Review of "The God Who Risks: A Theology of Divine Providence" by John Sanders

A couple years ago, there was quite a stirring in Minneapolis. Two professors at Bethel University began openly debating one another’s theological views. The battle was Open (Freewill) Theism v. Classical Theism. Doing a quick google search of Gregory Boyd v. John Piper will give you a glimpse into the two positions.

Being a proponent of classical theism, and moving to Minneapolis increased my desire to educate myself on the arguments, hermeneutics, and passion behind the Open Theism view of God. I started my study with John Sanders’ The God Who Risks: A Theology of Divine Providence. 

For those not familiar with Open Theism, I’ll be overly simplistic here. The basic position is that God limits himself in his foreknowledge so that he only knows certain aspects of the future, leaving some decisions/actions open to freewill agents (us). There are things that God simply does not know. “In choosing to depend on human beings for some things, God takes the risk of being either delighted or disappointed in what transpires.” The benefit, it is said, is that this allows God to become involved in real, intimate give-and-take relationships with humanity.

What I Liked: This book is much more academic than I originally anticipated, but in a refreshing way. Sanders does a great job of weaving in and out of scholasticism and pastoral insight. It was tedious in places, but overall, very enjoyable to read grammatically. 

Also, this book gave me a glance into the heart of Open Theology. Many times people with theology that vastly opposes tradition are villainized; however, after reading this volume, it was great to read the love for God behind Sanders’ views. That having been said, I agree with very little of this book.

What I didn’t Like: I disagreed with this book on a fundamental level. Rather than saying everything I didn’t like (which would take forever), I’ll just outline a few of my main dissents.

• In a book rejecting the classical view of God, I found this basis to be lacking: “the goal here is to establish that there is sufficient biblical warrant (not proof) for affirming that the future is in some respects indefinite even for God..” I believe that this is not nearly enough of a foundation for me to throw out orthodoxy and embrace these views. Furthermore, this appears to show that the basis for most of Sanders’ hermeneutics are isogetical. His goal in navigating these Scriptures is to prove his point. His goal is to show that his view can work according to the Bible. I know Sanders would never take it this far, but this seems to avoid the original intent of the authors in order to adapt his own ideas.
• Although Open proponents do careful stepping around this issue, I believe a fundamental problem they must face is God’s fulfilled prophecies. Basically, their view is that sometimes God legitimately goes through with a prophecy, other times He intends to do something unless a freewill agent causes a change in the situation, or He is simply guessing what seems most likely to happen. I see why these views work within Open Theology, however, I do not see Biblical evidence that this is how the mind of God works when he says he’ll do something.
• There is seemingly an offensive elevation of man and deep demotion of God underlying open theism. In saying how necessary a give-and-take relationship is for God to truly love us, humanity is placed on some pedestal, as if we were something great, as if God was wholly dependent upon us, and as if God only loves when he allows us to make decisions and “create” with him. As Sanders puts it, “A God of sheer omnipotence can run a world of exhuastively controlled beings, but what is magnificent about that?” I would advise Sanders to read Job 38-42, and understand the majesty of God’s foreknowledge and specific sovereignty. 

Personal Takeaways: This view deepened my love for the sovereignty of God. It forced me to ask hard questions of my own personal theology and to continue my search for Truth. It made me trust God even more and love his meticulous control and sovereignty. It gave me a fire that I loved! 

It also, again, helped me understand where open proponents are coming from and helped me see their love and desire for knowing God and making him known. I respect Open theologians, but I think the basis of their theology is not grounded in Scripture.

Who’s It For?: I would recommend this book for readers who enjoy engaging in theological discussions. I would advise the reader that the book is decently high in its academic theological jargon and therefore, isn’t extremely accessible on all levels. However, there are chapters that have much more of a pastoral bent to them which are much easier to follow. For a more layperson guide to Open Theology, look for my forthcoming review of Gregory Boyd’s God of the Possible. 

Summer 2011 Update!

     This summer at TreeHouse has been one of unbelievable life-change. A couple of our students have come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and their immediate growth has been humbling to see! I am so excited to tell you that God has been moving in the hearts of the young men I have the honor of mentoring. My one-to-ones with most of these guys have taken an intentional tone of discipleship. On the missions' trip, God broke three of my guys and now our one-to-ones are full of discussing Scripture, God's will, godly relationships, and much laughter. Through some of these relationships, many of the guys have begun reading the Bible on their own, then coming to our one-to-ones with their questions and thoughts. 

      Moreover, yesterday four of our students were baptized! I had the amazing opportunity to baptize two of the guys that God has been using me to disciple. The joy in their hearts overflowed yesterday as they shared their faith and their desire to follow Christ and glorify Him with their lives. God moves, we respond. It was beautiful hearing those students' responses yesterday!

      Thank you for your support throughout this last year. Lives are changing as God uses your faithfulness to these students. Your prayers are so vital to this ministry, and I welcome you to share in the joys God has blessed TreeHouse with over this summer! To Him be the praise, glory, and honor. 

- Josh

Review of "Rites of Passage: A Father's Blessing" by Jim McBride

     I received this audiobook as a reviewer for christianaudio.com. I decided to read it because I work with many teenage guys whose fathers are either absent or a negative factor in their life. The concept of this volume is that fathers/parents need to establish rites of passage with their children in order to help usher them into adulthood. This concept is vital to the development from middle to late adolescence.

What I Liked: Jim is very intentional about parents taking responsibility for their children's spiritual lives. It is not the job of the church or the youth pastor or anyone else to ensure that a child/teen grows in his relationship with the Lord into adulthood. It is the job of the parents. I think this mentality is lacking in most Christian circles, and sadly in most youth ministries.
I also enjoyed many of his explanations for how and why to do a rite of passage with a student. His examples were clear and visual.

What I didn't Like: Although I enjoyed that he gave examples and walked through a "rite of passage," ultimately, he devoted four chapters, one for each of his kids, to describing in painful detail every aspect of the rite. It seemed tedious at best, unnecessary at worst, but mostly just boring. Those chapters were a bit of a chore to get through.
Also, I wish Jim had spent more time describing the necessity of a rite of passage. In the Intro and first chapter of the book, he attempts to explain why parents should do rites, but he commits a fatal error. He fails to convince and merely exchanges information with the reader. These chapters should have built up the true urgency behind the topic of youth being shuffled into adulthood prematurely and without any spiritual guidance and encouragement. He seemed to brush lightly over the most important part of the book in order to get to tedious descriptions of actual rites of passages.

Personal Takeaways: This book challenged me to, from the beginning of their lives, establish myself as a spiritual leader to each of my children. It is important for me (and Emily) to spiritually guide our children through all aspects of their development, not just from middle to late adolescence.
Also, it challenged me to be conscious of the words I use, and the kinds of messages I may be sending my teenagers. Sadly, I am a father figure to several of my students who have been abandoned by their own biological dads. Although I am not their dad, someone needs to help usher them into adulthood, and this responsibility may fall to me.

Who's It For?: I would recommend this to people who are planning some sort of celebration/ceremony for their adolescents. That is where this book thrives-- examples.

Book Review: "Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate" by Jerry Bridges

I started this book about two years ago with two close friends for the purposes of discussion, accountability, and holiness. Because of many outside factors, I was only able to read the first two chapters during our time. I was able to pick this book up last month and finally finish it. 


What I Liked: This book is true to its title. It is confrontational, pulls no punches, and in a sense rebukes much like is described in 2 Tim 3:16. I think this book is timely, well-structured, and has teeth to it. I thought the list of sins we respect was apt, but for me the most memorable chapters dealt with the sins of Ungodliness, Pride, and Impatience & Irritability. 
Moreover, I loved that the end of each chapter usually contained a prayer or a list of verses that the reader was encouraged to memorize and meditate over if she finds herself struggling with that particular sin. The practicality of the application along with the ease of reading (nice, short, well-structured chapters!) made this book a challenging yet joyful read.
Lastly, Bridges encourages readers to daily preach the Gospel to themselves in order to put into perspective our place in God's Kingdom and how we should view and interact with sin each and every day. Blessed truth.


What I Didn't Like: The first six chapters of the book dealt with the "disappearance of sin" in society, the remedy for sin in Christ, the guidance/power of the Spirit, and how to deal with sins. Then the book moved on to directly dealing with current "respectable sins" of our culture. I found the first six chapters to be of value; however, I personally think the concepts could have been narrowed down into just two or three chapters. At times his points seemed overdrawn.


Quotes: - "Our sins are forgiven and we are accepted as righteous by God because of both the sinless life and sin-bearing death of our Lord jesus Christ. There is no greater motivation for dealing with sin in our lives than the realization of these two glorious truths of the Gospel."
- "The actual cause of impatience lies within our own hearts, in our own attitude of insisting that others around us conform to our expectations."


Personal Takeaways: This book challenged how I daily deal with my own sin nature. My grandmother is famous in my family for saying, "put that old nature to death every single day." Although it can be humorous to hear her say this so frequently, there is much truth to her statement. I believe that is my main takeaway from this book. Like Paul says in his letter to the Galatians, my desire is to "keep in step with the Spirit" so as to not "gratify the desires of the sinful nature."
I know this is a broad and sweeping takeaway, but truly this is the first and most necessary step to dealing with respectable sins. 


Who's It For?: This book is very accessible to all believers, both young and old, learned and new. Anyone from high school to retirement can benefit much from Bridges handling, confronting, and squashing our "respectable sins."

Book Review: "Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God" by John Piper

What I Liked: The whole concept of this book is one that has been dear to my heart since taking a class called "Faith and Learning" by freshman year at MBI. The goal of this book is getting Christians to turn on their brain, engage in culture, dive into God's Word, and in so doing, learn to love God with our minds. For primarily being a pastor, Piper here finds a beautiful balance between being a biblical scholar, philosopher, and shepherd. I greatly enjoyed the chapters on "mental adultery", Relativism, and Anti-Intellectualism.


What I didn't like: My only real critique of this book is purely from an authorial standpoint. There was a section during the Anti-Intellectualism chapters that focused on how the Father, Son, and Spirit are revealed and concealed at different times. After the section, I found myself scratching my head a bit, wondering why Piper had deemed it necessary to spend so much time on a topic that didn't seem to naturally progress from the arguments/stances he had explicated at that point in the book.


Quotes:
- "There is no reason to believe that a person who thinks without prayerful trust in God's gift of understanding will get it. And there is no reason to believe that a person who waits for God's gift of understanding without thinking about his Word with get it either. Both-and. Not either-or."
- "People don't embrace relativism because it is philosophically satisfying [but] because it is physically and emotionally gratifying. It provides the cover they need at key moments in their lives to do what they want without intrusion from absolutes."
- "If we were to succeed in raising a generation of people who give up serious, faithful, coherent thinking, we will have raised a generation incapable of reading the Bible."
- "If all the universe and everything in it exist by the design of an infinite, personal God, to make his manifold glory known and loved, then to treat any subject without reference to God's glory is not scholarship but insurrection." 


Personal Takeaway: This book challenged me in how I read my Bible. Piper has a whole section discussing ways to read the Bible in a way that more actively engages your mind. It can be so easy for me to simply read in order to check it off of a list. Not only that, but this book encouraged me as one who greatly enjoys learning and thinking, and also challenged me in keeping my mind, pride, and scholastics focused on God and Him alone.


Who's It For?: I would recommend this book to any Christian desiring to take his or her faith seriously when it comes to loving God with "all your mind." It does get more academic at times and may not cater to all audiences in that regard, but it is a wonderful book full of wisdom.