football player. His sister's knew what they wanted to do, be nurses
or doctors. But Linden didn't know. His dad told him to pray that God
would help Linden find his dream. The next day, while getting a filling
at the dentist's office, his love of making people smile found its
dream: Dentistry. The Dungy's dad told them to dream big and they did:
Professional football and dentistry. And years later, both dreams came
true.
Dungy writes in the afterword, "I'm
glad I had parents that helped us to dream. I'm glad they taught us to
pray about things that were on our mind. And I'm really glad that God
answers our prayers...Our parents taught us to dream, but they also
taught us something more important. Whatever we dreamed about, we
should tell God because He is the one that can make those plans
succeed."
It is good and right to teach
children of a Christian household to pray to God, to tell Him what's on
their mind, to ask him for things. God says in Psalm 37:4, "Delight
yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart."
My concern for this book lies in what is left unsaid and with how,
without further guidance, God is made to look like His primary concern
for us is to give us our dreams. God cares so much for His children
that He died to save us from ours sins and reconcile us to himself (see
1 Peter 3:18). God is the greatest gift we could ever desire, and if
you delight yourself in Him, He gives you Himself. But nowhere in the
Bible does God promise to give us what we dream or everything we ask
for (see James 4:3). The God of Dungy's You Can Do It!may give children the impression that God lives to make them dentists,
professional football players, and nurses. It is true that the one who
seeks to glorify God in everything (Colossians 3:23-24) will likely
succeed, and the children should be taught to work hard and honor God
in everything, even ask him for wisdom and guidance and blessing.
However, the answer to these prayers is not always, "You can do it!"
Sometimes, often it will be to say "no" to worldly success and the
things that seem to matter here, and instead give trials. The message
to a child who is being taught to honor God should be, "Seek first the
Kingdom of God" (Luke 12:31) and then even in the face of losing
everything, Jesus says to those who have trusted in Him, "Fear not,
little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the
kingdom" (Luke 12:32).
I am thankful that Dungy wants to encourage kids to dream big and try hard. I recognize that
this book had a different aim than that I described in the paragraph
above, and I suspect Dungy might even agree with my paragraph. He was
emphasizing something different. Something I think that without
qualification or explanation is dangerous or even wrong to emphasize.
My fear is that much of Christianity today takes the statement "have
faith" to mean little more than "have faith that God will bless you [in
this world], and He will." Dungy makes many statements similar to this
(For example, Dungy's dad when Linden was wondering if he would ever
have a dream says, "Just keep having faith."). It is right to ask of
God and have faith that He will do what's best. But if getting what we
want is the focus of where we put our faith, we are missing everything
of Christianity. Have faith in God to save you from your sins and give
you Himself. Because of misplaced priorities and a high likelihood of
communicating unbiblical and ungodly priorities, proceed with much
caution; if it is to be read to a child, do so with much discernment
and emphasis on what is missing from this picture of God.
Keywords: dungy,review
Are You a Prostitute?
How can Romans say that apart from the new birth nothing good is in you, when you know that you do good things and that you don't do all the evil you could do? The answer has something to do with prostitution.
Keywords: piper
Consider Your True Riches (Quote: Dave Harvey)
"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though
he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by
his poverty might become rich" (2 Cor. 8:9).
If you measure true wealth by material assets, you won't
come out looking prosperous. Like everyone, you have more
than some and not as much as many others. But if you measure
your riches through what Christ did at Cavalry-God's
wrath appeased, our sin atoned, our soul redeemed-you're
immediately transformed into the richest of the rich. Grace
moved Christ to become poor so we could become wealthy.
When the gospel gets big, covetousness becomes weak.
Are you feeling richer yet? Remember the words of John
Owen:
When someone sets his affections upon the cross and the
love of Christ, he crucifies the world as a dead and undesirable
thing. The baits of sin lose their attraction and disappear.
Fill your affections with the cross of Christ and you
will find no room for sin. (Sin & Temptation, 52)
Dave Harvey Worldliness (ed. C.J. Mahaney)
Chapter 4
God “will not acquit the wicked;” how prove I this? I prove it thus. Never once has he pardoned an unpunished sin; not in all the years of the Most High, not in all the days of his right hand, has he once blotted out sin without punishment. What! say you, were not those in heaven pardoned? Are there not many transgressors pardoned, and do they not escape without punishment? Has be not said, “I have blotted out thy transgressions like a cloud, and like a thick cloud thine iniquities?” Yes, true, most true, and yet my assertion is true also — not one of all those sins that have been pardoned were pardoned without punishment. Do you ask me why and how such a thing as that can be the truth? I point you to yon dreadful sight on Calvary; the punishment which fell not on the forgiven sinner fell there. The cloud of justice was charged with fiery hail; the sinner deserved it; it fell on him; but, for all that, it fell, and spent its fury; it fell there, in that great reservoir of misery; it fell into the Saviour’s heart. The plagues, which need should light on our ingratitude did not fall on us, but they fell somewhere and who was it that was plagued? Tell me, Gethsemane; tell me, O Calvary’s summit, who was plagued. The doleful answer comes, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani!“ “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” It is Jesus suffering all the plagues of sin. Sin is still punished, though the sinner is delivered.
But, you say, this has scarcely proved that he will not acquit the wicked. I hold it has proved it, and proved it clearly. But do ye want any further proof that God will not acquit the wicked? Need I lead you through a long list of terrible wonders that God has wrought — the wonders of his vengeance?
Poisoning Yourself from the Gilded Pill of Popular Entertainment-Spurgeon
Writing of London's Christian's undiscerning consumption of the media of the day (opera), Spurgeon writes the following. How much more applicable is this to us today. Have you exposed yourself to any gold-covered poisonous entertainment lately?:
Ye can sit in theatres to hear plays at which modesty should blush, I say nought of piety. That the ruder sex should have listened to the obscenities of La Traviata is surely bad enough, but that ladies of the highest refinement, and the most approved taste, should dishonor themselves by such a patronage of vice is indeed intolerable.
But because the pill is gilded, ye suck down the poison: because the thing is popular, ye patronize it: it is lustful, it abominable, it is deceitful! Ye take your children to hear what yourselves never ought to listen to. Ye yourselves will sit in gay and grand company, to listen to things from when your modesty ought to revolt. And I would fain hope it does, although the tide may for a while deceive you.
Spurgeon, C. H.
Spurgeon's Sermons: Volume 3 (electronic ed.).
No. 137 "Mercy, Omnipotence, and Justice"
Keywords: entertainment,spurgeon
426 Years to Study the Bible? How About 3?
I am so glad that I was taught, and many in my church were taught,
very early on the importance of understanding what a passage meant in
its original context before trying to apply it. In this day of KLove Power Verses
where life is brought to us in 15 second soundbites, it is tempting in
our study of the word to want a quick pick-me-up, emotionally
stimulating experience from the Bible...in no more than 5 minutes.
This tends can tend to make the 21st century reader of the Bible assign
the emotions or thoughts that first come from reading the text to the
text as the meaning of the text. We have unwittingly adopted the
post-modern assumption that the text's meaning is that which the reader
gives it (therefore it is not improper or impossible for a text to have
as many "meanings" as it has readers). The tendency in modern Bible
readers puts us in danger of seeing only in the Bible what we thought
was already there; the passages which don't line up with what we
understand and like about Christianity are in danger of being skipped
altogether since they don't produce the emotional high for which we are
longing or simply misinterpreted to fit in with our system.
I
praise God, therefore, that early on in my Christian faith I was taught
(and had modeled for me by both of my early spiritual mentors, Daryl
and Walter) the importance of understanding what the original authors
were communicating to the original audience. Without this information I
do not understand the text and can't even begin to apply it to my life
and heart accurately. I was taught the importance of observation and
interpretation (what it meant to them in their time) before
application. I was taught to see the importance of sitting long and
thinking deeply about a single sentence in Scripture, to read it in
context, to analyze each word and how it functioned in sentences, to
probe the historical setting for information that would be helpful to
proper understanding...in short, I was taught the benefits of spending
hours and hours in a single passage. The Scriptures opened up to me
because I saw what was there and gave the Spirit time to drive it into
my heart; the application flowed naturally from what I saw was there
and was more profound and God glorifying than what I would have found
in a five minute quickie Bible read and respond.
There
was a problem here, however. I spent almost two years in daily study on
the book of Galatians. I can say with confidence that I understand
Galatians better than any other book of the Bible. Galatians has owned
me. However, I will probably only have 40-50 years of life to study the
Bible. Galatians is a relatively short book: 149 verses, 0.2 verses per
day. The Bible has 31,102 verses in it. At that rate it would take me
426 years to study the whole Bible. So maybe in heaven, I can do that
but not here. I am conflicted. How am I to use all that God has said in
His Word and still use it responsibly?
Read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year plans
are great. In one year you get to see all that God has said in His
Word. But here is a danger. Reading approximately 85 verses per day,
usually in a time limited to 30-60 minutes per day (some try 15
minutes), puts us in danger of grasping onto what we like or what is
emotionally appealing and skipping the rest. My mind can only grasp
usually one concept at a time and can't hold a thought for long, so in
a reading plan that I did for 4 years (M'Cheyne's). What I found myself often doing as I read through the Bible was focusing
on passages that talked about my favorite theological topics or those
topics that were easy to respond to (and I think I did this
appropriately, and it was right), but I just didn't give thought to the
passages that were harder to be affected by. I was letting the ease
with which my emotions were gripped by a text define the texts relative
importance and instructive weight to me. I was learning, and I was
learning from God's Word, but I was not learning all that God's Word
said, thus falling short of my initial goal in reading the whole Bible.
As
I talked to others about what their read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year
readings looked like, many were similar, but I found many would use
stories to springboard into lessons for themselves that were nowhere to
be found in the story (i.e. using David & Goliath as a call to be a
braverisk-taker ; while a good thing to do and maybe a proper response
to understanding the theme of the story, this conclusion can be made
devoid of understanding why that story is in the Scriptures, really
devoid of even understanding where it is in the Scriptures and why God
did what He did in David and Goliath, there are many other examples,
but that is for a different blog post on a different day).
It
was all of the above and more that led me to change the method of my
whole-Bible reading and lead my smallgroup to do the same. Starting at
the beginning of 2007, we began a s
I have read almost a dozen apologetics texts over the last year, and in my estimation, Apologetics for the Glory of God by John Frame should be the first book you read on the subject. Let John Frame guide you as you learn the particulars of apologetic argument from other apologists. John Frame describes what principles should be guiding the use of any evidence or line of reasoning as the apologist seeks to reason with the nonbelieving skeptic. Frame's apologetics would rightly be characterized as presuppositional in nature; he is not shy to be aligned with Cornelius Van Til. However, for those who think that a presuppositional apologetic eschews evidence, you will be pleasantly surprised. I recommend that any reader of Apologetics for the Glory of God get a copy of Frame's masterpiece Doctrine of the Knowledge of God as frequent reference is made to it and you will find ideas hinted at fully expounded in that larger volume. All of Frame's thinking is influenced by his tri-perspectival way of looking at things (which DKG goes into much detail), where he realizes the helpfulness of considering truth from different angles. His apologetics is no different; the perspectives into which he breaks the apologetic task (and the chapters of the book) are:
Nicholas Carr asks, "
Financial Shock
After one month and a dozen books of using my new 
But because the pill is gilded, ye suck down the poison: because the thing is popular, ye patronize it: it is lustful, it abominable, it is deceitful! Ye take your children to hear what yourselves never ought to listen to. Ye yourselves will sit in gay and grand company, to listen to things from when your modesty ought to revolt. And I would fain hope it does, although the tide may for a while deceive you.