Book Review: The Message

Normally, for off the shelf, I talk about one of the books that I read in the previous week. This week’s review may seem a little bit different—because I am reviewing the Bible. Specifically, I want to talk a little bit about Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of the Bible called the Message. Over the last 4 weeks, I set aside my other typical reading and read straight through the pages of The Message. 

 Typically, I am ESV guy. I do the majority of my reading from the English Standard Version, which tries to retain the richness of the biblical language while translating word for word. Other faithful translations employ what might be described as thought for thought translations, like the New International Version or the New Living Translation. In fact, if you are ever bored on a Saturday afternoon, spend some time reading about translation philosophies and the histories of the dozens of translations available.

The Message is at the other end of the spectrum from the ESV in that it is a paraphrase of the Bible. In fact, Peterson never really started out with the goal of translating the whole Bible in to contemporary language. It began because when he was a pastor he was leading his church through Bible studies and they seemed bored, so beginning with Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he began to rework the language in a way that was faithful to the text, but engaging to modern hearers. In his book “Eat this Book” he actually spends several chapters describing how it came about. 

Though I am an ESV guy, I wanted to read through The Message because I have a great respect for Eugene Peterson. He is one of my favorite authors, one who appreciates the beauty of language. I also wanted to see God’s word with fresh eyes. The decision to read straight through also allowed me to see God’s redemptive story in a glorious panorama. 

I would definitely recommend The Message, perhaps not as your primary translation, but as a way to see God’s word with fresh eyes.

Book Review: Three Free Sins

This week, I read a book that at least a half dozen people asked me about just by seeing the cover. Every one of them questioned the title, which gave me a chance to talk about what a great book it is in spite of the provocative title.  So what is the book? Three Free Sins: God’s Not Mad at You by Steve Brown. 

Perhaps you, like many of my friends, hear me say that title and you wince, but give me a moment. If you are at all familiar with Steve Brown, he’s been around a long, long time. In fact, he refers to himself as “old as dirt.” He is a conservative, Bible believing seminary professor who has been telling people about Jesus for a very long time with his amazing baritone voice. But in the introduction to the book, he tells his readers that he has tried really hard to live in the “religious box” for a long time, a stiff container of legalism and lovelessness. Although the title catches almost everyone off guard, the message inside is pure gospel. 

Too often, you see, Christians use methods of discipleship that don’t work. For example, we inflict guilt or we hold up stories of “Bible heroes” without recognizing their dark sides. We present the Bible as a list of rules to be followed rather than a story of a God pursuing sinners right in the middle of their mess. We confuse law and gospel. What happens is not that we sin less, but that we get better at hiding our junk. And then we get self-righteous. 

Brown turns this whole approach to the Christian faith (which is ineffective anyways) upside down. He asks the question “What if the Christian faith isn’t about getting better?” Rather, what if the Christian faith is developing a deeper and deeper recognition that God loves us in spite of our sins—past, present and future. What if being a Christian really is about freedom, recognition of our need for Jesus, and the beauty of forgiveness? On page 87, Brown wrote, “I’ve found that the greatest need among Christian leaders isn’t for more commitment, more ‘religion’, and more ‘making an impact for Jesus’. What they need to be taught is that they are seriously sinful and God loves them anyway.” Bingo!

When we begin to recognize God’s love, grace, and forgiveness, something interesting happens. We begin to live as free people. We live fearlessly. We will get better when we aren’t watching and trying so hard. 

Three Free Sins is an amazing book. Don’t let the title scare you off. If you are a Christian, God. Is. Not. Mad. At. You. You are his beloved child. You are free.  I’m Jason Kanz for off the shelf.  

Crabb Conversation-April 2015

Every month, Mark Halvorsen and I talk about the work of Dr. Larry Crabb, a man who has profoundly affected each of our lives on our show Crabb Conversations. This month, we had the pleasure of having Larry join us.

Here are just a few tidbits from the conversation.

• Where there is pretense, there is no spiritual growth.
• The center of the gospel is to look bad in the presence of love. 
• We long for someone to see us at our worst and still be wanted.
• What does it mean to learn to dance with the Trinity?
• My greatest calling is not for someone else to see me at my worst and love me, but for me to see them at their worst and love them.
• Final reality is passionate, not propositional.
• When you deny the Trinity, all God is reduced to is power, not love. 
• I continue to be someone who is in desperate need of grace.
• The happiness of Jesus is putting divine love on display in any circumstance.
• I'm on a mission from God to put the character of Jesus on display in all circumstances.

You can listen to the podcast HERE. 

If you are interested in watching Larry's Soul Care course, you can find it HERE for free.

Men and Women wrap up

Over the last couple of months, Mark Halvorsen and I have been talking about Larry Crabb's book Men and Women. We have spent three hours discussing it on his show, Front Page. If you haven't had a chance to listen in, here are the three parts.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

One of the things that I pointed yesterday on the show was that although the book is called Men and Women, it should not be thought of merely as a marriage book. The topics that are discussed, particularly in the first half of the book hold a broad importance.

Dr Crabb opened his book with this quote from Fredrick Buechner: "'Original sin' means we all originate out of a sinful world which taints us from the word go. We all tend to make ourselves the center of the universe." Anwounded, and people are self-centered. We must decide which is the greater problem." It is easy to consider our woundedness, which should not be discounted or avoided, yet we are all deeply self-centered as well, which has a significant effect on relationships.
d so Dr Crabb begins to address how self-centered each of us are.  In our first show, we spent quite a bit of time discussing Dr Crabb's idea that "people are

In the second show, we spent time talking about justified anger. Each of us has a tendency to find ways to justify how we think and behave in self-centered ways. When we become angry at others, we make it seem like we are the victim and so feel righteous in becoming angry. Unfortunately, this "justified self-centeredness" blocks relational formation.

Yesterday, we made it through three chapters, which was amazing for us! The fourth chapter is entitled "surely I'm not that bad". Most of us, if we are honest believe that the way we act and behave is "not that bad."  Just today, I was convicted of a sin that I didn't make much of before hand, though today, I was confronted with the depth of my sin. The fifth and sixth chapters move into discussing that "change is possible" through the "celebration of forgiveness." 

It was a blessing to talk about this book and these important topics. I would highly recommend the book and I look forward to discovering what we will discuss next!

Relationship Monday: Men and Women

Last Monday, Mark Halvorsen and I discussed the first chapter from Larry Crabb's book Men and Women: Enjoying the Difference.  We focused primarily on the following ideas:

• People are wonded, and people are self-centered. We must decide which is the greater problem.
• Self-centeredness is the killer. In every bad relationship, it is the deadliest culprit. Poor communication, temper problems, unhealthy responses to dysfunctional family backgrounds, co-dependent relationships, and personal incompatibility--everything (unless medically caused) flows out of the cesspool of self-centeredness.
• "Original sin" means we all originate out of a sinful world which taints us from the word go. We all tend to make ourselves the center of the universe.-Frederic Buechner
• We are too quick to resent and feel what we suffer from others, but fail to consider how much others suffer from us. Whoever considers his own defects fully and honestly will find no reason to judge others harshly.-Thomas a Kempis.

These ideas provided wonderful fodder for a fruitful discussion. We will continue talking about the book on Front Page on WWIB at 10:00 on Monday July 21. We pre-recorded the session and I think there is much to think about!

You can listen to last week's podcast here.

Another relationship Monday

Next Monday, July 14th I again have the privilege of being on Front Page with Mark Halvorsen at 10:00AM.  Listen in as Mark and I discuss Larry Crabb's book Men and Women: Enjoying the Difference. If you want to learn more about marriage or how to be other focused, listen in.

If you want to hear last month's discussion on fatherhood, you can listen to the podcast here.