D. Richard Ferguson's Blog, page 10
June 22, 2021
Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book is worth reading for the hostage negotiation stories alone. Easily. A very entertaining and interesting read.
Beyond that, Voss does a great job in the purpose of the book, which is to teach negotiation skills. Another plus that made this book worth my time was the fact that most of the skills are listening skills and people skills, both of which I need. They are supremely valuable skills for many matters of life that extend beyond negotiation.
One helpful tip had to do with discovering dishonesty. If you suspect a claim may not be true, ask the person about it three times, with different words. Telling a convincing lie take a lot of effort, and it’s difficult to do that three times.
Another helpful tip for me is the “mirroring” skill. People naturally want to connect with one another and be in sync with each other (notice friends sitting together at the park who take a drink or cross their legs about the same time, or walk with their steps n sync). When you mirror someone’s behavior or words (in a way that’s natural, not obnoxious), it makes them feel in sync with you and they want to participate in that. The mirroring exercise is simple–just repeat the last 2 or three words they said. Then be silent. This prompts them to expand on it. This exercise has a lot of value in negotiation, but aside from that, I see it as a helpful tool for making conversation (for those of us who are challenged in that area).
I found the book fascinating from beginning to end (which is saying a lot. I rarely find any book fascinating.)
What I Didn’t LoveThe only negatives are:
1) He uses profanity and obscenity (it’s a secular book).
2) Voss seems to take an approach to life that drives him to get the best possible outcome for himself in every negotiation. This is not compatible with Christian morality. Just because I can talk my boss into giving me a salary higher than he can afford, or my landlord a rental rate lower than he can afford, doesn’t mean I should. Sometimes we should say, “You’re offering a fair price–I’ll take it” even if we have the skills to get them to agree to less.
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June 20, 2021
Gospel Treason by Brad Bigney
Gospel Treason: Betraying the Gospel with Hidden Idols by Brad Bigney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
If you struggle with anger, or anxiety, or depression, or worry, or envy, or fear, or if you have any marriage or relationship struggles – I strongly recommend that you read this book or listen to the 9 sermons it came from (especially the first 3). This is the best teaching on idols of the heart I’ve ever heard. I would love it if everyone in my church read this book. It would certainly make my job as a pastor a whole lot easier.
WeaknessesDefinition of IdolatryI do, however, have two points of disagreement with the book. Bigney At one point later in the series he says that when we make idols of good desires (like ministry or your spouse), the problem is that you desire that thing too much. I disagree. I think the problem isn’t desiring it too much, but rather having desire terminate on that thing, rather than enjoying that thing as an expression of God’s love.
For example, imagine a newly married wife wants to express her love to her husband, so when he arrives home from work she has his favorite meal prepared for him. He sees the meal, interprets it exactly for the expression of love that it is, and it brings him to tears. He gives his wife a huge hug and kiss.
Now imagine that 20 years later the marriage has gone downhill. Now he comes home, sees the meal, and sits down to eat without so much as saying hello to his wife or even acknowledging that she’s in the room. He scarfs it down, thoroughly enjoys it, and the only thing he says to his wife is, “Go make me some dessert.”
What is the problem? Is it that he enjoys the meal too much and needs to learn to enjoy it less? No. The problem is he is enjoying it the wrong way. His desire terminates on the food rather than using the food to enjoy his wife’s love. In the first case, when he enjoyed the meal the right way, it was good that he enjoyed it a lot. In fact, when he enjoys it that way, the more he enjoys it the better.
So when we make idols out of good things like marriage or ministry, the problem is not that we desire those things too much. The problem is we desire them the wrong way – we are looking to those things as joy sources rather than expressions of God’s love. So our enjoyment in enjoyment of those things rather than enjoyment of God through those things.
The Solution to Man-PleasingMy second critique has to do with the problem of making an idol out of the approval of others. The solution Bigney offers is that of realizing I have God’s love and approval. I don’t need others to affirm me because God affirms me.
There is certainly nothing wrong with enjoying God’s approval, and love. We most definitely should do that. But we must be careful about why we seek that approval. Is it to validate our self-importance, or is it to enjoy God’s love?
If my biggest goal is self-importance, then it’s no great virtue for me to pursue that goal through God’s affirmation rather than human affirmation. Either way, my desire terminates on me being important. Much greater joy is to be found through delighting in God’s mportance. If I give up my desire to be on stage and receive all the shouts and applause, and I prefer instead to be one of the shouting, clapping fans who is thrilled by what he is watching on the stage (God), I will be much happier.
Romans 12:3 gives us the solution to pride: each one must think of himself in accordance with the measure of faith given him. That means my importance depends on how much I trust in God. My importance is not based on how much others think I’m worth, and not even so much on how much I’m worth to God, but rather on how much God is worth to me. Whoever values God the highest – that’s the greatest soul.
Imagine a group of chefs who all desire fame. And they know that the best way to become famous is to win the “Chef of the year” award from the world’s greatest chef. So they all go to his school. But that great chef cares about these people and he knows that there is no real happiness in achieving fame. It promises happiness but doesn’t deliver. It just makes your life hard. And what he wants is for them to be truly happy. So he sets up the chef of the year award so that the only way to win it is by enjoying his cooking. Every night he makes an amazing dinner. Students are encouraged to enjoy the meals, learning to appreciate the various flavors. At the end of the class, each person is hooked up to a meter that detects pleasure sensations in the body. Whoever reaches the highest levels of pleasure while eating the great chef’s food wins the chef of the year award. That way, the great chef knows that each chef will be striving for greater and greater enjoyment and will go away happy and satisfied (rather than having all the disappointment that goes with becoming famous and then realizing that it doesn’t satisfy).
When I find the idol in my heart of the craving to have people make much of me (to be famous in their sight), the solution is not to turn that desire toward God so that God will make much of me. That won’t work. First, because I know that God loves and accepts all His children, so His loving and accepting me won’t satisfy my desire to be famous or to be on stage receiving applause.
The solution is for me to change my focus from desiring the joy of being applauded, to the much greater joy of applauding a spectacularly wonderful thing – the glory and goodness and beauty of God. People pay money at a theater, not to stand in front of the audience but to be in it. They shell out their hard-earned dollars at a concert not to be on stage but to enjoy what is on stage. So we must exchange our desire to be affirmed for the enjoyment of affirming that which is truly marvelous.
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Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Writing Style
The writing style of this book involves several elements that my editors would have fits if I used them (such as frequent POV changes within scenes, the many adverbs attached to dialogue tags, and a lot of telling instead of showing). But these techniques don’t seem to bother the thousands of readers who love this book. I found the book boring at many points, but that’s probably due more to my tastes than in anything wrong with the book. My modern attention span requires a little more action.
The book is a retelling of the story of Hosea and Gomer and does a good job of showing the redeeming love of God for Israel, illustrated through Hosea, as exceedingly beautiful. I think the book is worth reading for that alone.
Much of the book is told from the perspective of the Gomer character. The author does a great job of evoking sympathy for her.
WeaknessesThe fact that the Gomer character in the book is a stunning beauty doesn’t really fit the Hosea story very well. In the novel, the man who represents Hosea is first drawn to the prostitute because of her beauty. But the Hosea story teaches that God loved Israel, not because of her great attractiveness, but despite her hideous ugliness. But I suppose a romance with an ugly main character probably wouldn’t sell.
Another complaint is that the story portrays a man as righteous for marrying an unbeliever. I realize this is necessary to produce a retelling of the Hosea story, but I hope it doesn’t encourage the very unwise and sinful practice of “dating evangelism” or worse, marriage evangelism. When Christians get romantically involved with unbelievers in the hopes of converting them, it not only violates God’s clear command in Scripture (2 Cor.6:14, 1 Cor.7:39), but almost always results in a great amount of heartache.
My more substantive complaint about the book is over a statement that occurs around the midpoint of the book when the Hosea character assures the prostitute that “God had nothing to do” with the hardships she had endured. To suggest that is to deny the sovereignty of God and cheapens all our suffering. If God has nothing to do with it, it’s meaningless. Scripture is clear that everything comes from God.
Ecclesiastes 7:14 “When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other.”
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June 16, 2021
Rising Danger by Jerusha Agen
Rising Danger: A Thrilling K9 Suspense by Jerusha AgenMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Disclaimer: I’m probably not the target audience for this book, as I don’t read romances and I’m not a big fan of dogs.
What I liked:
The author is an excellent wordsmith. Her writing is remarkable, both in the beauty of the prose and the depth of emotion it evokes. And while I don’t read romances, I’m guessing this book has quite a bit more action than a typical romance. It held my interest as well as most best-selling novels, especially toward the end.
Most of all, I loved the way the author honored God throughout the book. She allows the characters who argue against Christianity to make strong, persuasive arguments, then deals with them well.
My favorite line in the book: “God’s best gifts usually come as a surprise, often packaged in problems and trials. They are things we never could have planned ourselves even if we knew we needed them.” For me, it was worth listening to the whole book just for that line.
The narrator of the audiobook is outstanding. Having narrated books myself, I will say, I wish I had a fraction of her skill.
What I didn’t like:
I thought the descriptions of the main character’s attraction to her love interest was a bit overdone. The descriptions of her reactions to seeing him seemed much too frequent to me, and it’s hard for me to imagine a woman could have such extreme responses of attraction toward someone she so dislikes (then again, I know very little about romance writing and even less about female emotions, so take that critique with a grain of salt).
As a pastor, father, and counselor, I didn’t like the fact that it is a story of a romance between a believer and an unbeliever. I realize Christian authors have constraints when dealing with secular publishing houses, so I don’t mean this as a criticism of the author. But since I’m not restrained by the publisher as a reviewer, I’ll say it is my conviction that such relationships are ill-advised and lead to the destruction of the believer’s faith more often than they bring the unbeliever to faith. And even when that does happen, it rarely lasts, as the movement toward God is powered by attraction to the other person, and when that fades, so does the “faith.” I’ve counseled a lot of people in very hard marriages because they thought their relationship with an unbeliever would have a storybook ending. They rarely do. See 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 for God’s attitude toward close relationships with unbelievers.
More significantly, (spoiler alert) I was disappointed with the way a conversion to Christianity was portrayed, as there was no indication that repentance played any role. I got the impression from the story that a person could be saved simply by agreeing to let God be her protector. I believe Scripture is clear about the necessity of repentance for salvation (Acts 17:30, 20:21).
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June 15, 2021
Elect in the Son by Robert Shank
Elect in the Son by Robert ShankMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This volume was written as a companion volume for Shanks earlier work, Life in the Son, which defends the view that true believers can fall away.
Shank’s treatment of election is thorough and well-researched, as he interacts extensively with Calvin, Berkouwer and other Reformed writers. Of the three major views of election; Calvinist (unconditional particular election), Arminian (election based on God’s foreseeing faith) and class election (God chooses the Church as a category unconditionally, but chooses individuals to populate the Church conditionally), Shank defends class election.
While many of his arguments are strong, he fails to deal adequately with the fact that his system places man above God as the ultimate determiner of his destiny. In a few places Shank misunderstands or caricatures Calvin, but mostly his representation of Calvin is helpful as he quotes him at length.
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Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Lamott has a great balance between instruction and humor. The book is entertaining, funny, and contains a lot of helpful instruction for writers of various levels. I especially liked the chapter on characters. Very helpful.
I also liked Lamott’s take on writer’s block. She suggests it’s not a blockage. Rather, it’s simply emptiness. When ideas stop flowing it’s because the well is dry and the solution is to fill it back up. Stop writing and start observing.
Her ABCD… tip for writing short stories is also a useful guide.
The narrator does an outstanding job. She captures to tone of the book perfectly.
I am a conservative Christian, so I didn’t enjoy the frequent obscenities and profanities or the crude sexual humor.
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June 14, 2021
When Jesus Wept (The Jerusalem Chronicles #1) by Bodie Thoene
When Jesus Wept by Bodie Thoene
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Too often, biblical historical fiction does little more than borrow some biblical characters for a story that could have happened concurrently with biblical events, and that intersects with biblical events at points. I believe writers in this genre should strive for more than that. The biblical events are recorded for a reason–to teach us something. Our stories should strive to use the emotional power of story to make those points vivid in the reader’s heart. In my judgment, Bodie Thoene accomplishes that at several points in When Jesus Wept.
The prose is excellent and the scenes imaginative. And the ongoing vine metaphor is rich with insights.
The story itself, however, moves a bit slowly for my taste. It’s a long way from being a page-turner, at least for me.
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Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers by John Owen
Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers by John Owen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A classic work on how to kill sin by the Spirit based on Romans 8:13.
Synopsis
A sin is “mortified” (killed) by a habitual weakening of it, constant fighting against it (understanding the danger and the ways it tends to get success against you) and then in gaining frequent success (so the sin isn’t disrupting his peace or hindering his duty).
A sin is especially problematic if it is inveterate (so frequent that it no longer startles the conscience), or finds acceptance or toleration in the heart, or if you claim God will show mercy in this one area because of faithfulness in other areas, or if there is frequent failure in that area, or if the only motive for avoiding the sin is punishment, or if this sin has withstood God’s chastisement.
How to kill a sin:
* Displace the sin with the corresponding virtue.
* Make sure there isn’t disobedience in other areas (God sometimes allows weakness in one area because of disobedience or neglect in other areas).
* Get a clear sense of the guilt, danger, and evil of the sin and “load” the conscience with the sense of guilt
* Load your conscience with the guilt of it (by letting the law do its work, and by considering the grace this sin is done in the face of.
* Get a constant longing, breathing after deliverance from the power of the sin.
* When there is a natural predisposition toward that sin, realize that increases guilt, and that it puts you in greater danger requiring greater watchfulness.
* Beat your body and make it your slave by things like fasting and watching
* Be alert to the things that excite sinful desires.
* Rise mightily against the first actings of your sin
* Think much of the excellency of the majesty of God
* After sinning, speak no peace to your heart until God speaks it
* Think more about Christ and the cross than about the sin and expect help from Him.
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June 12, 2021
The Death of Heroes
Hero stories are out of fashion these days, and there’s a reason.
For centuries, storytellers have spun tails of inspiring heroes who achieve great things. They were men and women of integrity, strength, valor, selflessness, shrewdness, and perseverance. But in the last several decades, heroes have given way to anti-heroes. The protagonists of modern stories are deeply flawed, conflicted, compromisers. The only way we know they are “heroes” is they are slightly better than the villains. Tony Stark is a sarcastic, self-aggrandizing playboy who insults everyone he talks to. Wolverine is an angry, vengeful, brute. The formerly brave, idealist, heroic Luke Skywalker became … well, let’s not even talk about what they did to that character.
Making Heroes RelatableWhy did they do that to poor Luke? Why take one of the iconic heroes of a generation and turn him into a weak, self-obsessed, bitter, angry coward?
It’s all done in the name of relatability. Classic heroes like Superman are just too … good to suit our culture. No one is like that. It’s unrealistic. We want heroes we can relate to. Someone we can imagine being. We don’t want a hero that leaves us in the moral dust. We want to be able to picture ourselves doing the amazing things the main character is doing.
The Christian Market: True HeroesMarketing expert Thomas Umstattd offers interesting advice to novelists. He suggests writing classic heroes if you are marketing your book to Christians, and flawed, antiheroes if your target audience is unbelievers. The differences in the way those two demographics spend their entertainment dollars is telling.
Why do Christians prefer ideal heroes? It is because we believe in and aspire to the ideal. Bravery, selflessness, integrity, and self-sacrifice devoid of selfish motives are not farfetched, fairytale concepts. They are the way God created humanity to be. It’s the way the one perfect human, Jesus Christ, lived (and still lives). It is the image to which all believers aspire because God has promised to conform us to that image (Romans 8:29).
Why do Christian parents want their children to read stories with classic heroes? Because they believe in high, biblical ideals. Christlike morality. And they want their children to aspire to that kind of greatness.
The Secular Market: Heroes Like MeThe unbelieving world, on the other hand, rebels against that ideal. The impact of postmodernism over the past several decades has dulled society’s ability to even think in terms of right and wrong, good and evil. The notion that there is no ideal and there are no absolutes—no true “good guys” or “bad guys,” and that all morality is in the eye of the beholder has corrupted classic storytelling. If everyone determines his own morality, then who is to say the bad guy is bad for doing what, for him, seems best?
Better than Feeling Good About YourselfAll people want to feel good about themselves. If the best character in a story is a whole lot like me, with the same mixed motives, weaknesses, and moral flaws I have, I can imagine myself like him—good, because I’m slightly better than the bad guys around me.
But there is a better way to feel good about oneself. When a skilled storyteller crafts an imagine of ideal humanity that inspires noble desires, and God assures us that he has predestined us to become conformed to that glorious image, we can feel good about what we are becoming, rather than about what we are.
Better yet, we can become lost in wonder in our enjoyment of the ideal Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. And instead of working so hard to feel good about ourselves, we can feel good about him, because feeling good about God feels better than feeling good about oneself.
The Heroes in Walk with the WindIt was after this model that the characters in the Walk with the Wind novel series were designed. Each character is strong in one or more key Christian virtues. It is my prayer that in reading these books, children and adults alike will be inspired to rise to new heights in their pursuit of the glorious image of Christ for which they were created.
For information about book 1, Escape from Paradise, click here. And for book 2, At War with the Wind: the Fight for Abigail (due out June 29), click here.
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May 27, 2021
Escape from Paradise: Interpreting the Allegory (Chapters 7-10)
There are no new points of analogy in chapter seven.
Chapter 8The Desire for the Little one’s ApprovalAdam’s desire for the little ones’ approval represents our desire to be respected by the world. Especially, in our culture, in the academic/scientific community. We can’t stand the thought that smart people would laugh at us or think of us as primitive or foolish. We want to be respected. Very often, Christian writers compromise faithfulness to God’s Word in order to be taken seriously by the academic world.
But it should be no surprise to us that the world thinks us foolish. They think the same thing about God. The cross is foolishness to them. The wisest, most beautiful act of salvation God ever performed is, in their eyes, a dumb idea.
We can win the world’s favor, or we can have God’s favor—but not both.
Chapter 9The Eye SalveThe eye-salve represents naturalism (the belief that only the physical world exists).
Later in the story Adam discovers that the salve gives him great near vision, but terrible distance vision. People who think only physical things exist can see what’s right in front of their faces (this physical world) but are utterly blind to everything else. In the words of 2 Peter 1:9 “they have become nearsighted and blind.”
Chapter 10There are no new points of analogy in chapter ten.
Chapter 8 QuestionsEXCERPT
“Fruit is outlawed in the high country,” Alexander said.“Outlawed? Why? How do they live without eating?” -p.77
QUESTION 1:
Sometimes it seems like satisfaction would be impossible without the pleasure of some enticing sin. In moments like that, how could Isaiah 55:1—2 and Psalm 63:3 help you?
QUESTION 2:
How could Proverbs 5:3—4 help you?
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