Review: The Red Letters Project

The Red Letters Project is a 3-disk, 40-track album that puts the words of Jesus from the New Living Translation of Mathew to music. The package includes a booklet of The Gospel According to Matthew (NLT) so that you can read Jesus’ words as you listen to them.
The Red Letters Project must be taken on its own terms: rhythmic reading set to rock music. To expect something different than this is to reject the project. So, if you like rock music and lyrics that are sometimes disjointed and not always poetic, yet are word-for-word and line-by-line renderings (often sung, sometimes read) of Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Matthew, then you will enjoy this album.
I recommend listening to some songs from the album many times before deciding to purchase the album. Personally, I think I will enjoy listening to some of the songs from the album from time to time, especially when it comes time to meditate on some of the words of Jesus.

Here are some other review that you might find helpful:

Found at http://www.theredlettersproject.com/
The creators' sincere desire is apparently to see Scripture made famous—or at least better known for those who might otherwise ignore its life-changing inspiration. The project uses every influence of rock imaginable to dynamically impress the Bible's truths in the hearts of listeners.
Red Letters is certainly done professionally, but the recitative nature of cramming historic, and sometimes-antiquated, language into songs is hard to leisurely digest. Will the intended audience of teens, young adults, and music fans find it relevant? Hard to say. But whether the project reaches one or one million, good things will happen. According to some black letters of the Bible—those spoken by the Father, not the Son—putting God's Word out there "always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it" (Isa. 55:11). – Christianity Today
“I think you could easily slip this CD on for behind music and see if anyone notices” – Amy
“This music is not your typical church hymns…The singers are fantastic. I also loved the way they mixed the songs on the cds. You have a few up beat songs and then a ballad. It really gave the cds a nice pace.” – Natalie
“This 3-CD set is, honestly, like nothing I've ever heard before. Mario Canido has put the words of the book of Matthew from the New Living Translation to music. Yeah, I hear you - usually these kinds of things don't turn out too well. And, in all honesty, that's what I was expecting here! But, after listening for several days now, I actually like it. No, I really like it! It isn't cheesy. It isn't poorly performed. It's rock music done well, the perfect sound for me to rock out to while I'm driving down the road. And now, I'm getting to the words of Jesus stuck in my head. I find myself singing it in the shower, and thinking of it during the day. Tyndale, I think you have a potential big seller on your hands with the right marketing. Something to remember when you listen: Yes, the lyrics sometimes can be a bit awkward when they don't rhyme. But, Canido has done a wonderful job putting this together in a way where it really isn't bothersome at all. Like I've said already, I've never seen the Bible put to song as well as this. In closing, just let me once again reiterate my approval of and excitement for this project. It has the potential to not only be a big hit and big seller, but also to impact quite a few people's faith who are fading because either they don't understand God's Word, or they've become bored with it. Much thanks to Tyndale for believing in this, and Mario Canido for putting the time and energy into making it happen. Let the kingdom advance!” – Kevin Walker

You can also go here for more reviews.

Evangelism for the Common Man: A Review of NUDGE by Leonard Sweet

I was given a copy of Leonard Sweet’s new book, Nudge: Awakening Each Other to the God Who’s Already There, for review, by The Ooze Viral Bloggers (http://viralbloggers.com/).

Synopsis
Nudge is a book about evangelism. The type of evangelism that Sweet proposes 1) acknowledges that God is active in the world and is involved in one way or another in everyone’s life. Nudge-evangelism 2) necessitates that “followers of Jesus “know” Jesus well enough to recognize where he is alive and moving in our day” (p. 34); and, so can read the signs of a friend’s life to see how God is at work. 3) Nudging is, then, sharing with that friend in a non-confrontational manner (notice the title of the book: Nudge, not Push) how God is working in their lives. “Evangelists nudge the world to wake up to the alive and acting Jesus and nudge others in the ways God is alive and moving” (p. 34). That is the essence of nudge evangelism. Thus ends the first part of the book.
That being said, there is more work that has to be done in order to do this well, so argues Sweet. Even before we begin nudge evangelizing, we must be able to read what God is doing in another’s life, and to be able to do that we, the potential evangelizer, must be paying attention to God. To pay attention to God we need to use our five senses (he means these in both physical and spiritual ways) to comprehend and notice what God is doing. We also need to be sensitive to the senses of those we are evangelizing to.
The first part of the book is very interesting and the second less so (perhaps I simply need more time to digest the thoughts there). However, there are some gems in the second part.
Length: The book is 279 pages excluding notes; 329 with notes.

Here are some quotes that summarize nudge evangelism well:
“Evangelism is awakening each other to the God who is already there. Evangelism is nudging people to pay attention to the mission of God in their lives and to the necessity of responding to that initiative in ways that birth new realities and the new birth” (p.28).
“For God to do something through us, God must be doing something in us. If we are not always evangelizing ourselves, we have no business evangelizing others” (p. 28).
“Nudging is more about dialogue than monologue…Acts of evangelism intentionally scooch and shimmy people in the direction of truth without the need for knee-bending, beat-my-back alter calls” (p. 31).

Review
The Good:
- Nudge evangelism is doable for all people, whether timid or bold.
- Emphasizes evangelizing to people who we already have a relationship with.
- Comes at evangelism from a perspective of love.
- We have our part in evangelism, but allows for God to do his work as well, which evangelists sometimes don’t make room for.
- Emphasizes that we need to be evangelizing to ourselves as well, and that we ourselves will be changed in the “nudging” process.
- Respects the process and journey of peoples’ lives.
- Presupposes God’s providence and his acting in all creation at all times.
- Integrates the spiritual and bodily senses, which is, at times, very insightful.
- Readable and understandable.
- Semiotics – or the study of understanding signs and the meanings of things in regular life is very interesting and must be a part of evangelism.
The Bad:
- The book makes friendship a precondition of evangelism, but this is not the only kind of evangelism.
- Way too many metaphors and similes. Sweet writes very poetically, which often makes books pleasant to read; in this case, however, the book is burdened and cluttered, and the reader is wearied by Sweet’s poetic metric and long for straightforward prose. However, some of the analogies are quite good.
- A tendency with this type of evangelism might be to read “signs from God” under every leaf and in every nook. Interpreting God’s actions in another person’s life (let alone our own) can be extremely difficult.
- Reading between the lines, it seems that Sweet buys into postmodernism and there are some lines that would suggest that he is a “constructivist” (truth is not there until people see/make it) rather than a “realist” (truth is there whether we see it or not and whether we understand it correctly or not).

My Thoughts
Nudge contains many interesting and good ideas, especially in the first half of the book. It might also spark more people to evangelize, as Sweet has done a good job of making evangelism accessible to all. I was interested in the second section, as spiritual sensation is very interesting, but the chapters are simply too long and burdensome. If you were to purchase or borrow this book, read the first half, and skim the second half. The underlying ethos of the book seems to be a little too “nice.” However, this will make it easier for people today to evangelize. The book is good in many ways, but it is bad in some major ways.

Recommendation and Rating
I recommend this book to all Christians.
Rating: 3/5

#vb-nudge

Calling Evil Good and Good Evil

I purchased a book called The Lamb's Supper (by Scott Hahn) the other day. I bought it because the premise was intriguing: The Eucharist (the Lord's Supper) helps us to understand the book of Revelation (The Apocalypse of St. John). As Revelation is extremely weird, I thought it would be great to read this book by a Roman Catholic scholar. The book has been very good and interesting. I am nearly through its 163 pages. Also, it is interesting to think that, if the Roman Catholic (and Eastern Orthodox) Mass is the major interpretational key to Revelation...then perhaps us Protestants have gotten something very wrong.

I thought it good to share a lengthy quote from the book that will be interesting and informative to all. The passage is about the natural punishment that sin is in and of itself:

"We read on in Romans: "therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves" (Rom 1:24). Wait a minute: God gives them up to their vices? He lets them continue sinning?
"Well, yes, and that is a dreadful manifestation of the wrath of God. We might think that the pleasures of sin are preferable to suffering calamity, but they're not.
"We have to recognize sin as the action that destroys our family bond with God and keeps us from life and freedom. How does that happen?
"We have an obligation, first, to resist temptation. If we fail then and we sin, we have an obligation to repent immediately. If we do not repent, then God lets us have our way: He allows us to experience the natural consequences of our sins, the illicit pleasures. If we still fail to repent - through self-denial and acts of penance - God allows us to continue in sin, thereby forming a habit, a vice, which darkens our intellect and weakens our will.
"Once we are hooked on a sin, our values are turned upside down. Evil becomes our most urgent 'good,' our deepest longing; good stands as an 'evil' because it threatens to keep us from satisfying our illicit desires. At that point, repentance becomes almost impossible, because repentance is, by definition, a turning away from evil and toward the good; but, by now, the sinner has thoroughly redefined both good and evil. Isaiah said of such sinner: 'Woe to those who call evil good and good evil' (Is. 5:20).
"Once we have embraced sin in this way and rejected our covenant with God, only a calamity can save us. Sometimes, the most merciful thing that God can do to a drunk, for example, may be to allow him to wreck his car or be abandoned by his wife - whatever will force him to accept responsibility for his actions.
"What happens, though, when an entire nation has fallen into serious and habitual sin? The same principle is at work. ..."

There are a few things to meditate on here:
1) God's wrath (as all proper wrath) is an expression of love: it is the energy summoned up to rid self or other of evil.
2) Habits
a) Notice how important habits are in this passage. Vice - the habit of doing evil - starts small and then continues on until we are no longer able to control ourselves, but still want to do good (see Romans 7; Aristotle and St. Thomas call this "incontinence"; see next thought). From there, many people who are no longer sure why they should feel bad about their evil deed will be proud of the evil they do...and at that point they have a vice, that is, a genuine bad habit.
b) To help explain the thought above, hare is an explanation of the Vice-Virtue scale:
i)Virtue is having a permanent, fixed habit towards doing what is good. If you are really virtuous, you find doing good easy and are generally not even tempted by evil.
ii) Continence is having a generally fixed will towards what is good...and doing that good most of the time, but not all of the time. Doing good is mostly easy, but temptation is often present.
iii) Incontinence is the partial willing of what is good, but the inability to do it for the most part. In Roman Catholic thought, there are two types of sin: venial and mortal. Venial sin is forgivable in that the person has a will to do what is good, but have not done it (this happens in cases of continence and incontinence). Mortal sin is done from pure vice.
iv) Vice is the habit of doing evil, without care of doing good. Somewhere (whether knowingly or not), a choice has been made to call evil good and good evil. Sins done from vice are not forgivable (they are, thus, "mortal" sins), simply because the person who persists in vice will not ask forgiveness. If something happens in the life of that person where they are "shook up" and turn towards God, then God will, of course, forgive them.
c) Notice also, that as people move from continence to vice, they become less and less wise (Paul says that their minds are darkened).
3) It seems very true that people who act in incontinence or vice need a rude awakening - a cold shower - in order to see things correctly. This has been true in my life (through an act of divine wisdom miraculously breaching my thick skull), in the life of my grandfather (through the fear of dying), and in the life of the Prodigal Son (who suddenly realized that the life of pleasure wasn't nearly as pleasurable as life with his Father).

Review: The Naked Gospel

I have just finished reading “The Naked Gospel” by Andrew Farley. The book is essentially a teaching of the gospel based on what I call a “grace-centric” interpretation of the Bible. Grace-centric” teaching revolves around the idea that Christians are covered by grace, so God does not even really care if they sin. I have encountered teaching like this before, bought into that teaching, and reaped some major negative consequences. So I went into this book knowing that I would not agree. And I don’t.

If you want to read a book revolving around a grace-centric teaching, then this book is for you. It’s all there: Christians have no need to ask for forgiveness anymore; Old Testament law (meaning the moral laws, not the cultic or purity laws) is not a good source of morality for Christians (in fact, it seems as though morality is not so important anymore); We are not on a spiritual journey, but have arrived; etc.

It is interesting to note that I would probably not be able to go toe-to-toe with the author to disprove his exegesis (though this book has inspired my to start looking more seriously at my Bible…not just for personal devotion). But I know from past experience and from present intuition that this teaching is off the rails.

I appreciate people who provide me with different angles to look at the same thing, for they help to sharpen me. In that sense, I am appreciative of this book.

Not much more to say at this point.

On Spanking

One of the best lessons that children need to learn is that there is good and bad and right and wrong…and that what they want or what they think is not always right. When the Bible (especially Proverbs) talks of the Fear of the Lord leading us to wisdom, perhaps we can also think that the fear of parents (i.e. the fear of children for their parents) leads to wisdom. One major issue for parents of young children is whether or not to spank or physically punish (not abuse!) their children. Many people I know are not in favor of spanking their children. There are a variety of reasons for this: 1) I don’t want to physically hurt my child, because it is bad to hurt others. 2) I just can’t do it because it hurts me to hit my kids. 3) My child will not learn anything for the better; it is far better to reason with our children. 4) My child is good and does not need so serious a punishment.

The first reason is terrible, for it does not spell out a good reason for not spanking. The second reason is also unthinking, but more selfish. The third reason appears to be good, but is actually not. The fourth reason is valid. It is good to state here that many people are against spanking because many parents spank out of anger and do it in a wrong way, so it is best to avoid spanking all together. This argument does not hold in regards to other topics, i.e. marriage (I believe that most people in North America do not understand marriage and often go about it in the wrong way, but I will not say that no one should ever get married, for I know that it can be done in the right way) and it does not hold in the case of spanking either. There are many bad people and we will not put an end the human race simply because no body is perfect. Often the bad apple does not spoil the whole bunch, but makes the whole bunch less appealing, though they have not spoilt.

If spanking does not help our children then I agree that we should not spank. But I believe that spanking is a tool in the school of wisdom. When parents spank their children for the right reasons (to teach the child that he is wrong or has gone astray and done something wrong, and when this is done not in a fit of rage, but in the right frame of mind) their child will (eventually) learn that their parents wish that they (the child) do what is best, not simply what they want, for they do not always want what is best, and, often, what is best does not feel good. For instance, an eighteen-month old does not want to get his shots. It is not fun to be stuck with a needle, for the process is painful and makes the child question the parent’s love. But the shot is for the child’s good, and the parent believes that the child will get over the trauma of the experience, and learn that their parents usually try to do what is best for the child. If the child sees that the parent’s habit towards them is love and goodness, then the child will interpret such pain (which was partially inflicted by the parent) as the parent probably still loving the child, although it doesn’t seem like that at the time.

If a child is to grow up in the way of reason, humility, and openness to others, the child must learn to know that he is not always right, and that he should be more open to being good, or else he will suffer punishment/ correction.

But we can still reply to my essay by stating the second part of 3), which is: “It is far better to reason with our children.” True. It is best to reason with children that can understand and implement what they have learned. However, young children are often unable to reason, so what are we to do with them, simply to distract them from the wrong they are doing, or teach them that whenever they do a certain thing (i.e. get too close to the top of the stairs) they get hurt by mommy or daddy? That way they can start to reason for themselves about what to do or not do rather than having the parents do everything for the child. So distraction is not the most helpful, for it doesn’t help the child to reason and think.

Also, sometimes we need to be shocked out of doing something bad, or else we will not get out of the bad habit. Physical punishment can be much more clear and more shocking than verbal reasoning. (especially for those who do not understand words yet, or do not understand them well enough, or who need a ‘bad attitude’ rehabilitated). Perhaps, then, we can call spanking “physical reasoning”, and then it can be said that spanking is a form of reasoning, and, in fact, it helps children to be able to reason better, to be better people, directed not to their own whims, but to what is good and true.

Parents who care for their children must help their children to seek out truth and to do what is good. Enabling selfishness by teaching your kids that they always know what is best is immoral. I hope that the “anti spankers” now understand that, although parents don’t always use corporal (bodily) punishment with the right attitude and for the right reasons, that spanking is not evil in and of itself, but can be a tool in the parent’s toolbox, helping them to properly raise their children to reach their full potential, and to flourish during adulthood and adolescence.

This essay was written after spending some time listening to friends and relatives who take issue with more traditional parental methods such as spanking and making their children eat food that they don’t want or making children follow a strict bedtime. Perhaps the same principles from the above essay can be applied to other questions, such as forcing children to eat foods that they don’t want to eat.

Of course, I have not addressed every angle that this issue of training your child in wisdom through imposing the parent’s will, but I think that I have made it clear that parents should not be imposing their own will just for the sake of getting what they want, but that they do whatever they do from sound reason and love for their children.

As “the fear of the Lord” is the first step to wisdom, a child’s fear of their parents’ wrath (and by wrath I mean that kind of energy that is aroused in us to deal with evil and vice) is also a step in the direction of wisdom. Fear of evil is a good thing, for we should be scared of getting fat if we eat too many candies and fearful of losing our house if we cannot pay the mortgage, and we should be afraid that we can separate ourselves from God. These fears stimulate us to do what is right. However, fear can move us to do what is wrong (cheat on a test because we are fearful of not passing, or not doing the right thing because we fear that others will hate us for doing what is good, or fearing that God wants to be separated from us).

In order to understand this fear, let me turn to a Catholic Thomist named Josef Pieper, who I respect. Here is a summary of his words of Fear of the Lord:

1- Servile Fear: imperfect fear of the Lord. Fears the loss of personal fulfillment in eternal life. Though it is imperfect, it is still good. Decreases as man’s nature is the more deeply penetrated by his love of friendship with God. Prepares the soul for wisdom. Kind of being afraid of God (‘s punishment). Corresponds to concupiscent love of God. Fears the gain of an evil.
2- Filial/Chaste Fear: more truly fear. Love transforms servile fear to a chaste and filial fear. To see sin as sin. Sin is evil to a greater degree than the actual punishment is. More grieved at the actual possible wrong than about being punished for it. Filial fear increases (not in frequency, but in amplitude?) as the intensity with which we love God. This is because the one who truly sees the good/God knows what he can lose. They see more clearly. The first fruit of wisdom itself. Being afraid of actual evil. This kind of fear does not destroy the mental operations, as anxiety (servile fear) does. Corresponds to caritas love of God. Fears the loss of a good.

In writing this, it is not simply my hope to assert my own beliefs, nor do I wish to condemn parents who have chosen not to spank their children because I know that they only wish to do the best for their children. I am, however, questioning those parents who do not spank their children if they are loving their children in the best possible way. On the other hand, those parents who hit their children out of rage and irrationalism must be chastised for raising children that often end up being hateful, distrustful of good authorities, and encouraging their children to live in fear and to not understand love and the difference between good and evil. Let us teach our children to be afraid of the right things and to love the right things, for their good and ours.

In the last analysis, I am not in favor of spanking in and of itself. I am in favor of goodness and truth. And it is for the sake of goodness and truth that I am in favor of spanking.

Parenting takes a love so consistent and pure. None of us can love in this perfect way, but that isn’t to say that we shouldn’t try or that God cannot help us. But as much as possible, let our children learn of God’s character through knowing ours. Help us, Lord.

Afterthought: All issues to do with morality rely on the virtue of prudence, which is the ability to do what is right in varying situations. General guidelines are good, but no person or situation is the same. Give us prudence, Lord.

READ THIS BOOK: Who Really Goes to Hell – The Gospel You’ve Never Heard.

Read this Book: Who Really Goes to Hell – The Gospel You’ve Never Heard.

I recently read Who Really Goes to Hell – The Gospel You’ve Never Heard, by David I. Rudel. I was initially skeptical about this book for a few reasons: 1) The Publisher is Biblical Heresy Press; 2) I am generally skeptical of supposedly new ways of understanding the Bible, as most have a very Postmodern ring to them (as the next book I will be reviewing, called “The Naked Gospel”.

Don’t let these fool you. As I read on, with fewer and fewer objections along the way, I was brought to a deeper understanding of the gospel than I have ever known. The title of the book seems to be pointed at grabbing the attention of those who might not be interested in a scholarly work on many of the essential doctrines of Christianity; but the book is just that. Now, I do not know my Bible well enough the properly critique the book, but what I read really made sense to me.

The book purports to destroy many of the common Evangelical Protestant doctrines in favour of a much more biblically founded teaching. I would say that the book is successful in this. This book has helped me to understand, or at least know another quality viewpoint on, many major important biblical teachings, including: What is the role of the Holy Spirit?, How are we to be judged after death?, What is justification?, Why does repentance feature so prominently in Jesus’ teachings?, Why do we need to continue to ask for forgiveness?, What is the relationship with faith and good works?, How does Jesus save us?, What is the importance of Jesus’ entire life?, What does the Bible mean by “God’s wrath”?, etc., etc., etc.

This book I so helpful that I recommend it to all who read this review. This is my advice: get this book. Granted, I know that this book will give some people trouble and will dismantle their current faith, but I believe that it will build up something more solid in the reader. Also, at the very least, the book provides an alternative paradigm to Protestant teachings; this is helpful as truth is often best discerned when two or more options are in competition and one shows itself to be more dominant.

I do not wish to give away any of the answers described in this book, but I will warn that it seems to be something much closer to a Catholic teaching, although the author doesn’t seem to like Catholics or Protestants very much for their doctrines.

Give this book a read. I have to read it again to glean more from it and to understand it so that I can put it in competition with other paradigms that I know, but I am already excited to have read this book once. Read this book. I have not said that about any other book that I have reviewed to date. After you’ve read this book, let me know what you think.

How Can We Share What We Do Not Know?

I help teach an ESL (English as a Second Language) Bible study class at my Alliance church. I have been noticing that it is often difficult to teach books of the Bible in a meaningful manner, as many books of the Bible are not easily understood. Even with a person who understands the specific book being studied, the teachings of the Scriptures are often difficult to categorize in our minds.

So I've been wondering, why doesn't the church have a catechism class, or a class where we go through the main teachings of the church? This would be done in a systematic manner (and therefore more easily understood), and would have many benefits:

1) Our faith would grow and we would begin to think about and understand God and what he is up to through the church.
2) Our Christian living would be informed and therefore we would be better witnesses.
3) We would be able to worship God more effectively and see his blessings more clearly.
4) We would be more unified as a church.
5) We would be able to explain our faith to others with confidence and therefore be better witnesses.

It strikes me that my church (at least the leadership) has been focused on the congregation being witnesses and being more bold about sharing our faith. However, the biggest reason why we are afraid to share our faith is because we do not really know it. If we do not have even a basic understanding of the faith, then how can we share it? How can we share what we cannot put into words, or live out? (Of course, there is a class like this in my church, but, from a far, it strikes me as less helpful than a catechism class, and it must be attended by more of the congregation. Also this class is not easily accessible to the ESL Bible study attendees, so a separate class must be offered for them. Also, ALPHA classes lean in this direction, too, but they also strike me as less helpful than an actual catechism class, though a catechism class might be able to learn much from the friendly, non-boring nature of the ALPHA program.)

Therefore, I submit that all Christians should be catechized. Perhaps your church doesn't have a book that teaches about the things of the faith in an orderly manner, then find a book that does so. I recommend The Catechism of the Catholic Church As well as the Catechism of St. Thomas Aquinas. Martin Luther has also written a Catechism. The Orthodox Church also has some documents of this sort, though I don't know what they are called.

If this resonates with you (the need for you and/or you and your church to grow in the knowledge and life of the faith), then talk to your pastor about getting an adult catechism class rolling.