Tried With Fire

"While truth is based on facts, it involves more than facts and does not end with them... This is why pure rationalism and scientism cannot lead us to truth; such approaches cannot tell us how to interpret, arrange, and discern the meaning of what we see, touch, feel, taste, and hear. Nor can they ensure that we will be ethical in the process. Pursuing truth requires more than knowing where the facts lead. It requires the honesty to actually follow them, regardless of who they implicate."  (pg. 74, my italics) I first read All That's Good  by Hannah Anderson last fall, and I'm rereading it with a group of women from church. We are now on Chapter 4, which is one of the best chapters of the book in my opinion, because Hannah addresses an area that I am deeply concerned about. I was in a situation many years ago where the truth did not lead to transparency but a cover up of the facts and a minimization of sin. Even though I was not the target, I was badly burned...

Commitment to the truth is a sign of personal integrity and ethics, but it is also obedience to the 9th commandment. It's easy to think that it only pertains to telling outright whoppers, but what about slander? What about passing on information that is unverified? Social media certainly provides plenty of opportunity to share hoaxes, fake news, and false cures with just a click. What about choosing to ignore or deny the truth because it does not conform to our narratives or implicates our idols? In light of that, I think these quotes from All That's Good are worth considering. "Facts are not the sum total of all that is true, but truth is not a set of privately held beliefs that cannot be tested by other people. The information that we use to come to our decisions must be available to them, and we must be prepared for our decisions and opinions to come under scrutiny. We must not be offended when people ask us to prove them. We must not expect people to accept them s...

My review of All That's Good by Hannah Anderson is up at Out of the Ordinary , and we're giving away a copy of the book too. Head on over to read the review here . I wanted to focus on Hannah's book and not bring in another one because I didn't want to compare books or authors, but I will mention this. I read "How to Think" by Alan Jacobs last year, one of my favorites of the year. When I completed it, I wished that there was a similar book but more in depth specifically for Christians. All That's Good  is THAT book! And one more note - even though the author is a woman, this book is for all believers.

These quotes are from All That's Good: Recovering the Lost Art of Discernment by Hannah Anderson. Lord willing, I will finish my work for today so I can write a review for Out of the Ordinary  tomorrow. In the meantime, I think these few quotes are worth pondering. "Broadly speaking, discernment is the ability to sort between a host of options and pick what is good. It carries the idea of judging the merits of something, being able to distinguish between good and bad and what is best... In other words, discernment does not change the challenges we face; it changes our ability to face them."  (pg. 25) "But tips and tricks are not skill and expertise. Information and data are not wisdom and knowledge. And knowing something is not the same as knowing how to do it or whether you even should." (pg. 26) "[T]here are no hacks to discernment. No easy steps to follow, no lists or tricks or tips to ensure that you'll be able to make good decision when y...

I'm rereading Humble Roots by Hannah Anderson with a group of women in the church. This excerpt is from the chapter we will be discussing tonight. As often is the case with providence, I needed to read these words again because a stray thought and unanswered question brought a wave of anxiousness. I am the planner who tries to calculate all possible outcomes. My mind works like a decision tree. But it's not all up to me. I am a child of a Father who knows exactly what I need, not the Little Red Hen who has to do it all herself. Part of humility means trusting God with our plans and submitting to the possibility that they will not be fulfilled. We pursue certain ends, but we can't know the future. But part of humility also means trusting God with our plans and submitting to the possibility that they will be fulfilled in ways we cannot imagine.... If we limit ourselves to working only when the signs are promising, if we only plant when everything is perfect, we limit ou...

I'm reviewing Humble Roots by Hannah Anderson at Out of the Ordinary and giving away one copy. It's a beautifully written, wholesome, theologically sound book on humility and dependence upon God. Something we all need. Read the post and enter the giveaway here.

Lord willing, I will be reviewing Hannah Anderson's new book,  Humble Roots , in a couple weeks. I have not finished reading the entire book yet, but this passage was too good not to share: "Failure at small things reminds us of how helpless we are in this great, wide world. When little things spiral out of control, they remind us that even they were never within our control in the first place. And this is terrifying. Jesus understood this. He understood that small things can unsettle us more than large things; so when He called the people of Galilee to leave their anxiety—when He calls us to do the same— He does so in context of very mundane, very ordinary concerns." Read the rest here .

First of all, read this article by Hannah Anderson and take note of this statement: Complementarianism might be better understood as one expression of gender conservativism. As a response to evangelical feminism, complementarianism developed and flourishes in a specific cultural context, namely a western, white, middle-upper class context; because of this, it will reflect western, white, middle-upper class assumptions about work, economics, and home... Consider how the Danvers’ Statement positions complementarianism against “feminist egalitarianism” (which itself was influenced by 2nd-wave feminism).  Insofar as complementarians formed their identity in direct opposition to 2nd-wave feminism, they became a photonegative of it. None of us should be surprised, then, that complementarians are asking “what jobs can a woman do” because this is precisely the same question that 2nd-wave feminists asked. But even this question is loaded with assumptions about class, race, and agency....

To jump start Monday morning, here are a few quotes on work: I do not know that women, as women, want anything particular, but as human beings they want, my good men, exactly what you want yourselves: interesting occupation, reasonable freedom for their pleasures, and a sufficient emotional outlet. What form the occupation, the pleasures and emotion may take, depends entirely upon the individual. 1 No longer must we be relentlessly driven to find identity in our work. No longer must we use our work to one-up each other. No longer must we work out of obligation and duty. By  His  work on the cross, Jesus makes us people who can finally work as we are meant to. Because of Him, our labor is no longer in vain. 2 We can thank Genesis 3 for the toil, but we can thank Genesis 2 for the privilege of tending God's creation. Yes, our work is tainted because of sin, but as His image-bearers, we can glorify God in whatever He gives us to do. 3 1. Are Women Human? , Dorothy L....

Made for More: An Invitation to Live in God's Image by Hannah Anderson, Moody Publishers, March 2014, 176 pages. When we think of ourselves, what comes to mind? Is it age, gender, or ethnicity? What about profession/vocation or education? These are all good things, but are we just the sum of our parts? In Made for More , author Hannah Anderson writes that we were made in God's image ( imago dei ) and created to live out of that truth. Everything about us, which includes gender, personality, and our God-given gifts, flows " from Him and through Him and to Him. " The book lays a theological foundation, first taking us to the fall and sin's far-reaching effect on creation, including us. But the story doesn't end there. In Christ's incarnation, He is the perfect man where all else have failed. And because of the gospel, we find our lost identity in Him. Living in God's image is also very practical. Our affections, service, thinking, and vocation a...

As image bearers, our identity is so fundamentally flawed that no amount of metaphysical therapy or healthy living can heal us. Like the caterpillar, our old selves must die. And this begins when we hide ourselves, when we cocoon ourselves in Him. When we humbly admit our brokenness. When we repent, not of our humanity, but of t rying to root our humanity in anything but God Himself ... The paradox of personal identity is that once we accept that we are not what we should be, we are finally in a place to be made what we could be. Once we acknowledge that we are dead apart from God, we are finally able to live in Him. Once we admit the inadequacy of our lives, we are finally able to discover the sufficiency of His. Made For More: An Invitation to Live in God's Image , Hannah Anderson, April 2014, Moody, pp. 59-60.

When we turn to other things for knowledge, when we define ourselves by things like our work, our relationships, our giftedness - even our pain - we create an alternative source of identity. And as we image a false god, our very personhood crystallizes around it. Instead of being fully formed, multidimensional people who radiate the complexity of God's nature, we become one-dimensional caricatures, as limited and superficial as the things that we have devoted ourselves to… When we center our identity on these "lesser glories," we become defined by them, and we end up defining reality by them as well. Like our first parents, we use them to establish our own definition of good and evil and judge ourselves and others by it. When we successfully achieve "good" we feel a high, a moment of fullness in our soul. But whenever it is threatened, we feel threatened. When it is taken from us, we become depressed and feel like we've lost ourselves because in so man...