BOOK REVIEWS: BUILDING THE BENEDICT OPTION AND THE GOSPEL COMES WITH A HOUSE KEY

 

I am in a Facebook group that was discussing The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher, and a memeber asked about any books about building community. I replied by telling them the three books I was currently reading, and allow me to review two of them. I'm still reading the third and will mention it later.

Building the Benedict Option: A Guide to Gathering Two or Three Together in His Name by Leah Libresco and The Gospel Comes with a House Key: Practicing Radically Ordinary Hospitality in Our Post-Christian World  by Rosaria Butterfield have interesting similarities and contrasts. Both are written by former atheists who as adults converted to Christianity: Libresco to Catholicism, Butterfield to Reformed. Both distinguish true hospitality between counterfeit hospitality (when you pay for that hospitality). Also, both books came out in 2018.

Some of the differences are due to personality - Butterfield admits she's an introvert; I doubt that term fits Libresco. Others come from their theology. The main difference is that Libresco's focus is on how to create community and thus writes a lot about planned gatherings, while Butterfield's theme is that hospitiality is something that needs to be a part of our lives day in and day out.

Libresco's book was fun to read, and gave me some ideas, such as having a group discussing which saints influenced them (her approach was more Catholic than mine would be) and going Easter caroling (I love that idea - wish I thought of it sooner). She also encourages taking a role you enjoy doing. I would definitely recommend it.

If you had time for only one, though, I would point you towards Rosaria Butterfield's book. It deals with the cost of being hospitable, but makes the point that all Christians need to be hospitable. In it, she tells several stories about how hospitiality made a difference. One story was when a friend went in for eye surgery and told Rosaria she didn't need help and could get back and forth there and recover at home. Rosaria showed up at the clinic with her books and knitting, to let her friend know she was there for the long haul. Afterward, the friend stayed with Rosaria where she could recover.

The timing for the above question was excellent. I mentioned both of these books as well as the one I'm still reading: Kerry Nietz' Amish Werewolves of Space. You'll have to wait till I review that book to know if it also is a good book on hospitality. 

And yes, I intentionally am posting this the Tuesday preceding Thanksgiving.

 

IT MAY BE YOU MAY BE HIDDEN (Zephaniah Part 5)

 

    "The great day of the LORD is near; It is near and hastens quickly. The noise of the day of the LORD is bitter; There the mighty men shall cry out. That day is a day of wrath, A day of trouble and distress, A day of devastation and desolation, A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of trumpet and alarm Against the fortified cities And against the high towers. 'I will bring distress upon men, And they shall walk like blind men, Because they have sinned against the LORD; Their blood shall be poured out like dust, And their flesh like refuse.' Neither their silver nor their gold Shall be able to deliver them In the day of the LORD's wrath; But the whole land shall be devoured By the fire of His jealousy, For He will make speedy riddance Of all those who dwell in the land.  

    "Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, O undesirable nation, Before the decree is issued, Or the day passes like chaff, Before the LORD's fierce anger comes upon you, Before the day of the LORD's anger comes upon you! Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the LORD's anger."

Zephaniah 1:14-2:3, NKJV

 This is a long section, but allow me to deal with two issues.

First, judgment is coming. The term "Day of the LORD" deals with judgment, and often corresponds to the seven year Tribulation period. At times, it also includes the millennial kingdom, but in this case it deals with wrath.

We need to remember God judges sin. Each sin is against God (Ps. 51:4). Jesus died for our sins, and that's proof that sin is not a trivial matter. In 1 John 3 and 5, sin is equated with lawlessness. In other words, you can call sin treason against God.

The other issue is God will forgive if we turn from our sin. The first three verses of Zephaniah 2 is a call to repentance. That theme is throughout the Bible. Isaiah 55:7 states that if a wicked man turns from his ways and an unrighteous man from his thoughts, God will pardon. 2 Peter 3:9 says that He is not willing that any should perish but that all come to repentance. Ezekiel 18:32 informs us that God does not delight in the death of man, and so calls us to turn and live.

The final promise is precious. It may be that God will hide us in the day of His wrath. This is why some believe in a rapture. And note - in Scripture it doesn't mean we will be free from tribulation and/or persecution - John 16:33 and 2 Timothy 3:12 informs us otherwise. But we will be saved from eternal wrath (John 3:16; Romans 6:23), and it may be that we're saved from God's wrath on the wicked world as well.

DR. EEYORE AND MR. TIGGER? OR IS IT THE OTHER WAY AROUND?

 

"You are Winnie the Pooh, and you've won free professional counseling. Since you are well adjusted, you don't need them for yourself. So do you give them to gloomy Eeyore or to bouncy Tigger?"

This was a Table Topics question presented at a Toastmasters meeting I attended fifteen years ago. (Table Topics is a portion where one Toastmaster asks questions to other members and with no prep time they give a one to two minute answer.)

No, I wasn't the one who received this question. But I did come up with an answer: Neither. I would rather get Eeyore and Tigger to work together so they would help balance each other out, and give the counseling sessions to grouchy Rabbit.

But would my idea (the one of pairing Eeyore and Tigger, not the one of sending Rabbit to the shrink) actually work? Or would they irritate each other so much that it would make both worse? 

While you're trying to pin that tail on the donkey, one possible title for my autobiography would be "Dr. Eeyore and Mr. Tigger", with apologies to Jekyll and Hyde. Of course, that would assume that in reality I'm an Eeyore, who changes into a Tigger alter ego. Is that correct? Or is it vice versa, with Tigger being the real me, convinced that I'm really Eeyore instead?

Whichever is the case, this year has brought out my inner Eeyore, with Tigger quarantined - all the social distancing and stay at home orders took the bounce out of him. COVID-19 and the elections are factors, but they aren't alone - this has been a year of change in many ways. 

I don't want to go into all that's going on, but I want to deal with the artist part of me. I finally dusted off my novel, re-worked it, and submitted it to some potential publishers and agents. And I'm still with it published. I would have loved for my Dad to have been able to read the published book, but he passed away last year. I'm wondering if it's that I just haven't reached the goal line, or is it that I'm either not a publishable author or that my WIP (Work In Progress) for the past fourteen years won't have enough of an audience to get the support of a publisher or agent?

Add to this that I'm a former songwriter, visual artist, and ceramist. I've done some drawings off and on (including my favorite characters, posted about a month ago), but I've been too busy with my novel and other activities over the last few decades to write songs, and I haven't touched clay since taking a college level ceramics class in Spring of '78 (unless you count getting to play with Play-Dough once in '86). 

To be honest, this blog hasn't been the most encouraging either. Part of it is time. My goal is to have four blogs a week, and I'm doing well when I get one up. Another part is that I'm still not having a regular readership, with many blogs in the low single digits of being viewed, and even fewer comments. 

May I ask you to help in one of the following ways? 

• First and foremost, please pray for me, that the Lord directs me. 
• If anybody wants to read a few chapters of my novel, and let me know if they want to read more, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!! And should you want to read the rest of it, I'd be glad to let you.
• Please pray for this blog. Should I keep on, or give it up? And if you want to read regularly and leave comments at times, it would be appreciated.

Thank you very much for reading this blog.

BOOK REVIEWS - FIXING THIS COUNTRY

 

Normally I would review a book or a series. This week, I'll be giving a batch of short reviews on books with a related subject: dealing with this mess. For the record, I would recommend reading the book unless I say otherwise.

1. Christian Theology of Public Policy: Highlighting the American Experience by John Cobin. This book considers four methods of looking at the government - the active and passive ways of seeing the Government as a God ordained institution (respectively Theonomy and Divine Right As Kings), and active and passive ways of seeing Government as a competing kingdom (Liberty of Conscience and Anabaptist). He then develops the Liberty of Conscience view.

 

2. The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation by Rod Dreher. If it sounds familiar, I've already reviewed and recommended it. Short summary - Dreher sees a slow drift away from God in the past seven centuries and calls the church to form communities to battle the coming storm.

 

3. Jesus Untangled: Crucifying Our Politics to Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb by Keith Giles. This is one book I don't recommend as much. Like Dreher above, Giles believes we need to take a step back from politics. But he traces the problem to Constantine and the church uniting at all with the state. This book reflects an anabaptist view, with the church completely separate from state.

4.  Turn Neither to the Right nor to the Left: A Thinking Christian's Guide to Politics and Public Policy by D. Eric Schansberg. Out of all these books, this one and The Benedict Option would be towards the top of the list. This volume encourages us not to legislate morality and to legislate justice. Very useful material, and he does an excellent job with abortion.

 

5. Blinded by Might: Can the Religious Right Save America? by Cal Thomas and Ed Dobson. This volume is right behind the other two, making us wonder again about how Christians should handle politics. Thomas also interviews ten individuals from Jerry Falwell to Norman Lear to John Ashcroft to George McGovern.  

6. The Divided States of America? by Richard Land. It's been a while since I've read it, but it is a good call not to let politics divide the church.

 

7. The American President (PBS boxed set). I looked for the book rendition, but only found the video which came out in 2000. It's natural to look at the role of the President, and while this doesn't identify a problem, it took an interesting track of putting our first 41 Presidents in groups of ten. For example, Washington is compared to other generals like William Harrison, Grant, and Eisenhower. True, many Presidents could fit into one of the categories (for example, Andrew Jackson was a general, but he was placed in another category. 

8. Where They Stand: The American Presidents in the Eyes of Voters and Historians by Robert W. Merry. This author ranks the president in several categories and compares the rankings of the scholars with the reaction of the voters - did the President get re-elected? If he didn't run for re-election, was a member of his party elected? 

9. Recarving Rushmore: Ranking the Presidents on Peace, Prosperity, and Liberty by Ivan Eland. Here, we see a different system
of selecting the order of presidents based on peace, prosperity and liberty, placing them as great (4), good (6), fair (4), poor (10), and bad (17). As a result, you see John Tyler and Grover Cleveland topping the list, while Washington is in the good category, and the Roosevelts were in the bad division. The second edition includes President Obama.

10. 9 Presidents Who Screwed Up America: and Four Who Tried To Save Her by Brion McClanahan. This is similar to the above one, only concentrating on those considered the best and worst. The nine were Jackson, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson, FDR, Truman, LBJ, Nixon, and Obama, though he made it clear that both Bushes and Clintons were worthy of being included. The four good ones were Jefferson (1st term only), Tyler, Cleveland, and Coolidge. Unlike the other books, though, this one starts giving ideas of changing our constitution to improve things. His thoughts include giving the President a single six year term without re-election.

11. Two Presidents Are Better Than One: the Case for a Bi-Partisan Executive Branch by David Orentlicher. In other words, let's have Trump and Biden serve as our nation's two presidents. The suggestion is to elect the two highest vote-getters as co-presidents. While I doubt it works, the author has some interesting points. 

12. Running Alone: Presidential Leadership from JFK to Bush II by. Another idea - in this case, the problem is that the President is too independent of his party in Congress. There needs to be more team work. He also suggests changes to the lengths of elected officials - he thinks the President and both houses of Congress should all have concurrent four year terms, and that when you vote for a Presidential candidate, your automatically voting for that party's Senators and Representatives (like the VP currently is). I think the book is interesting, but I disagree with his solution.

13. The Triumph of William McKinley: Why the Election of 1896 Still Matters by Karl Rove. If you're a liberal, don't be put off by the author. Primarily, this is more of a biography, with the focus being on the 1896 Presidential election between Kennedy and William Jennings Bryan. But the best part is the end, where he gives eight lessons from McKinley. One of the best is to realize a political enemy is not a personal enemy. 

Any other books on the subject you find interesting?

 

SETTLED IN COMPLACENCY? (Zephaniah Part 4)

 

        "And it shall come to pass at that time That I will search Jerusalem with lamps, And punish the men Who are settled in complacency, Who say in their heart, 'The LORD will not do good, Nor will He do evil.' Therefore their goods shall become booty, And their houses a desolation; They shall build houses, but not inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards, but not drink their wine."  Zephaniah 1:12-13, NKJV

For those who have been following this series, you may noticed I jumped from verse 6 of the first chapter of Zephaniah to the twelvth. The reason is I want to focus on verse twelve. But allow me to catch you up, especially since its been two weeks since I posted in this series.

You may recall that Zephaniah was a descendant of King Hezekiah, and prophesied during the days of Hezekiah's great grandson, Josiah. The first words of the message was that God will utterly consume everything from the land. Why? The first point he made was that there were idolatrous priests who worshiped the heavens, swore by gods in addition to the true God, and have turned from following God nor have sought Him.

Verse seven reads, "Be silent in the presence of the Lord GOD; For the day of the LORD is at hand, For the LORD has prepared a sacrifice; He has invited His guests." The Day of the LORD, which will be dealt with later in the chapter, is a day of judgment, and normally connected to what is known as the Seven year Tribulation.

Verses eight through thirteen look at judgments on four groups of people. Let me introduce the first three groups:

1. The princes and king's children who are clothed in foreign (KJV reads "strange") clothing;
2. Those who leap over the threshold and fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit; and 
3. Merchants and moneyhandlers.

Some of these groups are not clearly identified, and I doubt most of my blog readers fall into any of them. In our country and especially in the church, the fourth group is the biggest problem.

Who is that fourth group? Those settled in complacency. The notes in my Bible say it's litterally the dregs in the wine barrel. I'm not familiar with wine dregs, but I'm very familiar with the dregs at the bottom of a cup of hot chocolate. And if you leave them for a while, they can be tougher to clean.

Verse twelve gives a concise definition of what complacency is like - it is saying that God won't do good and that He won't do evil. He won't bless us, and He won't judge us. In other words, we're on our own. It is like the mindset of Deism, that God wound this world up and then sat back and watched what would happen. Or as the classic song "From A Distance" says, God watches us from a distance. He's not nearby, He's not actively involved.

Both extremes are evident today. On the one hand, there are those who quote that verse from 3rd Hezekiah or The Acts Of The Apostates or another non-existent Biblical book that says "God helps those who help themselves." For example, they claim that our Presidents aren't raised up or appointed by God (Dan. 2:20-22; Rom. 13:1), but are elected by the people. Or they prescribe activism because that has more results than prayer.

On the other side, we have a God who one professor I heard said has love more like a grandfather than a father. This God is a god of love, not of wrath. This God's definition of evil is pretty consistent with our society. If we have no problem with a behavior that is described as sin, then God's not concerned about it and we've probably misinterpreted the Bible.

We need to realize God will bless the righteous and punish the wicked. Sometimes, it seems the reality is the opposite, but that's because we're looking at the temporary things which we can see rather than the eternal things that aren't seen (2 Cor. 4:18). 

One can look at Zephaniah 1:7-13 and say it was more for the people of the prophet's day, and the coming judgment was accomplished by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. But there is an application for us today. Plus, God has promised there will be in the future a resurrection of all - some to eternal life, and some to eternal contempt (Dan. 12:2; John 5:28-29).

In your life, do your actions reflect that you expect God to do good when you're obedient? Do they show you expect His chastisement when you sin or judgment when a society or God's people reject Him? Or are you settled in the complacent mindset?

 

 

ROMANS 12:15 IN LIGHT OF THE ELECTION.

 

"Rejoice with those who rejoice;

Weep with those who weep." 

Romans 12:15

 

I am writing this the Saturday following the election. At this time, we do not have an official winner. I also am writing this directly to Christians. And I'm using Atomic Age font because of how explosive this campaign season, this election, and this year has been, not to mention how some may respond. 

Let me first say that there are those who call themselves Christian who voted for Trump, others who voted for Biden, or who voted for Jorgensen. There are also those who call themselves Christian who say a true Christian could not vote for the opposing candidate. 

Examples? Some conservatives say that if you vote for Biden, you're voting for abortion. Another friend (real life as well as Facebook) posted a lot of Trump statements asking who could really vote for him, including a post making an across the board accusation that Trump voters don't care how bad he is.

Some of you are squirming, because you are guessing where I'm going with this blog, and you're right. How does the verse I quoted above relate to the election? Simple. If the candidate you think is an agent of hell gets elected, and you know a Christian who voted for him, you're commanded to rejoice with him. And if your candidate wins, you are to weep with your fellow believer who believes this country is toast as a result.

Let me start with those on the left, who voted for Biden or maybe more accurately voted against the President. You may ask why someone would support Trump. Allow me to put those who voted for Trump in three categories:

1. Those who like Trump and excuse his bullying, his looseness with the facts, and his crudeness.
2. Those who are disgusted with his temperament and treatment of others, but who are able to separate the good from the bad; they applaud that he's the first president to address the Right To Life rally, that he is the one who finally did what Clinton and the following presidents only talked about in moving the embassy in Israel to their chosen capital Jerusalem, that he is the first president who tried to initiate an end to hostilities with NoKo, and that he appointed three Constitutional SCOTUS justices. They don't excuse his bad behavior, but see him as one who cares about our economy and national defense.
3. Those who aren't at all impressed with the President, but who are worried about what would happen if a Democrat gets elected, especially if they have both houses of Congress as well (a possibility). Their disgust with Trump is diminished by their fear of Biden and/or Harris, especially if they have both houses of Congress.

Never-Trumpers, you may think the first group deserves your contempt, and I won't argue. But you should respect fellow Christians who believe the President has made positive accomplishments, and you should show compassion for those who are worried where this country is headed should Trump lose.

Now, let's go to the other side. Some conservatives make abortion the only issue, and if you want to vote that way, fine. But who are you to judge fellow Christians who don't make it the mandate? What about those who think a consistent pro-lifer would be more accepting of immigrants or concerned about health care for those in need? There are also some who believe that the problems with the President should not be tolerated, in spite of any positive accomplishments.

By the way, brothers and sisters in Christ, what country is our real citizenship in? Is it in the USA, or is it in heaven? Isn't our faith in Christ more important than our politics?

Did Jesus say, "This way the world will know you're My disciples, in that you vote for the right political candidate?"

Four years ago, I posted a lot of political posts (mostly Libertarian). This year, I've been more restrained (I think). I've been discouraged at how hateful people have been on both sides, including Christians. All the despising of Trump saddened me the last four years, just as the despising of Obama grieved me the previous eight.

Christians, can we learn to making loving each other Christians priority, regardless of politics or other things that divide? That's the way the world will know we're His disciples - it's not our politics.

 

BOOK REVIEWS: GETTING TO KNOW THE CHURCH FATHERS & SHAPERS OF CHRISTIAN ORTHODOXY

 

Today is All Saints Day (and this year, falls on the same day as International Day Of Prayer for the Persecuted Church , and I thought it would fit to use the Medieval Sharp font for this blog.

On this occasion, I will review not one but two books for what I consider Early Church History 101 and 201.

The first one I'll review is Getting To Know The Church Fathers: An Evangelical Introduction by Bryan Litfin. In the first edition, he looks at ten Christian leaders from the first five centuries of Christianity: Ignatius, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Perpetua, Origen, Athanasius, John Chrysostom, Augustine, and Cyril. He added Ephrem the Syrian and Patrick of Ireland to the second edition.

I can argue calling his collection to be church fathers. Most of them, I would agree. However, I consider Perpetua and Patrick to be heroic examples of the faith but not having the impact on the development of Christianity the others have.

One item I like is that Litfin ends each chapter with five or six questions helping us to understand the Church leaders mentioned and how this relates to us today.

After you read this book, you're ready for Shapers of Christian Orthodoxy: Engaging with Early and Medieval Theologians, edited by Bradley Green. This book looks at eight individuals (technically, ten, but the three Cappodocians are included in a chapter together).

There is a lot of overlap between the two books. Both include Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, Athanasius, and Augustine. (Litfin's chapter on Athanasius also briefly mentions the Cappodocians.) This goes further into history by including Anselm and Thomas Aquinas.

The reason I recommend the other first is this one is deeper. The fact that each chapter has its own author is one indicator. (By the way, Litfin wrote the chapter on Origen.) The authors go deeper into the theology of the church leaders covered. 

I would recommend Getting To Know The Church Fathers for anybody. This is a great book to get a group of friends together to read and then discuss the questions. Anybody active in ministry also should have Shapers of Christian Orthodoxy on their bookshelf as well.