Category: Book Reviews

Ratings: 5 of 5

I have had consistent visits from two Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) in the last four months. They keep coming back despite my collection of Celtic crosses in my home and the providential middle name of my son, Athanasius. Our conversations have been quite pleasant. To their surprise, I am not favorable towards youth groups, I find homeschooling quite an appealing concept, and I try to be respectful of their ideas without disrespectfully bombarding them with mine.

My strategy is simple: ask them questions. Force them to look within their own system for contradictions and incoherence with their anti-Trinitarian beliefs. It is then with great eagerness that I read David Reed’s Jehovah’s Witnesses Answered (Verse by Verse). Reed speaks as a former JW; as one who is deeply grounded in JW beliefs. In this book, he travels through the pages of Scriptures and provides us with helpful answers to JW’s while using their own translation (New World Translation) as a source.[1]

Reed runs through crucial passages used by JW’s to make their case for the non-Trinitarian god and the non-deity of Jesus and takes the reader through helpful responses to these questions.

As an example, concerning the deity of the Holy Spirit, Reed asks that we read Acts 5:3-5 with them. He writes:

You may have to read this passage a couple of times with the Witness before he even begins to grasp the point. JW’s are so accustomed to thinking of the Holy Spirit as an “it”—“Jehovah’s active force”—that their minds have difficulty even formulating the thought of the Holy Spirit as a person.” (87)

These types of observations also give us a glimpse into the psychology of JW’s.

He also observes the tremendous lack of translational accuracy in the NWT and provides numerous examples. Beyond the very careful detail given to these passages, David Reed also provides quotations and references to Watchtower prophecies and blatant disregard for those within the organization who begin to question the society.

The reader will also gain from the definition of key words in the beginning of the book and the techniques offered at the end of the book for how to share the truth of God’s Word with JW’s. The last chapter is the author’s testimony of how he became involved with the JW’s and what eventually led him to re-consider his loyalty, and his present faithfulness to Jesus Christ as His Lord.

In a very fascinating review of James Wellman’s Evangelical vs. Liberal, Matthew Sutton describes the powerful influence of evangelicals in the Pacific Northwest. He even makes references to our good friends in Moscow, ID. He concludes his review with these words:

Evangelical vs. Liberal is a balanced and engaging exploration of religious difference in the most unchurched region of the country. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this study was Wellman’s reflection on how his research had influenced him as a Presbyterian minister and professor of religion. “I began by sharing some of the biases of liberals toward evangelicals,” he writes. “But through my research I have come not to agree with evangelicals but to respect the power of their convictions and the perseverance by which they serve one another, their communities, and their world. Evangelicals, in this study, put their feet and their resources where their mouth is.” This is not to say that liberals don’t. However, evangelicals have a far clearer sense of community and mission. And in Moscow, Idaho, they also serve good coffee and know how to make really tasty French food. For all of these reasons, evangelicals are winning the clash of Christian civilizations, not just across the nation, but even in the Pacific Northwest.

I have just finished my first novel of 2011. Kindle has offered several free books over the past few months and among them was The 7^th Victim by Alan Jacobson. The book is one of three best-selling novels about an FBI profiler named Karen Vail. Vail is one of the first female profilers.[1] The story is about a series of murders done by the Dead Eyes Killer. The Dead Eyes killer is notoriously skillful in the art of death. He is an organized serial killer who has perplexed Karen’s FBI unit.

The book also centers on the complex personality of Karen Vail who was domestically abused and is now fighting to begin a new life with her son, Jonathan. But nothing is ever that easy. Karen’s vicious fight for the custody of Jonathan; her personal conflicts within the unit, the ever mysterious nature of the killer, and the dramatic deaths of the victims, build up to a remarkable crescendo in the end of the book.

Alan Jacobson is a remarkable writer not only because of his ability to keep your attention, but for his gift of bringing the reader directly into the drama of the story. Further, Jacobson is a researcher of first rate. He has dedicated many years to the study of serial killers by interviewing FBI profilers and digging deep into the criminal mind. All of this makes for a compelling story.

Christians reading this book will get a profound sense of the depravity of man and that if it were not for the common grace of God restraining the monstrosity of sins the world would be saturated with Dead Eyes Killers.

Cautions and Considerations:

a)      The novel uses strong language and describes strong scenes.

b)      Romantic relationships are developed in a context of unbelief.

c)      What role does biblical femininity play?

d)     Should women be involved in such dangerous and violent professions?

e)      How are husbands protecting and loving their wives?

Miscellaneous Details:

Both Velocity and Crush are follow ups to the trilogy. The 7^th victim is being considered a motion picture.

This is the title of Michael Gerson and Peter Wehner’s new book. Both were political speech writers during the Bush administration. Joel Belz summarizes the book with these words:

The authors of City of Man are optimistic that diligent endeavor by thoughtful and respectful Christians will bear fruit in the culture at large; but they warn that the endeavor almost always requires patience.

 

I do intend to eventually read Platt’s book. David Brooks in the New York Times offers a warm review of the book. Naturally, Platt falls into the category of many evangelical leaders today (see Francis Chan) who believe consumerism has destroyed this country. “Sell everything you have” is the common refrain from these leaders. This seems to be a simple failure to understand calling and the good that money has done for the expansion of the gospel.

In the Five Perspectives on Emerging Churches, Mark Driscoll opens the book/debate format with a classy and strong affirmation of central biblical truths. His chapter is entitled The Emerging Church and Biblicist Theology. My own theological tradition has a lot in common with Driscoll’s perspective, since we are part of the larger Reformed world. Driscoll echoes themes that most, if not all (unfortunately, one can no longer trust the description reformed in this day) Reformed theologians and pastors would affirm, such as the atonement, a doctrine of a literal hell, the centrality of Scriptures (Mark calls himself a biblicist; perhaps following John Frame’s description), the God of Scriptures revealed in the Trinity, and a basic outline of the five points of Calvinism. Driscoll, in typical Framian fashion, bombards the reader (in a positive way) with biblical footnotes of biblical quotations. The section is saturated with biblical language, which differentiates Driscoll almost immediately from the other writers’ style. Mark believes that continuing to preach the same orthodox message in this generation still and will always bear fruit. As an example he offers his own situation (35), as he concludes:

Some people will argue that these traditional doctrines are no longer useful in our postmodern age of pluralism. Yet I can assure you that after preaching on these themes for ten years in one of America’s youngest, most liberal, and least Christian cities, that the unchanging gospel is still changing lives, especially those of young lost people. for example, I preached a three-month series on the atonement with the sermons lasting well over an hour, and I saw our attendance swell by over eight hundred in the first three weeks as people wept throughout the sermons, confessed their sins and gave their lives to Jesus (35).

Driscoll concludes with these words with evangelical zeal:

…a new theology does not need to emerge, but rather a renewed faith in and passion for the timeless truths of Scripture that empower us to live like Jesus for the benefit of other people (35).