Tag: Apologetics

Book Briefs: “Hidden Treasures in the Book of Job” by Hugh Ross

~ Bob Hayton ~ 4 Comments

Dr. Hugh Ross, well known old-earth creationist and president of Reasons to Believe, has given us a gem of a book with Hidden Treasures in the Book of Job (Baker Books, 2011). The subtitle of the book explains its purpose: “How the oldest book in the Bible answers today’s scientific questions.”

Dr. Ross is as well versed in the creation debate today as anyone, and he has devoted time and effort in combating godless, Darwinian evolution and countering the arguments of new atheists. With this book, he unpacks the myriad of ways the book of Job speaks to the question of origins and the meaning of life on earth.

Job 38 describes God’s creative activity directly, and Ross focuses in on this chapter. Yet he also discusses whether leviathan was a dinosaur, and what Job has to say about the extent of the Flood. Suffering, death, unique attributes of humans, the soulish nature of animals, the order of creation–these topics and more are covered.

As Ross writes, he blends scientific insight (like just why Hurricanes are so beneficial to the climate of Earth), personal anecdotes and devotional thoughts from the book of Job in a fascinating and well-written way. The book is not so much an extended defense of Ross’s scientific positions, but a manual filled with interesting tidbits that will get you thinking and encourage you to keep studying, and to mine the book of Job for treasures yourself.

You can pick up a copy of Hidden Treasures in the Book of Job at the following online retailers: ChristianBook.com, Amazon.com, or direct from Reasons to Believe, or Baker Books.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by Reasons to Believe. I was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.

About Book Briefs: With limited time available to give every book sent my way a full review, I’ll be offering short-form book reviews called Book Briefs. Book Briefs are book notes, or my impression and informed evaluation of a book, but they stop short of being a full book review.

“Smart Faith: Loving Your God with All Your Mind” by J.P. Moreland & Mark Matlock

~ Bob Hayton

Today’s Church is facing a growing epidemic. Our young people are leaving Christianity by the droves. They survive through high school, but often hit the eject button at some point during their college years. What’s wrong?

J.P. Moreland and Mark Matlock think they have an answer to this crisis. In their recent book Smart Faith: Loving Your God with All Your Mind published by NavPress, they expose part of the problem: “We now live in a Christian culture so deeply committed to a nonintellectual way of understanding the Christian faith that this perspective is now embedded within us at a subconscious level.” They continue: “Faith is now understood as a blind act of the will — a decision to believe something independent of reason…” The gospel we share has been reduced to “primarily… a means of addressing felt needs.” “We give testimonies of our changed life and tell people that Christ is the answer to troubles.” But this lacks true transforming power. “Religion has… become personal, private, and too often simply a matter of how we feel about things.” (pg. 24-26). In sharp contrast stands the rest of life which demands the use of our intellect in today’s ever-secular world.

The 58 percent of church-attending teenagers which Barna researchers tell us “won’t be attending church by their thirtieth birthday”, were likely “missing the intellectual aspects of faith.” (pg. 25). Moreland and Matlock aim to cultivate a robust, Christian intellect through their book. Along the way, they hope to fortify their readers against the siren call of our world’s increasingly anti-Christian culture.

The book describes the problem and how we got here. It explores faith and knowledge, and aims to elevate the importance of the mind. It then goes on to apply Christian intellect to evangelism and apologetical persuasion, personal devotion and study, worship, and more. The book provides case studies of complex real world scenarios that young people face that could present a problem. In the end, these case studies are fleshed out with an intellectually honest and faithful approach to integrating our Christianity with all of life.

The authors are irenic and patient, not to mention painfully honest. Slowly and surely the attentive reader is prodded and nudged in the right direction. The book is not a heady read. It’s written in a light and straight-forward manner, and at 175 pages, it isn’t too long. Still, it covers some important ground. More important, the authors achieve their goal: they offer a book which will ground the faith of young people and encourage a deep-rooted faith in Christ.

This book would make a great gift for a high school graduate. Youth ministers will want a copy of this book both for their own benefit and to recommend to others. Smart Faith earns a high recommendation.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by NavPress. I was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.

You can purchase a copy of this book from any of these fine retailers: Christianbook.com, Amazon.com or direct from NavPress.

The Reformed Cast to Interview Me on KJV-Onlyism Tonight

~ Bob Hayton

Today, April 25 at 6pm Central Time, I’ll be interviewed by my friend Scott Oakland of The Reformed Cast on the topic: “What is KJV-Onlyism?”

Additional details of the interview can be found here. You’ll be able to listen live at Talkshoe.com (you can also find a player at Scott’s website: ReformedCast.com). You’ll also be able to download it from there, or via SermonAudio or iTunes (see ReformedCast.com for links or subscribe buttons).

I’ve been interviewed by Scott before on Fundamentalism and Reformed Theology, and am looking forward to being on his show again.

I’m interested if any of my readers have any requests for something I should cover. We have an hour and I’m sure Scott will have his own questions too. I’d love to try to deal with points that readers raise here, however. So feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.

For the extra ambitious, you can listen to the last podcast I did on this topic over at Understanding Our Times radio.

UPDATE: The audio from tonight’s interview is now available for free download at ReformedCast.com.

Those Five New Points of Calvinism

~ Bob Hayton ~ 9 Comments

Almost everyone reading my blog is familiar with the acrostic TULIP as standing for the five points of Calvinism. Probably most of you know what each point stands for: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, Perseverance of the Saints. Then the number goes down as to who knows what each point means. I would venture to guess that there would be disagreement over what people think “L” should mean, or what “T”, “I” or “P” actually imply.

If you’ve read any Calvinist literature, you have seen a recasting of the points. Some turn it from TULIP into ROSES (Timothy George), others like my former pastor John Piper, choose to consider the points in a thematic order rather than their order in the word TULIP. Piper’s pamphlet on the points spells the Calvinist flower: TILUP. I’ve seen books and essays advocate “efficacious grace” or “particular redemption” as opposed the the TULIP title of the point in question.

What very few of you who read this blog know, and what I just learned, is that the acronym TULIP is a very recent development. It apparently hails from the early 20th Century, first appearing in Lorraine Boettner’s 1932 book, The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination. I just finished reading an article by Ken Stewart [pdf] which traces the development of TULIP [HT: Dave Doran]. Stewart rummages through the literary remains of the 18th and 19th Centuries in a vain attempt to find any use of our flowery acronym. He finds many treatments of Calvinism in the first half of the 20th Century totally bereft of any mention of TULIP as well. Stewart cites Roger Nicole as one who also noted the newness of the TULIP scheme. From his preface of the 40th anniversary edition of Steele and Thomas’ Five Points of Calvinism, Nicole states: “Ever since the appearance of Loraine Boettner’s magisterial The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination it has been customary to refer to the five points according to the acrostic TULIP.”

A couple months back, Justin Taylor entertained this same theme on his blog, and in the comments proof of the use of TULIP was given in a 1913 article of the New Outlook, which cites a Dr. Cleland McAffee as using the term as a mnemonic device in his lectures back in 1905. So that is apparently the earliest documented use of the TULIP acronym found to date.

Stewart’s piece is well worth the read, as he concludes with a call for Calvinism to be more irenic and pleasing in its tone, especially when interacting with the wider Christian church. So I guess true Calvinism, isn’t all about fives. I for one, would be glad to let the TULIP wither. I love the heart of Calvinism, but a strict adherence to five points that aren’t adequately explained is not helpful. This might be a good time for all of us to go read the original Five Points in their entirety– I‘m referring to the Canons of Dort, of course.

UPDATE: I forgot to include the link to Stewart’s article initially. Here is the link (it’s a pdf file).

Problematic Polemic Puritanism

~ Bob Hayton

You know I was stretching to come up with that title! Seriously though, I wanted to highlight D.A. Carson’s recent editorial on polemical theology, in the online (and free) theological journal Themelios (connected with The Gospel Coalition).

Carson explains the inevitability of polemics: anyone “contending for a particular theological understanding” is practicing polemical theology. He then offers some wise thoughts on various aspects concerning polemics. I found a few sections of his piece particularly interesting, given my experience with fundamentalism. The problem isn’t exclusive to fundamentalists, by any stretch, however. And when I use the term “puritanism” in my title, I am thinking “Pharisee”, but am not implying that all puritans were pharisees.

So without further ado, here are Carson’s words for us to ponder. Be sure to read his whole piece (which is only about 2 pages long). [HT: Justin Taylor]

Nevertheless there is something wrong-headed about making polemical theology the focus of one’s theological identity. This can be done in many ways. There are well-known scholars whose every publication has an undertone of “everyone-has-got-this-wrong-before-me-but-here-is-the-true-synthesis.” Some become far better known for what they are against than for the overflow of their worship or for their generosity to the needy or even for their affirmation of historically confessed truth. Still other Christians develop websites and ministries whose sole aim is to confute error. God knows there is plenty of error to confute. To make the refutation of error into a specialized “ministry,” however, is likely to diminish the joyful affirmation of truth and make every affirmation of truth sound angry, supercilious, self-righteous””in a word, polemical. In short, while polemical theology is just about unavoidable in theory and should not, as a matter of faithfulness, be skirted, one worries about those who make it their specialism.

…Second, at the risk of a generalization, those who spend their lives refuting and correcting fellow believers but who rarely engage at a serious level with ideas and stances in the broader world almost always find themselves at increasing odds with more and more believers. That should be unsurprising. Those who engage in a broader polemical theology are, on the whole, more grateful to focus with gratitude on the common heritage of Christians.