Five Books I Wish I Would Have Read In High School

If there is one thing that really marked the fall season in my mind it would be the fresh anxiety of entering a new school semester. I recently graduated with my B.A. in Philosophy from Oakland University and I am transitioning into my Master’s degree. As I reflected back on my undergraduate studies I couldn’t help but think of the books that had influenced me and where I’d be without them. Within the last year or so my wife and I have been helping out in the youth group at our church and as I spend time with them I hope they can learn from me. Since I began thinking of the influential books I had read during college I asked myself what were the five books that I wished I had read during high school. Whether or not this is helpful for them (or whether they’ll even read it I don’t know!) these are five books I wish I read sooner. 
 

1) Tempted and Tried: Temptation and the Triumph of Christ by Russell Moore
I’ll be honest this is one of my favorite books by one of my heroes. Dr. Russell Moore walks through the temptations that Jesus faces and shows how Jesus is the one who battles temptation without succumbing to sin. I’ll never forget reading this book on the campus of the SBTS and looking up to see Dr. Moore walking by. Dr. Moore was always gracious in his interactions with me as a young and tenacious student which always put character behind these words for me. This book’s structure incites the importance of the Word of God while putting forth a Christology that is practical and robust. This book came to me during a time I was not ready for and in some ways was one the darkest spiritual seasons of my life. Dr. Moore reminded me in Tempted and Tried that Jesus defeats sin and the devil, that though I fail in temptation, Jesus never did. Dr. Moore offered me a deep well to drink from in a rather tough season of my life and I rarely if ever face someone struggling with temptation that I don’t offer them this resource. When I was in high school like many other people I struggled with temptation of many kinds. I wish I had this resource back then to remind the young six-teen year-old version of myself that Jesus battled temptation and overcame so that in every failure of mine I would be able to look at a conquering King who held my hand.    

2) The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Tim Keller
I have often wanted to hand this book out to high school graduates because it is a book I wish I had read earlier. In this masterpiece Keller laid out content that sharpened my faith and reasoning while also giving me new eyes as it pertains to apologetics. Like many others this book was my first introduction to Keller and he immediately became a voice I wanted to hear. The structure of this book is exceptionally helpful in showing why many objections towards Christianity don’t stand while also offering some helpful arguments for the truths of Christianity. As helpful as this book is in content I think the biggest gain I got from it was a new outlook on apologetics. Keller’s concern for philosophical engagement while maintaining an unapologetic pastoral tone is something of brilliance and something I think the church needs more of. When I was in high school I loved theology, often more than I loved Jesus himself. My arrogance and pride were always obvious to me and when I read Keller it gave me the tools to genuinely walk through objections I had been hearing for years that I chalked up as idiotic because they denied my theological presuppositions. Had I read Tim Keller’s The Reason For God earlier in high school I believe it would’ve helped me to be more gracious to my peers as well as better prepare me for obtaining a degree from professor’s who disagreed with me more times than not.

3) Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin
I am currently reading through this classic work by John Calvin and am impressed more by the man than the caricature he is often portrayed as. I had read through much of the Institutes as it pertained to certain issues I was studying throughout the years but it has been helpful going through it more thoroughly. The Institutes is a book I wish I had read in high school because there was rarely a title I carried around more proudly than “Calvinist” and had I read more Calvin and less stuff about him I think I would have been better suited to defend him faithfully. I still think he is right on most of what I thought he was right on back then but I think I understand him better now. I named my first born son after this titanic theologian and I am becoming more and more proud I did. My high school days would have been better off if I were more careful to actually understand people’s positions and not just caricatures made in my mind.

4) Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters by Tim Keller
I don’t think any book outside of the Bible has had such an impact on the way I think about sin like Counterfeit Gods has. This small book I read in one sitting and it changed me. I had always been frustrated by legalistic Christianity that resembled a moralism when it came to issues of sin. I remember countless times people accusing me of being “liberal” when it came to the doctrine of sin because what they wanted to hear was me say sin was merely a list of all the "serious" sins like murder, adultery, rape, etc. This always frustrated me because I felt sin sink deeper than that, sin always felt like it touched all my thoughts and deeds whether they were perceived as good or not. Keller gifted me with a new rhetoric of sin primarily as idolatry and in doing so I finally found a more encompassing way to talk about sin that made me feel like I wasn’t lying. I believe at my core that we are all worshippers. We are all religious. For many of us our religion looks like personal autonomy in all of life, we essentially feel we are god. When I was in high school this book would have given me a language in which I could have spoken about sin more appropriately. I wish I had this book in high school because I needed desperately to be told that even if I looked like a role model teen that some days my biggest efforts were only building the foundation of my own throne.

5) A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis
For those that have read the first four books on this list they will probably understand why I chose them. A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis is a book that has always rocked my world. It isn’t my favorite C.S. Lewis book. It isn’t the book of his that influenced me the most, yet I can never escape it. During my high school years I remember being a man full of passion, Kierkegaard would have approved. Sometimes this was incredibly helpful while other times it was incredibly self-inflicting. I think this book by Lewis would have injected me with a sense of reality that it did the first time I read it in college. I remember reading it with an understanding of Lewis’ story and feeling absolutely distraught for him. Lewis is one of my all-time favorite authors, a brilliant intellect and here he is arguably at his most vulnerable. I think if I could have read this book in high school it would have showed me what it is like to be honest with emotion, to genuinely struggle and come out seeing light at the end of the tunnel. When I was in high school my perception of grief felt intense and I would learn the older I got that grief intensifies with more life experience. Reading a hero of mine wrestle with the goodness of God in the face of what seemed like cruelty, reading of his passion, his sorrow, his love, I think these would have been helpful for me. In high school things can seem like the end of the world, or perhaps they may seem like the greatest of times, but this world is broken. Deep dark grief is coming in one way or another at some point and watching Lewis go through it in front of my eyes helped me tremendously, the sooner he could get there the better I was served.  

***These aren’t necessarily the most influential books I have read since my high school years but the ones I wish I would have read sooner***

Death Where Is Your Sting?: A Teleological Look At Death

Just as recent as a couple hours ago I was informed of a lady I used to serve in the workplace who died at the age of 107. This year I attended a funeral for a 2 year old. Kids at the local high school are dying in car accidents and cancer just won’t seem to stay away from the funeral homes. I have worked in three different Assisted Living Homes and a Hospital which has meant I have often been surrounded by death. I have found that whether the person dies of an accident, a self-created mistake, illness, or whatever cause, it always seems to leave disgust in the bottom of my heart. The sting of death never ceases to shock me. I never could quite understand when I would hear theologians or musicians assert “Death, where is your sting?” because it always seemed apparent to me that the sting is the border-line paralyzing feeling we feel when we see what was once living breathing flesh lie cold and stiff. But this mystery is almost as old as humanity and leaves every culture trying to answer what the purpose of life is if at the end of it we merely return to the dust. As an undergraduate student who is studying philosophy I cannot help but be haunted by the teleological question as it pertains to death.              

Death is something every culture wrestles with. It is often argued by atheistic secular humanists that religion serves functionally like a psychological crutch to appease or calm people’s fears of death. The Christian Scriptures speak a different and antithetical word to that notion that has penetrated much of contemporary philosophy, anthropology, sociology, and psychology. The Christian Scriptures record that God created all that was and is. Furthermore it records that this was good (Genesis 1). God had created in His own image a creature above all the others, a creature that He would forever love and by their obedience to His word He would continually bless them. God had delivered His word to Adam not to eat of the tree in which He had pointed out to him, and Adam was warned that the day that he ate from it he would surely die (Genesis 2:16-17). It doesn’t take long in the sacred text before the wicked Serpent comes slithering into his crafty deceptive ways. When this reptile king deceived Adam and Eve the whole cosmos was burdened with the reality of what death is. Death is a direct result of the sin of our first father Adam, who in falling tainted not only all of humanity with original sin but also brought about the torturous groaning of creation itself. Where does death come from? Death comes from the hand of God because of man’s sin in the fall and now is the reality we live in until the awaited day.  

The teleological answer to the question of death is rooted in the character of God himself. In order to understand teleology at any rate it is typically preceded by an understanding of epistemology. What we know, how we know, if we even can know, once answered lends itself to further speculation into meaning/purpose. God created all things and therefore is the rightful ruler and master over all of creation. God in his ontological nature is holy and when God ushered a warning with a fair punishment he is perfectly right, indeed just to remain consistent to his word. In addition to God’s ontological nature, revealed revelation assuring of the notion that God cannot and will not lie reaffirms that Scriptural epistemology rooted in an authoritative, I’d argue inerrant Word, allows the Christian to answer the teleological question of death that tends to haunt me. I’d argue that the purpose of death, at least in part for where we are at in this moment is that God’s ontology (namely that of holiness) along with Scriptural epistemology (namely that God cannot lie) show us that our sin has separated us from God in a way that we ourselves cannot fix.  

However, I’d argue that the purpose of death is more encompassing than merely showing that sinners are doomed by showing that Jesus himself is reversing the curse by flipping death on its head. Although I think the most clear and explicit teleological evidence in Scripture regarding the purpose of death is the immediate separation from man and God, the Scripture doesn’t leave all sinners doomed in the end. In the great and incomparable Word, it is recorded that Jesus himself comes down into creation and dies the death that sinners deserved, so that in him they can be united to him by his death, and then furthermore united with him in resurrection life. The Scripture is clear that as a result of sin comes death to humanity. But in the great tale of the truest beautiful story death cannot escape death. In his death Jesus cried it was finished, and he meant it. Death was issued its own dreadful and sure death sentence. Death’s days were numbered, and still are. Death where is your sting? In a real sense it still is stinging. I will attend a memorial service in a few days from now where memories and tears and laughter will surely sting. The sting is still present in the inner corridors of our hearts that still long for the day when Jesus will come back and abort death forever. But in a different sense, we can sing, pray, weep, all with closed fists and clinched jaws that are singing “All I Have is Christ” and there, in that comfort, the sting although not suppressed will be accompanied by the Galilean carpenter’s sure promise.
                So often I meet professing Christians who act as though Jesus is an ideal and not a person. Jesus is alive. The fact that Jesus is alive, reigning over his people, and not worried a bit ought to remind believers that their victory is already won. Even though death’s curse is unbearable our elder brother came and conquered it for us. I’m reminded of Revelation 5 where there is weeping because no one is found worthy to open the scroll save one. The one who alone comes to rescue is he. In Ephesians 2 the apostle Paul speaks to the condition we have talked about that all humanity is in as being dead. Any time at the graveyard of your loved ones will remind you that all the tears you could cry or the wishful memories you could speak could not raise those corpses to life again. But the believer in Christ can rest assured that Jesus’ corpse is not rotting in a tomb in current geo-political Israel. Jesus is alive and his resurrection guarantees the resurrection of his followers because he has promised he would one day raise them again to new life, and he is the only one to go through death and come out alive.

A Gospel-Centered Fourth Verse to "My Jesus I Love Thee"

It was a few months ago, I believe, that we at Heritage Baptist Church played "My Jesus I Love Thee." During practice one of my Pastors, Alex (my brother and best friend who is also an author on this blog), did not like the fourth verse of the song. So, we cut it. I agreed with him, and as much as I loved the hymn, and still do, it was better without the fourth verse. The next day I then sat down to write a new gospel-centered fourth verse. My goal was to focus not at all upon the pictures of great material wealth in new creation, but instead, our true treasure in new creation, Jesus, my lord, and my savior. We performed it at Refuge (our Wednesday night prayer, music, and scripture reading service) tonight, or 29 July 2015. Here is the verse if you were unable to attend.

When Christ takes His Bride, and creation's restored;
We'll live in the presence of Jesus our LORD.
No, Death shall not victor, for Christ won't lose His Wife.
Forever I'll love Thee, my Jesus, my life.

Philosophy and the Christian: Why Philosophical Engagement Is Important For Contemporary Christianity

            I distinctively remember two separated incidents in which two different individuals when hearing I was studying philosophy were deeply concerned and indeed worried I would lose my faith. I often respond to people’s concern or worry with the brilliance of C.S. Lewis’ words, “Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered” (1). I’ll never forget reading Dr. Gregory Alan Thornbury writing in regards to Carl F.H. Henry’s philosophical view that “Christianity is the most intellectually satisfying account of reality” (2). I believe both of these.  If C.S. Lewis’ comment is my general response to those who are concerned or worried for me, then Dr. Thornbury’s comment is my particular response. Philosophy matters for the Christian because as they interact critically with ideas they will inevitably face questions of ontology, teleology, epistemology, ethics, politics, education, and on and on. Philosophy can serve the Christian in formulating answers to questions that arise from any of these subjects by thinking critically and logically assessing the strength of argumentation. But maybe you are like most people I interact with and don’t care at all about anything I am talking about. Maybe you are a Christian and don’t remotely see the importance of maintaining a philosophical foundation. I would argue that building a philosophical foundation in metaphysics and metaethics will prove instrumental to living out your theological convictions and therefore a needed part of growing in knowledge.
            There is arguably no spot in the New Testament where engagement with the philosophical world is more explicitly dealt with then in Acts 17. Here Paul shows us why philosophical engagement is healthy, helpful, and perhaps needed. It is not my intention to offer here an exhaustive discourse but instead to point people toward an appreciation of philosophy in general, Christianity in particular, and hopefully looking at Paul in Acts 17 as being a compelling example as to why philosophical engagement is important.

Paul in Athens
            The book of Acts reports that while Paul was in Athens he saw a city full of idols which caused him to reason “in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.” (Acts 17.16-17, quotation from 17). What is so intriguing about this observation by Paul in Athens is that he is standing in a place where philosophical engagement is primary and some of these philosophers are among the intellectual elites of the day. The book of Acts acknowledges the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers had conversed with him (v.18). The thing that intrigued these Epicurean and Stoic philosophers was that Paul was preaching the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
            Paul’s preaching of the resurrection of Jesus caused an inquisitiveness that typically comes with an adequate apologetics. Paul steps up to the challenge of the philosophers and immediately addresses their religiosity. All people are inclined towards transcendental notions because all people are worshippers. Common objections of this claim, say by atheists or other proponents of naturalism, still fail to see that they hold something as ultimate, say biological evolution, chance, relativism, etc. When Paul sees the religiosity of the Athenians he doesn’t claim that their religiosity, though genuine and sincere, is sufficient for reconciliation with the religion he was coming to preach.

The LORD - unknown god
            Paul addresses the philosophers by giving an account of the Christian worldview. As he is viewing the city he sees an inscription that is attributed to a god unknown, presumably in case they had forgotten one. Paul lets the Athenian intellectual elites know that they didn’t merely miss one, but that in upholding all of the rest they have offended the only One.

“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
(Acts 17.24-31)

            You’ll notice that Paul doesn’t merely try to reasonably argue his way to the heart of the people present, though he does do that. Paul tells them that God calls all men to repent because of judgement. Paul’s preaching of Jesus resurrected is what got him to Areopagus and it is what Paul leaves them with. Christianity from the very beginning didn’t shy away from public discourse that was engaged with philosophy and neither should the church today.

Some mocked, Some repented (v. 32-34)
            It seems common that people who find out I am studying philosophy fear that I will get wrapped up in nonsense and lose my faith citing Colossians 2:8. Paul’s engagement with philosophy in Acts 17 shows us that philosophy in general isn’t to be feared but that philosophy that is antithetical to the gospel ought to be viewed at as in need of serious caution. Caution ought not to equate with fear because those who believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ indeed have a resurrected Savior that stands as their advocate. Engaging in philosophical conversation with people who actively hate the gospel will not always be fun but it is always necessary. Will we be the people who stare sin in the face and tell people an altered heretical version of the biblical text that tells us the day we eat of the fruit that we will surely die? We must not and we cannot do such regardless of the cost.
            The book of Acts tells us some mocked Paul. Anyone who has taken a philosophy course at any public university knows this is still a reality. However, what is encouraging to those who love philosophical engagement when reading this passage are the names Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman Damaris (v.34). As someone who studies philosophy those names are beautiful, they remind me that not only will the gospel be victorious in salvation in general, but the book of Acts reminds us that individuals with names are getting saved when the Christian worldview with the basis of Scripture is presented. This gives me hope for those I engage with, and it is hope enough.

(1) http://www.lewissociety.org/aboutus.php
(2) http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/on-the-shoulders-of-an-evangelical-giant