Book Review - The Bible Tells Me So

I just finished reading The Bible Tells Me So by Peter Enns, a college professor who writes and lectures on the Bible and Christianity.

I first heard of Enns in association with BioLogos, a faith-based group with "an evolutionary understanding of God's creation."

The subtitle of this book is Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It.  I like that Enns criticizes the popular evangelical approach to the Bible as a book of rules and knowledge that needs to be defended.

However, even though he has some good things to say, I disagree with Enns's academic and intellectual approach.  

First, in each short chapter, Enns throws out all types of ideas and objections to traditional Bible teachings and history.  He pulls verses out of context, makes some things sound dumb, and just trivializes parts of my Bible.  This approach can be harmful and deceptive to anyone who reads the Bible but isn't aware of the Bible's set-up, it's overview, and it's many genres.

Second, Enns blames the Bible's writers for wrongly portraying God and His character.  Enns wants to "let God off the hook" in dealing with tough Biblical issues...as if God can't handle it!  

Third, Enns touches on the gospel message, but not enough for me.  In every book I read and in every sermon or talk I hear, I'm always looking for a clear gospel message.  For a Christian, that's the main thing. 

Finally, after throwing out all sorts of doubt, in the last chapter Enns does an about-face and shares some real truths about Christianity and the Bible:

It is a book where we meet God.  It brings hope, encouragement, knowledge, and deep truth...struggling in some way seems like something we should expect on our own spiritual journey.

But for me, that last chapter was too little, too late. 

From the beginning of the book, Enns should have emphasized the following:

• When reading and critiquing old and historical texts, benefit of doubt is given to the text. 
• The Bible is a book of abundance and depth.  It's God's very Word, and it's powerful.  It affects people.
• The central focus of the Bible is man's sinfulness and how to get right with God.  It's about Jesus dying for our sins.  It's about God's love for us.

Ultimately, the Bible isn't meant to be a history lesson, especially a lesson that causes doubt and confusion.  

For God's Word is a diagnosis of our heart.  

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  Hebrews 4:12

While I appreciate some of the things that Enns writes, I don't appreciate or agree with his approach or the tone of his book.

On Whom Do You Put Your Trust?

The Assyrians pose this question to the Israelites and to King Hezekiah: 

On what do you rest this trust of yours?  Isaiah 36:4b

Previously, while in the wilderness for forty years, the Israelites were forced to trust in the Lord, and He provided for them.

They didn't have to work the ground for their food, because their daily bread rained down from heaven.  They didn't spin to make their clothes, because their clothes and their shoes didn't wear out.


So knowing about God's provision in previous situations, King Hezekiah could pray and trust that God would provide in the current crisis.

But what about me?

On what do you rest this trust of yours?  Isaiah 36:4b

...it's a question we all should ask ourselves.

It's easy to say that I trust in my God especially when life is going well.  When I'm provided for, when everyone is healthy...well, God is good and I trust Him.

But when something disrupts my life, even in a small way, suddenly trust isn't so easy.

I want to trust my Lord, especially when life is uncomfortable and uncertain, or when tragedy hits.

I want to trust when I struggle with my own sins.

But my flesh fights against bringing God's Word to mind.  It fights against remembering the gospel.

In these difficult situations, how do I find trust and peace, or do I find it?

Like Hezekiah, I've learned and I've experienced that my Lord can be trusted.  When I've cried out and prayed, even about crazy things or hard things, He's answered.  

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!  You have given me relief when I was in distress.  Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!  Psalm 4:1   

Sometimes His answer isn't the answer I'm looking for; but His answer is always better and often surprising.

And it's reading and hearing His Word that remind me that He's faithful; it's His Word that pushes me to remember, to know, to trust Him.  It's His Word and truth that give me comfort.  

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?  Romans 8:31–32

And that's the most surprising answer, that God didn't spare His own Son.

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.                 1 Corinthians 1:18

On whom do you put your trust?  I look to the crucified, the risen, the ascended Christ.  I look to Jesus. 

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  Galatians 2:20

Groundhog Day - Is it Worth the Trip?

It wasn't until I moved to Pennsylvania that I learned that Groundhog Day was a real thing.  I'd seen the movie about the man who lived February 2nd over and over again, but I didn't understand what the day was about until I tuned in and watched the live celebration from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

At 6am, on the morning of February 2nd, anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 people gather at Gobbler's Knob, the place where Phil, the famous groundhog, sleeps.  It's cold, dark, and crowded.  

And it's a big party.  There's the National Anthem; there's fireworks with Star Wars music, and singing and dancing.  The celebration part lasts about 90 minutes.

But what's the draw?  Is it worth the trip to see a groundhog predict the weather?

I confess.  Although I rarely miss a Sunday service, I don't always want to go to church.  The novelty of attending - especially of being at the same church with the same people, year after year - that novelty wears off.  

Living and worshiping with other sinners - and people living with me, another sinner - it's not always fun or comfortable.  It's not a party like Groundhog Day.

But neither is a church service based on folklore or legend.  A worship service has substance, and God's Word is read and preached.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.  2 Timothy 3:16–17

In the church, I hear about His love and forgiveness for me, His love for other people.  And I learn to love and to forgive.  

It's not the fun and exciting events that grow and sustain faith.  It's the week after week after week, the worship, the feeding, the fellowship, the struggles - these build faith and are my reality.  

And while there's nothing wrong with doing something fun... well, worshiping the King of Kings, the Creator of the Universe, my Savior and Lord Jesus - that's a big deal and worth the trip every Sunday. 

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.  And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Hebrews 10:23–25

Suffering and Meaning in Life

I just finished two books, both on suffering. 

Man's Search for Meaning, written by Victor E. Frankl, is a book often recommended by business and successful people.  

Victor Frankl was a psychiatrist who lived in Vienna during the mid-1900s.  He also survived three years in a concentration camp.  His book combines those two aspects of his life.

In The Problem of Suffering: A Father's Hope, author Gregory P. Schulz shares his story and his feelings about the death of two of his children.

Grieving people suffer.  Dr. Schulz writes in such a manner that I, the reader, could almost feel his grief.  


These books deal with two of the hardest subjects on suffering.  Victor Frankl experiences the evils of mankind in the horrors of a concentration camp.  Dr. Schulz knows the pain and the grief of watching two of his children suffer and then die untimely deaths.

And we just don't understand why this happens. 

In his book, Frankl contends that people have the need, not just to survive, but to have significance and meaning in their lives. 

But "significance and meaning in suffering" fly in the face of today's popular culture.  Social media has convinced us that everyone is happy, that we should always be having fun, that we're successful, beautiful, and that there's no sorrow in our lives.

We even hide our suffering and pain.  Frankl suggests that we're ashamed of suffering; suffering makes other people uncomfortable.

But Frankl believes there's a meaning to suffering.  And he wants the suffering person to find that meaning. 

The difficult part in writing about this topic is that my words could come across as intending to diminish the reality of personal suffering.  Even the idea of "meaning in suffering" can be seen as an attempt to ease that suffering.

Nevertheless, I think it's because we suffer that we also have hope.  We hope for something better beyond our suffering and beyond this life.

And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.  For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  Romans 5:5-6

Also, as Christians, when we share our suffering with one another, we're bonded together, and we're strengthened in our faith and love. 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.   2 Corinthians 1:3–4

About Jesus, Isaiah says that He was...

a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.  Isaiah 53:3b

Jesus, our Lord, also knows our sorrows; His Word is our comfort.

And finally, I like what Dr. Schulz says about Jesus, grief, and death.

As very God of very God He could - and did! - do something about His grief.  

The Bible relates several accounts of Jesus coming face-to-face with death, including the death of a friend.  And Jesus, our Lord, our God - He raised people from the dead!  He brought them back to life.

And that's our hope and our promise too.  It's for us, for our children, our families, friends, our church, the world.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.   John 3:16–17