General Books - Page 3

Spectacular Sins: And Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ

John Piper

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

John Piper delivers powerful biblical reassurances to bolster readers’ trust in the sovereignty of God and the supremacy of Christ when evil and tragedy come.

If God governs the sinful acts of men, then does the devastation caused by those terrorists, dictators, murderers, cheats, and abusers discredit Jesus’ words: “All authority in heaven and earth belongs to me”? When heart-rending news comes of the latest accident, illness, or natural disaster, can we really believe that in Jesus, “all things hold together”?

Though God has not answered all of our questions about sin and suffering, there are things he wants us to know, things he declares in his Word—such as what’s at stake in the “spectacular” sins of others and the horrible tragedies of this life; their global purpose, both historically and today; and what these events say to us personally.

As John Piper works through these biblical truths, this book will bolster readers' trust in the utter sovereignty of God such that they'll be less timid in their witness and less afraid of whatever may come. It is also a joy-infused declaration that because everything occurs through Christ and for Christ and his glory, they are forever secure in him.

The Knowledge of the Holy: The Attributes of God: Their Meaning in the Christian Life

A. W. Tozer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 73 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Daily reading required! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is a book about the attributes of God. Tozer does an outstanding job of pointing us to God by recalling those things which the Bible says are true of God Almighty.

A few ideas Tozer repeats throughout the book. These ideas are:

1) Modern man has lost the vision of the majesty of our God, and the first step to aquiring it is to determine to "Aquaint ourselves with God".

2) In attempting to see God the way that He truly is, we must believe in order that we may understand, not the other way around.

3) That God is unitary in His being and that all of His attributes work together perfectly without conflict with each other. Also, since God is infinite then all of His attributes are infinite as well.

I read a chapter from this book daily, and my hunger for His presence has certainly increased as a result. This book has helped me to see how futile I am in myself and how pride and worldliness are my biggest hinderences to drawing near to the Lord. This book will help you to see that nothing else in life really matters in comparison to our Almighty God.

Editorial Review:

An Inspiring Classic on the Nature of God

What is the nature of God? How can we recapture a real sense of God's majesty and truly live in the Spirit? This beloved book, a modern classic of Christian testimony and devotion, addresses these and other vital questions, showing us how we can rejuvenate our prayer life, meditate more reverently, understand God more deeply, and experience God's presence in our daily lives.

Informative and inspiring, The Knowledge of the Holy illuminates God's attributes'from wisdom, to grace, to mercy'and shows through prayerful and insightful discussion, how we can more fully recognize and appreciate each of these divine aspects. This book will be treasured by anyone committed to the Christian faith. It bears eloquent witness to God's majesty and shows us new ways to experience and understand the wonder and the power of God's spirit in our daily lives.

Breaking Free: Discover the Victory of Total Surrender

Beth Moore

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A life changing book 5 out of 5 stars.
42 of 43 people found this review helpful.

I own a hardback copy of this book and have read it through twice now. If you're tired of living in the stronghold of anything...addiction, pride, greed, jealousy, guilt, insecurity, etc., then pick up a copy of this book. Breaking free from those strongholds doesn't happen overnight. But once you realize how chained you are to the things from which Jesus/God can set you free, you're on your way. I am so very grateful God put this book in my path for I wouldn't take anything for the gift of BREAKING FREE! The word says, "I've come that you might have life and have it more abundantly." I believe it and I'm experiencing that even in the midst of trials. That's what happens when you have a Savior and believe He is who He says He is and believe He can do what He says He can do. So, feeling in bondage? Get this book and let God change your life through it.

Editorial Review:

A best-selling book now available in paperback for the first time!

Do you want to know God and really believe Him? Do you want to find satisfaction in God, experience His peace, and enjoy His presence? Do you want to make the freedom Christ promised a reality in your daily life?

In Breaking Free, Beth Moore embarks on a study of selected passages from the book of Isaiah, drawing several parallels between the captive Israelites and today's Christians, in order to show how to make freedom in Christ a daily reality. Moore teaches readers to remove obstacles that hinder freedom by identifying spiritual strongholds in their lives and overcoming them through the truth of God's Word--truth that will set us free.

Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts

Jerry Bridges

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A Great Study on God's Sovereignty 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This book teaches believers how to traverse of the of the greatest hurdles in any Christian's life--trusting God in the midst of suffering and adversity.

Bridges shows how a loving God works for our good. God controls circumstances, people, nature, and all of the other things that affect our lives. That does not mean that we are not responsible to pray and work for what we believe to be the correct course of events in our lives; it simply means that if our initial plan is in some way thwarted, we should submit to God in full knowledge that what He has brought about is ultimately for our good, as difficult as it may seem for us to believe that when we are in the midst of adversity.

This is a great study on the sovereignty of God--you don't necessarily have to be in the midst of any great trial to get a lot out of this book. The book is written in a warm, assuring style, and reads as though it was written by a wise uncle doing his best to give you guidance and comfort.

Editorial Review:

Jerry Bridges shares with readers the scope of God’s power, and through this they can know Him better and trust Him more—even when unjust things happen.

Preparing for Marriage

David Boehi, Brent Nelson, Jeff Schulte, Lloyd Shadrach

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great tool everyone should buy one! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

My fiance' and I are very pleased with this product. We are looking forward to applying what we've learned being engaged and married.

A Great Conversation Starter..... 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

My husband and I used this book as part of an 8 week Premarital Counseling course. We both found the book to bring up good topics for discussion though most of them we had discussed before. I would not describe myself as a very religious person but more of a spiritual person with strong Christian beliefs. That said, I found some "opinions" in the book to be narrow minded and that some of the bible passages were taken out of context. I do think that it was a good tool as part of our sessions but don't depend completely on this book for your premarital counseling. We also looked at The 5 Love Languages and Dave Ramsey's book Financial Peace Revisited. Those books as well as the insight from our counselors made all the difference.

Editorial Review:

Preparing for Marriage is a dynamic program designed to help couples lay the foundation for a strong, biblical marriage. Six romantic sessions and five projects can be undertaken alone or under the guidance of a mentor.

Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology Of The Body

John Paul II

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Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A magnificent new translation Of Pope John Paul II's "Theology of the Body" 5 out of 5 stars.
14 of 14 people found this review helpful.

It was in 1968 that Pope Paul VI gave the world "Humanae Vitae," his beautiful encyclical on human life: "The transmission of human life is a most serious role in which married people collaborate freely & responsibly with God the Creator.... Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods & plans for artificial birth control.
* "Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity & a general lowering of moral standards....
* "Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, & ...reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires....
* "Finally, careful consideration should be given to the danger of this power passing into the hands of those public authorities who care little for the precepts of the moral law. Who will blame a government which in its attempt to resolve the problems affecting an entire country resorts to the same measures as are regarded as lawful by married people in the solution of a particular family difficulty? ....Should they regard this as necessary, they may even impose their use on everyone"

Few doubt that there has indeed been "a general lowering of moral standards," as well as a growing disrespect for women, in the past four decades. We also see affluent governments trying to impose contraceptive practices on less affluent governments! Yet, in spite of its proven prophetic nature, Humanae Vitae continues to meet with monumental resistance.

Before becoming pope, John Paul II prepared a masterful work, largely intended to lead the Church and the world to a better appreciation of Humanae Vitae. As he became pope before publication, he used his notes to address audiences at weekly catechetical sessions, over five years. Michael Waldstein has published an updated and magnificent translation of these "Theology of the Body" addresses, under the title: "Man & Woman He Created Them." This magnificent and scholarly translation provides a lifestyle challenges, which does not seem to have been so elusive for people of past generations.

As per Pope John Paul II, "The whole of the catecheses...can be grasped under the title, `Human Love in the Divine Plan," or with greater precision, `the Redemption of the body & the Sacramentality of Marriage'....The first part is devoted to the analysis of the words of Christ....The second part of the catechesis is devoted to the analysis of the sacrament based on Ephesians (Eph 5:22 - 23), which goes back to the biblical beginning of marriage expressed in the words of Genesis, `a man will leave his father and mother and unite with his wife, and the two will be one flesh' (Gen 2:24)" (11/28/84).

"The reflections about the sacrament of Marriage were carried out in the consideration of the two dimensions essential to this sacrament, namely, the dimension of covenant and grace and the dimension of sign....The doctrine contained in...[Humanae Vitae] remains in organic relation both with the sacramentality of marriage and the whole biblical problematic of the theology of the body, which is centered on the `key words' of Christ....all the reflections dealing with the `Redemption of the Body and the Sacramentality of Marriage' seem to constitute an extensive commentary on the doctrine contained precisely in Humanae Vitae" (11/28/84).

Michael Waldstein has done a great service for the Church, the people of our generation, and the people of future generations.

The Abolition of Man

C. S. Lewis

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Total reviews: 83 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

C.S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man purports to be a book specifically about public education, but its central concerns are broadly political, religious, and philosophical. In the best of the book's three essays, "Men Without Chests," Lewis trains his laser-sharp wit on a mid- century English high school text, considering the ramifications of teaching British students to believe in idle relativism, and to reject "the doctrine of objective value, the belief that certain attitudes are really true, and others really false, to the kind of thing the universe is and the kinds of things we are." Lewis calls this doctrine the "Tao," and he spends much of the book explaining why society needs a sense of objective values. The Abolition of Man speaks with astonishing freshness to contemporary debates about morality; and even if Lewis seems a bit too cranky and privileged for his arguments to be swallowed whole, at least his articulation of values seems less ego-driven, and therefore is more useful, than that of current writers such as Bill Bennett and James Dobson. --Michael Joseph Gross

Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of This World for Crucifixion and Empire

Rita Nakashima Brock, Rebecca Ann Parker

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Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

When Rita Brock and Rebecca Parker began traveling the Mediterranean world in search of art depicting the dead, crucified Jesus, they discovered something that traditional histories of Christianity and Christian art had underplayed or sought to explain away: it took Jesus Christ a thousand years to die.

During their first millennium, Christians filled their sanctuaries with images of Christ as a living presence in a vibrant world. He appears as a shepherd, a teacher, a healer, an enthroned god; he is an infant, a youth, and a bearded elder. But he is never dead. When he appears with the cross, he stands in front of it, serene, resurrected. The world around him is ablaze with beauty. These are images of paradise—paradise in this world, permeated and blessed by the presence of God.

But once Jesus perished, dying was virtually all he seemed able to do.

Saving Paradise offers a fascinating new lens on the history of Christianity, from its first centuries to the present day, and asks how its early vision of beauty evolved into one of torture. In tracing the changes in society and theology that marked the medieval emergence of images of Christ crucified, Saving Paradise exposes the imperial strategies embedded in theologies of redemptive violence and sheds new light on Christianity's turn to holy war. It reveals how the New World, established through Christian conquest and colonization, is haunted by the loss of a spiritual understanding of paradise here and now.

Brock and Parker reconstruct the idea that salvation is paradise in this world and in this life, and they offer a bold new theology for saving paradise. They ground justice and peace for humanity in love for the earth and open a new future for Christianity through a theology of redemptive beauty.

"Only rarely is a single book an event. This book is such a rarity. Rita Brock and Rebecca Parker show that solid scholarship can be expressed with passion and literary grace as they recover the beauty of an earth-loving Christianity lost for a thousand years beneath dry creeds and formulae and poisonous myths of sacralized violence."
—Professor Daniel C. Maguire, author of A Moral Creed For All Christians

"Every Christian theologian and preacher should read this book and be profoundly challenged."
—Professor James H. Cone, author of Malcolm & Martin & America

"Saving Paradise challenges us to recover an ancient world view which is life transforming and earth affirming. It reminds us of a biblical perspective which does not reserve paradise for the dead, but invites the living to find grace, justice, peace and compassion--here and now--amid the jangling discords of violence and war. It may mark the beginning of a paradigm shift in contemporary Christian understanding and interfaith dialogue."
—Reverend James A. Forbes, Jr., President and Founder of the Healing of the Nations Foundation, Senior Minister Emeritus of the Riverside Church of New York City

"The message of Early Christian art is about God's miraculous intervention in the daily lives of Christian believers. How then did Christianity become a religion of finitude and guilt rather than one of promise and celebration? Brock and Parker ran with the evidence, showing us the importance of art, ritual, devotional practices, and liturgical space for early Christians. This tangible past transformed their research and led them to see that paradise in this world lies at the heart of Christianity."
—Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, author of Dictionary of Christian Art

"This powerful, unprecedented, and compelling book brings real Christianity out of the shadows. It lights up the religious roots of American society at a time when progressives need to challenge conservative politicians who use Christianity as a false prop for their ideology."
—George Lakoff, author of Don't Think of an Elephant!

Spiritual Consolation: An Ignatian Guide for Greater Discernment

Timothy M. Gallagher

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Ignatian Spirituality 5 out of 5 stars.
12 of 13 people found this review helpful.

This book fills a much needed niche in the important aspect of Ignatian Spirituality, namely, Discernment of Spirits.
It speaks to Ignatius's search for "the more".
How do we discern between two apparent "Good Options"?
In which is God calling us to the More, to the Greater , for the sake of God and for a considered life.
The journey throws up choices.
Which choice is the Better?
With this little book as a guide, we may find the answer.

Editorial Review:

The third volume in the acclaimed and best-selling Ignatian Trilogy, by international speaker and retreat leader, Fr. Timothy M. Gallagher. In Spiritual Consolation, Fr. Gallagher introduces us to the teachings of Ignatius of Loyola through the use of real-life examples and principles from Ignatius's Second Rules for discernment. Fr. Gallagher, author of The Discernment of Spirits and The Examen Prayer, shows how all of us, especially those with busy religious lives, can learn to listen to and follow God's leading.

Epic: The Story God Is Telling

John Eldredge

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Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Epic: A book worth sharing 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Someone who heard of my searchings regularily advised me to try reading some of Eldridge's books... boy were they on the ball!

I read Desire first, then Epic and I'm now about to Wake the Dead... but I believe that Epic is the book that composes of Eldridge's World View.

A part of me wishes it was longer - but as a manifesto, its a good length and a book that is easy to lend around.

Taking the cue from Josesph Cambell's theory of the hero's journey, Eldridge shows us that behind our desires is the God who is the knightly king on the white horse. The hero, the king, the saviour, even the king in disguise. Our longing for adventure, trials and triumph are the call to join into this massive tale of paradise lost, found and restored.

Being a novice writer and budding theologian, I loved the story of existance and how it fits with the God in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.

When someone really wants to know where my own faith journey is right now - I can use this book to tell them.

Fantastic at any price!

Editorial Review:

In Epic, a retelling of the gospel in four acts, John Eldredge invites us to revisit the drama of life, viewing God not only as the author but also as the lead actor, exploring His motives and His heart. Eldredge examines the power of story, the universal longing for a "plot" that makes sense deep inside us, our desire for a meaningful role to play, our love of books and movies, and how all of this points us to the gospel itself.