Titled Truth

Louie Giglio picked a rather strange title for his most recent work – I Am Not But I Know I Am – yet that title provides strong truth within his 160+ pages.  His introduction lays out the format for the book in that he chose not to utilize a “treatise” or “legal” format because he wanted to tell an overall story.  Specifically, Giglio names two enemies that he wants to attack:  stress and meaningless.  In laying out the remainder of the book, he does just that and, in doing so, fully explains the intent of his title.

The crux of the entire work is framed on pages 33 and 34.  In Scripture, specifically the book of Exodus, God reveals His name to mankind – I AM.  The Hebrew term references being and carries multiple implications explained by Giglio.  In other words, God is:  (1) “the center of everything;” (2) “running the show;” (3) “the same yesterday, today, and forever;” (4) “Owner of everything;” (5) “Lord;” (6) “more than enough;” and (7) “God.”  Giglio listed about 15 of these definers of God, but I only summarized a few.  The implication, however, is vital here – if God is all of those things, then we are not.  Thus, we come to understand the intent of the title:  God’s name is I AM while our name really is I AM NOT.

Our work thinks too highly of self and our worth because we do not have a true understanding of who God is and what He has done for us.  If we devote our lives totally to serving and loving God, then here is what that means:  “living for God’s glory is not so much about what you do as it is about doing whatever you do in such a way that it reflects Jesus Christ” (135).  If we understand that God is I AM and we are I AM NOT, then we recognize our smallness and His infiniteness.  

Appendix A offers a wonderful challenge to everyone that claims to love God and His Word.  That challenge is to interact with Scripture utilizing the One-Word Bible Study method.  In other words, we read too quickly through God’s word rather than pausing to mine the depths of its truth.  That resonated well with me because I have started doing something similar this year – rather than reading a chapter a night, I read the same chapter for 7 consecutive nights.  It has opened my eyes to so much that I missed from the past of glossing over certain sections.  This format for reading God’s Word reflects that the entire story that we see around us is all about Him!

I do wish that Giglio would have incorporated more Scripture throughout, but as he explained in the introduction, he choose to write a story (not a detailed and in-depth analysis of a passage).  Still, it is thought-provoking as he assaults our pride and independence when God wants our submission and dependence on Him.  Since He is I AM, He is all that we need.

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.  I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 25:  “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Solid Concept, Slack Execution

Before launching into this book review, I must divulge a bias that I possess – any book that incorporates in its title something new about God, Jesus, or the Bible immediately arouses my skepticism.   Thus, Judah Smith’s book Jesus Is _____:  A New Way to be Human was evaluated under a strong microscope.  Whether or not that type of evaluation is fair, I cannot say; but I wanted to offer my bias up front for anyone that may read this review. 

Let me offer an explanation.  The term “new” is often utilized as a marketing strategy to distinguish the author from others in order to increase sales.  Also, the term casts a poor light on previous scholarship which can lead to an elevation of modernity over antiquity.  The latter is my concern because God’s Word is characterized as antiquated and many want to “update” it for the modern age.  Doing so means that God is old fashioned, needs to be repacked for people today, and that man is the only one that can save God’s out-dated message and restore its power.

The book is based on a marketing campaign implemented by his church to get people in his area to think more about Jesus (see comment above about marketing).  According to the author, it produced more success than he could imagine as the webpage received thousands of responses, was hacked by folks, and has been mentioned on all sorts of third-party websites.  As a by-product, it transformed the church’s mission statement.  My question is simple though – is that their measure of success?  How many people trusted Christ and were discipled?  How many church-goers changed their lives to live more like the Light of the World (Christ) when our dark world desperately needs that example?   Those details were omitted.

Throughout the book, Judah Smith as the ability to turn a neat phrase that will stay with a reader.  For instance, page 74 contains this ditty:  “Grace is so simple that we have a hard time believing it could be true.  But I’m convinced that unless it’s too good to be true, it’s not grace.”  The implication is powerful there – man cannot conceptualize the free gift of salvation through God’s grace and wants to earn our way to Him (which is impossible).  Grace is something that we should ponder much more than we do because it can and will transform our lives.  I walked away from this book with a greater motivation to pour through Scripture to seek more information and life application for His grace in my life.  

Unfortunately, based upon the evidence provided by Smith himself, I believe he is trying to update or revitalize God’s message for the world.  On page xvii of the introduction, he says that he will write other books but that “I doubt I will ever write one as important as this.”  On the next page, xviii, he says that he will “often retell Bible narratives in my own words” by throwing in a “good dose of humor.”  These hyperbolic statements shift the focus from God to the filter than man has in order to make God more palatable in this contemporary period.  That, my friends, is dangerous territory.

Overall, I found Smith’s work hard to follow.  He admitted in his introduction that he was an all-over-the-place person, and his book is just that.  He accepts that this will frustrate some – it did me -- His attempts at infusing humor kept the book on a shallow level rather than digging deeply for the truth that he wanted to advance.  These phrases may attract those that do not know much about the Bible, but it lacks the necessary depth for those that have sought Jesus for many years. 

My greatest criticism of the book is in its scope.  There are six responses to the fill in the blank question Jesus Is ____, and they are:  (1) your friend, (2) grace, (3) the point, (4) happy, (5) here, and (6) alive.  Strangely, the most important of all answers to that question is missing – He is God!  If He is not God, then nothing else matters.  Smith is quick to point out how the Pharisees focused on rules and wanted adulterers put to death by stoning.  Jesus noted their sin and forgave the adulterer.  However, Smith is quick to omit any mention of God’s holiness and justice which makes His love and grace so powerful for us as we deserve His justice but, instead, receive His love and grace (IF we accept His gift).  

I will summarize this way – the concept of the book is solid but the execution was lacking.  If you use this in a small group discussion, someone will need to spend a significant amount of time in preparation to go to the needed depth that is lacking herein.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The Legend of the Monk and the Merchant

When you discover that the forward of The Legend of the Monk and the Merchant by Terry Felber is written by Dave Ramsey, you immediately know some of the "twelve keys of successful living" are going to entail -- many of the same things you will hear in the Ramsey Financial Peace University (FPU) series.  With that stated, I was disappointed in the book due to its repackaging of those FPU pieces into an allegory.  Maybe, if I had not already been through FPU, I would have found this book more palatable. 

Felber sets the story during the construction and completion phase of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.  He does take significant historical liberties at times in his story by merging modern language and/or practices into the setting of this story in the 1500s.  While that may not weaken the work for others, I have multiple degrees in history and that detracted from the overall effectiveness.

The book is short and easily accessible -- I read it in less than 30 minutes.  All of the twelve principles are without question (especially in our modern world that is racked with debt and the dependence upon others).  In fact, I needed to read this book for one simple reason:  chapter 6 or the 3rd meeting which dealt with difficulty.  That chapter was appropriately timed with many of the things I was going through professionally at work.  Philippians 4:6-7 is a passage that has been comforting to me during this period:  "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."  In jumping back to this specific section of Felber's book, I loved the statement on page 68:  "Many men have robbed themselves of their destiny because they have allowed discouragement to rob them of their dreams."  How true!

The book does have personal and study group questions that will push further study.   One strength of the book is on page 119, which matches the overall story, and here are the words:  "Just as Antonio passed on the twelve keys to successful living, it is now up to you to share The Journal of a King with others."  I am going to write my name and date of book read on that page before passing it along to someone else (and will ask them to do likewise).

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Fantasy Fallacy: A Review

I thoroughly enjoy my opportunity as a Booksneeze blogger and pick book that have topics for which I am greatly interested.  Well, Shannon Ethridge’s The Fantasy Fallacy: Exposing Deeper Meaning Behind Sexual Thoughts is not one of those books.  There is a line at the top of the front cover that caught my eye – “A Response to the Fifty Shades of Grey Phenomenon.”  I have not read the book due to the racy content; but I noticed , on a recent business trip, that the 8 women sitting around me were reading it.  With a quick Google search revealing quite a bit of fuss, I decided that the Christian response would be an interested read.

The Fantasy Fallacy hits upon some topics that many in the Puritanical Christian world would never expect to see published by a major company.  Honestly, this book, at times, is hard to read because it does delve into some dark issues that this counselor has faced during her career.  Yet, these topics are discussed in an open and forthright manner that point each individual to God as the source of all comfort and grace.  

There were several strong components of this book:  (1) a clear argument that any sexual sins are not to be blamed upon God or the devil – we are the ones to blame; (2) we all struggle in this battle for our mind and if we try to deny it is just another lie; (3) God, as the Almighty Sovereign of the Universe, has sufficient grace to heal any problems that we may have; (4) intimacy should be interpreted in this way – “in to me see” – meaning that we all seek it whether we acknowledge it or not; and (5) that intimacy is rooted in seeking a spiritual intimacy with God.  We set the bar too low and try to fill that void with just about everything except the One and Only All-Satisfying piece – our Creator, Redeemer, and Friend.

The next to last chapter, “Putting Fantasy in its Place,” was a strong way to end this sometimes complex and psychological/counseling work.  Ethridge summarized her work concisely through a personal example of her own and showcased just what a real loving marriage means (and, conversely, how the world’s offering is so cheap).  The thoughts contained therein are a challenge to any person that encounters small circumstances that may be innocent but could lead to a very troubling end.

While the book does deal with some uncomfortable topics, my greatest discomfort is in the opening and conclusion of Ehtridge’s manuscript.  In those areas, she describes a dream and offers her interpretation of it.  She concludes the work with this statement on page 200:  “God doesn’t just speak to use through sermons or scriptures….He often speaks to us through dreams while we are asleep….The main question is, are we listening?”  While I believe I may know the author’s intent, I am not so certain because of the implication – there is extra-Biblical guidance that God gives to certain and/or all believers.  That line of argument could lead to two problematic issues:  (1) since dreams are personal, we offer their interpretation and remove God from the equation and (2) since the Bible is not our only source of truth, the defense of Scripture can then be pushed aside for more relevant experience.  In our hyper-relativisitic world, undercutting the authority of Scripture can be dangerous.

Due to the concerns noted above, and the lack of another book upon which to compare, I ranked this book as a 3 – solidly in the middle.  This area is not my expertise and I do not know or understand other Christian scholarship upon it.  Absent that knowledge, I cannot give it an outstanding high mark or an astoundingly low one.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Lucado on Grace

Max Lucado's recent work entitle Grace was rather disappointing to me.  Lucado has a gift of turning a good phrase and offering simplistic explanations, but those strengths can also become a weakness.  The subtitle of his book is "more than we deserve, greater than we can imagine."  If God's grace is greater than we can imagine, then a book studying it should have more complexity.

To further explain, look at the structure of the book -- it has 11 short chapters and a conclusion that cover approximately 150 pages.  While that may sound like average chapter length, it is not.  Between each chapter, there are 5 "wasted" pages:  a full blank page that ends the previous chapter, a full page with the title of the next chapter, a blank page behind it, a page of quotes and/or Bible verses, and then a blank page behind it.  If you do the math, that approximates to 45-50 wasted pages.  So, in total, Lucado spent about 100 pages to describe what he calls God's greatest gift.  The lack of attention to such a powerful subject leaves me wondering if this book was rushed to publication.

The strongest part of the book is the readers' guide at the end that allows you to dig much deeper.  Why the book did not have more depth but left it to the concluding guide does not make sense to me.  There may have been a greater purpose; and if it was done purposefully, the structure should have been explained somewhere in a preface or the acknowledgments.

Despite my shortcomings, Grace is a quick read that offers some nice quotes.  It does not, however, provide deep exigesis of Biblical passages on grace; so we have a book that offers man's thoughts on grace rather than seeing how this topic permeates all of the New Testament.  In my opinion, this was not Lucado's best effort.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”