Ally's #3: Men of the Bible by D.L. Moody

I found this little gem when searching through a long list of books available for free on my Kindle. I knew of D.L. Moody from the Bible Institute that bears his name, but little more. I had no idea the school has been around for 125 years, or that Moody's lifespan was limited to the 19th Century. I didn't know what to expect from this little text, but was curious to see which men of the Bible Moody would focus on.

I'm not sure why I anticipated a John Piper-ish treatise, but I was delighted to find Moody's language and writing style very accessible and easy to understand. It felt like I was reading his sermon notes from a series intended for a men's conference. While there is much for any reader to glean from Moody's writing, women should know that men are clearly the audience he is writing for. The book is broken down into seven sections:

  1. Abraham's Four Surrenders
  2. The Call of Moses
  3. Naaman the Syrian
  4. The Prophet Nehemiah
  5. Herod and John the Baptist
  6. The Man Born Blind and Joseph of Arimathea
  7. The Penitent Thief

 

For the most part, Moody's writing is well organized, though I felt a bit lost when he addresses Herod in chapter five. There was a great deal of inference and conjecture (several pages, actually) based on one verse that changed Moody's mind forever about what kind of man Herod was: "Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly." (Mark 6:20 ESV)

I'm not a particular fan of authors making lengthy conjectures (i.e. Randy Alcorn's Heaven), but this was the only aspect of the book that rubbed me the wrong way. In fact, it's been a while since I've highlighted so much good food for thought! Moody does an excellent job of weaving practical application into each chapter as it relates to each man's testimony from Scripture.

I've included some of my favorite quotes below. If these don't spark an interest, consider how short the book is (130 pages). If that doesn't do it, think of all the wonderful things you might learn from the lives of these men who are not often preached about on Sundays. If that doesn't do it, I guess you're not a man, and have no interest in being one :)

 Now there are lots of people that have a long eye and a short eye, and they make miserable work of their Christian life. They keep one eye on the eternal city and the other eye on the well-watered plains of Sodom.

The only thing God wishes you to leave with Him is your sin. And yet, it is the only thing you seem not to care about giving up. 'Oh,' you say, 'I love leprosy, it is so delightful, I can't give it up; I know God wants it, that He may make me clean. But I can't give it up.' Why, what downright madness it is for you to love leprosy; and yet that is your condition.

Every time you hear the Gospel and reject it, the hardening process goes on. The same sun that melts the ice hardens the clay.

One of the greatest hindrances to the progress of the Gospel today is that the narration of the experience [testimony] of the Church is not encouraged. There are a great many men and women who come into the Church, and we never hear anything of their experiences, or of the Lord's dealings with them. If we could, it would be a great help to others. It would stimulate faith and encourage the more feeble of the flock.

Buddy's #3 The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne

pg 29 So this is a book of stories. The things that transform us, especially us “postmoderns,” are people and experiences. Political ideologies and religious doctrines just aren’t very compelling, even if they’re true. And stories disarm us. They make us laugh and cry. It’s hard to disagree with a story, much less split a church or kill people over one. And certainly no hurts others with the passion of those who it in the name of God, and it’s usually over ideologies and doctrines, not stories. Besides, people seem to loosen up after a good story. I think that’s why Jesus told so many stories.--stories about ordinary first-century Mediterranean life, stories of widows and orphans, debts and wages, workers and landlords, courts and banquets.

pg 63 At the beginning of their living with the homeless in Philly:

Later that same week another group of folks brought donations by St. Ed’s -- the mafia. With he media jumping on the story, the mafia cam by and gave bikes to each of the kids, turkeys to each of family, and thousands of dollars to the organization. I thought to myself, I guess God can use the mafia, but I would like God to use the church.

Many younger writers share of hating the church they grew up in. Part of it is personality, but I don’t like negative talk. Partially it’s because it’s hard to hear people demean the bride of Christ knowing that a collection of imperfect people is going to be an imperfect gathering. Shane begins there but doesn’t dwell on it. In fact he says this: pg 64

At that moment we decided to stop complaining about the church we saw, and we set our hearts on becoming the church we dreamed of.

I have had the same thought in Cambodia. There are many Christians at work there but there are many more who are not motivated by the love of Christ who are just there to help. I know that God can use anyone I just wish the presence of his body was greater in a place like Cambodia where the need is so great.

pg 71

The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church's prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament. ~ Soren Kierkegaard.

One of the intriguing aspects of the book was Shane’s experience with Mother Teresa. He wrote her while in college asking if he could come for a summer. He didn’t receive a response so he continue to hound all the nuns he knew and that they knew until he was given her personal number and she invited him to come over. I often want to do great things. One of the quotes from Mother Teresa was,

“We can do no great things, just small things with great love. it is not how much you do, but how much love you put into doing it.”

pg 167 “The best things to do with the best things in life is to give them away.”

pg 254. Whenever someone tells me they have rejected God, I say, “Tell me about the God you’ve rejected.” And as they describe a God of condemnation, of laws and lightening bolts, of frowning grey-haired people and boring meetings, I usually confess, “I too have rejected that God.”

Over all I really enjoyed the book. There were moments when I was glad I was alone in the cafe I was reading the book as I was moved to tears by the accounts of love that he got to be a part of. I was nervous reading a book with an endorsement by Rob Bell but really enjoyed it and was left with some questions to think about and dialogue with others over.

Is capitalism bad? He often rails against capitalism to me that’s kind of like railing against sex because some people rape kids. In a sinful world there are going to be people who misuse the gifts God gives us. I do want to wrestle with my thoughts on capitalism though.

Other questions: Is there value in pursuing renewable energy on a personal level? Does capital punishment teach that some are beyond redemption? Should we always be against war? Shane is a pacifist and why we all agree that war is hell on earth and is often used for evil my thought is if we were all pacifists the Axis powers would still be ruling the world and we’d all live under dictators. Still we probably should fight harder for peace then we do. Not sure what to do with this one.

Great stories, Great thoughts, Great Questions. Light on doctrine, heavy on trying to live out an authentic Christian life.

Buddy's #2 Radical Together: Unleashing the People of God for the Purpose of God by David Platt

Multnomah sent me this book because I ordered 150+ copies of Radical. I was a little bit cynical, so I didn't read it for a while thinking that it was perhaps just a rehash of Radical. It was definitely my loss.

Radical Together is a great read for anyone whether you have read Radical or not, though I highly recommend Radical. Whereas Radical focuses more on the individual Radical Together talks about how the church can be unleashed to live out the gospel around the world for the Glory of God. Often after a good movie I will have the feeling of wanting to live my life in a way that makes a difference for all of eternity and not get bogged down in the day to day activities of life that can keep us from the most important things in life. I felt the same as I finished this book.

David Platt keeps going back to the sufficiency of Scripture and the need for the church to effectively make disciples. I have often thought that I wanted to do Church on the Side. As I was reading this book I had the thought, "I have have always wanted to do church on the side. Not to make it a smaller part of my life but a bigger part." May Radical Together encourage you to make making disciples a larger part of your life God the sake of God's Glory and his purposes being fulfilled in the world.

The clip below will give you richer taste of what the book is about.

Buddy's #1 God in a Brothel

Wow! What a poor choice for the first book of the year. Not because the book is poor but because it is disturbing.

Daniel Walker is a Kiwi who spent 4 years of his life in undercover work to fight human trafficking with 3 different human rights organizations. He deals with some of the realities of fighting slavery in a blunt manner and does not sugar coat much. I do think there are some things that he left out and I wish that he had not had to change the names of locations but I am sure to most that won't affect the impact of the book.

There is much to learn for those that are interested in being involved in bringing the love of Christ to the least and the last. I think it is a good read for those that do not want to directly get involved so that they can more effectively pray for those who are involved. Though I do not go out on investigations myself I work with those who do and feel the heaviness as they learn the stories of young girls and ladies on a weekly basis. I guess even the reason writing this is so difficult is because the fight is difficult and there are many casualties including Daniel Walker himself, in some ways.

Ally's #2: The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

Twenty years ago, a tape deck was all we had to entertain us in my mom's '76 VW Beetle. During long rides in the car, we would listen to Sherlock Holmes mysteries on tape. Seeing Sherlock in the movie theater has rekindled my affection for the writing of Sir Arthur, and it's my hope to get through the complete series over the course of this year. Not realizing how many books were in the series, I selected one at random and managed to pick up where the second Sherlock film left off--with the death of the diabolical Dr. Moriarty and the apparent sacrificial suicide of Sherlock Holmes.

It was interesting to see that the book offered a less fantastic resolution to Holmes appearing alive after being presumed dead for three years. Even still, the book was off to a great start as Holmes killed two birds with one stone--solving a most perplexing murder and capturing the man who had been hunting Holmes ever since the death of Dr. Moriarty.

Of the thirteen stories collected in this book, the most captivating was The Adventure of the Dancing Men. Unfortunately, the characters in this tale were victim to Sherlock's tendency to sit and stew until there is enough evidence to compel him to action. To the reader, it seems rather haphazard which elements of cases that come to his attention effect him deeply enough to suddenly become worth his while.

What struck me as I neared the end of the book is that Sherlock would also accept or reject cases on principle. Though a committed protector of the law, he was willing at one point to break it himself because he felt morally bound to protect a client (and numerous future victims) from an infamous blackmailer. If I learned anything about Holmes from this series, it's that he is a law unto himself in some regards. On two separate occasions that I recall, he even went so far as to aid the protection of one premeditated murderer and one who killed in defense of his lover.

The only disappointment I found is that some of the mysteries seem so promising at the beginning, but end with a lackluster solution. However, the better mysteries redeem the not-so-great ones, and they certainly won't deter me from getting through the rest of this series.

JRF's Top Ten from 2011

Remember way back in 2011 when I read 52 books?  Well here are my top ten if you are interested:
  1. William Carey by S. Pearce Carey
  2. Radical by David Platt
  3. God's Call by Brother Andrew
  4. The Gospel for Muslims by Thabiti Anyabwile
  5. Reckless Abandon by David Sitton
  6. Confessions by Augustine
  7. King Solomon's Mines by L. Rider Haggard
  8. Mortification of Sin by John Owen
  9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
  10. The World's Greatest Stuntman by Vic Armstrong
Honorable Mentions:
Least Favorite Books:
 - Let's just say that in my opinion, Robert Langdon and Hazel Motes make good bedfellows.