Recommendations based on "The God Who Is There"

With over ten million copies sold, God's Smuggler has thrilled and inspired readers for more than forty years. It tells the true story of how a young Dutchman risked his life to bring faith and hope to believers behind the Iron Curtain.Now updated with new material from interviews with Brother Andrew, he tells of his adventures as his ministry took him to the Middle East, Africa, China, Israel, Pakistan and other places of great danger and extraordinary opportunities. With new relevance, and at such a poignant time for persecuted Christians, this book is set to inspire a whole new generation of readers.

Instant New York Times BestsellerRob Bell, the beloved author of Love Wins and What We Talk About When We Talk About God, goes deep into the Bible to show how it is more revelatory, revolutionary, and relevant than we ever imagined—and offers a cogent argument for why we need to look at it in a fresh, new way.In Love Wins, Rob Bell confronted the troubling questions that many people of faith were afraid to ask about heaven, hell, fate, and faith. Using the same inspired, inquisitive approach, he now turns to our most sacred book, the Bible. What Is the Bible? provides insights and answers that make clear why the Bible is so revered and what makes it truly inspiring and essential to our lives.Rob takes us deep into actual passages to reveal the humanity behind the Scriptures. You cannot get to the holy without going through the human, Rob tells us. When considering a passage, we shouldn't ask "Why did God say...?" To get to the heart of the Bible's meaning, we should be asking: "What's the story that's unfolding here and why did people find it important to tell it? What was it that moved them to record these words? What was happening in the world at that time? What does this passage/story/poem/verse/book tell us about how people understood who they were and who God was at that time?" In asking these questions, Rob goes beyond the one-dimensional question of "is it true?" to reveal the Bible's authentic transformative power.Rob addresses the concerns of all those who see the Bible as God's Word but are troubled by the ethical dilemmas, errors, and inconsistencies in Scripture. With What Is the Bible?, he recaptures the Good Book's magic and reaffirms its power and inspiration to shape and inspire our lives today.

Do we live in a world that makes sense, not just now, but totally and forever? If, as scientists now predict, the universe is going to end in collapse or decay, can it really be a divine creation? Is there a credible hope of a destiny beyond death? In this engaging and intellectually scrupulous book, a leading scientist-theologian draws on ideas from science, scripture, and theology to address these important questions. John Polkinghorne carefully builds a structure of the hope of the life to come that involves both continuity and discontinuity with life in this world?enough continuity so that it is we ourselves who shall live again in that future world and enough discontinuity to ensure that the second story is not just a repetition of the first.Polkinghorne develops his argument in three sections. In the first, he considers the role of contemporary scientific insights and cultural expectations. In the second, he gives a careful account of the various testimonies of hope to be found in the Bible and assesses the credibility of belief in Jesus’ resurrection. In the final section he critically analyzes and defends the Christian hope of the life of the new creation.

Abstract theology is overrated, for God can be found in even the most ordinary of things.Jesus used things like a lily, sparrow, and sheep to teach about the kingdom of God. And in the Old Testament, God repeatedly describes himself and his saving work in relation to physical things such as a rock, horn, or eagle.In God of All Things, pastor and author Andrew Wilson invites you to rediscover God in this way, too--through ordinary, everyday things. He explores the idea of a material world and presents a variety of created marvels that reveal the gospel in everyday life and fuel worship and joy in God--marvels like: Dust: the image of God Horns: the salvation of God Donkeys: the peace of God Water: the life of God Viruses: the problem of God Cities: the kingdom of GodGod of All Things will leave you with a deeper understanding of Scripture, the world you live in, and the God who made it all.

Do Miracles Really Happen?In Miracles, C.S. Lewis argues that a Christian must not only accept but rejoice in miracles as a testimony of the unique personal involvement of God in his creation. Using his charismatic warmth, lucidity, and wit, Lewis challenges the rationalists and cynics who are mired in their lack of imagination and provides a poetic and joyous affirmation that miracles really do occur in everyday lives.

"This book has monumental stature. It is fresh and vivid. . . aflame with prophetic vision." —James MuilenburgFrom the author of Man is Not Alone and God in Search of Man, comes Abraham Heschel's 1962 masterpiece of Biblical scholarship, The Prophets.Abraham J. Heschel's The Prophets, originally published in 1962, provides a unique opportunity for readers of the Old Testament, both Christian and Jewish, to gain fresh and deep knowledge of Israel’s prophetic movement. The book includes detailed examinations of the stories of the prophets Amos, Hosea, Isahiah, Micah, Jeremiah, as well as explorations of the theology and philosophy of pathos, the theory of ecstasy in modern religious scholarship, an excavation of the relationship between prophecy and psychosis, and a comparative view of prophets throughout the world. Heschel's project is excavate and examine the consciousness of the prophets: not just the content of their prophecies, but the type of faith-based experience they personified.Heschel's exegetical skill and profound understanding of the prophets opens the door to new insight into the philosophy of religion - a wonderful text for anyone interested in the dialectic of the divine-human encounter.

These days many evangelicals are exploring the more sacramental, liturgical, and historically-conscious church traditions, including Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. This hunger for historical rootedness is a welcome phenomenon--but unfortunately, many assume that this need can only be met outside of Protestant contexts.In What it Means to Be Protestant, Gavin Ortlund draws from both his scholarly work in church history and his personal experience in ecumenical engagement to offer a powerful defense of the Protestant tradition. Retrieving classical Protestant texts and arguments, he exposes how many of the contemporary objections leveled against Protestants are rooted in caricature. Ultimately, he shows that historic Protestantism offers the best pathway to catholicity and historical rootedness for Christians today.In his characteristically charitable and irenic style, Ortlund demonstrates that the 16th century Reformation represented a genuine renewal of the gospel. This does not entail that Protestantism is without faults. But because it is built upon the principle of semper reformanda (always reforming), Protestantism is capable of reforming itself according to Scripture as the ultimate authority. This scholarly and yet accessible book breaks new ground in ecumenical theology and will be a staple text in the field for many years to come.

The first edition of The Gospel According to Jesus won wide acclaim in confronting the 'easy-believism' that has characterized some quarters in evangelical Christianity. This expanded edition deepens the debate over 'lordship salvation' and the biblical understanding of faith and works in adding three new chapters and an appendix. The new chapters: - The Vine and the Branches - The Promise of Justification - Tetelestai! The Triumph is Complete -- The appendix contains answers to the most often asked questions on the subject of what Jesus really meant when he said 'Follow me.'

How are we to live out the Bible today?In this updated edition of The Blue Parakeet, you'll see how Scripture transcends culture and time, and you'll learn how to read God's Word in a fresh way.The gospel is designed to be relevant in every culture, in every age, in every language. It's fully capable of this, and we are called to discern how God is speaking to us today.But applying its words and directions on how to live our lives is not always easy.Professor and author of The King Jesus Bible Scot McKnight challenges us to rethink how to read the Bible, not just to puzzle it together into some systematic belief or historical tradition but to see it as an ongoing Story that we're summoned to enter and to carry forward in our day.Throughout the Bible, God speaks in each generation, in that generation's ways and beckons us to be a part of his amazing story. The Blue Parakeet is a profound meditation on how God is speaking to our generation through His Word.

What does it mean to be a good reader of Genesis 1-11? What does it mean to take these ancient stories seriously and how does that relate to taking them literally? Can we even take any of this material seriously?Reading Genesis Well answers these questions and more, promoting a responsible conversation about how science and biblical faith relate by developing a rigorous approach to interpreting the Bible, especially those texts that come into play in science and faith discussions. This unique approach connects the ancient writings of Genesis 1-11 with modern science in an honest and informed way.Old Testament scholar C. John Collins appropriates literary and linguistic insights from C. S. Lewis and builds on them using ideas from modern linguistics, such as lexical semantics, discourse analysis, and sociolinguistics. This study helps readers to evaluate to what extent it is proper to say that the Bible writers held a "primitive" picture of the world, and what function their portrayal of the world and its contents had in shaping the community.