Books

Book Review: "Twelve Ordinary Men" by John MacArthur

Jason Ketteman — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 22:38:24 GMT

I recently (and finally) finished "Twelve Ordinary Men" by John MacArthur .

I'll start by stating that for me, this book was a bit of a slow read. Perhaps it was something I did subconsciously so I could absorb more of the details he packs into this book. While it's positive that there's much information here, I usually pick up and put down a book in much less time than this one required and it kind of annoyed me. It's probably just a personal thing, but if you notice something similar, you at least have been warned and won't be surprised.

That said, it's certainly a most interesting book; lowering these men from the pedestals we usually put them on to a level we can approach and study them reveals facets of these men that we either didn't know, ignore, gloss over, or forget.

As such, I truly feel that I know these men more intimately than I have before. Not only can I identify with all of them to some degree (which is both good and bad), MacArthur gave me a sense of not just their characteristics, but their personality. I put the book down imagining which disciples I would have personally gotten along with. On the other hand, it seems at times like MacArthur "makes up" or at least infers and deduces a lot of the personalities and characteristics of many of the disciples. I don't disagree with his observations - they just seemed to be pulled out of thin air which, is not very "MacArthur".

I say it's not very "MacArthur" because MacArthur is a master of Scripture references and certainly uses Scripture in this book every opportunity he has. He not only references familiar verses, but has a command of leveraging more obscure references, making them familiar to us, and then drawing his conclusion from it. In this book, like most of his works, he references countless verses, Bible stories, and principles in his work. Very solid.

On the other hand, I'd appreciate better cross-references with the extra-Biblical references that MacArthur uses. I realize his writing style is to the general every-man and most may not want to get bogged down in such details, but I think a citations page with references is hardly asking too much. He does have a small citations page, but it's quite a small listing of the formal quotes rather than sources that he draws from or refers.

Overall, I appreciated the technique of analysis of the person followed by an "application" section very effective. It served to draw out what we might learn from a particular disciple or how he grew and changed over time from what he was (when Christ called him) to late in his ministry when the disciple was matured in his faith (well, everyone but one).

One odd thing, I sensed a bit of repetitiveness from MacArthur in some of his storytelling. Part of it may have been that the same stories involved multiple disciples. Another part of it may have been to use "repetition" to reinforce some concepts. Perhaps it was his "for the every-man" approach that assumed a lower level of reading ability or memory. In any case, I always remembered a story he'd just referenced a few pages ago. Yet he fully explained the same story, verse, or situation multiple times. Minor annoyance.

I found "Twelve Ordinary Men" to be a great read, even if a bit slow. It's rewarding to see these...well, quite ordinary men be chosen, refined, fail, be forgiven, doubt, be restored, boast, be humbled, be prideful, yet be blessed and ultimately, become the men that our Lord God Jesus Christ wanted them to become. It's a path that we can all follow, if we begin as they did - receive His calling. Accept His Lordship. Follow His Word. These men were not perfect, but they were Christ's. Christ protected them, provided for them, taught them, and guided them. Christ loved them when many were daft and at times nearly unlovable.

These disciples are not untouchable demigods - they are VERY identifiable. Perhaps a bit too much at times. All 12 of them, unfortunately. I'll probably post some thoughts after reading this book that didn't really fit into the context of a review (a little too personal) soon.

Book lists by smart guys...

Jason Ketteman — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 11:14:42 GMT

In a recent post , I listed out some of the books I was impacted by. In similar form, I discovered a great little find of books that other leaders in the Christian community recommend.

I ran across this gem at a favorite website of mine, Discerning Reader . While the site as a whole is useful to get a quick review of a lot of books from folks with a stated worldview similar to my own, I particularly value seeing what respected and esteemed thought leaders I'm already familiar with and that have a proven track record of being God-focused in their work have on their book stacks.

While the list of notables on this list is growing, it's already got the likes of Tom Ascol, R.C. Sproul, and John MacArthur on it. I think that's awesome.

The LAST thing I need is more books to NOT get through, but I love this. How great!

Any way, happy reading!

Later.

Book Review: "Blue Like Jazz" by Donald Miller

Jason Ketteman — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 09:24:16 GMT

"Blue Like Jazz" has received a lot of attention fairly steadily since it's publishing in 2003. It's STILL (as of this writing) #104 on Amazon.com's Top Books (volume sold) list. Has there been a lot of mainstream media attention? Not that I've seen. It's largely been a grass-roots, word of mouth scenario where folks just talk about this book.

What do they say? Well, you're not likely to find a lot of consensus. By many, it could be considered somewhat "offensive". At minimum, it's a little irreverent. Others see a long-needed shove at the "institution of religion".

It would be easy to stereotype about how certain groups might react to this book. It would be easy to dismiss it as counter-culture, Emerging Church, or other non-sense. It would be simplistic to say that it's written just for the "shock value" to the existing Church.

To some degree, it is all of those things. Miller has a conversational writing style that I enjoyed. Certainly, some of the stories he includes are a little nonsensical. There is an "anti-establishment" air about the stories he tells. If you compare the situations he describes with what some state as the reasons for the "Emerging Church", they sound similar...to a point.

The key difference is that Miller gets to the core of what Christianity is in real-life while removing the shells and husks that man has constructed around Religion. He seems to want to say that there's a difference between being a Christian and just being religious (which, he's correct) and shows struggles in how to live out that difference.

Personally, I liked it. It is somewhere between the Emerging Church and fundamentalism in that it rejects much of the traditions/rules/legalism, but doesn't stray into the "whatever works for you", ecumenicalism junk.

Ultimately, it's a picture of growth towards becoming a Christian into becoming a "mature" Christian and the questions that we all deal and wrestle with.

I will say, however, that this book is NOT about Christian growth, evangelism, or how to fix the Church. I think its value comes from the need for Christians, especially those of us who were blessed by God to have been raised being taught about Him, to remember that not everyone thinks like you do. You may have been baptized at 5. You may have memorized your catechisms before you were 8. You may have felt called to full-time ministry or to be an overseas missionary by 10. But there are many in this world who didn't know God until they were a teenager. There are many in this world who come to know God as established, routined, in-a-rut, baggage-carrying adults.

Over all, I like the book, but I struggle to fully appreciate where Miller is coming from since I didn't grow up and live my life like he did. Praise God, I was saved very young. But I think that mystery is exactly why I like it. More people are in Miller's shoes than mine and those are the people I'm called to reach for Christ.

Later.

Books...

Jason Ketteman — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 11:04:50 GMT

I've been wanting to post more about the books I've been reading, so this seemed like an appropriate start, thanks to my friend Tim

One book that changed your life:
Aside from the Bible, Visioneering," by Andy Stanley
One book that you have read more than once:
"The Purpose Driven Life," by Rick Warren
One book that you would want on a desert island:
I can't substitute the Bible, NASB please!
One book that made you laugh:
...don't know.
One book that made you cry:
The Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins
One book that you wish would have been written:
Since I do write, I rarely think of what I wish I would have written, but I frequently wish I could write more. I have many ideas I want to pursue. Hopefully, one day...
One book that you wish would have never been written:
"the DaVinci Code," by Dan Brown [So much confusion...]
One book that you are currently reading:
"Twelve Ordinary Men," by John MacArthur
One book you’ve been meaning to read:
So many! "Pilgrim's Progress," by John Bunyan is probably tops and I have it. "If you want to walk on water, you have to get out of the boat," by John Ortberg is one I want to read but don't have yet.
Rather than "Tag five other people:", how about you leave your list in the comments?

Later.