Customer Reviews

Battling Unbelief: Defeating Sin with Superior Pleasure

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Battling unbelief contains chapters excerpted from Piper's much longer and more complete work, Future Grace. In Future Grace, each of these chapters is accompanied by two or three chapters setting forward the promises of God that we are to believe and put our hope in in order to win the battle with sin. I highly recommend Future Grace, but if the 400+ pages of that book may be a little daunting for you, start with Battling Unbelief 162 pages to whet your appetite.

So I would recommend you not buy Battling Unbelief but instead buy Future Grace which is comparably priced, contains all of the chapters in Battling Unbelief and more. If you wanted to read what you would have read in Battling Unbelief, you will simply read the application chapters from Future Grace.

When I sin, I am believing a lie that there is more pleasure, happiness, or gain to be found in that sin than in obedience. Stated conversely, when I sin I am disbelieving God's promises. I am rejecting God and all that He claims that He is. Therefore, the ultimate battle with sin is not to be had at the level that most of us fight it at, trying through willpower to not do what our flesh is calling us to. The ultimate battle is one of believing or disbelieving God's promises. I must prize God above all things in order to not reject God and pursue sin.

In 8 chapters, Piper shows how this works itself out:
1. Battling Anxiety
2. Battling Pride
3. Battling Misplaced Shame
4. Battling Impatience
5. Battling Covetousness
6. Battling Bitterness
7. Battling Despondency
8. Battling Lust

So, as I stated above, I cannot recommend the content of this book highly enough. But I hope that you purchase Future Grace instead of this one and read it either front to back, or start with the application chapters and then read the rest later.

Piper says in the introduction of Battling Unbelief regarding the publishing of these chapters without the content that surrounds them:

"It is a risk to publish these eight chapters without the twenty-three chapters that surround them and explain the foundations and implications found in Future Grace. But I think it is a worthwhile risk. Many people move from application back to foundation rather than the reverse. So I am hopeful that discovering in this smaller book some of the ways faith works to liberate us from sin will send many readers to the larger work for a deeper biblical understanding."

I pray that either way you do it, the content of this book will help you and me to treasure God above all, believe his promises, and defeat sin.

[...]

This is a first for me--considering a John Piper book worthy of only three stars, that is. I think that Piper is one of the finest Christian writers on the scene (I have several of his books, as well as several of his cd sets), and I would consider virtually everything he has written five-star material. I think the content of this book is also excellent. However, I was rather disappointed to discover, when the book arrived, that this book is adapted from eight chapters of Piper's book Future Grace, which I already have in my library and have read cover to cover. (It says that in tiny print on the cover of the book, but you can't read that on the cover of the picture on Amazon--in fact, they don't even have the picture of the cover of the Battling Unbelief on the website next to the book, but rather that of the Battling Unbelief STUDY GUIDE--so you can't actually see that it says, "Adapted from Future Grace.") Pretty much all of the material in this book, plus a lot more, is in in Future Grace. Looking back at the description here at Amazon, that is clear if you read the AudioFile description, but not the product description itself. I felt even more gypped when I saw that Future Grace was even less expensive than Battling Unbelief. So, if you don't have either book, I guess you could buy Battling Unbelief, but Future Grace is much more complete and a much better deal. Battling Unbelief might be a nice gift for someone who doesn't read much or at least who isn't likely to read 400 pages of a theology-oriented book (although Future Grace is very readable). However, I highly recommend that you buy Future Grace instead, even if for now you only want to read the application chapters from which Battling Unbelief was adapted.

Wow! Piper hits a home run on almost every page of this "getting to the root of the problem" book! You'll be challenged to see what is the real issue when it comes to lust, anxiety, fear, etc. Very powerful and life changing material. The key is to lean heavily on God and His Word.

This is vintage Piper condensing his 'Future Grace' material for the benefit of battling temptation, with its offers of pleasure, with the the superior promises of the gospel.

The thoughts in this book have revolutionized my Christian life, bringing deeper joy in Christ. I cannot recommend this book highly enough!

John Piper is one of the best Bible teachers alive today. He does not mince words and fears no one other than God himself. This book again sets him apart.

First of all, as has been stated in most of the other reviews, this small book is a reprint of a portion of his earlier work, "Future Grace." This didn't bother me at all, in fact I thought it was more focused.

The main reason I love Piper's work is his reverence for the Bible. He quotes Scripture with every paragraph. He doesn't take anything out of context and remains true to the Gospel throughout. In fact, the part I loved most about this book was how fired up I was to read the Scriptures anew. He loves the Bible and that love is contagious.

Not only did he provide us with the answer to the unbelief dilemma, God's Word, he also speaks of the role of the Holy Spirit. Piper reminds us that it is the Sword of the Spirit that defeats the enemy. The Word of God made complete through the power of the Holy Spirit.

An additional revelation in the pages of this book is the fact that not only is our desire to serve Him come from what He has done for us in the past, but what he will do for us in the future. This "future grace" is the very thing that draws us to belief and fetters us to the truth. This differentiation between doing good in order to pay off our debt and doing good because we have embraced God's future grace was a powerful realization.

The only area that I was not as keen on was the fact that the title is a bit misleading. This is not a book for those in a faith-crisis due to the writings of Sam Harris or Richard Dawkins. This is not an apologetic work. It is more polemic in nature, for those Christians who know they are not leading a full Christian life and desire to overcome their mediocrity by battling the unbelief that has them shackled.

I highly recommend this book as it has inspired me to do an episode of my podcast, Christian with a Brain, on the role of the Bible in our daily lives. If you are seeking to rekindle your love for Scripture, or simply desire to get serious about your walk, this little book will help you get off to a smashing start.

I found this book to be very helpful. It is upbeat and positive and gives specific examples of standing on God's promises while dealing realistically with issues that affect most everyone. It is practical and more than a theological discourse. I found it very grounding. He treats "unbelief" as anything that steals our peace and joy and gives scriptures and suggestions for battling the eight areas of "unbelief" that others have listed. I even bought copies for both of my grown children.

This is a great book. I am thinking about getting the book in which this is based (the longer one, "Future Grace"). In fact, when I read some chapters during different days, it seemed it was exactly what I needed at that time!
I am not exactly a Calvinist (I think Piper is, although this book does not talks about that), but I have found this book worth reading, and very helpful.

We have a habit of wasting energy in our battle to overcome sin because we miss the connection that sin is the fruit of NOT trusting God. Piper does an excellent job showing the connection between a lack of faith and 8 specific sins. We need to understand this if we want to make progress in participating in the divine nature and escaping the corruption in the world that is caused by evil desires(2 Peter 1:3-4). This book WILL help you on your journey.