Questioning Evangelism by: Randy Newman

This book is about using questions with people; and answering people's questions with questions. It's about what Newman calls "Rabbinic evangelism". He shows how Jesus spoke to people this way and encourages us to be more interested in others and willing to stop giving answers and start really listening to others.

Is this approach all soft and fluffy, you may ask? He does answer this complaint; for example: "Confronting someone with unpleasant truths doesn't work in sales, but it is essential in evangelism." (p.36) He writes that we aren't to just be annoying parrots or manipulative salesmen. I'm glad he makes that point.

The antithesis he's fighting in this book is using a real unnatural formulaic approach in evangelism. Or, being to quick to pull out our list of answers and give ourselves a gold star. This is a good antithesis. That sort of approach is not really loving or normal. But, I don't know how many of us actually struggle with that.....

I think that this book might be the best for 1. Someone really rude and argumentative - or someone who won't shut up. 2. A new Believer with a lot of non-Christian friends who is overwhelmed and needs to see that evangelism can be a really natural and easy thing. or 3. someone with no non-Christian friends who needs a non-threatening way to begin deep conversations with relative strangers. 4. Someone who doesn't understand the basic features of communication and friendship.

However, I think most people who relate to non-Christian friends are already probably asking a lot of questions. In that sense, I was reading this book and thinking, "tell me something I don't already know." I'm not saying that with a complete bad attitude. It's just that he keeps bringing up the antithesis of people using pamphlets and stuff, and i don't know anyone in this church that actually does anything like that.

What's good about the book = it's super cool how he uses the example of Jesus and the wisdom from the Proverbs to make an argument for being more wise and (as he says) "Rabbinic" in our approach to others. Also, he really touches on big questions that people have (i.e. about sexuality and marraige, problem of evil, etc..) and helps the reader think through how to be wise in the face of such concerns. And I like that he is telling Christians not to just be defensive, and answer whatever question comes up - but he's telling Christians also to be investigative- to push past people's defenses and see what it is that they really think about life and love and faith and reality. In that way, the book has a great message that I really enjoy reading about.

I also really enjoyed all the example-conversations. That does get the mind firing. In most books, I think the examples can be a waste of time - but not in books like this one.

So, overall - I do recommend the book, especially in certain situations (i.e. the 4 types of people i mentioned above). But, I don't think the antithesis he's fighting is one that our church struggles with. In fact, I think that people in this church naturally employ the techniques he's talking about if they have love relationships with non-Christians. This book is about the heart and soul of friendship evangelism - and not just that; but all relationships in general ----- being others-focused! And pushing past the surface of things with questions.

Funfacts + Verses from Joshua

I took a break from reading books for now, as I am trying to finish up my Bible reading for this year. (A bit behind - I'm supposed to finish in April! and I still have 8 books to go). Anyhow, since I am not sharing any book reviews or teaching notes - I thought I would just share some fun facts and good verses from the final few books I am reading. Today's book was Joshua =
- A portion of land was given to 5 sisters in Joshua 17- What's funny about it is some of the names = One is named "Hoglah"; and one is named "Noah" - I didn't know Noah could be a girl's name.
- Caleb was 85 years old when he went and kicked some butt in Joshua 14 - he said he was just as strong as an 85 year old as he had been at age 40. He took the most difficult land with the largest people (giants) living in it.
- "Be very careful to love the Lord your God." Joshua 23:11
- "Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9
- The reason the "Valley of Achor" is called the "Valley of Achor" is because that is where Achan was killed. (Joshua 7)
- "And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve...But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." - Joshua 24:15
- When the "Commander of the Lord's Army" shows up in chapter 5; Joshua says - "Who are you for? Are you for us, or for our enemies?" and the "Commander" just answers, "No. But I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come." I think it's kind of funny that he answers those questions with "No." Some people believe this character to be the pre-incarnate Jesus.
- "And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them." Joshua 8:34-35 This is interesting for several reasons - it talks about the Pentatuch as already having been written (by Moses, by the way). Also, he shared everything with everyone - even children. That's a pretty cool picture.
- Joshua warned that Jericho should never be rebuilt - and if it was, that the person who rebuilt it would lose his children. This warning/prophecy came true in 1 Kings, when a builder lost his children during the re-construction of the city. It's not clear if they died of natural causes or were sacrificed in an unbiblical ritual.
- Reading this today made me want to tell the story of Jericho and Ai to my kids.
- "One man puts to flight a thousand, since it is the Lord your God who fights for you, just as He promised you." Joshua 23:10

Online Bible References

This is a great all-encompassing Bible resource - it's free, it's easily used and intuitive, it includes all versions and translations of the Bible including great commentary, atlas, visuals, etc.. Ryan uses this sometimes for CT. Also, it has a pretty usable children's Bible for daily devotions with kids.
http://www.biblos.com/

This is from the navigators, and under the "speakers" button on the left-hand side there are dozens of amazing audio teachings from guys like Francis Schaeffer, John Stott, Billy Graham, and more.
http://www.discipleshiplibrary.com/index.php

I've shared this one before - it has a pretty good commentary and some other resources =
http://www.discipleshiplibrary.com/index.php

Here's one that we read with our kids sometimes (A children's Bible) =
http://www.essex1.com/people/paul/bible.html

Here's Ray Stedman's library - his expository teachings are a great aid for Bible teachers who need new inspiration on a passage =
http://www.raystedman.org/

That's all I have for now - but, I'll ask around and see if there are other good ones to share.

What does being "spiritually dead" mean?

We had a discussion about this last night at home church. Ryan found this really interesting article/blog. It includes a number of verses. the Greek words used, and sets out the argument that this instigates pretty well. He also gives pretty convicing proof that non-Christians are still spiritual beings who have a "spirit" or a spiritual dimension. When the Bible describes us as being "spiritually dead" before accepting the Holy Spirit -- it means alienated, not without spirit.
Anyway, here is the blog for further reading: http://dtbrents.wordpress.com/category/what-it-means-to-be-spiritually-dead/

jill briscoe - 8 choices that will change a woman's life

The intro to the book is a bit cheesy and sugar-sweet; but the chapters are another story. Great, deep, hard-hitting, and biblical. There are certain moments when she talks about things (like the "Devil's cheese" left out to trap church mice) that I kind of inwardly groan - but if you can get past small moments like that; you can love this book. My only other complaint is that her own life may be un-relateable to most. She talks about being married to a husband who is a televangelist and flying all around the country doing speaking engagments, etc.. I can imagine a suffering person wanting to write her off for this - like, "Well, we can't all be Christian celebrities!" So, aside from those 2 small things - it's a very usable book. I'm even thinking of using it in my challenge group next year.
Choice #1 = To Resist Pain or Use it
Whether looking at verses about how a servant is not better than his master, or how we should consider it pure joy when we face all kinds of trials, the Scripture - especially the NT - is full of counter-cultural wisdom about suffering. This chapter confronts everything that is at the core of American belief and values. We are Americans with the unalienable right to pursue peace and happiness! But, Briscoe claims that while American Christians are praying, "God, get this trouble off my back!" - that other Christians around the world say instead, "God, strengthen my back to bear it".
She also quotes wisdom from some other great Christian thinkers =
"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." C.S. Lewis
"Not only is pain useful as a warning, it may also be an essential dimension in our richest experiences." Philip Yancey
One thing I really like about this chapter is that she spends a fair amount of time talking about serving other suffering people. Sometimes, when I read a book or chapter about Christian suffering - it turns me inward as I think about "woe is me". But, she is good at acknowledging that as Christians we will suffer; but that this life isn't all about us and our happiness. "Trouble trains us to serve troubled people." (p. 19)
She uses a few different Bible translations that I'm not as familiar with; and it can be nice to read familiar verses in a new way - such as:
"God sometimes uses sorrow in our lives to help us turn away from sin and seek eternal life." 2 Cor 7:10 TLB
"We can be full of joy here and now even in our trials and troubles. [Taken in the right spirit] these very things will give us patient endurance." Rom. 5:3 Phillips translation
"When the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow. So, let it grow, and don't try to squirm out of your problems. For when your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete." James 1:3-4 TLB
The discussion/prayer guide at the end of the chapter seemed quite useful and cool too.
She gave a metaphor for us that I liked a lot. She talked about a little girl playing around in a crowded train car. A traveler watched her and began to wonder who she belonged to - she was so well-adjusted and friendly with everyone it was hard to tell. But just then the train entered a tunnel and was filled with darkness. As that happened, the girl ran to a man at the front of the traincar. As the darkness came, she showed who she belonged to. And so will we if we run to God in our own dark times.

8 choices that will change a woman's life by: jill briscoe

I haven't read this book yet - so a review will have to wait. However, just skimming the set-up and chapters, etc.. it looks like a really good book for a women's cell to use and study from.

Her 8 choices are:
1. Resist pain or use it
2. Pursue wealth or grace
3. Speak wisely or foolishly
4. Value your time or fritter it away
5. Live for self or the Spirit
6. Develop God's gifts or waste them
7. Persevere under trials or protest your life
8. Stand for the truth or abandon it

These topics look great + would make for a super-cool cell series or challenge group study. The discussion/study guide thing at the end of each section is ok, but can be a bit hoaky. She has prayer excercises to do as a group and questions as well as Scriptures to read. This can be used with some wisdom - be careful about the cheese factor/ being patronizing. But, for the most part even the discussion guide looked use-able. So, I'm already for this book - even though I haven't carefully read the whole thing yet.

Jesus Christ and mythology part 2

I finished Bultmann's book today. The second half was not as offensive as the first half. In this section he describes his method of hermenuetics and defends against some potential complaints against his position.

He claims that to think about a supernatural being intervening in our world is to be a primitive person; and he wants to make the Bible easy to digest for non-primitive modern people.

"Of course, there are today some survivals and revivals of primitive thinking and superstition. But the preaching of the Church would make a disastrous mistake if it looked to such revivals and conformed to them. The nature of man is to be seen in modern literature, as, for instance, in the novels of Thomas Mann, Ernst Junger, Thomas Wilder, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Graham Greene and Albert Camus, or in the plays of Jean-Paul Sartre, Jean Anouilh, Jean Giraudoux, etc. Or let us think simply of the newspapers. Have you read anywhere in them that the political or social or economic events are preformed by supernatural powers such as God, angels, or demons? Such events are alwas ascribed to natural powers." (p.37)

Bultmann then describes how good hermenutics will be combined with existential philosophy. He takes an entire chapter to describe how we have to use what existential philosophy has taught us in our Bible interpreting.

In the final section, he brings up the following potential complaints that people may have when reading his book:
- Doesn't science change? Then how can science be a solid foundation for belief and Bible interpreting?
- Isn't this subjective arbitrariness?
- Isn't de-mythologizing just another way of saying rationalizing?
- Doesn't faith only have meaning if God truly exists outside our own ideas, and is able to act?

His answers to these objections are:
- Yes, science changes - but it's still the most reliable tool we have.
- No, because trusting in a supposed supernatural being would be true subjective arbitrariness ("Freedom of subjective arbitrariness believes itself to be secure precisely because it is not responsible to a transcendent power, because it believes itself to be master of the world through science and technology." p.42-43)
- No, because we are finding theoretical thoughts that we can agree with - we are just questioning God as a being with personal existance and ability to act.
 - He says that "to think of God is to think of our own personal experience" (p. 70) because God is something we create in our own souls. However, says Bultmann, God is still something outside of us - because He existed inside the souls of other people at other times too.

The whole book is pretty annoying and sacreligeous. He's a name-dropper and makes arguments based on what is "modern" or "reasonable". Funny that our modern culture today is completely different, (that book was written in the 50's) and yet people still make the same argument. I think that his goal in this book is to try and shame spiritual people for believing in the supernatural. He may as well just shout "That's so idiotic! What modern-day person could believe such a thing?!" We need to know how to make our stand in the face of such unreasoned peer pressure.