Books
The Lost Art of Praying Together [A Review]
**Heads up: Read Dr. Banks’ response to my review.**
At a little desert church in Southern California James Banks learned a valuable lesson as a boy: when we pray, Jesus transforms our lives.
But not just personal, private prayer.
No.
It’s corporate, public prayer.
At least that’s the argument in Bank’s latest book The Lost Art of Praying Together.
In this slim volume you could read in under two hours, Banks builds a case that our churches need to recover the lost art of praying together.
In essence, corporate prayer is the key to inaugurating a modern revival.
Now, if your theological antennae are going off with a sense of danger, they should. Here’s why.
Essence of Praying Together
To prove his central argument, Banks points to numerous biblical texts and even quotes Reformed stalwarts like Spurgeon, Newton and Jonathan Edwards.
But for all his reaching into the Bible and the Reformed preachers’ bag, Banks seems to lean heavily upon experience.
Banks points to all three “Great Awakenings” and their modest beginnings found in corporate prayer.
He sights modern examples of “moves of God” found in 24-7 prayer movements.
And of course there’s his own life story. You can probably see where this is going.
More Problems with Banks’ Book
When he does pull out Scripture–like when Hezekiah and Isaiah cried out to God or when Daniel prays with friends to interpret Nebuchadnezzar’s dream–you find Banks guilty of turning descriptive texts into prescriptive methods.
In other words, while we can learn appropriate behavior from such historical accounts, by no means did the authors intend these texts to show us sure-fire methods to revival.
Which brings us to another problem: His tendency towards triumphalism–that corporate prayer is the superior practice of the Christian life.
I’ll give Banks the benefit of the doubt that Spurgeon and Co. would embrace the idea that a healthy, Christian congregation would pray frequently…
But I can’t imagine Spurgeon and Co. ever affirming a statement like this: “United prayer is the most powerful gift God has given us.”
No.
Spurgeon and Co. would pronounce [rightly] the most powerful gift is preaching. For it’s by the word of God preached that the Holy Spirit moves and people believe and are converted.
One wonders if Bank’s used Spurgeon and Co. out of context. And you wonder also if Banks didn’t start with his experiences and then work backwards to prove his case.
A Responsibility Prayer Can’t Withstand
For Banks, it boils down to a formula. But it’s an ugly tension [shared by the likes of Bentley miracle crusades or Copeland faith confessions] because what happens when the formula fails?
You just got to have more faith turns into “You just have to pray more. Then God will move.”
This formula–when it fails [and it will]–unnecessarily jeopardizes our faith. Banks is putting more pressure on prayer than it can withstand.
Granted, Banks confesses that results may vary. But it’s easily drowned out by his stalwart faith in prayer to conquer the world’s problems.
Final Thought
I want to thank Banks for inspiring me to pray more. To cherish and relish this sweet privilege of the Christian life.
His book provide a solid kick-in-the-pants.
But if I were to recommend a book on prayer, I’d have to go with another one, like Paul Miller’s A Praying Life.
Contending with Christianity’s Critics [A Review]
Want quick answers to objections the New Atheists, Bart Ehrman and Open Theists bring against Christianity?
Then Contending with Christianity’s Critics is your book.
Now, William Lane Craig [editor and contributor] says the book is both accessible and apologetically cutting-edge.
While I’ll concede cutting-edge, I have to resist “accessible.”
I’ll show you what I mean in a minute.
Here’s the deal: Contending is made up of 18 essays divided into three categories: The Existence of God, Jesus of History and Coherence of Christian Doctrine.
What follows is a SHORT review of each essay. Nano-reviews, if you will.
Dawkin’s Delusion
In under 3 pages Craig demonstrates that Richard Dawkin’s doesn’t have “a very serious argument against God’s existence.” Instead, he’s got an invalid syllogism.
At Home in the Multi-Verse
All I have to say is that James Daniel Sinclair lost me at sentence one. Go figure.
Confronting Naturalism: The Argument from Reason
Victor Reppert’s argument in a nutshell: Meaning is ambiguous if naturalism is true. However, meaning is NOT ambiguous. Thus, naturalism is false.
Belief in God: A Trick of Our Brain?
Psychological experiments about a God-sense hardwired in our brain simply demonstrate what we already know: We’ve got an instinct for God.
The Moral Poverty of Evolutionary Naturalism
Mark D. Linville starts his essay like this: “Darwin’s account of the origins of human morality is at once elegant, ingenious and woefully inadequate.” He then defends that thesis in 16 pages of playful, Rob Powellesque language.
Darwin’s Best Argument Against God’s Existence
Gregory Ganssle uses four counter-features to show that Dawkin’s best argument–that features of this life fit a naturalistic explanation better than a theistic one–simply doesn’t deliver.
Criteria for The Gospel’s Authenticity
When positive evidence accumulates…and one affirms a universe open to miracles…the Gospel’s authenticity is strongly attested. That’s Robert Stein’s argument.
Jesus the Seer
Ben Witherington makes an exquisite case for Jesus’ self-understanding as God by exploring his use of the phrase “Son of Man.” Must read.
The Resurrection of Jesus Time Line
Gary Habermas works back from the composition of the Gospels to Paul’s conversion to show that Jesus’ bodily record was taught as early as 30 AD. In other words: It’s always been a creed with the church.
How Scholars Fabricate Jesus
Craig Evans argues that the scholarly track record with respect to the use of extra-canonical gospels is embarrassing. Take note, Crossan.
How Badly Did the Early Scribes Corrupt the New Testament
Dan Wallace takes Misquoting Jesus to task, stating the author [Bart Ehrman] esteems provocative positions over honesty, excitement over boredom.
Who Did Jesus Think He Was?
Michael Wilkins makes a plain-Jane case that Jesus knew he was God. The only innovation appears to be Wilkin’s use of Peter’s messianic proclamation as a test case.
The Coherence of Theism
Taliaferro and Marty look at six specific attributes of God and their seamless interaction to prove God simply makes sense.
Is the Trinity a Logical Blunder?
Paul Copan makes a case for a simple understanding of the Trinity–yet with room for mystery and worship.
Did God Become a Jew?
Copan next argues that it’s NOT absurd to think about God becoming man. One way he does this is by warning us to start with the Scriptures–not Greek philosophy–when we talk about the Incarnation.
Dostoevsky, Woody Allen and the Doctrine of Penal Substitution
Christopher Hitchens complains that Jesus’ death as vicarious atonement makes zero sense. Steve Porter’s essay will fix that.
Hell: Getting What’s Good My Own Way
Very creative case for hell by Stuart Goetz based on libertarian free will, life plans and ultimate-good-seeking decisions. C. S. Lewis would be proud.
What Does God Know? The Problems with Open Theism
David Hunt tells us that open theism doesn’t have a scriptural advantage over classical theism because it fails four truth tests.
As you might’ve noticed, Richard Dawkin’s and Co. and their ideas get a lot of work. That’s intentional.
Thus, if you want answers to this new wave of objections to Christianity, Contending is a good buy. You’ll be happy to foot the $14. I was.
Announcing Radical Book Giveaway Winners
Howdy folks.
Here are the winners from last Friday’s Radical book giveaway:
Mark G.
Barry Wallace
Marianna
Congratulations and yipee for you!
Look for an email from me. I need to get your addresses so I can send out the books.
By the way, my daughter really enjoyed reading all of your comments. In fact, she made a list of her favorites as she read.
Naturally the list got long and she was having a hard time deciding who to choose, so she put all the names in a hat and chose three.
It was really great watching her reaction. She’d say things like, “Oh my, that’s good.” “Wow. I like that.”
My hope is that your stories planted a seed in her to be generous and radical for Christ. Thank you and let’s have a great week, okay?
What Is Radical to You? [and 3 Books to Give Away]
Like I promised yesterday, I’ve got a little surprise for you.
I’ve got three copies of David Platt’s Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream to give away.
All you have to do to enter is write a short comment about one radical change YOU would make if money, family or work wasn’t an issue.
Could be to drive down to Yucatan, Mexico to make disciples. Or enroll at Westminster Theological Seminary to become a collegiate teacher. Or adopt a child.
Be creative. Surprise me. Surprise yourself.
Also, you could simply say: “I’m right where God wants me.” That’ll do, too.
Me and my daughter will choose three people to win a copy of Platt’s Radical. Then we’ll email you and get your home address.
So, if you were going to get radical, what would you do? Looking forward to your thoughts.
Your Personal Conflict with the Great Commission
**Simply fulfilling my promise to write about Radical all week. And don’t miss tomorrow’s post. Got a little surprise.**
Suspend your belief for a moment.
I want to change your view of history.
In January 1703, shortly after graduating and failing an audition for an organist’s post at Sangerhausen in January 1703, Johann Sebastian Bach didn’t take up his post as a court musician in the chapel of Duke Johann Ernst in Weimar…
But instead, while riding away from Sangerhausen, Bach felt a severe call on his life to travel to Tunisia to minster the gospel to the Arabs…
Summarily giving up his ambition to be a composer.
Revision of Van Gogh’s Little Life
Almost two hundred years later, Vincent Van Gogh succeeded in his early vocational aspiration to become a pastor and preached the gospel from 1879 until his death to a small mining town in Belgium…
Neglecting his elegant [but tortured] artistic output that resulted in intoxicating paintings like The Starry Night and Still Life: Vase with Sunflowers?
Naturally, even to conceive of such events means we have to revise history and do some heavy-duty speculating.
But here’s my point–what if every great Christian artist, writer, dramatist, composer or scholar simply shed their vocational ambitions to work strictly as a missionary, preacher, teacher or evangelist?
Would our culture be any less than it is without Bach’s sacred St. John Passion or the sublime chaos of van Gogh’s Irises?
The answer, or course, is “no.”
For one thing, conceiving of history without Bach the composer and his rich legacy of liturgical works or Van Gogh and his dreamy, sad impressionistic paintings is pure fiction.
It’s the stuff of revisionist history best left in the hands of novelists who like to entertain. Here’s what I’m getting at.
The Tension the Great Commission Creates
I get a strong impression after reading David Platt’s Radical that he’d like to see us all abandon our political, social, academic or artistic pursuits and share the gospel.
That, my friends, is radical.
It’s an over-reading of his point, of course, even though he is a pastor and [I think] would be quiet happy if every one in his church–and all the readers of his book–would become evangelists or missionaries.
In fact, after you read the book there’s a small part of you wanders if you should liquidate your 401k and send it to World Vision…
Or sell your suburban home and move your family of four to a grass hut in Bangladesh…
Or scrap your dream of being a veterinarian and take the first flight to Ethiopia to save ten-year-old girls from sexual slavery.
David Platt and his book just might ruin your life in that way.
Extreme, perhaps. But Jesus and his great commission was anything but superficial.
Which brings us to the tension with our cultural mandate: God’s decree that we subdue the earth by building schools, running governments and crafting art.
Questions the Book Will Stir Up
No question: There are those who will read the book and go to the extreme. Who will give it all up and make radical changes to their lifestyle to fulfill the gospel.
David Platt’s got the testimonies to prove it. For the rest of us, we at least re-think how we spend our money.
In reality, all Platt asks you to do is bear your heart before God and ask: What can I do? How can I give it all?
And what does that mean?
Does that mean I remain here in the suburban U. S. and churn out blog posts or novels or paintings or musical scores–for your glory?
Or do you have something more radical for me? Read Platt’s book and, in truth, you will ask yourself those questions. What do you say?
One Final Thought
Sometimes I wonder what Calvin would’ve written if he’d not had his conversion, but instead pursued his ambition to live a leisurely literary life.
I gamble he might have been a French Goethe. To this literary nut job, that sounds appealing.
Don’t get me wrong: I wouldn’t trade that history if it meant we gave up the Institutes. I’m just saying: Maybe it’s not so bad to let your imagination wander on occasion.
Who knows: You might stumble upon a brilliant idea. An idea you can offer up to the glory of God.
But maybe that’s enough? We’ll never know, will we?
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