I love the idea of fearing God. Some have a hard time with it and some have never really been introduced to it so I always like to post a good quote when I come across one.

Scripture is full of commands to fear God and it is also full of commands not to be afraid. If we fear God, we need not be afraid of anyone or anything else. But if we don’t fear God, we have reason to be afraid of other things. You fear God when you come to grips with the fact that he is right and you are not, and he is in charge and you are not. “…that he may learn to fear the Lord his God.” (Deut. 17:19)

–Randy Alcorn via Facebook

is you can look at some great pictures that some people compiled. It’s amazing what God has created. God created this specifically for His and our enjoyment. How amazing. And I’m so glad he gave us the ability to develop (pun intended) things like photography to capture these things at their best.

The Magnificently Captured Beautiful Places On Earth (Earth Hour Special)

How small we are in this earth that is larger and more resilient than we can ever imagine.

I saw Brian Lilly’s The Week’s End – Links for 03/27/10 and almost forgot I had been preparing my own during the week.

A nice blog with a lot of Scripture related stuff and personal writing:
And She Went Out…

New Books I Like by Kevin DeYoung

Memorize Now
HT: Justin Taylor

50 Breathtaking Examples Of Spectacular Aerial Photography

These are a few found in Ryken’s Bible Handbook:

The word of God will stand a thousand readings;
and he who has gone over it most frequently
is the surest of finding new wonders there.

–James Hamilton

Read the word as a book made by God Himself. It is given ‘by divine inspiration’ 2 Tim. iii.16. It is the library of the Holy Ghost.

–Thomas Watson

I love the first part. That’s how I’ve felt lately. When reading the less exciting portions of the Old Testament I still know it’s from God and written for a reason.

The Bible is not “partly true and partly false, but all true, the blessed, holy Word of God.”

–Gresham Machen

Our Lord points out the utter unreasonableness from His standpoint of being so anxious over the means of living. Jesus is not saying that the man who takes thought for nothing is blessed – that man is a fool. Jesus taught that a disciple has to make his relationship to God the dominating concentration of his life, and to be carefully careless about every thing else in comparison to that. Jesus is saying – “Don’t make the ruling factor of your life what you shall eat and what you shall drink, but be concentrated absolutely on God.”

-Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

I’m not as into him now as I was for a couple of decades. I read that devotional at least three times through. I have one tattered copy and another newer one. I also read his other two that were put together. This is my favorite quote of his.

I care too much about many things I shouldn’t care about. So I say that I should really care less.

The Verse/Scripture of the Day posts the last few days have been leading up to this post.

I can’t express how much I love Scripture and love getting to know God through it, getting to know people and myself, and how God loves and deals with us.

I’ve always believed Scripture to be inspired, infallible and inerrant. I can’t tell you what flavor of inerrancy (and don’t care), where I come at it from, and all those details I don’t want to be mired in that I’ve read about. After reading blogs for a while and reading all the other viewpoints, my beliefs are strengthened a whole lot more. I’m thankful for that but not glad for some of the people I’ve read about.

I believe God is the same person in the Old Testament as he is in the New Testament. When people say that God is different now in this New Covenant age (although God has dealt with atonement of sin differently after the cross and there is not one theocratic nation of Israel anymore etc.), I think, “Have you read Revelation?” God is always the same.

I believe the Bible is just as reliable in the beginning as it in the end and God is portrayed just as accurately all the way through.

And so as time goes on I become even more amazed at Scripture every time I read it. Sometimes I almost can’t stand it. Can I have any more zeal than I have now? To think that God had a collection of books written for us that we can completely trust and is all for our good and is living and active and always speaking to us. I can’t get over how amazing that is.

If I didn’t believe what I believe I don’t think I would have the same zeal. That will ruffle a lot of feathers and I’m not looking for debate. I’m just saying how thankful I am that God has worked it out that I have so much zeal and want to learn so much and grow as wise as I can without thinking I am. This isn’t something that would happen on my own. Unfortunately God partly used suffering to get me to this point. Without it I don’t think I would have taken refuge in God and the Bible like I have.

I’m taking a risk in writing this because some people won’t like it which is kind of strange to me but it’s the reality nowadays. I wanted to write something personal which I haven’t done in a long time and write something that may encourage others (and frustrate some).

2 Timothy 3:15-17
You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

Why is God Ignoring Me? What to Do When It Feels Like He’s Giving You the Silent Treatment by Gary R. Habermas

This book is a review copy sent to me by Tyndale. I thank them very much for the opportunity to review this book.

The author knows pain. His wife of 23 years, the mother of four children, died of cancer. He knows the loneliness which follows something as horrific as that. Although he doesn’t go into much detail in the book, this is an author who is obviously writing as someone who is truly sympathetic with the person reading this book. Yet at the same time I don’t think he gets to the heart of the matter and I feel he is often missing connections either with what the reader feels they want or what’s most important from a spiritual perspective.

Much of the book is about how God is working in the world. He isn’t silent. He is working and speaking through healing, answered prayer, angels, demons, near-death experiences and people who haven’t heard the gospel who have been prepared for it. If I was in the situation of wondering why God is ignoring me, I would be thinking, “But what about me? That’s great that these things are happening to other people but I still feel ignored.”

Next he talks about “love letters”. Things that are more subtle than the last chapter like feelings of joy, conviction of sin (a good one), etc. I kept thinking, What about the Bible? I wouldn’t necessarily call it a love letter, but it’s one big collection of letters written by God through people to us. Any time we want, we can hear God speak to us by just reading it. We may not often get a special revelation, word of comfort or conviction of sin, but God’s word is living and active (Hebrews 4:12), not just a collection of text. Augustine said, “The Holy Scriptures are our letters from home.” Thomas Watson, a prolific Puritan writer wrote, “Think in every line you read that God is speaking to you.”

A strength of the book is Biblical Teaching That Life Will Be Difficult (page 46) that’s within Chapter 3 – Our Favorite Verses. This talks a lot about the Biblical view of suffering which is really what people who feel ignored by God are going through. There is a lot of Scripture given in this chapter. He writes about how prayer isn’t always answered (or the answer is ‘no’). He writes about the Bible saying that life isn’t always going to be rosy, even some of Jesus’ prayers weren’t answered, Christians in the present time are often strengthened through sickness, trouble etc.

Some of the things written about are legitimate and some are on the edge without a lot of backing from Scripture. It reminds me of the book Prayer by Richard Foster. And interestingly enough he refers to that book a lot. I gave it a very unfavorable review here on this blog.

A good quote from this book that I wish he would have dwelt more on is,

By giving God the preeminent place in our lives, we draw closer to him, and in doing so, we just might find that he’s not as hidden as we might have assumed. Concentrating preeminently on God can help promote a mind-set and atmosphere in which he can work more fully in us.

Chapter 7 is what I would call spiritual (in a good way) cognitive therapy, or what we tell ourselves. This is done in a way that isn’t worldly and helps us to think in a more Godly way.

In the last paragraph of the book he writes,

We know so much more than Job ever did, especially the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. With such a foundation, we are more than justified to trust God with those matters we don’t understand. Shouldn’t we be willing to grow and mature spiritually as we wait for our resurrection, which will place all our suffering in an eternal perspective?

This would be a good place for the book to start and concentrate on.

Although the author is a Christian apologist and is a solid conservative evangelical Christian I can’t recommend this book, although it may be helpful for some.

I would recommend How Long, O Lord? by D.A. Carson. The title gets to the heart of the matter and even that is Scriptural. Cries of the Heart by Ravi Zacharias is also good. There are also many good books on suffering in general and trusting God like Suffering and the Sovereignty of God by John Piper et. all and Trusting God by Jerry Bridges.

Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. (February 26, 2010)
ISBN-10: 1414316887

Where to buy:
Amazon.com
Westminster Bookstore does not sell this book.

I’m a little confused about what God would think of Elihu. Even though he’s younger than Job’s three “friends”, he seems a little wiser and knows more about God. Yet he was arrogant, inconsistent, misrepresented Job’s words, called Job a fool, etc. Then at the end of Job, God scolded Job’s three friends but said nothing about Elihu. So I’m not sure what to think about him. I can’t find commentary on him. Does anyone have any thoughts or links to other resources?

Part of the reason I ask is because an author of a book I’m reviewing writes, “While the first three friends give bad advice, Elihu generally seems to be speaking for the Lord.” That kind of took me by surprise.

Isaiah 40:8
The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.

Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

1 Thessalonians 2:13
Therefore, we never stop thanking God that when you received his message from us, you didn’t think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God– which, of course, it is. And this word continues to work in you who believe.

On Facebook, Gary Zimmerli says,

Go to http://www.commonenglish.com/forms/home.aspx and sign up for a free CEB New Testament, to be published fall of 2010.

You can also find a PDF of the Gospel of Matthew.

It’s refreshing!

Another short version:

Two good posts at Pastoral Musings:
Jesus’ View of The Scriptures
Is Creationism of Recent Origin? – let’s put that myth to rest

More Things Not to Say to Those Who are Suffering by Ed Welch

I’m going to be writing my own post related to that based on Job.

Will at Anwoth informs us that CBD has 16 sample pages of the upcoming HCSB Study Bible for you to look at. (Large PDF file)

Will writes about some of his impressions of what he saw compared to the previous edition.

I’m now a Blog Partner affiliate with Westminster Bookstore. You can find the Westminster Bookstore badge in the right sidebar of this blog. I like to go there to look at the items at the top of the left sidebar there like Coming Soon, New Arrivals etc.

They have a blog that I was unaware of until now:
Westminster Bookstore Blog

I took pictures of my library and thought I’d show them to you. The picture you see below–that’s it. My whole library fits on one shelving unit consisting of five shelves other than some fiction books and a few others I really don’t like that are on another shelf.

On this post by Nick Norelli I have the smallest amount of books of all the people who responded. Nick said, “I don’t know how you do it. I think everyone who owns over a thousand books should send one to you as well.” I agree.

If you could help a poor (not really, relatively) boy out, please buy your Amazon stuff through the search box at the right. I will be putting a Westminster link there also.

However, I love my library and I’m very thankful for it. In a way this is a lot of money. I used to get all my books from the library but then was able to very slowly buy some books.

I disabled clicking directly on an image because it doesn’t work well in this case. Click on the link below it to see a HUGE one. (Be sure your browser isn’t resizing them to make them smaller.) If you’re on dial-up it will take a very long time. Comments below.

HUGE image

This is the whole thing. I couldn’t shoot it straight on because our couch is in the way and with my bad back there’s no way I could move it. When I’m lying down on the couch most of the day I can see the top half of it. I often look at it and remember some of the things I’ve read in many of them.

HUGE image

The bottom shelf is Bibles and a few books on reading the Bible. I wish I would have taken a picture of just the bottom shelf. Many of these are on or under the coffee table where I have access to them when I’m reading. I put those few here for the picture. The HCSB Illustrated is my primary Bible and the NLT Mosaic is my secondary. Many of the pew Bibles are under the coffee table.

The next shelf up is Calvin and Calvinism, then Philip Yancey (I’m sure he’s thrilled about that), then some odds and ends, then Greek and exegesis.

HUGE image

The next two shelves are the reference section. Only the librarian can get these for you and you can’t check them out. I have one commentary for every book of the New Testament. My Old Testament material is severely lacking. The study Bibles are here because I only use them for reference. They are valuable because of not having much else in the area of OT material. I’ve read all of the commentaries all the way through except Luke and Acts which I plan to do next year.

HUGE image

The top shelf has my favorite ‘regular’ books on my favorite subjects. I’ve read at least 2/3 of them. The other 1/3 will keep me busy between the other things I read and study.

There you have it–my beloved little library.

One more below just for the fun of it.

HUGE image

Are You a Christian Hipster?

I was with all the Things they don’t like thinking I’m probably a hipster but then not at all with the Things they do like.

The whole idea is, “What is the relationship between Christianity and ‘cool’?” I guess I don’t need to be concerned about it and will let others handle it.

HT: Justin Taylor

How to Enjoy Your Bible by John Blanchard

I first found out about this book on Nathan Bingham’s microblog where he posted an Interview with Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III. In talking about as a pastor, trying to convince Christians under their guidance about the importance of studying God’s Word, Ligon Duncan said, ‘[G]et your people to read good books about Bible study and prayer (John Blanchard, “How to Enjoy Your Bible,” Don Carson, “A Call to Spiritual Reformation,” Matthew Henry, “Method For Prayer,” “Ryken’s Bible Handbook,” etc).’

I respect Ligon Duncan so I looked into it, especially because I was about to embark on reading the Old Testament again. I already enjoy my Bible, but I want to enjoy it even more!

So I wrote to Evangelical Press and asked them if they send out review copies. They wrote right back and said they’d be happy to.

The book is written at a ‘popular level’ meaning it will be understandable to anyone who has any familiarity with the Bible. It’s at a little more basic level than I expected but that’s only because of the other recommendations that surrounded it. At 180 pages it’s fairly easy to get through.

Chapter 2 – Countering the critics, answers many of the arguments people have against the Bible. Maybe even some of the people reading the book have these questions. The questions that are addressed are: Those who deny its authority, Those who deride its simplicity, Those who denounce its history, Those who dispute its accuracy, Those who doubt its integrity and Those who decry its credibility.

There are two chapters on The excellence of the evidence. The author comes from the view of inerrancy. Quoting Brian Edwards, Nothing but the Truth, Evangelical Press, pg. 139, on the Bible’s human authors:

They recorded accurately all that God wanted them to say and exactly how he wanted them to say it, in their own character, style and language. The inspiration of Scripture is a harmony of the active mind of the writer and the sovereign direction of the Holy Spirit to produce God’s inerrant and infallible word for the human race.

He writes about prophecy, the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, history and how the Bible comes from God.

There is the obligatory chapter on translations which is basic and brief. This is a decent chapter for those who aren’t familiar with different translations and styles. As in most books, the more literal/formal translations get the nod. After writing about translation theory and why translations are different, various translations are reviewed including KJV/AV, RSV, NASB, GNB, NIV, NKJB, CEV and ESV. Since the book was published in 2007 I would have expected a different selection including the NLT for sure and possibly the HCSB and NRSV.

After writing about the canon and various means of reading and studying the Bible we come to the chapter that is more than worth the cost of the whole book called The outcome of obedience. The vital link that brings reading and studying the Bible, and joy (enjoyment [I made that up]). This chapter has many quotable quotes by the author and others well known. I will pick one by J.C. Ryle:

God tests men’s sincerity by making obedience part of the process by which religious* knowledge is obtained. Are we really willing to do God’s will so far as we know it? If we are, God will take care that our knowledge is increased.

*religion wasn’t a dirty word back then

He writes about loving obedience, willing obedience, believing obedience, wholehearted obedience and dependent obedience. The last one is “so important that it governs all others.” We are dependent on God’s enabling. This is what takes the fear out of obedience for those who don’t like that word and he explains this concept well in the book. This is key and he saved the best for last.

I would highly recommend this book for those who are rather new to these concepts and need more confidence in the reliability of the Bible, need to learn the various ways to read and study the Bible and learn how key obedience is in this whole process. These things all put together will help us to better enjoy our Bibles.

• Paperback: 185 pages
• Publisher: EP Books (October 2007)
• ISBN-10: 0852346700

Buy it at:
Amazon.com

I have trimmed the items in my RSS reader so I don’t have as many links to include in these posts. I hope you’re interested in at least one of these.

Photographs can help your blog look more appealing and help people know what your post is about at a glance. If you’re wondering where to get photos and which ones you can use legally, this article is very helpful:
How To Get Photography For Your Blog
You can also find free photos here at the link Free Photo in the sidebar under Categories (this will grow in time) and at Scripture in Pictures.

God’s Word translation (GW) has a new website.
HT: God Didn’t Say That via BBB (be sure to read those links also if you’re interested)

If you’re not familiar with it, Google has a blog search. It can be helpful to search for the name of your own blog and be notified via RSS when it’s mentioned. This way you can respond to them if necessary and know who’s linking to you. If they say bad things about you, you can tell them how much of a doofus they are.

Best of the Past: Trainer Tells All – What I Have Learned About Health and Fitness
My favorites:

• Working out too much doesn’t lead to good results….hence most people are still struggling after years of hard effort and little return.
• It’s never too late to build muscle….and is more important as we grow older.
• The eat low-fat advice was the biggest health disaster in the last 30 years
• The best performance enhancing thing I know of….is a cup of coffee 30min before a workout/playing sports. –I’ve (Jeff) been doing this for over two decades

I’ve been noticing a lot of parallels between Deuteronomy and passages in the New Testament like this one.

Deuteronomy 15:10 HCSB
Give to him, and don’t have a stingy heart when you give, and because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you do.

2 Corinthians 9:7-8 HCSB
Each person should do as he has decided in his heart– not out of regret or out of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work.

One thing I’ve been noticing is that when we give, then God provides us with what we need to do good. This doesn’t necessarily mean money. Many think that if we give (or “tithe” as some people still call it), it’s like karma and we get it back. Although some passages seem to intimate this, like Proverbs 3:9-10, that’s a proverb, a general bit of wisdom, not a promise we can ‘claim’ in every situation. Am I right? It’s more about being equipped to do good than to get our money back.