Surfing the Inner N8

If you’re looking to write a book on one of the toughest possible topics, you can’t find one much tougher than the often discussed and debated question: How can God be good, loving, all-powerful, and all-knowing since evil and suffering exist?

In a book that’s remarkable for its readability and clarity but also its scholarship and depth, Randy Alcorn tackles this whammy in If God Is Good.

In a work that constantly weaves in pertinent Scriptures, Alcorn addresses the question in a way that covers apologetics, philosophy, theology, and evangelism.  Loaded with interesting stories and packed with fantastic one-liners, Alcorn’s effort at addressing this huge question is surprisingly satisfying.

For me, the most important section comes on page 41 (where Alcorn is really just getting warmed up in this 500-page volume!).  Here, Alcorn points out that this whole question rests on the premise that God cannot have good reasons for allowing evil and suffering.  Alcorn challenges this assumption: “We may not understand why a good God would allow terrible suffering.  But this merely establishes that if there is a God, we do not know everything he knows.  Why should this surprise us?  Suppose we add only one premise to the argument that God is all powerful, all knowing, and all loving, and yet evil exists: God has a morally sufficient reason for permitting evil.”  In a book that is very well-organized and extremely thorough, this one point stood out above everything else.  If God has a reason for allowing evil and suffering, a reason that makes sense from an eternal perspective, then it’s perfectly consistent with His being good, all-knowing, all-powerful, and loving!

Even for its size, If God Is Good is highly readable from beginning to end.  It’s also so well organized that I’ll keep it on the shelf as a reference tool.

If you’re going to buy one book to help you wrestle with this big question, this is definitely the one I would recommend.

Note: I received a free copy of this book for review from Waterbrook Multnomah.  But they didn’t tell me what to say.  That would’ve been a lot easier, though, since this book was almost as long as the Old Testament.

Until recently I had never read anything by J.R.R. Tolkien.  So finally, at long last, I read The Hobbit.  Coming into it, I had no idea what to expect.  That’s a good thing, because it was very different from anything I’d ever read before.  Definitely a good book.  It seems to fit into a weird genre that’s only written by English people.  It was written for kids, but at an adult reading level.

Anyway, I don’t know what else to say about it.  It took me forever to read it–about six weeks!  Kind of makes me timid about tackling the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The other day I finished reading Stories: How Mennonites Came to Be by John D. Roth.  It’s one of the best church books I’ve ever read–it definitely deserves re-reading.

In order to avoid the common mistake of telling the Anabaptist story by starting in the sixteenth century, Roth opens up by relating the story of Jesus and His first followers, and summarizes the first three centuries of the Christian faith.  He then moves to the conversion of Constantine, the Roman emperor, and explains why that was a defining moment in the history of the church.

Roth provides an overview of the next thousand years, then explains the events of the Protestant Reformation.  Only then does he introduce the Anabaptist-Mennonite chapter of the story.  Indeed, only against the background of the early church, the Catholic church, and the Reformation can we really understand Anabaptists as the reformers of the Reformation.  Only in this context can we see the striking parallels between the early church and the sixteenth-century Anabaptist movement, and between the sixteenth-century movement and the position we find ourselves in today.  (The parallels with today’s Mennonite church can be seen in various periods all throughout the history of the Anabaptist movement.)

As I continued reading, I was really appreciative of the scope Roth uses to tell the Anabaptist-Mennonite story.  It really is unique!  He gives us the how and why of Anabaptists’ break with the Protestant reformers, gives a straightforward account of their persecution (neither exaggerated nor understated), and explains the scattering of the Anabaptist-Mennonite church across the globe and how this dispersion has affected the faith.

Consistent with the insight and depth of the book, Roth brings us up to the present day (very present–the book was published only 10 months ago) and helps us understand what impact our past has on our present and our future.  He explains the trademarks that distinguish Mennonites from other Christians and helps us to see them as the framework for understanding the future path of the church.

I won’t get into the details of Mennonite history and theology here, since this is just a review of the book and not a retelling of it.  But I strongly encourage you to check it out for yourself.  It’s a very informative, well-written, sensibly organized, fascinating handling of the Mennonite story.  It’s an easy read, but thought-provoking as well.  Several times I was struck by Roth’s insight and had to put the book down to reflect on the powerful truths he illuminated.

Whether you’re intimately familiar with the Anabaptist-Mennonite story or have never even heard of it, this book would be a great place to learn more about this amazing chapter in the story of God’s dealings with people.

Darren Plummer, a church planter in College Park, recently reviewed the latest book by Andy Stanley, still hot off the press.  I haven’t read it yet and I know you’re all anxious for a review of it, since Stanley is the best preacher and best writer of books about ministry, so I figured I’d point to this review until I devour the book and tell you all about it here.  Besides, Darren and I have very similar tastes.  He’s even a Dallas Cowboys fan!  Anyway, you can check it out here.