Today in Blogworld 11.01.12

“You Can’t Judge a Person’s Salvation”…And Other Stupid Statements

Michael Patton continues his series analyzing what he considers “stupid statements”.  I’ve heard this one a good many of times and it’s frustrating almost every time.  I appreciated this article.

What Was Luther Doing When He Nailed His 95 Theses to the Wittenberg Door?

For the longest time I thought that once Luther’s mallet hit the nail and those 95 theses stuck to the door that the Reformation was underway.  Not true.  I was thinking about posting on this yesterday but JT beat me to it—and probably did a better job at it anyways. 

Free Calvin eBooks

DG keeps churning out free eBooks and I’m going to keep linking to them.  Here are three of them.  I’ve skimmed two of those three and they are great reads.

Why Your Friends are Pro-Choice (And What to Do About It)

Scott Klusendorf reflects on a recent talk he gave at a secular university.  Here he talks about the millions of people that personally dislike abortion but do not identify as pro-life. 

I agree little girl, I agree:

Jared, What If My Legs Don’t Work To Get In the Tent?

On Wednesday I linked to what I consider a very helpful piece by Jared Wilson on the lame excuse of “I’m Not Much of a Reader”.  In his article he used this metaphor:

Imagine I showed you a tent across the yard. You can see a glow emanating from its zippered door. “Inside that tent,” I said, “is God himself. He has something to say to you. You just have to go inside the tent, and the God of the Universe will reveal the mystery of the ages to you.” And then imagine you were to say, “I’m not much of a walker. I prefer sitting to walking.”

One of our readers commented that the article seemed a little one sided, asking, “What if you really don't learn that way? What if the word doesn't come alive to you unless you are hearing it preached? What if you struggle with illiteracy or have a limited vocabulary?”

Those are very real struggles and I don’t think Jared is dismissing them.  The majority of Jared’s post is really dealing with “I don’t want to” more than “I can’t”.  But I think he also astutely cuts through some of the excuses that people make.  Often “I can’t” is code for “I don’t want to”. 

Extending the Metaphor

So I took a little liberty and added something to Jared’s metaphor.  Again, imagine that someone told you that “God Himself is inside that tent and will reveal the mystery of the ages to you”.  Unfortunately, though, you cannot walk.  It’s not that you prefer sitting to walking.  It’s that you legitimately cannot put one leg in front of the other and walk to that tent.  What then? 

Here is where I think Jared’s metaphor is so valuable; it helps to expose the truth behind those excuses.  If someone told you that the God of the Universe were in that tent across the street but you couldn’t walk there, I guarantee that if you really desired to get in that tent you’d use any means necessary to do it.  You would be calling up that 1-800 number on television and ordering yourself a Rascal.  You’d barrel roll if you had to.  You would even call somebody that you couldn’t stand and ask them for a ride.  You would do whatever it took to get in that tent. 

The question really is, “Do you want to get in that tent?”  You don’t have to repent because it is toil.  But repentance might be necessary if you’re using lame legs as an excuse to not get into that tent. 

Jared’s not saying that people need to be Bible scholars or even to read chapters per day.  He’s saying that if you really value the Lord you’ll do whatever it takes to get in the tent.  For some people “getting in the tent” might mean reading two verses and chewing on them all day.  For other people “getting in the tent” might be learning to master Philippians in the Greek language.  But for either person the goal isn’t to see how much of the Word you can master.  The goal is to get into the tent and have the Lord and His Word master you, no matter what it takes to get in there.  

An Idiot’s Guide to Week 9 #NFL Predictions

A 10 win week barely eluded me again last week.  I called the Packers and Jags being a close game but totally blew it on the Pats and Rams being close.  Picked the Brownies upsetting the Chargers and the Niners blowing out the Cards.  Got Titus Young right, CJ2K was somewhat shut down, Drew couldn’t hang with Peyton (missed that one), Jamaal Charles scampered for 196 yards less than 200, and Romo almost had the 4th quarter comeback.  Not bad for a football idiot.  My fantasy football team also improved to 3-5.  This week I’m going for 10 wins:

Chargers over Chiefs (want to pick the Chiefs though)
Broncos over Bengals
Browns over Ravens
Packers over Cards
Titans over Bears (upset of the week)
Colts over Dolphins
Panthers over Redskins
Lions over Jaguars (close though)
Texans over Bills (blowout)
Bucs over Raiders
Seahawks over Vikings
Steelers over Giants
Falcons over Cowboys
Saints over Eagles

Fantasy Stud of the Week: Cam Newton
Fantasy Sleeper of the Week: Jackie Battle

Other Crazy Picks:

3 TD’s for Jackie Battle after Chief turnovers
Trent Richardson goes for 200 total yards
Ray Rice is surprisingly shut down
Vincent Jackson has a big day 8/140/2 TD’s
Lions need another 4th quarter comeback to put away the Jags
Christian Ponder’s turnovers cost the Vikings
Giants are held to three field goals against Steelers
If not for Cam Newton’s 5 TD’s the fantasy stud would have been Arian Foster

Review of Shame Interrupted

A few weeks ago I saw something in the face of my son that I have experienced in my own heart a million times over; shame.  He had just done something that was rather inappropriate and it was exposed.  Nothing horrible, mind you, he’s only four.  So the things he is ashamed of are things like losing at Beyblade or accidentally running through the house naked when we have company over.  But he still experiences shame.  And on that day he wore it on his face.  It broke my heart. 

That same heart break was heightened for me over a period of time as I reflected on the first few chapters of Ed Welch’s book Shame Interrupted.  Welch takes the reader places that you probably do not want to go.  In the second chapter, Shame Exposed, Welch uncovers the mask and asks probing questions to help the reader identify shame.  I checked almost every one of them. 

Shame has (or maybe I should say “had”) become a major part of who I am as a person.  Those first chapters exposed things that I had preferred to stay in the darkness.  The Spirit of Freedom used the writing of Welch to pry those things into the light.  Reading through those first few chapters of Shame Interrupted was very difficult. 

I knew where Welch was going with this and it felt like he couldn’t get there fast enough.  But he kept probing and twisting and exposing.  Yes, in order to be healed it must be exposed.  And that is what Welch did. 

Finally, Welch takes the reader to Jesus for healing.  For the next two hundred or so pages the reader is shown how Jesus relates to our shame and ultimately how he transforms it and in the process transforms us. 

Summary

Honestly the format of the book is a little difficult to track.  I think that a clue is given in chapter 20 when Welch speaks of the “basic rhythm of life with the new King and in the new Kingdom”.  He notes that this rhythm goes like this:

Put your shame into words.

Turn to your rescuer

               Know him.

               Be associate with him.

               Get your feet washed. 

               Persevere—get ready to fight.

Turn towards others: Love. 

That is the basic structure of the book.  After exposing our shame and helping the reader “put it into words”, Welch spends the remainder of the book assisting the reader in that turn towards Jesus.  The book seems to be a little less intentional about outlining what it looks like to “turn towards others” but those principles are smattered throughout the reading. 

My Take

I read this book a few months ago.  Normally, I review books pretty quickly after reading them.  This book was different.  It was one of those life shaping books.  Those first few chapters came to me at a unique time in my life when I had just finished reading a few other books that were related to an issue from my past that I preferred to keep buried. 

Honestly, the book tormented my soul.  Not for anything Welch did that was in error.  This was a necessary bruising that I was enduring.  Eventually, I was able to begin the process of healing and plod through the rest of the book.  I wish that I could say that this book provided healing by pointing me to Jesus.  I think that perhaps it could have—but the Lord chose to use other means to provide healing.  He used Welch to provide the exposing and painful side of healing. 

Welch does do an apt job of presenting Christ.  If you came to this book raw with shame and were able to quickly go through the first six or seven chapters I think you would find immense healing.  But as it was, I came to the book somewhat cold and deadened to these events of the past.  I couldn’t quickly jaunt through those first six or seven chapters.  The Lord had me in a spot ripe for exposure and he used Welch to shine the light on my shame and force me to face it. 

Should You Buy It?

I highly recommend this book.  I would have preferred it to be a little bit shorter and hope that in the future CCEF comes out with a condensed version.  That would be easier to giveaway in counseling sessions.  As it is 352 pages can be really daunting to give to somebody. 

If you think that you do not need this book you probably do.  I doubt there will be a large line at the bookstore of people waiting to purchase a book that will completely ravage your soul, but it is necessary.  Your shame needs to be exposed. 

If your shame already has been exposed and you want to know how to find healing in Jesus then Welch is a great guide to point you to the Savior.  I believe that you will find healing in this book—or better yet, be warmly introduced to the One that will provide ultimate healing. 

You can get the book on your Kindle for under 10 bucks or the book format for 17.99 (which is worth it for a 352 page book). 

I also invite you to check out the trailer for the book:

How to Put Words to Your Shame

Ed Welch in his book, Shame Interrupted, gives a few helpful questions to ask to try to put words to a shameful event. 

What happened?

How do you still carry it with you?

• How do you feel like an outcast?
• How do you feel exposed?
• How do you feel dirty?
• How do you feel worthless, like nothing?
• How have you tried to manage these experiences in the past?
• Has Jesus ever been part of how you managed shame?

How does your shame affect your relationships with other people?

• Whom do you avoid?
• How do you cover up?
• How do you try to make up for being so bad?  For example, do you say yes to everyone, like a slave who is never good enough?  Do you avoid the Lord as a way to say, “I’m not good enough to come to you yet”? 

How does your shame affect your relationship with God?

• Is anger mixed with your sense of unworthiness?

I have found these probing questions very helpful on the path to finding healing for some of the deep seated shame that I feel in my own life.  Perhaps you will find them helpful too.  I will be reviewing Welch’s book later today.  It is one that you ought to purchase.