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Pleasing God: A Relational Approach to Contemporary Concerns
This book, Pleasing God, began in its incipient form while his wife Joyce was in the hospital recovering from a side-effect of her cancer journey. The author’s frustration with trying to speak the language of newer generations, without compromise of the truth, and his not always succeeding precipitated his unique approach to trying to discuss with them the contemporary concerns which they wanted to discuss in his classes at FHU. The Pleasing God approach is the result of that process, up to this point. May you be blessed as you read this book, and may you be hopeful for the future of Jesus’ church on earth as a result.
225 pages, Paperback
Published October 22, 2021
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November 14, 2022
This is a frustrating book that’s hard to pin down. The premise is good, but it’s not executed well. At times, the book feels like it’s a collection of lectures and writings that have been cobbled together. I also found his treatment of certain issues inconsistent. He takes a very hard stance on instrumental music, but then he uses the same argument to declare that clapping is permissible.
In the instrumental music section, he outlines the OT references to instrumental music and then moves to speak on how the NT only references singing. From here, he states that if we view silence as primarily permissive, we will end up going to some strange places (As a side note, this is one of the more frustrating tendencies of the book—he allows his reactions to guide the structure, so he often neglects to speak directly about the topic and instead responds to a faulty assertion without ever circling back to the main point. I’m fine with rabbit trails as long as they come back around). But then in the clapping section, he states, “If clapping does not violate anything concerning which God has been specific, then the silence is permissive.” He then tells a story about a song leader who tapped his foot so hard while singing that it reverberated on the wooden floor, and he compares that to clapping stating that neither one changed the nature of the singing. So what if the song leader had instead started beating his fist on the podium, essentially turning it into a cajon drum? Or what about vocal beat-boxing? He argues that all sound (even singing) is percussive, and clapping is percussion, not “music.” So I guess by that argument, we can use drums?
As much as I love music, I sometimes wish we would just throw out the hymnals and our practice altogether and just start chanting Psalms in unison.
The rest of the book is fine, and there is some good humor throughout. He is clearly well-educated, and he has some very good, practical insights in certain sections toward the end. I can’t say that I enjoyed the book overall, though.
In the instrumental music section, he outlines the OT references to instrumental music and then moves to speak on how the NT only references singing. From here, he states that if we view silence as primarily permissive, we will end up going to some strange places (As a side note, this is one of the more frustrating tendencies of the book—he allows his reactions to guide the structure, so he often neglects to speak directly about the topic and instead responds to a faulty assertion without ever circling back to the main point. I’m fine with rabbit trails as long as they come back around). But then in the clapping section, he states, “If clapping does not violate anything concerning which God has been specific, then the silence is permissive.” He then tells a story about a song leader who tapped his foot so hard while singing that it reverberated on the wooden floor, and he compares that to clapping stating that neither one changed the nature of the singing. So what if the song leader had instead started beating his fist on the podium, essentially turning it into a cajon drum? Or what about vocal beat-boxing? He argues that all sound (even singing) is percussive, and clapping is percussion, not “music.” So I guess by that argument, we can use drums?
As much as I love music, I sometimes wish we would just throw out the hymnals and our practice altogether and just start chanting Psalms in unison.
The rest of the book is fine, and there is some good humor throughout. He is clearly well-educated, and he has some very good, practical insights in certain sections toward the end. I can’t say that I enjoyed the book overall, though.
Displaying 1 of 1 review