Saturday, December 28, 2013

Choosing Forgiveness (Book Review)


The reality is, in this sinful world we will be hurt. We will be sinned against. We will be disappointed. When painful circumstances come, how do we handle our hurt? Some, like myself, have an easier time letting go of things, but even then, deep down, there are still traces of bitterness that linger and build up over time. It has been said that our emotions affect our physical health and well-being. An emotionally healthy person is a whole person. Feelings of anger and bitterness will eventually wear down the body mentally and physically. How do we deal with these feelings? We go to the root. Where there are feelings of anger and bitterness, there’s usually a heart of unforgiveness that needs to be dealt with. Nancy Leigh DeMoss does a wonderful job in this book discussing these, acknowledging that pain is real, but yet not excusing our responsibility in how we respond to circumstances in our lives. She shares several stories with varied circumstances where individuals had to choose to forgive despite their pain and loss and at the end of each chapter are follow-up questions to apply what you’ve read.

She discusses bitterness and how to recognize when it has crept into your heart. In connection with this, a question that lingers throughout the book is, who is really being hurt by the bitterness, anger and unforgiveness in your heart? By holding another person hostage by our unforgiveness, we are holding ourselves captive as well. She compares it to “drinking poison and hoping someone else would die” (p. 50). Bitterness often feels good, it’s like a safety-zone. But “it’s a fall-back position doomed to failure… the cure for bitterness is to trust both His hand and His heart and to ‘draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that [you] may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need’ (Heb 4:16, NASB).” (p. 79)

She also reminds us that “forgiven people forgive others” but that “even forgiven people can struggle to forgive”. (p. 69) Ultimately though, our unforgiveness comes back to our relationship with God and our understanding of His forgiveness. She also reminds us that it is only God’s grace that we are enabled with the strength to forgive, even when we don’t feel like it. It’s a choice, not a feeling. But not usually just a one-time choice; we have to choose over and over again to let it go. It does not have to be a process, it’s something you practice. She writes, “I believe that, as a rule, the point of forgiveness is followed by a process of healing and restoration – not the other way around.” (p. 176)

Do we need to “forgive ourselves”? What about “forgiving God”? These are things she discusses as well. In chapter 6 she discusses anger towards God which is often the heart of anger towards others. She answers questions about how we deal with those feelings and what our attitude should be towards God in spite of our trials. Knowing that God is sovereign in our trials gives us hope – there is a goal and an end in sight! We can trust Him and we must trust that He has a purpose in our trial, yes, even this. Even Jesus was “perfected through suffering,” (see Hebrews 2:10) and so are we.

I found this book immensely helpful. It was convicting but so encouraging! A must-read for all Christians, no matter where you are in life – if it doesn’t help you now, it will at some point and also equip you to help others.


"But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.” (Luke 6:27-28, NKJV)

Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled…  (Heb 12:14-15, NKJV)

Monday, December 23, 2013

The Jefferson Lies (Book Review)



 “My views… [are] very different from the anti-Christian system imputed to me by those who 
know nothing of my opinions.” – Thomas Jefferson, The Jefferson Lies p. 83

We should be interested in truth. Unfortunately, the world is interested in promoting and advancing its own worldview and to accomplish that it is willing to twist the facts and even re-write history. It is important that we examine the facts and know the truth about the history of the United States, and about our founding fathers. It tell us what this country was founded upon and what its values were. Thomas Jefferson is one that is most often dismissed today as racist, secular, anti-Christian and worse. David Barton wrote a book called, The Jefferson Lies – exposing the myths you’ve always believed about Thomas Jefferson. In it he specifically examines 7 things about Jefferson that are told as factual by most universities and scholars in America today. If they are true, it raises some serious questions about the man who had a key role in the founding of our country, and if false, than we have a real hero in Thomas Jefferson that we should greatly admire and honor.

I will give the “7 Lies” here and briefly describe the facts surrounding them. I would highly recommend you get and read the book for yourself though – don’t just take my word for it.  (http://www.amazon.com/The-Jefferson-Lies-Exposing-Believed/dp/1595554599 ) You should note that the book was originally published by Thomas Nelson, but they pulled it because of "historical errors". It is my opinion that while Barton probably tried a little too hard to make Jefferson more orthodox (this really only comes out in chapter 7), the bulk of the book is addressing the lies that he had no real Christian or Biblical values or character. Thus, I still found it very interesting and helpful.

Lie #1: Thomas Jefferson Fathered Sally Hemings’ children. There is no evidence to prove this, and actually all DNA testing has shown that Thomas Jefferson was absolutely not the father of two of her children (which are the two that have most often been claimed are). This chapter explains where this lie first came from and the research and testing done to examine it.

Lie #2: Thomas Jefferson founded a secular university. Not true. The university he helped to start (the University of Virginia) was merely the first university that was not associated with one particular denomination. It was in fact America’s first inter-denominational school but was not secular by any means, in fact, it was quite the opposite. He designated a building in the center of the campus to be used for religious worship and he actually invited seminaries of various denominations to establish groups on the campus. He explained,

“We suggest the expediency of encouraging the different religious sects [denominations] to establish, each for itself, a professor ship of their own tenets on the confines of the university so near as that the students may attend lectures there and have the free use of our library and every other accommodation we can give them… [B]y bringing the sects [denominations] together and mixing them with the mass of other students, we shall soften their asperities [harshness], liberalize and neutralize their prejudices [prejudgment without an examination of the facts], and make the general religion a religion of peace, reason and morality.” (see p. 48)

He also wrote that “the students of the university will be free and expected to attend religious worship at the establishment of their respective sects.” (see p. 54) That is hardly secular!

Lie #3: Thomas Jefferson wrote his own Bible and edited out things he didn’t agree with.
Thomas Jefferson did not write his own “Bible”. He did however, write an abridgement of the New Testament as a translation for the Indians (made it simple for them to be able to read it), and he also had a book he wrote (for his personal use only) that was basically just all the “red letters” of Jesus speaking from the Gospels so that he could focus just on the words of Jesus. However, in neither of these writings did Jefferson omit facts, miraculous events, etc. (see p. 67&ff) To say he wrote his own Bible is simply a very large exaggeration.

Lie #4: Thomas Jefferson was a racist who opposed equality for black Americans. While Jefferson was a man of his times (where slavery was common), it's not really fair to say this at all. One argument that people will use is that Jefferson didn’t even free his slaves upon his death (unlike George Washington, although I’ve heard him condemned nonetheless). The short answer for this is that he couldn’t because of Virginia state law at the time, but he wrote to a friend that he wished he could. There’s context of history and the culture of the times to understand in all of this as well and we shouldn’t rush to conclusions. (More on this on pages 91-93.) From Jefferson’s own pen:

“The whole commerce between master and slave is… the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and the degrading submissions on the other… And with what execrations [denunciations] should the statesman be loaded who permit[s] one half the citizens thus to trample on the rights of the other… And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis – a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? … Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever… [T]he way, I hope, [is] preparing under the auspices of Heaven for a total emancipation.” (see p. 102)

You can also read of Jefferson’s advocacy for escaped slaves, his petitions for anti-slavery laws and his reaction to the Missouri compromise in this chapter. Quite enlightening.

Lie #5: Thomas Jefferson advocated a secular public square through the separation of church and state. I was already aware that in our modern society Jefferson’s “separation of church and state” clause that he wrote in a letter in 1802 (to the Danbury Baptists in Connecticut) has often been taken out of context and used so as to keep religion out of the public square.  What Jefferson intended by that phrase was that the government had no right to put limitations on the free exercise of religion, NOT that religion had no place in the government. In fact, he himself advocated Christian morality and principles to be laws. This can be proved by his actions as a statesman, Governor and President. Thomas Jefferson introduced several bills in the Virginia legislature including (see p. 131):
-A bill for punishing disturbers of religious worship and Sabbath breakers.
-A bill for appointing days of fasting and prayer.
-A bill annulling marriages prohibited by Levitical law and appointing the mode of solemnizing lawful marriage.
-A bill for saving the property of the church heretofore by law established.

Also, as Governor of Virginia, he signed several bills into law that reflected Biblical morality and instituted that everyone taking an oath of office should say “So help me God.” (see p. 132)

Another interesting fact is that two days after Jefferson wrote the famous letter to the Danbury Baptists, he arranged for a Baptist minister named John Leland to preach at the church at the Capitol (and that’s another thing - yes, Jefferson was the one who helped to form the church that met right in the federal capitol building!). David Barton writes this about this event: “Didn’t Jefferson understand the ‘separation’ doctrine that he had just penned? Of course he did, and he understood that the separation prohibited the government from preventing a religious expression, which is why having church in the Capitol was completely acceptable.” (see p. 151, emphasis his)

Lie #6: Thomas Jefferson detested the clergy. That doesn’t make a lick of sense based on the paragraph above. Jefferson regularly invited clergy to speak at the church in the Capitol. The clergy he “detested” were a few in the northern states who wrote and spoke blatant lies about him! Context again… (see p. 141&ff)

Lie #7: Thomas Jefferson was an atheist and not a Christian. He most certainly was NOT an atheist… this is one of the most ridiculous lies out there as it can very easily be proven otherwise. Jefferson also was NOT a deist – he believed in a very personal God. While at the end of the life he was following some “Progressive” (Unitarian-type) beliefs, he always maintained and held fast to his belief in God. (see p. 165&ff)  While his orthodoxy may be questionable, Jefferson did have a profoundly Christian worldview. And if you want to know who were most fundamental in shaping Jefferson’s thinking you can find out in his own words: “Bacon, Newton and Locke… [are] my trinity of the three greatest men the world had ever produced.” (see p. 38) All three of these men were solid, Biblical Christians.  

Truth needs to be sought out. Let us seek to find it out. For further study you can read Jefferson's works at this website:



Additional Note: For a great book on George Washington read George Washington’s Sacred Fire by Peter Lillback. It is a whopping 725 pages (not including the additional 10 Appendix’s and then over two hundred pages of footnotes, in small font!), but gives you tons of information and writing by Washington himself to argue that he was indeed a Christian and not a deist like many claim. I have read it, and it's very good!



Sunday, December 1, 2013

Reading List! (December 1, 2013)


It is not the number of books you read, nor the variety of sermons you hear, nor the amount of religious conversation in which you mix, but it is the frequency and earnestness with which you meditate on these things till the truth in them becomes your own and part of your being, that ensures your growth.   – Frederick W. Robertson

Finished this month:

The Hobbit by J.R. Tolkien
This made me anticipate the 2nd movie of the Trilogy coming out this month! But, I must say, I still like The Lord of the Rings a lot better.

A Gospel Primer by Milton Vincent
This was such a great book – one I think every Christian MUST read! It’s the Gospel – very simply explained and laid out! It’s great resource to keep nearby and review often!
“The more I absorbed I am in the Gospel, the more grateful I become in the midst of my circumstances, whatever they may be.” (p. 47)

That Jesus was willing His life to lay down,
Be scourged and insulted and wear thorny crown
For one such as I who had spited God so,
Amazes and blesses and makes me to know
That greater a lover is no man than He,
Who laid down His life for a sinner like me! (p. 78)

Are Miraculous Gifts For Today? – Four Views by Wayne Grudem
This was a really interesting and enlightening book. I’ll omit my personal convictions, and quote Grudem, “…the question as to which view is most faithful to Scripture, I now leave to the reader to decide.” (p. 15) I will say though, that my favorite part of the book was Wayne Grudem’s conclusion at the very end.

The Bookends of the Christian Life by Jerry Bridges & Bob Bevington
This was a really excellent book – I highly recommend it! It’s about how we must base all of live on two crucial “bookends”: The righteousness of Christ & the power of the Holy Spirit. Jerry Bridges is one of my top favorite authors and I got the privilege of meeting and hearing him speak this past month…. That was pretty great!
“Because we have a natural tendency to look within ourselves for the basis of God’s approval or disapproval, we must make a conscious daily effort to look outside of ourselves to the righteousness of Christ, then to stand in the present reality of our justification.” (p. 30)
“Just as (we) must look outside of (ourselves) to Christ’s righteousness for (our) standing before God, (we) must also look outside of (ourselves) to the power of the Holy Spirit for (our) strength to live the Christian life.” (p. 83)


Currently Reading:
When I Don’t Desire God – How to Fight for Joy by John Piper* (I read this one a few years ago, and have picked it up again!)
Jefferson Lies – exposing the myths you’ve always believed about Thomas Jefferson by David Barton
Addictions – A Banquet in the Grave by Edward T. Welch (I’m reading this as a study with a friend, so it may take longer to get through.)


Additional books I want to finish this month:
Temptation by John Owen*
Choosing Forgiveness by Nancy Leigh DeMoss*
Does God Desire All to Be Saved? by John Piper
Hole in Our Holiness by Kevin DeYoung

*an addition from last month’s log.