Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Andy Naselli

Pitfalls and Benefits of Small Group Bible Study

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My church’s small groups started meeting together again last night, and this week I benefited immensely from reading this practical and insightful new book:

Orlando Saer. Iron Sharpens Iron: Leading Bible-Oriented Small Groups That Thrive. Fearn, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2010. 142 pp.

In the opening chapter (which you can read here), Saer explains three pitfalls and four benefits of small group Bible study (pp. 10–22):

Potential Pitfalls of Small Group Bible Study

  1. The vertical pushed out by the horizontal: they can turn into little more than social groups.
  2. The message sidelined by the method: members can become addicts to one way of encountering God.
  3. The blind led by the blind: meetings can become simply opportunities to pool ignorance.

Benefits of Small Group Bible Study

  1. A good place to listen to God: each can help the others study the Bible.
  2. A good place to talk to God: each can pray for the others in an informed way.
  3. A good place to care for one another: each can carry the others’ burdens.
  4. A good place from which to reach the lost: members can work together to advance the gospel.

Don’t Call It a Comeback

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This book comes out at the end of the month:

Kevin DeYoung, ed. Don’t Call It a Comeback: The Same Faith for a New Day. Wheaton: Crossway, 2011.

My chapter in the book is entitled “Scripture: How the Bible is a Book Like No Other” (pp. 59–69).

Update on February 14, 2011: Crossway gave me permission to upload a PDF of my chapter for personal use only.

Kevin recently asked me to briefly answer this question: “What do you see as the biggest threat to the authority of the Scriptures among evangelicals today?” Answer here.

Explaining Anti-intellectualism

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Bradley G. Green, The Gospel and the Mind: Recovering and Shaping the Intellectual Life (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), 179–80:

If what I am arguing is true [pp. 175–78 summarize the book’s argument], then the anti-intellectualism that sometimes marks traditional Christianity needs to be addressed. If the gospel has within it the resources to promote the life of the mind, why do we see anti-intellectualism in portions of the Christian church? I can only offer three brief comments here.

First, it is likely that some persons have been unfairly written off as anti-intellectuals. Christians should be slow to believe what the secular media tells us about this or that Christian group.

Second, much of what passes for intellectual sophistication in contemporary culture is—if we are honest—undeserving of that description. If the acquisition of true knowledge requires—as I have argued in this book—that our hearts and wills be properly ordered, then much of what passes for knowledge is not, in fact, true knowledge.

Third, a pastoral word: C. S. Lewis argued in “Learning in War-Time” that certain Christians are called—by vocation—to apply their minds in a sustained way to the intellectual life. Christians who engage in intensive study should never forget the Christian church. . . . Christians engaging in scholarship should consider the moral obligation of their task. We engage in the life of the mind—at least partially—because we have a moral obligation to help and indeed to protect other Christians as we are able.

Green is not disingenuously generous here. He’s a gracious man, and his brief answer at the end of his book is just that—gracious.

Related: John Piper, “Facing the Challenge of Anti-intellectualism,” in Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), 113–50.

Some New Books That Discuss the Holocaust

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I recently read some new books that directly or indirectly discuss the Holocaust. All of them are worth reading. In different ways they open our eyes to how heinous humans can be, and they lead us to pray with John, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev 22:20).

My favorites = books 5 and 6.

1. Neal Bascomb. Hunting Eichmann: How a Band of Survivors and a Young Spy Agency Chased Down the World’s Most Notorious Nazi. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. Intriguing story. Excessively detailed. Would make a good modern movie.

2. George W. Bush. Decision Points. New York: Crown, 2010. Fascinating account of Bush’s life and presidency. Discusses the Middle East political quagmire, including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s denial of the Holocaust.

3. Paul Johnson. Churchill. New York: Penguin, 2010. Swashbuckling. Cf. my previous posts.

4. Ben Macintyre. Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory. New York: Crown, 2010. Not as thrilling as I thought it’d be. Excessively detailed. Second half is much better than first half. Suggestion: Read Malcolm Gladwell’s “Pandoras Briefcase” instead.

5. Eric Metaxas. Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. Nashville: Nelson, 2010. Gripping, inspiring story. Filled with theological insights.

6. J. K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Vol. 7 of Harry Potter. 7 vols. New York: Levine, 2007. The Ministry of Magic : Lord Voldemort and non-pure-bloods (esp. Muggles) :: “The Ministry” of the Third Reich : Satan/Adolf Hitler and non-Arians (esp. Jews). (Jenni and I enjoyed listening to this audiobook again.)

7. Carl R. Trueman. Histories and Fallacies: Problems Faced in the Writing of History. Wheaton: Crossway, 2010. Proves why Holocaust Denial is nonsense by distinguishing between neutrality (which is “practically impossible” and “logically inconceivable”) and objectivity (pp. 17–21, 25–68; cf. “Example Two: Was Luther a Racist?” pp. 129–38).

Linda McMahon’s WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment)

Judgmentalism

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That’s the title of chapter 17 in this painfully convicting book:

Jerry Bridges. Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2007. 185 pp.

Judgmentalism is a sinfully “critical spirit, a condemning attitude” (D. A. Carson,  Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and His Confrontation with the World , p. 105). We can be judgmental about nearly anything.

The point of this post is not to debate disputed positions; it’s about our disposition. It’s not about who’s right and who’s wrong; it’s about applying the gospel to our sinfully critical spirits and condemning attitudes. We might think of judgmental people as those with “stricter” standards, but people with “looser” standards can be judgmental, too. Whatever our views may be on disputed issues like the ones below, we can be guilty of judgmentalism. Jesus died for that sin.

When my mind is fixed on the gospel, I have ample stimulation to show God’s love to other people. For I am always willing to show love to others when I am freshly mindful of the love that God has shown me. (Milton Vincent, A Gospel Primer , p. 24)

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Jerry Bridges (b. 1929) turned 82 last month. He’s a prolific author and a humble, gospel-centered man. You can get to know him a little better via C. J. Mahaney’s brief text and audio interviews. (See also his books and audio.)

Below I quote portions of his chapter on judgmentalism (pp. 141–48, headings added). This will likely whet your appetite to read the whole chapter, especially in light of chapters 1–6.

Introduction

The sin of judgmentalism is one of the most subtle of our “respectable” sins because it is often practiced under the guise of being zealous for what is right. It’s obvious that within our conservative evangelical circles there are myriads of opinions on everything from theology to conduct to lifestyle and politics. Not only are there multiple opinions but we usually assume our opinion is correct. That’s where our trouble with judgmentalism begins. We equate our opinions with truth. (p. 141)

Example 1: Dress

I grew up in the mid-twentieth century, when people dressed up to go to church. Men wore jackets and ties (usually suits and ties) and women wore dresses. Sometime in the 1970s, men began to show up at church wearing casual pants and open-collar shirts. Many women began to wear pants. For several years, I was judgmental toward them. Didn’t they have any reverence for God? Would they dress so casually if they were going to an audience with the president? That sounded pretty convincing to me. [Read more…] about Judgmentalism

Worship Traditions

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John M. Frame, The Doctrine of the Word of God (A Theology of Lordship; Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2010), 237–38:

[The Protestant Reformers] used a very broad brush to eliminate from their theology and worship anything they considered contrary to Scripture or supplementary to Scripture. So the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture has served as a weapon against the imposition of extrabiblical notions on the conscience of the believer.

Nevertheless, nearly five hundred years have passed since the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, and during that time Protestantism itself has accumulated a large amount of tradition. Some of this is good, some bad. My present point is that it is just as important as ever to distinguish human tradition from the norms of Scripture and to fight any attempt to put the two on the same level of authority. Some cases in point:

. . . . Many traditions have also developed concerning worship and other aspects of church life. These concern the style and instrumentation of worship songs, the order of events in worship, degree of formality or informality, and so on. Many of these are not commanded by Scripture, but many are in accord with broad biblical principles. The problem is that church people will sometimes defend their particular practice as mandatory on all Christians, and they will criticize as spiritually inferior churches that use different styles and patterns. Often the criteria used are not scriptural, but aesthetic. People argue that this style of music is more dignified, that that liturgy is more ancient, and so forth. These aesthetic and historical criteria are often used in place of Scripture, leading to the condemnations of practices that Scripture permits and commanding of practices that Scripture does not command. That, too, in my judgment, violates the principle of sola Scriptura, the sufficiency of Scripture.

Related: John MacArthur on How to Serve Christians Who Are Needlessly Restrictive

Five Lessons from Churchill’s Life

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Paul Johnson, Churchill (New York: Penguin, 2010), 122–25 (numbering added):

Winston Churchill led a full life, and few people are ever likely to equal it—its amplitude, variety, and success on so many fronts. But all can learn from it, especially in five ways. . . .

  1. Always aim high. . . . He did not always meet his elevated targets, but by aiming high he always achieved something worthwhile. .  .
  2. There is no substitute for hard work. . . . The balance he maintained between flat-out work and creative and restorative leisure is worth study by anyone holding a top position. . . .
  3. Churchill never allowed mistakes, disaster—personal or national—accidents, illnesses, unpopularity, and criticism to get him down. His powers of recuperation, both in physical illness and in psychological responses to abject failure, were astounding. . . . He had courage, the most important of all virtues, and its companion, fortitude. . . . In a sense his whole career was an exercise of how courage can be displayed, reinforced, guarded and doled out carefully, heightened and concentrated, conveyed to others. . . .
  4. Churchill wasted an extraordinarily small amount of his time and emotional energy on the meannesses of life: recrimination, shifting the blame onto others, malice, revenge seeking, dirty tricks, spreading rumors, harboring grudges, waging vendettas. Having fought hard, he washed his hands and went on to the next contest. . . . There is nothing more draining and exhausting than hatred. And malice is bad for the judgment. Churchill loved to forgive and make up. . . . Northing gave him more pleasure than to replace enmity with friendship, not least with the Germans. . . .
  5. The absence of hatred left plenty of room for joy in Churchill’s life. His face could light up in the most extraordinarily attractive way as it became suffused with pleasure at an unexpected and welcome event. . . . He liked to share his joy, and give joy. It must never be forgotten that Churchill was happy with people. . . . He got on well with nearly everyone who served him or worked with him, whatever their degree. . . . He showed the people a love of jokes, and was to them a source of many. No great leader has ever laughed at, or with, more than Churchill. . . . . He liked to sing. . . . He was emotional, and wept easily. But his tears soon dried, as joy came flooding back.

You can get a good flavor of what Churchill was like by watching Into the Storm: Churchill at War (HBO, 2009). (Warning: It has some strong language.) HT: Owen Strachan.

Paul Johnson, Churchill (New York: Penguin, 2010), 94:

Britain alone was not capable of crushing Germany. . . . However, he [i.e, Winston Churchill] clinched matters by persuading Roosevelt and his advisers that priority should be given to defeating Germany first. This was perhaps the most important act of persuasion in Chuchill’s entire career, and it proved to be absolutely correct.

Indeed . . . Churchill had an uncanny gift for getting priorities right. For a stateman in time of war it is the finest possible virtue. “Jock” Colville, his personal secretary, said, “Churchill’s greatest intellectual gift was for picking on essentials and concentrating on them.”

“Getting priorities right”—picking and concentrating on essentials—is also a virtue for theologians.