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Contrary to the Critics…

Revisado: 08-27-24

I almost didn’t read this book due to the seemingly convincing criticism on X from seemingly reasonable evangelical leaders.
“He who first presents his case appears to be right, until his neighbor comes to examine him.” (Proverbs 18:17).
If you give this book a shot, you will soon realize what all the hubbub is really about. All of the nit-picking complaints on X, and 1-star review bombs, are just smoke and noise to distract from the thesis of this book: many pastors and teachers have given into the temptation to be soft on the very issues our cultural is pressing hard today. Shepherds ought to care for their sheep, with rod and staff, ready to strike down the bear or wolf should the need arise. Many however have shown reluctance to strike the wolves, and are wary of reeling in the sheep that are going astray. They have, well intentioned or not, forsaken the charge given to them by God. This book is a call for them to remember their job, to turn away from this cultural sliding into compromise, and to repent.

The cruelest thing we can do, is to preach that you can be Christian and worldly. We not only confirm these poor burdened worldly souls in their sin, but we rob them of the only true remedy that can be found in repentance and turning to Christ; receiving free grace and life-transforming power from his pierced hands. Proverbs 12:10 says, “the compassion of the wicked is cruel,” and that is exactly what this sell-out gospel message is that some have been peddling, or at the very least been silent about— cruel.

Megan Basham is not uncharitable, or rude, or demeaning in her tone, but simply describes the current evangelical scene as she, and many others see it. Listen to the book and judge for yourself whether the critics are fair, or if they are straining gnats so that you will ignore the camel.

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Greatly enjoyed and benefitted from his other works

Revisado: 08-20-19

Let me start by saying, I thoroughly enjoyed every single other randy alcorn book that I have ever read— and I have read a lot of them— but this one just didn’t do it for me. I come from a Calvinistic perspective, and I expected to find the typical let’s-meet-part-way presentation, however, Mr. Alcorn takes a rather different course.
The overall message of the book is, “respect your brothers and sisters in the Lord, even when you disagree with them on these touchy doctrinal points.” The author states that as a young Christian he attended an Arminian church, and thus embraced Arminianism whole-heartedly. Later, however, he was exposed to the Calvinistic side of the debate, and he became a 4-point calvinist. From there, he talks about typical Calvinist/Arminian stereotypes and misrepresentations that both sides seem to portray of the other. He then dedicates some chapters to a discussion of a man’s free-will and God’s sovereignty. He goes through many of the popular schools of thought, praising some, criticizing others, but never really laying his foot down on what view was the Scriptural one. I was very disappointed that he was so hard on certain view points, but barely had anything critical to say about Molinism, which is a very dangerous theological perspective which espouses that because God cannot violate human free-will, He created the best possible world that he could, given the actions that human beings would take in any given universe. This view essentially says that God is limited by His creation, and that God is basically “stuck with the cards He was dealt.” The issue with this view point is that it exalts the free-will of man to such an extent that for God to “violate” it would be sinful. I was glad that he vehemently opposed open theism, as that is a very serious heresy.
Throughout the course of the book, I felt like he was going back and forth, never really settling in on one position. If Mr. Alcorn didn’t repeatedly say he was a 4-point Calvinist I don’t think I would have been able to determine what position he held to. Just when he would make an affirmation of God’s sovereignty, he felt that he had to re-affirm the free will of man. Just when he affirmed the free will of man he had to go back to affirming that God is sovereign and can work human wills to his own ends (without really explaining how). I guess my frustration was that he never took a solid point of view, and always seemed to go back and forth. If you are a 5-point Calvinist or Arminian you probably won’t enjoy the doctrinal discussions too much. I would highly recommend reading his novels (deadline, deception, safely home, etc.) instead, as they are much more in his wheelhouse.

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Excellent, thought-provoking.

Revisado: 07-09-19

If you are a follower of Christ, this is a must-read. It will challenge you to take a step back and examine your own life, values, goals, and westernized point of view and bring it into contrast with those of a culture of persecuted Christians. This book answers the question, what do you sacrifice of real Christianity when it costs you almost nothing to be one? Are we living our lives in corporate America in uniformity with the rest of the unbelieving world, or do we make sacrifices and radical choices because we know that this world is not all that there is? When examining the poor Chinese Christian, who had the potential to become a renowned college professor and to become wealthy and successful, yet chose to live in poverty four hours from the city in a run-down house, it dawned on me that to this man, this was no sacrifice, because he knew that this world was not the only one that mattered. Rather, he was deferring his pleasure, biding his time, temporarily sacrificing his dream of building a lovely home for his family to live in, for the hope of a much better one in the world to come. He chose affliction and faithfulness rather than prosperity and dishonor to his God, and we ought to do the same. We are not, in the West, often asked to give up our careers, or thrown in prison for our faith, or beaten publicly, or anything like this, so why do we not stand more firmly? Why are we afraid of such comparatively small “persecutions”? Why are we so unwilling to make sacrifices such as our dreams of building our own beautiful house, or owning a new car, or retiring with a million dollars in the bank, when we flatter ourselves that if we had real persecution we would stand strong? If we are unwilling to sacrifice such small things, how can we expect that we would sacrifice the big things?

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Slower start than other Dostoyevsky works

Revisado: 06-27-19

Only complaint for me was that it was a much slower start than the previous works I have read by Dostoevsky (the Idiot, Crime and Punishment). I also had a difficult time sorting out the characters initially and especially figuring out what part each character played in the story, since every single character is developed until you are sick of it. That being said, there was much to think about in this novel, such as political influences, how peer pressure and the mob mentality can drive people to do things they would never do alone, and the callousness and violent acts that those who are possessed by a “great idea” can have towards everyone else if by any means they can achieve their goals. Nikolai was a very odd character that was difficult to understand for the majority of the book, but the epilogue gives much needed background that Dostoevsky intended to include at the end of part two but which he was unable to do because of the editor’s deeming it inappropriate. Pyotr was perhaps the character I disliked the most, as he was manipulative, and stirring up trouble and strife everywhere he could, yet always managed to escape the blame for the actions he incited others to take. Overall great story, much to reflect on. On to Brothers K.

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Balanced, Analytical, Not Overly Speculative

Revisado: 01-12-17

This audiobook seeks to bring to light the ways in which the several meticulously described Levitical sacrifices foreshadow the office and character of Christ. For the most part the author achieved this goal, while balancing bringing out the symbolism of the individual sacrifices while maintaining plausibility and not going too far in reading meaning into the text.

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