Over the month of December I managed to read a few books apart from my assigned schoolwork. Two of these books were by R.C. Sproul and were deeply encouraging. They have have helped further my affection for the Reformed Theological view but most important my affection for Christ. The two books were, "Chosen By God" and "The Holiness of God."
In Chosen By God, Sproul makes sense of the five points of Calvinism (Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints). Although he butchers the TULIP acrostic, as he himself admits, I think his changes provide a clearer and deeper understanding of this theological belief. I have had many a conversation with unbelievers and Christians who just can't seem to understand how God can choose who will or will not be "saved." This book offers great illustrations and most importantly Scriptural references to defend perhaps this greatest aspect of God's sovereignty.
In The Holiness of God, Sproul's depiction of just how great God's holiness is will have you constantly pushing the 'pause' button for times of reflection. He begins by describing how amazing it is that when we begin to experience God's presence we tremble in fear but yet God in an instant can bring us to complete calmness. There were two areas of this book I particularly liked. The first was his explanation on God's holy justice. He shows that the God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament and because He is holy, His holiness demands justice. He deals with tough Biblical accounts of justice on people like Nadad and Abihu (Lev. 10) as well as Uzzah (2 Sam. 6) and shows us the Old Testament Law is one of astounding grace. The other aspect of this book I liked is how Sproul shows how God's holiness further proves how unholy we are. He points out that our generation is "an up-beat generation with the accent on self-improvement and a broad-minded view of sin." After I finished reading this book I turned to my wife and said, "If only Christians picked up books like this instead of books like 'Your Best Life Now...'" As we both exhaled in "righteous" frustration I realized because our generation has a broad-minded view of sin we think we are more holy than we really are. Just as the Pharisees were offended at Jesus calling them hypocrites, our generation would not want to read a book that points out they may not be as holy as they think. And if there ever was such a book, this would be the one.
These are great, doctrinally clear books. It's very sad that the modern Christian diet is full of Osteen and Meyers rather than sound teaching like this.
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