Washed and Waiting Book Giveaway (sponsored by Zondervan)

I’m pleased to announce that Zondervan has agreed to let me give away one copy of the book Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality by Wesley Hill. Click the title above to read my recent review and learn more about this excellent book.

The contest details are below. Just fill out the form and notice how you can get additional entries. The book’s product page at Zondervan is here, which helps you gain an additional entry.

The contest is limited to residents of the 48 Continental US States, and runs through Wednesday evening.

Contest is now closed. Congratulations go to Adam Britt for being the winner of the random drawing.

Christmas Book Giveaways, Promotions and More

As we approach Christmas, there are lots of celebrations to plan and gifts to buy. We also want to carve out time to worship our Lord Jesus and remember the reason for the season. But as we near Christmas, I also want to remind folks that there are quite a number of Christian book giveaways and special sales going on this time of year.

Check out some of the giveaways mentioned below and you might be able to get a freebie in time for Christmas (or shortly thereafter).

Bible Geek Gone Wild’s 3rd Annual 12 Days of Christmas Book Giveaway

That title is a mouthful! Today is day #4, I’m sorry you missed out on days 1-3 but there are still 9 more giveaways planned at my friend Shaun Tabatt’s blog. Today’s giveaway is sponsored by Tyndale House, and includes a prize pack of the first 4 DVDs in the What’s in the Bible series by Phil Visher (creator of VeggieTales).

Pastoral Musings December Book Giveaways

Another blog friend of mine, Jason Skipper, is hosting four book giveaways this month. This week’s prize is an ESV Study Bible!

Christian Book Distributor (Christianbook.com) Book & DVD Giveaways

Christianbook.com has a long list of book and dvd giveaways. Some of the contests I entered include a Matthew Henry Study Bible, and a collection of all of Francis Chan’s books!

Zondervan Exegetical Commentary of the New Testament (ZECNT) Giveaway

Koinonia blog, is giving away another copy of a new ZECNT title. You could win a copy of Thomas Schreiner’s recent work on Galatians (which is fantastic).

Waterbrook Multnomah Collection of Christmas Books Giveaway

If you like Christmas books, this giveaway is for you. The winner gets 8 Christmas titles from Waterbrook Multnomah.

StudyBible.Info 1611 Commemorative Edition King James Bible Giveaway

A new study site, StudyBible.info is hosting a special giveaway of a Commemorative edition, 1611 King James Bible this week. Details on the giveaway here.

Logos Bible Software’s 12 Days of Christmas and Additional Sales

Logos is running their annual 12 Days of Christmas promotion, with a drastically reduced resource available each day now through Christmas. They have also added some 50% off deals and other great discounts in time for the Christmas season.

Desiring God’s Christmas Special

Desiring God also has some phenomenal discounts for Christmas. They have several bargain packs of books as affordable as 4 books for $10!

More Giveaways

VesselProject lists several other giveaways you can enter, most are of fiction titles. If you know of additional contests feel free to leave the details or links here in the comments too.

Merry Christmas and I wish you all the best in these contests!

The Biblioblog Top 50

Breaking news! I just cracked the Biblioblog Top 50! I debuted on the list at #25. If you want to join the Biblioblog list, and if your blog deals with biblical studies, you should leave a comment on the post linked above, and ask to be added to the list. You have to be sure your site is indexed by Alexa too.

My goal now is to catch my fellow blogger, Jason Skipper, who’s at #15. Our new group blog, Re:Fundamentals made the list, too.

“Hear No Evil: My Story of Innocence, Music and the Holy Ghost” by Matthew Paul Turner

Author: Matthew Paul Turner
Publisher: Waterbrook Multnomah
Format: softcover
Publication Date: 2010
Pages: 228
ISBN: 9781400074723
Stars: 2 of 5

Hear No Evil is a collage of stories from Matthew Paul Turner’s past. A former independent fundamental Baptist (IFB), Turner chronicles his spiritual journey with special attention to the role his love for music played.

As a former IFB myself, I could identify with many of his experiences. I was raised KJV only, and also used my Bible as an autograph book (for the great men of God who I was privileged to hear). One of Turner’s memories is particularly relevant to the audience of my blog. Sadly it rings true, to some extent, of my own experience and many others. He recounts:

I didn’t study God. I just memorized Scripture verses and practiced Bible trivia. I could have told you the names of the twelve sons of Jacob or offered you a biblically accurate play-by-play of the events that led up to King David sleeping with Bathsheba. I learned facts. I knew a thousand Bible verses by heart, but I couldn’t explain why God’s story was important to me, personally. (pg. 122)

Clear and extremely well-written, the book makes for easy reading. In a light-hearted manner, with equal parts humor and candor, Turner recounts his escapades expertly. The stories are interesting and to some extent comical.

Unfortunately, Turner’s tone is rather disturbing. As I read the book I was struggling to find a point in it all. Some of the stories seemed a bit over the top. Even granting for some authorial exaggeration, some of the scenarios he described stretched the limits of reality. Often the humor seemed self-serving. And Turner spared no punches in his shots of fundamentalists and other wider segments of Christianity.

Several scenes were painted without a clear resolution. What really is Turner’s assessment of all of this? Where did he end up on the other end of the story recounted in the book? He was not timid in his insinuations about the state of Christian rock music. A Christian bass player ejects from his group and considers himself agnostic. Turner doesn’t try to win him back, rather he empathizes with the pressure the Christian rock industry puts on its performers to remain virgins, albeit only in a “technical sense”. Biblical literalists like the stern publisher of CCM (the magazine Turner edited for a while), have an agenda and aren’t to be trusted. A gay former worship pastor, who visits his church on Easter Sunday indiscriminately receives Turner’s cheerful welcome.

I do want to be careful not to judge the book too harshly. It is a personal recounting of events and nothing more. Perhaps I’m expecting too much from it. The flavor of the book is perhaps best captured in the following excerpt. Speaking of a fellow Amy Grant aficionado and staffer at CCM, Turner says:

The story of Michael’s early years is nearly identical to mine. Different parents, different churches, different states, but our experiences were the same. Both of us were raised Independent Fundamental Baptists. When we met people who hadn’t heard of our form of Baptist, we told them it was Christian for “scary beyond all reason.”

By the time we turned twelve, Michael and I were convinced we knew everything there was to know about God. If that information wasn’t already stored in our brains somewhere, our parents had flashcards to help us memorize it. People who told us that God was more or less than what we’d been taught were liars sent by Satan to deceive us. Our teenage years brought questions, college brought doubt, and we spent the better part of our twenties in therapy, trying to reconcile our understandings of God, sex, relationships, and what we believed to be true.

But there was one consistent thread of grace in our lives, a trail we could follow all the way back to when our memories began: music. Music reminded us that we could trust God even when “his people” failed us.

And at some point, our paths crossed with Amy’s music, which gave both of us hope that God wasn’t nearly as hateful as we’d been taught. (pg. 200-201)

This book will resonate with many. But some will be emboldened by it to continue along a trajectory outside of confessional Christianity and orthodox faith. The book is good reading, but must be read with a discerning eye.

Matthew Paul Turner is a blogger, speaker, and author of Churched: One Kid’s Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess, The Christian Culture Survival Guide, and several other popular books. Turner attended Nashville’s Belmont University, where he received a BBA in music business, and is the former editor of CCM magazine. Turner has written for Relevant, HomeLife, Christian Single, and other magazines. He and his wife, Jessica, have one son and live in Nashville. Visit his Web site: www.matthewpaulturner.com.

Disclaimer: this book was provided by the publisher for review. The reviewer was under no obligation to provide a positive review.

This book is available for purchase at the following sites: Amazon.com or direct from WaterBrook Multnomah.

40 Loaves Book Giveaway Winner

Thanks to everyone who entered the book giveaway. The contest is now over as the results are in. Toby Holland is the winner of the free copy of 40 Loaves. I’ll be contacting you, Toby, by email today for your snail mail address.

Thanks again to WaterBrook Press for supplying the giveaway copy of 40 Loaves: Breaking Bread with the Father Each Day by C.D. Baker.