"Gilead" a novel of grace and love

I just finished reading the novel Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. It is the story of an elderly Congregationalist pastor in Gilead, Iowa, who was widowed but late in life he married again and had a small son. He knows he will die soon, so he writes to his little boy his life story. It's about life in the midwestern United States in the late 1800's and early 1900's.

I can see why it won the Pulitzer Prize. Simple yet complex, humorous yet sad, scandalous yet full of God's grace. A story of true love. My favorite line: "Grace is not so poor a thing that it cannot present itself in any number of ways."

"Thy will be done"

Albert Haase has an excellent chapter on making decisions and discerning God' will in his book, Living the Lord's Prayer: The Way of the Disciple. Chapter 6, "Thy Will Be Done on Earth as It is in Heaven," details three steps in the process of discerning God's will:
1) Awareness. We need to distance ourselves from our own selfishness, be faithful to commitments we have already made, and be sensitive to "plain old good sense."
2) Assessment. We need to prayerfully reflect on the decision, seeing what the scripture says about it, discussing it "with people who know us well and who might be affected by our decision" and, as one person said, "Trust your gut-- but use your head."
3) Action. When the time is right, make a decision. Don't make a decision if you are tired, depressed, or feeling anxious. Haase says, "it is ill-advised to make a faith-based decision when a storm swirls around us... the best decisions are made when our feet a firmly planted on the ground."
Haase shares that when he was struggling with whether to end his career as a missionary to China, because the security police in Beijing had discovered who he was, yet he felt like a failure to quit. Finally, he sensed it was time to return to the United States, and the moment he gave himself permission to say that, he felt free.
Great advice for all of us as we try to discern God's will for our lives.

This book blessed my life

Ben Young & Samuel Adams's book, Out of Control, has a very long subtitle: Finding Peace for the Physically Exhausted and Spiritually Strung Out. But the subtitle is accurate. They describe how our culture is out of control because rather than letting the greater efficiency afforded by technology such as cell phones and computers give us more time to rest, we have instead tried to cram even more activity into shorter time.
They describe seven symptoms of an "out of control" lifestyle: out of shape (physical), out of sorts (emotional/mental), out of touch (relational), out of time, out of focus, out of balance and out of order (spiritual). Then they confront the lies that keep us out of control, particularly the idea of pleasing the world to be successful and the idea that getting rest is laziness.
The rest of the book takes a pleasantly surprising turn, as it is NOT another "how-to" book with seven easy steps. Instead, they dig into the spiritual disciplines of the Bible, and encourage the reader to practice a real "Sabbath" and take time to unplug completely from technology in order to practice the other spiritual disciplines of solitude and prayer.
Young & Adams write with grace, encouraging the reader to try the principles, and to apply them slowly, and to not be disappointed if it takes time. They balance their idealism for a peaceful lifestyle with practical suggestions and real-life stories of people who have had success.
This book influenced me to become more serious about unplugging from technology for a large portion of the day on my day off in order to spend more authentic time with God. It was a truly rewarding experience that I pray I will continue to explore for a long time to come.

Inspiring devotional on the character of God

I was attending a writer's conference, and a publisher said that books often sell well because of marketing and famous authors, not because of the quality of the books. Someone asked the publisher to name a book that did not sell well but was such a quality book that he was glad it was published. The publisher said, "Yes, the book is Lord, Show Me Your Glory by Ethel Herr."
The book was out of print, so I ordered it from amazon.com. I'm glad I did.
I spent the year of 2008 going through this devotional (I finished a month early because I read ahead). A wonderful journey it was. The book is divided into 52 chapters to be used as 52 weeks of devotions. But each "Week" actually has two or three qualities of God to study, so it really amounts to about two or three devotionals for each week. For example, Week Four is a devotional on God is Carpenter, Potter, and a Working God, Week Twelve is on God as Living Bread and Manna, and Week Twenty is on Discipliner, Teacher/Master and Rabbi. You get the idea.
Herr has a very descriptive writing style. For example, in Week Eleven she describes God's omniscience by saying, "grace without God's omniscience would be as elusive as a hollow wind whistling through the broken window panes of an empty church" (p. 72). She also has keen insights into the character of God. In Week Eighteen, she says this about God as Resurrection and the Life: "So, when He chooses to let our dreams die so He can give us a resurrection rather than a healing, we sometimes feel abandoned" (p. 114). Each section lists scripture readings for further meditation on that particular quality of God. I found that looking up those scriptures was almost as enriching as the text of her book.
The experience of going through this book will help you understand the character of God in a powerful way. If you are looking for a practical devotional that is all about you and how you live your Christian life, this is not it. But if you are looking for a devotional that will make you forget yourself and will leave you in awe of our wondrous God, bowing before Him in worship, then find a used copy of this rare gem of a book online and order it.

"The Shack"

The Shack by William Paul Young is the "buzz" book of the year. Young basically "self-published" the book with his own publisher, Windblown Media, and now it has sold over a million copies, mostly by word of mouth.
The book is a deeply emotional story about why God allows suffering. I believe that Young does an excellent job in answering this question in the novel, which is probably why it has sold so well. Young imagines that a man named Mack who gets a note from God, asking him to return to the shack where his young daughter had been murdered. The man does, and finds answers to his questions and doubts about God's goodness.
However, some things about the book trouble people. I know one church library in Mississippi that has banned the book, and LifeWay Christian Stores sells the book but asks readers to read it with caution. Why?
Read the rest of this review in the first comment below...

Breaking the Missional Code

I just finished reading Breaking the Missional Code: How Your Church Can Become a Missionary in Your Community by Ed Stetzer and David Putman.
Ed Stetzer is an experienced church planter who did research for the North American Mission Board (NAMB) at the time that he wrote the book, and now does research for LifeWay Christian Resources and also consults with NAMB. David Putman is also an experienced church planter.
Stetzer and Putman challenge the reader to see North America as a mission field, and use the same techniques in North America that international missionaries use-- particularly understanding the culture and context of your environment and making sure that you do not allow cultural barriers to prevent you from getting the message to people. Too often, pastors have tried to imitate the methods of other successful pastors like Rick Warren or Bill Hybels, rather than trying to discover the unique culture of their own community (which is what they call "breaking the missional code") and then applying that knowledge to designing ministry for their own community. The authors stress that every community is different, and within each community there are different cultures that need different kinds of congregations. A truly missional church will recognize this and seek to plant other churches for other cultures, such as ethnic groups, postmoderns, multi-family housing dwellers, etc.
The authors stress that in today's culture that is changing from modern to postmodern, we should no longer see missions and evangelism as separate activities, nor should we see discipleship and evangelism as separate. To "break the missional code," we must see that postmodern people will often come to the gospel through a slow process, through building relationships and through Bible teaching, since they often come from a culture that is ignore of the Bible, although open to spiritual things. Postmoderns may actually worship, participate in community projects with a church, attend Bible study and listen to sermons for a year or two before being ready to make a commitment to Christ. Thus the missional church must see that missions and discipleship are part of the process of doing evangelism.
This was a thought-provoking and challenging book. Every church leader would benefit from reading this book.

There is no God-- wait, yes there IS a God!

I have heard Antony Flew's name many times over the years, because every time that I would read about a Christian apologist, it seemed that Antony Flew's name would come up as his atheist antagonist. So you can imagine my surprise when I opened my newspaper in December 2004 and read the news that Antony Flew had changed his mind and decided that he DID believe in God. What a Christmas gift to the Christian world! But what it really true? I later read that while Flew now believes in God, he has not accepted Christianity. I wondered, what caused this change, and where was he now in his thinking?
Thus I read Flew's new book There Is A God, with great interest to know what caused such an outspoken atheist scholar to change his mind. I was not disappointed.
While the book is only 160 pages (plus two appendices by other authors), it is thorough and deep in its content. Flew tells his own story of how he, the son of a Methodist minister in Britain, became an atheist out of disillusionment with how God could allow evil, particularly as he saw the atrocities in Nazi Germany in World War II. Flew went on to become a professor of philosophy and a writer of many influential books espousing atheism, teaching in universities in Great Britain, Canada, and finally in the United States, where he now resides. He followed the thinking of skeptics like David Hume, arguing that we must presume atheism is true and believers must prove there is a God.
So how did this atheist scholar convert to theism? Flew explains that one belief he has always held led to the change-- his belief in the words of Socrates: "We must follow the argument wherever it leads." (p. 22). As he debated and argued the issues with Christians, he gradually changed his mind as he "followed the argument" for three basic reasons, which form three of the chapters of the book:
1) The laws of nature indicate they were designed by the Mind of God. Flew quotes Paul Davies: "even the most atheistic scientist accepts as an act of faith the existence of a lawlike order in nature" (p. 107).
2) The finely-tuned universe that delicately balances life indicates it was designed by a Creator for us. He points out, for example, that if the speed of light or the mass of an electron had been the slightest degree different, then no planet would be capable of human life (p. 115).
3) The origin of life itself, with the amazingly complex communication systems of DNA cannot be explained by materialistic evolution, and only make sense if designed by God.
In addition to these three major reasons, Flew also cites the big-bang theory as scientific evidence that the universe had a beginning (p. 136). As for the problem of evil, Flew leaves the question open, but prefers the popular Christian explanation that "evil is always a possibility if human beings are truly free" (p. 156).
So has Antony Flew become a Christian? The best answer is not yet, but he is leaning that way. He says, "I am entirely open to learning more about the divine" (p. 156) and then he expresses his admiration for the person of Jesus Christ and the intellect of the apostle Paul, saying that if you want an omnipotent God "to set up a religion, it seems to me that this is the one to beat!" (p. 157).
The book has an appendix by Roy Abraham Varghese, giving a critique of the "new atheism" of bold writers such as Richard Dawkins. Appendix A is good, but even better is Appendix B by N. T. Wright, which explains why we should believe in Jesus Christ. Wright convincingly argues for belief in the authenticity of the Gospel accounts of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in a way that impresses Flew himself as "absolutely fresh." (p. 213).
I would agree. As much as I enjoyed Flew's book, I must say that Appendix B by N.T. Wright was worth the price of the book. My prayer is that Antony Flew will finally follow the argument of Wright as it leads him to embrace the claims of Jesus Christ on his life.

Vacation

I'm on vacation this week. I've been reading a book by Ed Stetzer about missions and a book by former atheist Antony Flew about how he changed his mind, and I've been enjoying the mountains in Tennessee and Virginia. Pictures and book reviews will be posted later. But since I'm on vacation, I'm getting off the computer for now...

"The Secret"

Australian author Rhonda Byrne has written a blockbuster bestseller book entitled The Secret. (Atria Books/Beyond Words, 2006). Byrne says that this secret has been known by great people throughout history, like Beethoven and Abraham Lincoln, the secret to getting what you want (although I’m not sure if we want to be deaf like Beethoven or assassinated like Lincoln, but I digress.) Popularized by people like Oprah Winfrey, The Secret teaches a New Age philosophy called “the law of attraction,” which is basically another way of talking about the power of positive thinking.
But before you rush out and buy Byrne’s book or watch her film, let me share the real secret with you. You can open your Bible to Philippians 4:12 and find that the secret has already been revealed.
In this verse, the apostle Paul says, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.” Aha! Here’s the secret. And it’s not in New Age philosophy, it’s in the Bible. What is the secret?

(To continue reading "The Secret," click on "Comments" below and read the first comment.)

And the Shofar Blew

I just finished reading And the Shofar Blew by Francine Rivers.
In the Old Testament, the prophets called people to repentance by blowing the shofar, or ram's horn, and calling for a sacred assembly. In Rivers's novel, the shofar is the horn on a semi truck that almost hits a man head-on, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
All Christians can fall into the ways of the world, and in this story, it's a pastor of a fast-growing church who falls into the ways of the world, blinded by ambition, and eventually he...well, I'll let you read the book and find out. The book was written in 2004, before the famous fall of Ted Haggard, yet in some ways reminds me of Haggard. In other ways, the pastor reminds me of the watered-down Christianity of Joel Osteen, although Osteen has not fallen as far as the Pastor Paul Hudson, the main character in the book.
Interestingly, a pastor named "David" has an adulterous affair, and a pastor named "Paul" has a Damascus Road experience, and a church elder named "Samuel" tries to warn him before his fall, and a faithful church member named "Steven" is hurt and in affect martyred because of the pastor's ambition. Francine Rivers knows how to use Biblical names with great symbolism in her novels. It reminds me of her use of Hosea in her novel, Redeeming Love.
This book is truly a wake-up call for pastors and church leaders. I'm glad I read it. I'm glad my wife, who had already read the book, said to me, "You're not like that jerk." But I'm still glad I read the book as a reminder of the pitfalls to avoid.

Best book I've read about the Cross

John R. W. Stott, pastor of All Soul's Anglican Church in London, is one of the most respected evangelical writers in Great Britain. I just finished reading his classic book, The Cross of Christ, and I found it to be the best book I have ever read about the Cross.

Stott writes as an evangelical pastor and scholar. While he thinks deeply, he writes with clarity and frequent illustrations. In fact, I used his book as the basis for a series of sermons on the cross that I preached recently.

Stott begins by making a passionate argument for the centrality of the cross to the Christian gospel. Then he explores the reasons for the crucifixion, and while describing many "images" of atonement, he zeroes in on Christ as a substitutionary sacrifice to satisfy both the holiness and love of God. His discussion in chapter seven of propitiation, redemption, justification and reconciliation is perhaps the best chapter of the book. The book concludes with chapters on what it means to live as followers of the One who died on the cross, with excellent explanations of service, overcoming evil, and understanding suffering.

Stott has read widely on the subject and he graciously comments on opposing views from liberal and Roman Catholic scholars. He takes other views seriously, but is faithful to an orthodox evangelical interpretation of scripture. I found it interesting that he disagrees with the popular view of Jesus' death as a "ransom" paid to the devil in a strictly literal sense. His discussion on the distinctions between Protestant and Roman Catholic views of justification is particularly insightful. Stott rejects the doctrine that God does not suffer, maintaining in chapter 13 that it is precisely because God did suffer on the cross that we are able to bear our suffering.

Many parts of the book read as if they were sermons. This is not surprising, since Stott is a pastor. Yet it comes together as a systematic theology of the cross. His conclusion makes an excellent sermon on how central the cross is to Paul's Letter to the Galatians.

This is a book that I will read again and again in the years to come.

Answering tough questions about Intelligent Design

William A. Dembski has a Ph.D. in mathematics and a Ph.D. in philosophy, and earned degrees in statistics, theology and psychology. He is a professor at Baylor University. He is also a leading thinker for the Intelligent Design movement.
Dembski shows that one can be an intellectual and can doubt Darwinism.
For many months, I have been reading his book, The Design Revolution: Answering the Toughest Questions About Intelligent Design. Although the book has short chapters, each chapter answering an objection to Intelligent Design, it has been slow going for me, as he delves into technical issues and frankly, I am not a scientist. So I would read a chapter, make notes, put the book down, and come back to it a week later. However, I appreciate science and its implications to theology, so I kept at it until I finished the book.
Dembski will quickly tell you that Intelligent Design does not require that there be a God. However, because it attacks Darwinism at its core, it is often dismissed as religion, rather than science. Dembski boldly and deftly takes on his critics, and anybody who actually reads the book cannot easily dismiss him.
The key concept in the book is what Dembski calls "specified complexity." He explains it this way on page 35: "An event exhibits specified complexity if it is contingent and therefore not necessary; if it is complex and therefore not readily repeatable by chance; and if it is specified in the sense of exhibiting an independently given pattern." Dembski then explains that design theorists have identified many systems of specified complexity in biology, including individual enzymes, metabolic pathways, and molecular machines like the bacterium flagellum. This concept is devastating to Darwinism, because blind natural forces cannot by themselves produce the specified complexity that we see in biology, but an intelligent designer could.
Dembski scorns Darwinian scientists who refuse to consider intelligent design simply because it violates their pre-conceived notions of naturalism: "A science that on a priori grounds refuses to consider the possibility of unembodied designers artificially limits what it can discover" (p. 195).
He also scorns Darwinists for making the rules to play by and then calling "foul" against Intelligent Design theorists for not following their rules. In particular, Darwinists will say that design theorists have not published their work in peer-reviewed literature. Dembski cites examples of design theorists have have indeed had their works published in peer-reviewed literature, such as Fritz Schaefer, the inventor of computational quantum chemistry (p. 300). However, he points out that as soon as the "establishment" finds out that a scientist is sympathetic to intelligent design, he finds it hard to get his work published, no matter how worthwhile his work may be. Says Dembski: "The old guard never opens its arms to a scientific revolution; they have too much invested in the old paradigm... Copernicus' De Revolutionibus, Galileo's On Two World Systems and Newton's Principia are cases in point. None of these works were peer-reviewed. Nor was that book by a retiring English biologist from the nineteenth century--an unconventional work entitled On the Origin of Species." (p. 305)

Islamic Imperialism

The greatest challenge to "peace on earth" and the greatest enemy of the Prince of Peace is, undoubtedly, radical Islam.
I just finished reading Islamic Imperialism: A History by Efraim Karsh, who is a professor of history at King's College, London. Karsh says that, "Whereas Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God, Muhammad used God's name to build an earthly kingdom" (p. 7). Then he proceeds to show how it has always been the dream of Muslims to conquer the world, by force if necessary. Karsh consistently shows this stream of what he calls "Islamic Imperialism," or the desire to conquer the world for Islam, from the time of Muhammad and the early caliphates who conquered much of Africa and southern Europe, all the way to Ayatollah Khomeini, Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. He shows that this understanding of jihad is not an isolated extreme view, but is very mainstream through Muslim culture.
Karsh says, "If, today, America is reviled in the Muslim world, it is not because of its specific policies but because, as the preeminent world power, it blocks the final realization of the age-old dream of regaining the lost glory of the caliphate" (p. 239). In other words, there is nothing we can do to make radicalized Muslims love us or make peace with us. They will only be satisfied with our complete submission to Islam.
A frightening but important book that teaches a difficult lesson that all Christians and Westerners need to understand.
However, I should point out that not all Muslims are radicalized. My father was pastor of a Baptist church in Israel for several years, and their experience was that more Arabs are open to accepting Christ than Jews! There are actually more Baptist churches in Israel that are Arab congregations, than Messianic Jewish churches.
So we should not give up on radical Muslims. Rather, it should be a call to fervent prayer for the conversion of Muslims to Christ. This may seem impossible to us, but Jesus said, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26).
Saul of Tarsus was a Jew who was radicalized in his opposition to Christianity. But when he finally came to Christ, he became the greatest missionary of the early church. Let us pray that God will do a similar work among the Muslim world.

The Unchurched Next Door

I recently finished reading The Unchurched Next Door by Thom Rainer. I had previously read his books Surprising Insights from the Unchurched and Simple Church, and I found his research to be very illuminating in those books. The same is true of this book.
For this project, Rainer had a team of interviewers conduct extensive one-on-one surveys with unchurched Americans from a wide variety of backgrounds. Rainer classifies them into five categories of unchurched. These are classified on the "Rainer scale" from a U5 (highly resistant and antogonistic to the gospel) to a U1 (high receptive to the gospel.) His researchers found that only 5% of Americans were U5's (antogonistic), and that among the remaining 95% of the unchurched, the majority would likely come to church if somebody they knew invited them and offered to go with them into the building. Here was the most interesting statistic in the book-- Answers to the question, would you be likely to go to church if invited:
U5 (antogonistic): 0% very likely, 20% somewhat likely, for a total of 20%
U4 (resistant but not antagonistic): 17% very likely, 45% somewhat likely, for a total of 62%
U3 (neutral): 23% very likely, 63% somewhat likely, for a total of 86%
U2 (receptive): 46% very likely, 51% somewhat likely, for a total of 97%
U1 (highly receptive): 52% very likely, 45% somewhat likely, for a total of 97%
Over and over again, Rainer pleads in this book for Christians to invite their friends to church. His plea needs to be heard.

Good review of Joel Osteen's new book

Tim Challies has written an insightful review of Joel Osteen's new book, Become a Better You, at his blog, Challies.com.

Thanks to Reva Daniel for pointing it out to me. Challies hits the nail on the head. Please go read Challies' review, and it will save you wasting time reading Osteen's book.

Prayer: Does it make any difference?

Philip Yancey has done it again. His book The Jesus I Never Knew is the best book I have read on Jesus. His book, What's So Amazing About Grace? is the best book I have read about grace. Now his book, Prayer: Does it make any difference? is the best book I have read on prayer. That is a strong statement for me to make, even as a person who loves the writings of Philip Yancey. I have read dozens of great books on prayer, including great books by people like Richard Foster, Ole Hallesby, Bill Hybels and Oswald Chambers.

What sets Yancey's book apart is his brutal honesty about the struggles people have with prayer, balanced with inspiring stories of how prayer has changed people's lives. Yancey is particularly self-effacing about his own struggles with prayer and his feelings of inadequacy in failing to pray. Yet by the end of the book, it is apparent that Yancey is much more of a prayer warrior than he admits at first.

The books' 22 chapters are divided into five parts. Part One, "Keeping Company with God," explores what prayer is. He points out that Jesus "virtually invented private prayer" (p. 63).

Part Two, "Unraveling the Mysteries," discusses frustrations and questions that people have about the effectiveness of prayer. He gives a disarmingly profound answer to those who ask why we should bother to pray when some prayers seem unanswered: "Why pray? Because Jesus did" (p. 78). Later in the book he gives another simple but true answer: "Why pray? God likes to be asked" (p. 143).

Part Three, "The Language of Prayer," discusses how to pray. He gives great practical advice on handling distractions to prayer, and reminds the reader that there is no right way to pray, because different styles of prayer fit different personalities. "Keep it simple, keep it honest, and keep it up" he advises (p. 191).

Part Four, "Prayer Dilemmas," returns to questions people have about prayer, especially unanswered prayer. I would disagree slightly with his defintion of "unanswered prayer," as he includes in that definition prayers that receive a "no" answer. Yancey's approach to prayer for physical healing is balanced and insightful, as he reveals scientific research showing healing that cannot be explained, while recognizing the importance of using medicine and how God usually works through natural processes.

Part Five, "The Practice of Prayer," provides motivation for faithful praying.

Yancey's writing includes frequent illustrations from a variety of sources, from popular culture to literature to world history. Being a famous author and editor for Christianity Today, Yancey has received many letters about prayer, and he shares this correspondence throughout the book. One unique quality about this book is that each chapter includes a couple of sidebars written by others, sharing personal experiences in prayer. For example, on p. 224-225 a prostitute whose prayer for deliverence resulted in her miraculous salvation. Although each sidebar story can be read alone, they relate to the chapters where they are inserted.

I disagree with Yancey in chapter 7, when he discusses Abraham's prayer that "changed" God's mind. Yancey does not notice that Genesis 18:33 says that it is God who ended the conversation with Abraham, not Abraham with God, so God did not change His mind.Also, I believe that Yancey misinterprets Job 21:15 on p. 95. There he says that Job asks "What would we gain by praying to him?" However, the context of the chapter implies that Job quotes the wicked in this passage; Job does not say that he himself questions prayer.

It is remarkable that these were the only places where I disagreed with Yancey, because he makes bold and strong statements throughout the book. I am sure many people will be offended or disagree with some things he said, just because he asserts so many strong opinions. But this is one of the values of the book: Yancey stimulates you to think deeply about prayer, and challenges your preconceived notions. Yet he does so while remaining fiercely loyal to the Bible's teachings on prayer.

In summary, this book is destined to be a classic book on prayer, useful for group study or personal review and study over and over again.

When intelligence is unintelligible

I love this quote by William A. Dembski in his book, The Design Revolution. Writing about Darwinists who are skeptics of intelligent design, he says:
"Thus, for the skeptic, the world is intelligible only if it starts off without intelligence and then evolves intelligence. If it starts out with intelligence and evolves intelligence because of a prior intelligence, then, for the skeptic, the world becomes unintelligible." (William A. Demski, The Design Revolution, Downer's Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2004, p. 202.)

How can I criticize Mother Teresa?

I just finished reading Mother Teresa: A Simple Path. I was asked to read this book to see if it should be placed in our church library. I am recommending that we do put it in the library because of its positive elements and for the Christian reader to be informed about her historical work, but with a statement of caution in the flyleaf. Why is that?

Mother Teresa is well known for her work with "the poorest of the poor" in Calcutta, India and around the world, for which she received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. This book is a collection of thoughts by Mother Teresa and her followers on her philosophy of life and ministry. This path is summed up on page 1 of the book this way: "The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, and the fruit of service is peace."

The book is inspiring in its devotion to love the poor by loving Jesus Christ through the poor. There are many inspiring testimonies from volunteers, prayers, and simple statements that show how she kept her focus on her mission. She had a wonderful appreciation for the value of every human life, including the unborn. On p. 55 she asks why people worry about children being killed in wars but do not oppose mothers killing their own children.

I hesitate to say anything critical about Mother Teresa, because she has done far more for the needy in the name of Jesus than I have. However, I must point out that in an attempt to be non-judgmental, Mother Teresa falls into the error of universalism. That is, she teaches that any religion is an equally valid way to get to Heaven. For example, on p. 31 she says, "I've always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic." This contradicts the words of Jesus, who said He was the only way to the Father (John 14:6), and the words of the apostle Paul, who said that there is salvation in no other name than the name of Jesus (Acts 4:12). We should not be surprised that Mother Teresa takes this viewpoint, as universalism is a common view of salvation among Roman Catholics. Nevertheless, Protestants who are inspired by her devotion should be cautious of her as a theologian.

Since Mother Teresa has died, she will no doubt be made a "saint" by the Roman Catholic Church (actually all believers are called "saints" in scripture, as we see in Philippians 1:1.) Her work is truly inspiring and deserving of recognition. However, her teaching about salvation sadly falls short of the teachings of the Bible.