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Pillars
What do you believe? In a world where faith is often shipwrecked by waves of personal experience and doubt, God’s word anchors his people in the truth. The Bible kindles our devotion for God. Its truths set ablaze in the furnace of our hearts as we embark through troubled waters. Pillars sets sail in Scripture, while navigating us through the storms of uncertainty and guiding us through the ominous darkness of “what do I believe?” And there, arriving in the harbor, we will stand, with full assurance on the pillars of God’s truth—safe and secured.
264 pages, Paperback
Published February 18, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 11, 2019
I was hoping this book would give me clarity on church beliefs but I think it left me with more questions which is unexpected. As the book itself says, "Their understanding of God - their theology - mattered..." and I was looking forward to a deeper breakdown of what those theological beliefs were, in either a more detailed or more expansive way than one would get from a typical statement of faith on a website. Perhaps I am an outlier in this regard.
What I liked:
- I really appreciate the time and effort that went into creating and giving this book to the church attendees. I have not seen that done before and I think it's an admirable project.
- The topics chosen are excellent, and definitely warrant discussion and clarification for those attending a particular church.
- I wholeheartedly agree with the section on "Wisdom in Clarity" about being transparent and not wanting to be vague or concealing in specific doctrinal beliefs.
- I like that there is a specific call-out to discussing portions of the Bible that make us uncomfortable, not shying away from them out of fear, and that discussions should be informed from scripture.
- I appreciate the admonition that the church needs "robust teaching coupled with a deep prayer life."
What I disliked:
- Many of the metaphors and stories were unfortunate choices, ultimately detracting from the points being made.
- This book said that Jews believe Jesus was a "great prophet" which I'm assuming they mean Orthodox or at least non-Messianic believing Jews which is not true. Perhaps he was thinking of Muslims who believe that Jesus was a prophet? The entirety of this book section falls under the previous bullet point so perhaps this is a repetition for this list.
- In the chapter on God the Father there is an adamant assertion that God has no visual body - "no arms, no legs, no face." It's unclear to me why this matters? Regardless the book only conveys a sweeping assumption that any scriptural mentions of God having body parts are "anthropomorphisms." I agree that God is spirit and I don't particularly care about God's "body" or lack thereof (though I feel like He is God, He can appear how He wants?) but I am highly disturbed by the conclusion with what to me feels like shaky scriptural arguments.
- The book says that amillenialism/millenial views are "open-handed doctrines" but then presents a core tenet of it in "The Return of Jesus" without any discussion or explanation which feels a lot like what was chided against in the "Wisdom of Clarity" section. There is not even a footnote to expound upon this.
What I liked:
- I really appreciate the time and effort that went into creating and giving this book to the church attendees. I have not seen that done before and I think it's an admirable project.
- The topics chosen are excellent, and definitely warrant discussion and clarification for those attending a particular church.
- I wholeheartedly agree with the section on "Wisdom in Clarity" about being transparent and not wanting to be vague or concealing in specific doctrinal beliefs.
- I like that there is a specific call-out to discussing portions of the Bible that make us uncomfortable, not shying away from them out of fear, and that discussions should be informed from scripture.
- I appreciate the admonition that the church needs "robust teaching coupled with a deep prayer life."
What I disliked:
- Many of the metaphors and stories were unfortunate choices, ultimately detracting from the points being made.
- This book said that Jews believe Jesus was a "great prophet" which I'm assuming they mean Orthodox or at least non-Messianic believing Jews which is not true. Perhaps he was thinking of Muslims who believe that Jesus was a prophet? The entirety of this book section falls under the previous bullet point so perhaps this is a repetition for this list.
- In the chapter on God the Father there is an adamant assertion that God has no visual body - "no arms, no legs, no face." It's unclear to me why this matters? Regardless the book only conveys a sweeping assumption that any scriptural mentions of God having body parts are "anthropomorphisms." I agree that God is spirit and I don't particularly care about God's "body" or lack thereof (though I feel like He is God, He can appear how He wants?) but I am highly disturbed by the conclusion with what to me feels like shaky scriptural arguments.
- The book says that amillenialism/millenial views are "open-handed doctrines" but then presents a core tenet of it in "The Return of Jesus" without any discussion or explanation which feels a lot like what was chided against in the "Wisdom of Clarity" section. There is not even a footnote to expound upon this.
June 23, 2019
A thorough explanation of the beliefs of the local church of the author. It is split into a pillar of each belief, with scriptures to back each one up. The appendix has a section to write down your personal testimony.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews