iGod

The Reason for God – a quick review

I am afraid this week has been one of those weeks where there has been too much to do and my health has not been great. Hence the paltry lack of posts.  Anyhow, in the midst of it I have been finding time to enjoy Timothy Keller’s book The Reason for God.

It is very much an up-to-date apologetic for our times and is being hailed as one of the most significant books on the subject since Oxford don CS Lewis wrote his Mere Christianity and his other classics in the 50s.

However, unlike CS Lewis, Keller is a church pastor theologian in cosmopolitan New York City. He addresses all the tough questions put to the Western Church today and, from what I have read so far, I have been deeply impressed by the linear logic of his reasoning. Mind you, you can undoubtedly hear the whispering voice of CS Lewis in his thoughts.

One of the common arguments he respectfully takes to task is that religion was the stop gap until science came along to supersede it with more superior worldview. Ergo, religion has now has outlived its usefulness. The argument goes on to say that religion has been a historic conditioning.

He says that to view religion in this way requires an objectivity in itself, but how can anyone really achieve objectivity as we all live in society?  We are all affected by our environment. In short, if we are conditioned by religion what is to stop us being conditioned by secularism. If the West is marked by its self critical attitude and individualism, how can it be truly objective?

It is often said that if we were born in a country like Saudi Arabia would we not be conditioned to be a Muslim? Therefore, how can we know for sure there is no God when we suffer from subjectivism just like any other person?

So the truth has to be established in other ways at which Keller’s book goes on to set out.

ASD

By the Light of the Lord's Prayer

I have just been reading a new book called By the Light of the Lord’s Prayer by Chris Radley. I guess it is a bit late to call it one of my Lent books, but worth getting nevertheless.

Although there has been enough comment over the years on the Lord’s Prayer to fill a few Tesco shopping trollies, I like what the author has to say and how he says it. Coming from a journalistic and creative background he gives it a literary warmth, which is under pinned by his obvious deep affection for this famous prayer.

The publisher writes: “This is a book like no other. It has grown out of one man’s love for and fascination with the Lord’s Prayer. Chris Radley takes the reader on a journey through his personal experiences of this passage of Scripture, showing the how God’s Word can powerfully affect and change lives.

“Although providing some historical, literary and theological information about the prayer, Chris Radley’s desire is that this book is not read as a textbook, but as an encouragement, and that his passion and excitement may touch the reader and help them in their personal walk with God.”

Amen to that.

ASD