Review: The Most Misused Stories in the Bible: Surprising Ways Popular Bible Stories Are Misunderstood

The Most Misused Stories in the Bible: Surprising Ways Popular Bible Stories Are Misunderstood by Eric J. Bargerhuff
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Who would the intended audience for this book be? Christians who sit under pastors who utilise an eisegetical method of preaching, or Christian friends who wish to emphasise to the abovementioned group the importance of an expository/exegetical method of studying God's Holy Scripture.

In Pg 49 of the Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (1999), Stanley Grenz, David Guretzki, and Cherith Fee Nordling explain what these two terms mean: "Exegesis is the process of seeking to understand what a text means or communicates on its own. Eisegesis is generally a derogatory term used to designate the practice of imposing a preconceived or foreign meaning onto a text, even if that meaning could not have been originally intended at the time of its writing."

Having studied the context and reflected upon the theological application of many of these stories for the purposes of teaching/preaching, I was mightly impressed by Bargerhuff's commentary on the stories in the opening of the book - David and Goliath (Chapter 1), Gideon's Fleece (Chapter 2), Jonah and the big fish (Chapter 4), The woman caught in adultery (Chapter 5), Jesus could not do miracles in his hometown (Chapter 6), Sowing your seed (Chapter 8). The content was lively, engaging, and highly accessible; Bargerhuff's theological reflection and application were spot on! I thought that this was an easy 6 star book that would be useful for reference for sermon preparation or that which I had to purchase multiple copies of to give away! But then later came the second half of the book which sadly I found to be unsuitable for my target audience...

Many of the subsequent chapters were often excellent (Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit in Chapter 14 was brilliant even) - but many chapters were tainted by the divisive advancing of his theological positions. Bargerhuff appears to be highly reformed/Calvinistic and a - he quotes John MacArthur (author of the notorious Strange Fire) and John Piper. I felt that it was unnecessary to be fixated on secondary or tertiary matters of The Calvinistic notion of Perseverance of the Saints ("Once Saved Always Saved") in The betrayal of Judas (Chapter 10), Cessationism in The Samaritan Pentecost (Chapter 11) and Transubstantiation in This is my body (Chapter 13).

If he releases a subsequent edition, I hope he focuses on the primacy on interpreting Scripture in context, illustrating applying it for the modern audience what the biblical author had intended for the original readers and not let his partisan views taint his exposition and commentary.

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Review: Why Don't Students Like School?: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom

Why Don't Students Like School?: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom by Daniel T. Willingham
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was skeptical because the author, a cognitive psychologist, covered many topics that I already knew about. I had gleaned wonderful reminders of why teachers should impart abstract reasoning and problem solving, about how fact-memorisation is not as useful in today’s google age. Indeed we do want our students to be able to apply principles to contexts above and beyond what they are taught in school. In the section about how expert scientists work (Chapter 6), I was encouraged about how the free-spirited me found the Singaporean Education System extremely stifling.

This segment espeically resonated with me:

"High schoolers know that laboratory exercises have predictable outcomes, so their focus is probably not on what the lab is meant to illustrate on whether they 'did it right.' Likewise, historians don't read and memorize textbooks-they work with original sources (birth certificates, diaries, contemporary newspaper accounts and the like) to construct sensible narrative interpretations of historical events. If we're not giving students practice in doing the things that historians and scientists actually do, in what sense are we teaching them history and science?" (pg 98)

Having tried unsuccessfully to conquer the GCE Advanced Levels despite having been retained for my first year (I took three years instead of the regular two). But when I went into Polytechnic, for the first time in a long time, I finally managed to succeed academically when the grading criteria involved the synthesis and study of unpredictable outcomes. Today while most of my peers are holding conventional jobs, at 27 years of age, I'm hunkered down with running my own online business. It's extremely tough, with insane working hours, and with the reality check of earning many times lesser than my peers. Oh, I'm now in year two of a bachelor's (degree) program, also doing rather well in a system that is not just about examinations. And I'm savouring every moment of it! And am seriously considering pursuing a PhD in future!

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Wilkinson on searching for your audience's needs

Here's my attempt to highlight and summarise the ten primary vehicles for searching for your audience’s needs from Pages 312 to 321 of The Seven Laws of the Learner

Overview
A. Direct methods to find the need
1. Direct questions
2. Low-key interviews
3. Anonymous questionnaire
4. Interaction with family members
5. Personal visits to the student's home or work
6. Personal observation

B. Indirect methods to find the need
1. Books.
2. Magazines and newspapers.
3. Research studies and polls.
4. Individuals interacting with the public.


A. Direct methods to find the need
Use those best fitted to your personality, class and circumstances.

1. Direct questions. When the situation is casual and relaxed, ask your need-seeking questions directly. Here are a few ideas.

“Betty, I value your wisdom and insight and wonder if you could help me be a more effective teacher by telling what you think the three biggest problems are that people like you face today."

"John, I'm concerned that our class meet the needs of its members. Could you help me by giving two or three areas in your life that you wish we would address in the future?"

"Mr. Smith, what topics would you like to see taught during next quarter's classes?

Open-ended questions allow the student to be as personal as he wishes. People will respond to a sincerely asked question, especially when the teacher asks for help. Remove the threat and fear factor. Develop the regular habit of asking good questions and you'll be amazed how soon you have the right answers!


2. Low-key interviews. This method is less difficult than the first in that you don't ask questions directly or personally, but instead ask about general class needs:

"Martha, I noticed that our class seems to be feeling pressure lately. What do you think some of the reasons may be?"

"Frank, your kids are really growing up! How old are they now? What are the struggles kids their age seem to be facing these days?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Smith, did you happen to see the article on the front page of Sunday's paper reporting that Americans have never had more personal debt that today? How do you think debt is creating hardships for families in their midforties?"

Low key interviews can capture significant and practical insights that will give your content timeliness and personal interest.


3. Anonymous questionnaire. This is a most effective vehicle. A questionnaire can be controlled, involves more people that you could personally talk to, and asks questions on a variety of subjects. The key to its effectiveness hinges on three conditions.

First, the audience must know both the purpose and its ultimate use. It is for teacher's eyes only, or will the results be announced and discussed? Be aware that the latter purpose may reduce honesty.

Second, the audience must be convinced of the anonymity of the questionnaire. Any hint that they could be found out will tilt the response.

Third, the questions must be carefully constructed so that the responses present a true picture. The questions are as important as the answer. Frequently I'll distribute blank three-by-five cards with teh following open-ended questions and instruct the class to answer anonymously:

• The biggest problem I struggle with work is...
• Whenever my spouse and I get into arguments, it's usually about...
• My biggest personal disappointment during the past few years was...
• My greatest triumph as a person is...
• When I get angry with God, it's usually because...
• When I get to heaven, my biggest insight about what I should have been doing will be...
• If somebody could give me one good piece of advice about how to raise my kids, it would be about...
• Probably the area of my spiritual life that causes me the most problems is...
• Rate your Christian walk on a scale of 1-10. The one area in my Christian life where I stumble the most is...
• The sin I seem to wrestle with and rarely have the victory over is...
• On a scale of 1-10, how honest were you in answering these questions?

Spend a few hours with those cards-they represent a gold mine of need. Quickly you will be able to identify the top ten needs in areas such as your students' work, family, and spiritual growth... Aim each class at one of the top three felt needs. Never again will you have to wonder if a lesson will hit the mark.

4. Interaction with family members. There are two ways to approach this: (1) comments by the student about his family; and (2) comments by the family about the student.  Vague, general, and open-ended questions about a student's family can reveal volumes to the discerning listener.

5. Personal visits to the student's home or work. The best insights are frequently obtained through a brief, personal visit to a person's home or place of employment. It's the only real way to walk in someone else's shoes. Today's classrooms are so unnatural and structured that students seldom reveal their true selves. We have to look elsewhere for glimpses of reality. Home is where our masks crumble and where needs lie right on the surface. Attitudes, atmosphere, frame of mind, harmony or disharmony, order or disorder, all are apparent to those who care enough to look.

You cant cant meet a need if you don't know what is. If you want to know your students, look behind the doors of their homes and offices.

6. Personal observation. This method focuses upon those clues which are available during all of life.

First, the questions people ask in and after class reflect areas of inner interest and need.

Second, body language speaks so loudly it often can be heard above spoken words. Arms folded, hands over mouth, body slouched, torso leaning aggressively forward-all carry loud messages.

Third, class attendance is probably the most direct indicator of how well you meet the needs of your audience. People's presence or absence clearly denotes what they think of your class. The more helpful the class, the more people will come for help!

Fourth, class discussions reflect needs which require further consideration. Whenever students try to keep the ball rolling on a given subject, you know you've hit oil.

Fifth, after-class activities and conversations mirror the true interests and concerns of your class because they are neither required nor structured.

Those are the major direct methods of find the needs of your students.

B. Indirect methods to find the need

Unlike the direct approach, which puts you face to face with your audience, the indirect approach offers valuable information through other people's research and experience. Although the information will frequently give you solid and dependable insights, it must be evaluated carefully as it does not deal specifically with your class.

Collect information around two basic frameworks: (i) topics that you know most interest your class; and (ii) characteristics of the age group of your class members, noting their problems and trends. There are many available sources for this information, but here are a few of the primary ones:

1. Books. Regularly browsing the shelves in your Christian and secular bookstores gives a snapshot of the bestselling books, and therefore conveys where the current interests and needs lie. Ask the store manager what trends he's seeing and what types of books people in your class' age bracket are purchasing. At the time I was writing this book the top four bestsellers were about money, business, sex, and health. When is the last time you taught on money, business, sex, or health?

2. Magazines and newspapers. Because the magazine industry is so consumer-oriented and must meet the ever-changing interests of the American public, it frequently presents a panorama of the needs of your targeted audiences. Pay close attention to the types of articles they feature as well as the types of books they review and advertise.

Magazines include valuable articles, surveys, and Q&A columns. Remember, people only read what they are interested in. And whether or not you agree with advice columnists, keep a close eye on the subjects they repeat or for which they receive overwhelming responses. They're not the most-read journalists in America by accident.

Want a real eye-opener? Take any well-known magazine and look at the Q&A section. Those are the questions people are really asking. Next Sunday, teach God's answer to those questions. I guarantee you nobody will move.

3. Research studies and polls. George Gallup and George Barna frequently conduct polls to establish the true feelings and positions of the public on myriad subjects.

4. Individuals interacting with the public. Doctors, dentists, barbers and beauticians, counselors, psychologists, guidance counselors, police, teachers, principals, and a host of others have their fingers on the public pulse and can be interviewed about the trends they see. I make it a practice to ask such "pulse people" about the problems they see on the rise.

The Genre of Revelation from a "secular" viewpoint

F F Bruce recounts the occasion whereby a Christian was giving away a New Testament translation of the Bible as part of his evangelistic endeavors, on the condition that the undergraduates at the university who received them would read them. When he bumped into one of these students a few months later, he found that that student did in fact read it. In response to the question of what did the "unchurched" undergraduates thought of it, he replied, "the front end was a bit repetitious, telling the same story four times, but I sure like that bit of science fiction at the end."

D A Carson cites this exchange as an example of how to interpret any form of literature, we need to recognise the genre, "you don't interpret all text the same way! They are not all chronicles, they are not all parables, they are not all poems, they are not all history. The bible is made up of many different genres... Most things that you read, you You dont take the editoral page the same way as "

For the extended explanation and discourse, please refer to his lecture (starting at approx 8mins) at Revelation (part 1)

Stott on our first obligation to the biblical text

How much do we love God's word? Enough so that we do not impose the twenty first context to interpret what the ancient authors addressed to an ancient audience?

From Page 26 of: The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching

John Stott, "The first obligation [in expounding the text] is faithfulfulness to the biblical text. You and I have to accept the discipline of thinking ourselves back into the situation of the biblical authors-their history, geography, culture, and language. If we neglect this task or if we do it in a halfhearted or slovenly way, it is inexcusable. IT EXPRESSES CONTEMPT FOR THE WAY IN WHICH GOD CHOSE TO SPEAK TO THE WORLD [my emphasis]. Remember, it is the God-inspired text we are handling. We say we believe this, but our use of Scripture is not always compatible with what we say is our view of Scripture. With that painstaking, meticulous, conscientious care we should study for ourselves and open up to others the very words of the living God! So the worst blunder that we can commit is to read back our twenty-first century thoughts into the minds of the biblical authors, to manipulate what they said in order to conform to what we would like them to have said and then to claim their patronage for our options."

Walton on not violently bending and imposing on Scripture

Wise words from respected Old Testament John Walton that I cannot agree more emphatically with, “We are not free to impose our own questions, our own culture, our own agendas, our own issues on the biblical text, and demand that it address our situation. It’s addressed to an ancient culture, in an ancient language, in an ancient time. And we need to make sure that we are entering that world instead of dragging the text as if it were talking to our word and in our terms. The message transcends the culture, but the form is culture bound. And so we have to recognise then that we are reading the text as outsiders… If we are going to get the full focus of God’s revelation to us and get the full force of its authority, we have to try to take our place in that audience, and try to hear as that audience would have heard it…”

Source: Outsiders: Reading the Bible Out of Context

Wilkinson on teaching/preaching to meet your audience's needs

I find the following thought extremely hard to digest. I am compelled to meditate on what could be a critical principle, even though my convictions thus far were on a very different tangent. This helps me to better understand why the busy pastor often goes into eisegetical sermons.

But here's the implication: how well do we know the Bible such that we can exegete from a passage to directly speak to the congregation's need without doing violence to Scripture to bring our per-determined message across? How long would it take for us to first study and then be able to preach/teach? I reckon decades?

From Page 291 of The Seven Laws of the Learner

Ask the average person who sits in our churches and schools, "do you feel most preaching and teaching is relevant to your needs?" Less than 20 percent of those I ask say yes. The other 80 percent feel like we are teaching 1 Chronicles 1-9 to them.

But we teachers blame our students for not paying attention. We preachers blame our congregation for not wanting "good preaching" anymore. In reality, they are screaming for good preaching. They are pleading for preaching that is good-for them! It's what meets their real needs.

Believe it or not, the Bible does not have a need to be taught. Only people have a need to be taught, and it is their real need that should determine our teaching and preaching calendar.

If you sense I feel strongly about this, you have sensed correctly. Because I have my ear to the ground across the country, I am aware the widespread frustration that exists in students.

The teacher is off teaching about something that is useless to life-and doesn't make the link that at that moment he is also useless to his student. The preacher is off preaching about something irrelevant to his congregation-and won't realize that the declining attendance is proof that he's missed the mark so many times, his sheep have left for greener pastures. They were starved and went in search of food.

Platt on what draws us to go to church

Will we still go church if it did not have any bells and whistles/smoke and mirrors; how often do we think/pray about the persecuted church who risk their lives to gather?

From Page 26-28 of 

Radical

Is his word enough for us?

This is the question that often haunts me when I stand before a crowd of thousands of people in the church I pastor. What if we take away the cool music and the cushioned chairs? What if the screens are gone and the stage is no longer decorated? What if the air conditioning is off and the comforts are removed? Would his Word still be enough for his people to come together?

At Brook Hills we decided to try to answer this question. We actually stripped away the entertainment value and invited people to come together simply to study God’s Word for hours at a time. We called it Secret Church.

We set a date-one Friday night-when we would gather from six o’clock in the evening until midnight, and for six hours we would do nothing but study the Word and pray. We would interrupt the six-hour Bible study periodically to pray for our brothers and sisters around the world who are forced to gather secretly. We would also pray for ourselves, that we would learn to love the Word as they do.

We weren’t sure how many would show up that first evening, but by night’s end about a thousand people had gathered. Our topic of study was the Old Testament. After our first try we decided to do it again, and again, and now we have to take reservations because we cannot contain all the people who want to come.

One of my favourite sights is to look across a room packed with people with their Bible in their laps, studying who God is and what God had said–after midnight (we have never ended on time). Granted, we still have the cushioned chairs-though we did discuss the possibility of removing them! And we still have the comforts of a nice building with indoor bathrooms. But we are taking steps, I hope, toward discovering what is means to be a people who are hungry for the revelation of God.

What is it about God’s Word that creates a hunger to hear more? And not just hear the Word but to long for it, study it, memorize it, and follow it? What causes followers of Christ around the world literally to risk their lives in order to know it?

These questions cause us to step back and look at the foundations of the gospel. Fundamentally, the gospel is the revelation of who God is, who we are, and how we can be reconciled to him. Yet in the American dream, where self reigns as king (or queen), we have a dangerous tendency to misunderstand, minimize, and even manipulate the gospel in order to accommodate our assumptions and our desires. As a result, we desperately need to explore how much of our understanding of the gospel is American and how much is biblical. And in the process we need to examine whether we have misconstrued a proper response to the gospel and maybe even missed the primary reward of the gospel, which is God himself.

Practical Application in Preaching

Summarised excerpts from Beeke, Joel R., and David P. Murray. “Practical Application in Preaching.” Puritan Reformed Journal (January 2012) 4, no. 1 (2012):


J. I. Packer once said that preaching consists of two elements: teaching plus application. Where those two elements are missing, “something less than preaching occurs.”

Application is the process by which the unchanging principles of God’s Word are brought into life-changing contact with people who live in an ever-changing world. Applicatory preaching takes place when the unchanging truths, principles, and doctrines of God’s Word are brought to bear upon people’s consciences and every part of their lives to increasingly transform them into Christ’s likeness.

Other preachers want to connect Scripture with practical living but believe that application is the Holy Spirit’s job, not theirs. They say, “We explain the text, the Spirit applies it.” This tends to leave listeners at the mercy of their own subjective inclinations. Douglas Stuart talks about the unfairness of this approach, saying, “The exegete leaves the key function—response—completely to the subjective sensibilities of the reader or hearer, who knows the passage least. What is more likely is that listeners will do nothing at all. John Calvin writes: “If we leave it to men’s choice to follow what is taught them, they will never move one foot. Therefore, the doctrine of itself can profit nothing at all.”

Scripture justifies and warrants application. Here are just a few of the many examples of application that we find in the Bible:

• In Matthew 19:16–22, Christ applies the law to a rich young ruler. 
• Peter, in Acts 2:22–27, applies the prophecies of the Old Testament to his generation (vv. 25–28; 34–35). His intent is to change his hearers. Notice how often he uses the second person (vv. 22, 23, 29, 33, 36) to call people to action (vv. 38, 39). By the Spirit’s grace, such preaching prompts this question in listeners: “What shall we do?” (v. 37). 
• In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul says the history of Israel was written as an example and admonition to later generations (10:11).

Prerequisites to Applicatory Preaching

First, to be sound applicatory preachers, we must first have personal, experiential knowledge of the doctrines we preach. Applicatory preaching cannot be learned in seminaries or through textbooks unless preachers have studied in Christ’s school and fed on the manna of the Word. If we endeavor to preach on the intercession of Christ, we will fail to apply it adequately if we are not personally acquainted with its reality and riches. As under-shepherds of Christ, we feed the flock with the nourishment our Shepherd gives us. If we would have our congregants know how to live, we ourselves must walk in the footsteps of our Master.

Second, to be sound in application as preachers, we must cultivate personal closeness with God. Fellowship with God makes Christianity real and personal; a man cannot, consequently, be a great preacher if he lives distant from the Lord. In 2 Cor. 2:17, the apostle Paul explains the contrast between true and false preachers. A true minister of the gospel is sincere, Paul says; he cannot fake nearness to the Lord. Like children who listen to every word and observe every move of their parents, true children of God are always listening to their preacher, looking at him, and examining the way he lives. If he is not living close to God, his preaching and counsel will eventually expose any falseness and hypocrisy. How is this closeness to be cultivated? God reveals Himself to us in His Word, in prayer, and in other spiritual disciplines. A minister’s solemn duty and joyful privilege, then, is to labor tirelessly in private prayer and to be a diligent student of the Bible. Prayer must be the life-blood behind the sermon, for you need divine assistance, first, as you prepare for the sermon and, second, as you deliver the sermon. We should also consult teachers of the Bible who will help give us clarity and insight into the mysteries of the gospel.

A third prerequisite for applicatory preaching is to understand human nature. If you want to connect your message with people, you must know people’s natures and personalities, especially those in your own flock. The heart is the throne of natural corruptions, fears, weaknesses, and sin. A preacher must strike a balance between how things are and how they ought to be. A medical doctor must know how the body ought to operate before he can diagnose an ailment. You trust his prescriptions, or even his scalpel, because he has proven himself to be an expert of the human body. Likewise, the pastor must discern from the Scriptures how things are and ought to be as well as how biblical remedies should be applied. You must be a master of the human soul so that your people can trust what you prescribe.

Stop the violence to Scripture please!

To ask people to be like David or not be like Jezebel is to miss the point of what God is saying through his Holy Bible. The main character is God, focus on him (and not the supporting cast).

From Page 11 of:

Old Testament Today

Many have become disillusioned with the Old Testament because they were looking at a pile of threads that had been extracted from the tapestry. In our reorientation we will try to focus on the tapestry without ignoring the contributions of each picture and thread. Focus is the operative term. When we look at a subject through a camera lens, the focus is important. If we focus on the foreground, the background blurs; if we focus on something at a distance, that which is close to the camera becomes blurred. A good photographer must decide what needs to be clear and what needs to be blurred. The larger picture of the Old Testament, from a literary standpoint, is seen in the purpose of each author in the book he is writing. As we keep that in focus, the individual verses and stories must be seen in relation to it. From a theological perspective, the larger picture is God. Individuals fade into the background as we see the Old Testament not as a compilation of stories about Abraham or David of Esther but as a single story about God. If we bring David too much into focus, the picture of God may blur.

Platt on how Jesus taught and discipled

... when we hear Jesus talk about teaching, we need to be careful not to immediately jump in our minds to the classroom, lecture-style setting we often associate with teaching the Word. Classrooms and lectures have their place, but this is not the pre-dominant kind of teaching we see in Jesus' relationship with his disciples. On the contrary, the world was a perpetual classroom for Jesus and his disciples, providing opportunities for instruction at every moment.

... imagine "going" and leading someone to faith in Christ and then seeing her "baptised" in identification with Christ and his church. Now what? How is she going to learn to walk with Christ daily? If teaching is limited to a select few in the church who are equipped for that, then we will immediately tell this new Christian she needs to sit in a classroom and learn from a teacher. Thus we get the common approach to "discipleship" today- a far cry from the disciple making of Jesus...

From page 99-100 of Radical

Fee on root fallacies of greek words of "love"

I am posting with lots of love, so that hopefully those who read this will have better understanding and carefully consider before repeating what they have been thought.

From Pages 28 and 31-32 of
Exegetical Fallacies

One of the most enduring of errors, the root fallacy presupposes that every word actually has a meaning bound up with its shape or its components. In this view, meaning is determined by etymology; that is, by the root or roots of a word.

How often do preachers refer to the verb ἀγαπάω (agapaō, to love), contrast it with φιλέω (phileō, to love), and deduce that the text is saying something about a special kind of loving, for no other reason than that ἀγαπάω (agapaō) is used?

All of this is linguistic nonsense.

In a similar vein, although it is doubtless true that the entire range of ἀγαπάω (agapaō, to love) and the entire range of φιλέω (phileō, to love) are not exactly the same, nevertheless they enjoy substantial overlap; and where they overlap, appeal to a “root meaning” in order to discern a difference is fallacious. In 2 Samuel 13 (LXX), both ἀγαπάω (agapaō, to love) and the cognate ἀγάπη (agapē, love) can refer to Amnon’s incestuous rape of his half sister Tamar (2 Sam. 13:15, LXX).

When we read that Demas forsook Paul because he loved this present, evil world, there is no linguistic reason to be surprised that the verb is ἀγαπάω (agapaō, 2 Tim. 4:10). John 3:35 records that the Father loves the Son and uses the verb ἀγαπάω (agapaō); John 5:20 repeats the thought, but uses φιλέω (phileō)—without any discernible shift in meaning.

The false assumptions surrounding this pair of words are ubiquitous; and so I shall return to them again. My only point here is that there is nothing intrinsic to the verb ἀγαπάω (agapaō) or the noun ἀγάπη (agapē) to prove its real meaning or hidden meaning refers to some special kind of love.

Keller on not picking and choosing bible passages

I love how Keller presents how we should treat the bible as a grand narrative (in comparison to using individual passages to teach on topics/lessons you desire to convey).

Excerpt (in verbatim) of his exposition of Nehemiah 3-4 titled "Laboring for a God Who Fights for Us" From 5:03 to 6:05
Laboring for a God Who Fights for Us

That means that the bible ultimately is one story. It is not just a bunch of little stories, though it is in a sense. But it is one large story, there is one large narrative arc. And everything in the bible because it's all written by a divine author behind the human author, is moving and pointing along on that arc.

In this case, here's what we know. We know that this Nehemiah... is pointing to the ultimate Nehemiah. That is, the ultimate one who was in the palace, completely safe, had it made, and who left all of that and went out into danger, to identify with his people. And of course, Jesus Christ the ultimate Nehemiah, not doing that at the risk of his life but at the cost of his life... And what did he come to do? Essentially to make us citizens of the ultimate city.

Review: The Seven Laws of the Learner

The Seven Laws of the Learner by Bruce H. Wilkinson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read about three books each month, and this has to be one of the most impactful and convicting for the year 2015. (The other book that had such a profound impact on my life and worldview would be Clowney's Unfolding Mystery - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...)

I had taken on an attitude that it is not my problem to motivate the unmotivated student, be it in secular or Christian circles. I’ll just find those who are interested in having God’s will done in their lives, and then we’ll take it from there.

Chapter after chapter, I am compelled to reconsider many of my perceptions (most of them had been cast in stone after extensive teaching experience). I have caught a little of his seemingly bottomless passion to see students walk life face-to-face with the living God. The impartation of knowledge is simply the vehicle to see about revival.

In the religious-persecution-free society in Singapore, believers often feel no need for God or his commands. It is painful to see Christians and churches engage in self-sustaining and consumeristic practices. The only time we want to follow in his ways, is when we demand that he answers our prayers and solve our problems. As I closed the book, tears welled up in my eyes and my heart was overwhelmed with a desire for revival - to be part of a gospel community of continually repented and loving believers. The catalyst would have to start with me, because having counted the cost, it would be crazy not to give up my life for such a cause as this.

For this to be a balanced review, I have to discuss what was not so fantastic.

There were some theological references that I was uncomfortable with. For example, his refer to the parable of the talents is tricky because in his parable Jesus used 'talents' in the context of money, not to refer to a person's giftedness (p408-409). He also has to explain (p420-432) in what way is the prophet Nathan like a teacher before he can use that as a starting base for the section on revival. Thankfully these theological ambiguity came toward the end of the book and not at the beginning, otherwise students who are hermeneutically wired may be quickly (and wrongly) dismiss that the book is filled with eisegetical assertions.

These errors do not subtract from the message Wilkinson is trying to impart to us readers. We receive from what he is gifted in, and that is teaching. For a more meaty theological diet, one can simply read this book in conjunction with a more scholarly and biblical title.

On the topic of teaching, this has to be one of the first I would recommend to teachers.

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