BOOK REVIEW: THE GOOD GOD

The Good God: Enjoying Father, Son & Spirit by Michael Reeves

This is a delightful little book!

Trinitarian theology has seen a huge surge in interest in academic circles in recent years, but – sadly – is often functionally absent from the life of local churches and individual Christians. This is a disaster, not because every Christian should be able to complete a tick-box survey demonstrating their theological competence, but because a lack of understanding of God as Trinity is to be fundamentally lacking in understanding about who God is. Period.

The trouble is, discussions of the Trinity can soon become massively complex, and deeply abstract, and very dry. None of these things are failings of which The Good God could be accused. Mike Reeves has written something which is, truly, delightful. I would strongly recommend this book to be read as an aid to devotion and worship, for that is what it produces. You could do a lot worse than to start each morning by reading a couple of pages of this and letting it direct your heart and soul in worship to Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

One of the features of the book I most enjoyed are the panels which delve into historical examples that help illustrate the significance of the doctrine of the Trinity. These range from a brief description of Yodo Shin-Shu Buddhism to the joyful theology of St Hilarius to the ‘lust for life’ of William Tyndale. This is all very illuminating and enjoyable stuff.

But the key thing about this book is the way it stirs worship. Clearly and winsomely Reeves describes the nature of the God who lives in eternal, delightful, loving relationship – a love that has overflowed into the creation of all things, and a love into which we are invited to join. The God Reeves describes is very good, very delightful – a God you want to be close to! As Reeves expresses it in a description of the work of the Holy Spirit, “How great and lovely, then, is the work of the Spirit! He unites us to the Son so that the Father’s love for the Son also encompasses us; he draws us to share the Father’s own enjoyment of the Son; and he causes us to share the Son’s delight in the Father. What could be more delicious than to keep in step with a Spirit whose purpose is that?”

What indeed! A delicious God – that is what Trinitarian theology is meant to bring us to, and it is where this book will help draw you.

Buy it. Read it. Enjoy it!

A GOOD NEWS DAY

News from the British Geographical Survey revealing vast water supplies under Africa are fascinating. Apparently there is oodles of the stuff down there, with a 75m thick band of water lying under much of northern Africa. Getting it out of the ground is more of a challenge, but I'm sure not beyond the wit of man.

As well as the survey itself being interesting, the response it has generated is telling. A quick look at the comments on the BBC news site reveal sentiments that seem to regard the discovery of water as just one more thing to be depressed about. This comment is typical: Like all other "fossil" resources, once this 70 years of water is gone, it's gone. Africa has the same problem as the rest of the world - unsustainable levels of population which continue to grow at an unsustainable rate. African governments could take a lead in showing that population reduction policies are the pragmatic and compassionate solution to most of the worlds most serious problems.


To me comments like this seem perverse. Rather than, "Hey - this is great news! Just another example of the earths potential to surprise with the abundance of its provision," we get a gloomy, "This will only make things worse." You know what will happen if the aquifers are tapped and then in the best part of a century run dry? Everyone will die? No - we'll find some more water somewhere else! There is no shortage of water on the blue planet - its just that some of it is in places where we can't get at it easily, or is salty. Those are problems that can be overcome. But in the meanwhile, 70 years of water security could be instrumental in transforming a dry region.


The perversity of negative reactions to good news is just one more example of the reality of the doctrine of total depravity. There is a grain of truth in the negativity - a recognition that, in the end, the problem is people. However, this honest recognition is twisted so that people are then made the enemy - whose numbers need to be reduced. (And the eugenic, colonialist mindset this reveals when such comments are directed towards a continent like Africa always leave a sour taste in my mouth and should sound a note of alarm for us all.)  Apart from the demonstrable fact that when standards of living improve the number of children people have decreases, and therefore exploitation of resources that will increase standards of living should be welcomed rather than feared, the doctrine of total depravity shows us where the problem is actually located. Rather than fewer people, what we need is less sin! The worlds most serious problems are problems of human sin, so it is sin that needs to be fixed.


All of which is rather good news because, 1. Sin can be fixed, thanks to the power of Christ over sin, and, 2. There is plenty of water under Africa! So I am left in the place of struggling to see the cloud to this particular silver lining. It looks like good news all the way to me!

A BIGGER PLAN

If things had gone as I planned them, I would right now be about 2 miles from the finish line of the Brighton Marathon. Instead, I am stuck at home, feeling ill, and the rest of the family are at church. However, I have redeemed some of the time by just listening to an incredible sermon by David Platt -
Divine Sovereignty: The Fuel of Death-Defying Missions (HT Justin Taylor).

I am starting a series on mission at Gateway in a couple of weeks time (God willing!) and Platt's sermon would be a fantastic scene-setter for that - and for anyone else who wants fresh vision for God's plan to reach all peoples with the good news of his Son.

Go on - listen to it; it is terrific.

Praise God that his plans are not only bigger than ours, but can never be thwarted!

A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS...

While I'm busy puffing Andrew's book, if there is anyone out there who has read mine it would be a tremendous help if you could stick a quick review up on Amazon. Amazon reviews carry weight, so all contributions would be welcome.

Via the wonders of self-publishing Sex Talks is now available on a number of Amazon platforms (although, sadly, not yet as an e-book or in translation). You can find it here:
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.fr
Amazon.de
Amazon.es
Amazon.it

Those who prefer to use a proper bookshop should be able to access it via those channels too, and it is certainly available at my local - and outstanding - Christian bookshop, Keith Jones, both direct from the shop and via their online ordering.

Thank you!

BOOK REVIEW: IF GOD, THEN WHAT?

If God, Then What? Wondering aloud about truth, origins & redemption by Andrew Wilson

The other day I found myself in the somewhat surreal context of lying on a physiotherapists couch, with needles being stuck into my backside to release a muscle spasm, while engaged in a fairly intense conversation about Jesus.

It is funny how often ‘divine appointments’ occur at the most inconvenient of times, so it is good to be forearmed with some cogent things to say when you are caught on the hoof (or in the butt). In If God, Then What? Andrew has provided us with a brilliant example of how to do this.

However, before going any further with this review I should of course confess my predisposition to be positive about Andrew’s latest book, as we know each other personally, and collaborate on the What You Think Matters blog. Moreover, Andrew has previously written a very kind review of my book Sex Talks so I owe him one. But this will not be a positive review simply out of friendship, but because I think If God, Then What? is very, very good.

Generally I am somewhat unenthusiastic about apologetics, and have posted to that effect on WYTM (although this was in part, at least, a tongue in cheek attempt to provoke Andrew). Too often what is labelled ‘Christian apologetics’ comes across as boring, and rather than raising Christ up, lowers him in the dust of hollow philosophical and pseudo-scientific arguments. Andrew avoids these mistakes and has succeeded in blending together something that is like Tim Keller’s The Reason for God meets Don Miller’s Blue Like Jazz into a very satisfying apologetic whole, which I devoured in one sitting. (Although this mental gluttony, combined with my current somewhat feverish state, meant I then lay awake, mind buzzing, until 3 o’clock this morning – thank you Andrew!) In fact, the only thing I managed to get myself even a little irritated about was the fact that by having been an undergraduate at Cambridge Andrew got to meet a lot more interesting people than did those of us who attended lowlier institutions!

If God, Then What? leads on us a journey, packed full of anecdote and winsome observation, that travels over territory exploring how we can know anything about anything, to what that might tell us about the likelihood or otherwise of the existence of God, and then into much more explicitly Christian claims about sin and death, resurrection and life. Throughout, Andrew exhibits a light touch, penetrating insight, and considerable humour. Perhaps the riskiest chapter in the book is one on origins, in which it would have been all too easy for Andrew to slip and slide into the murky tracks of so many other apologetics books, and – as Andrew himself puts it – “quote a long list of prize-winning scientists who agree with me, produce great quotations about fine-tuning and the Creator’s aim, and misquote Stephen Hawking a few times to make it look like all scientists basically believe in God.” Thankfully, Andrew sidesteps this pitfall and proceeds in a way which casts light, rather than merely more obfuscation, on the debate.

In terms of audience, I should imagine that this book will appeal in large part to those who – like me – are already convinced of Andrew’s case. Christians will enjoy reading this because it will help them to see some things in a new light, and because it will help equip them for those God conversations with skeptics. However, I think it will also be read and enjoyed by those who are not Christians, or even necessarily theists, as it is engaging, and far from patronising or aggressive. An intelligent 16 year-old could probably handle it (I will try it on my intelligent 14 year-old) and anyone with genuine interest in discussing the big questions of life would find it accessible and interesting. In fact, I would hand it around to my friends in preference to Keller’s The Reason for God because it is more accessible, and more fun. And I think I might give a copy to my physiotherapist!

RUNNING INTO TROUBLE

If I believed in fate I might think that I had tempted it by blogging about my marathon training a few weeks ago. 

At that point I had done three months of incident free, quality training. Never before had I strung so many weeks of good effort together without being interrupted by illness or injury. Confidence was high.

But that very week I developed an ankle problem that meant I couldn’t train for a few days. And then, two weeks ago, a few days after I had started running again I developed acute pain in my lower back and could barely walk, let along run (probably as a result of compensating for my ankle) and I thought the marathon was off. But I then went to see a physio last week, who helped considerably – a butt muscle that’s in spasm apparently. (If you are in the Poole/Bournemouth area and need a physio I would recommend BWT).

I thought I was back up to 60:40 for running the marathon, but this week have gone down with a bug which has left me completely washed out and useless, and because I’ve spent the last 36 hours lying in bed my back/leg has got worse again.

So it’s off. No way I’m going to be up to speed for Sunday.

Very frustrating.

If you have already sponsored me  I am very sorry to let the side down.

All rather embarrassing really…

18 YEARS OF GRACE

It is 18 years today since Grace and I got married.

We have got to that stage of life where everything seems to speed up, no doubt accelerated by our rapidly growing children. As Daughter No. 1 often reminds us, “I’ll be 16 next year.” (Actually, as her birthday is in December it is nearly two years until she turns 16, but that “next year” carries a lot of emotional heft – it will come very soon.)

18 years is a decent stretch of time. We feel we’ve got some experience behind us now. And – tragically – we find ourselves amongst a shrinking number of our peers who are still together – too many of our 40-something, attempting-to-recapture-their-youth, mid-life-disappointment-shaped friends have seen marriages crumble. It is amazing how much this affects our own children, who have known nothing but stability. The effects of our divorce culture are so deep and so pernicious that none of us is left untouched by it.

So I am continually grateful for the grace that is mine in the Grace given to me. Our speeding days are good ones, and the 6,574 days we have been married have been incredibly blessed ones. It is easy to take for granted what has become familiar through the passage of time, but I don’t think we have yet made that mistake. Instead we continue to grow together, and surprise one another, and find grace in each other.

We have had 18 incredible, grace saturated years, but there is so much more grace to discover yet.